Hawnjigs
KISS
Best trouting resource right now here in the Midwest plains is a 40 mile power plant cooling water source canal which gets escapees from the managed for stocked trout reservoir origin. For whatever reasons, the canal provides very fertile habitat for brisk moving water weeds, crawdads, baitfish, and bug hatches, so trout therein thrive. At least every 5 years, federal regulations mandate a complete drain down and maintenance, and in that time the canal resident trout get very large, with our state record 16# caught within. Unfortunately, nothing survives the drain, and cycle has to start over. Last Fall was the scheduled drain, but an additional emergency drain for a current check structure repair is currently underway. During normal flow, the current is too brisk and water too deep for my finesse jigging style, but with the water low and dropping fish are aggregating in deeper pools, and in just a year the residents have grown surprisingly large & fat.
So, with the down "stream" reservoir inlet wiper bite done due to the reduced water flow, lucky that the trout up "stream" are now accessible. Bite won't last for more than a few days before the water is gone, but today was optimal at one of the pools I found yesterday driving along the canal searching. Not a lot of #s after only a year, but got 4 of those 18-20" wild jumping drag rippers. The water was choked with drifting hair weeds so Boolies were out, and trout cranks were ignored along with bright colored shad darts both useful for somewhat minimizing weed hangs. All 4 trout bit some of the first jigs I tied for them well over 10 years ago, 1/16 de-collared round heads from before I got my no collar ball head molds, painted with black nail polish and tied freehand (no vise!) with only low grade black marabou fedders.
Noteworty that all my fancy fur & flash stuff didn't work and the most primitive all black ones I have did.
So, with the down "stream" reservoir inlet wiper bite done due to the reduced water flow, lucky that the trout up "stream" are now accessible. Bite won't last for more than a few days before the water is gone, but today was optimal at one of the pools I found yesterday driving along the canal searching. Not a lot of #s after only a year, but got 4 of those 18-20" wild jumping drag rippers. The water was choked with drifting hair weeds so Boolies were out, and trout cranks were ignored along with bright colored shad darts both useful for somewhat minimizing weed hangs. All 4 trout bit some of the first jigs I tied for them well over 10 years ago, 1/16 de-collared round heads from before I got my no collar ball head molds, painted with black nail polish and tied freehand (no vise!) with only low grade black marabou fedders.
Noteworty that all my fancy fur & flash stuff didn't work and the most primitive all black ones I have did.