First time @ Amador 1/19/13

[crawdaddundee]

I also went to Amador yesterday. Got on the water about 8 AM and proceded to troll small rebels out toward the dam. My first pass, smash, a nice one on, prob. 5 pounder, lost at the boat. Second pass brought in another 2lber. After 4 or 5 uncessufull rounds, decided to head back to "secret spot" for some bait fishing. North end cove. Well when I got there, I discovered that my spot was not so secret. They had 4 or 5 fish on stringer fishing power bait We pulled up to shore and wet some bait there as well for no bites. They didn't catch anymore while we were there either.
While we were sitting there suddenly I noticed a huge bait ball swimming along the edge. No kidding the first one was about 3 feet in diamater and could only guess how many thousands were in it. The fish I caught by the dam spit out these very same minnows when we got it in the boat We then got out the net and when they were right next to the boat, SWISSSSSH, and managed to get 20 or so flopping on the bank. So we jumped out and grabbed as many as possible and filled bucket full of water to keep them alive. After 1 hour of fishing there with power bait and these minnows and no bites we decided to go drift some under bobbers around the dam. We tried that for an hour or so with zero results.
Then I said, self, you came here this morning and got 2 right off the bat trolling the usual rebel lures and caught a couple. Get back to it. So after a couple of hours of that, never leaving the dam area, we landed 6 more nice 2 or 3 lbers. Every single fish we landed spit out these same minnows. There are massive bait balls all over the lake. We saw another bunch that was 3ft. X 15ft. long crusing the bank going in circles on the south end of the dam. What I would like to know is how in the heck does one compete with that?
Overall, from what I saw, it was a tough bite. I saw no limits caught. 1 or2 fish was pretty much the norm. However there was one exception. On the northish end of the dam, there was 3 dudes in their 20's or so fishing with bobbers, 2ft. leader or so and power worms. They were kwacking on their mallard call all day long. In the AM they were pounding um. When we left around 3PM they were all but limited out. Think they were shy one fish and determined to get that last one. That looked to be the most productive thing I saw all day. Also, 80% of the action happened in the first 2 hours so if you intend to try this, best be gettin there @ 0 dark 45.
It was a picture perfect day out there and I had intended to take lots of pictures but never broke out the camera all day. I like the place but it is a pricey thing to do that's for sure. For us 2 gezers, it was $31.00 with our one dollar geezer rebate. Plus gas from Fair Oaks, 88 mile round trip. Lots of fun though. I don't think I will be going back for a while til all those bait balls get the heck on their way. Too much natural competition

[CRABBY]

Great report and thanks for sharing with photos and all. Sorry the fish didn't work out but Amador does that to a lot of people. The next time you go you will knock em dead. ) You tried a lot of the good stuff. Casting close to shore, woolies, lures and such.

Glad you had a nice day and enjoyed the outing. People that have a trip ruined because they don't catch fish are fishing for the wrong reasons. The fish are a bonus.

Cheers,

+++++1 Lifted,great post, an a even greater Attitude!!!!That's what it's all about,you can fish with my ol butt any day!!!!!!!!!!!

[RideNfish]

Great report and thanks for sharing with photos and all. Sorry the fish didn't work out but Amador does that to a lot of people. The next time you go you will knock em dead. ) You tried a lot of the good stuff. Casting close to shore, woolies, lures and such.

Glad you had a nice day and enjoyed the outing. People that have a trip ruined because they don't catch fish are fishing for the wrong reasons. The fish are a bonus.

Cheers,

[Lifted]

I went to meet my friends in Sacramento Saturday night, so I figured I'd give Amador a try before meeting up with them. I left San Francisco at 6am and arrived at Amador to pay the fee at 8:30 after a smooth drive and temps in the low 30's. I haven't had a chance to fish in a few months, so I didn't exactly care if I didn't caught anything, then again I like to think I know what I'm doing so I typically expect to catch fish. That being said, this was my first time at Amador and I had no idea where to go, so I asked the gentleman behind the counter. He suggested I head past the section of the campground that is closed for winter and directed me to a solid bank spot on the Carson Arm I believe. Here's where I ended up:



After seeing a few fish rise already, I threw out my bait rod with red Power Eggs and one small split shot. This was the guy in the store's recommendation. The bank is steep so you don't need to cast far, and he said go with the split shot to allow you to change the depth of your bait without retying a new leader. With the bait rod set up, I used a 1/8oz gold Kastmaster for a while to no avail. However while casting about 30ft away, just as my spider-sense was tingling, I get a bite on my bait rod. Of course I don't make it there in time, and unfortunately that turned out to be my only bite of the day. I tried various colors and depths of Power Bait & Eggs, nightcrawler below a bobber, shrimp below a bobber (saw a random suggestion), black wooley bugger with casting bubble, jointed Rapala, rubber shad spinner thing about 1.5" long, & the gold Kastmaster.

I had heard the fish were eating shad, which I why I bought the Kastmaster and shad lure, and no doubt they were. Here are some pics of a "bait ball" right near shore:
BaitBall1_zpsdc5e7559.jpg

For a while I went with two bait rods:


So all-in-all I it was a nice day and I enjoyed myself even though it was a skunk. My flaw is that I don't move around enough, though fish jumped all around me throughout the day, so maybe that's not true. There were a bunch of boats going up and down the arm and I saw two fish caught throughout the day. I didn't see any fish cruising the shore, but I think I just have a bad eye for that since I never do.

Funny side story:
As I grab my gear and turn to walk away from my car, I noticed 3 cows watching me from behind the fence I was about to walk around. I was surprised to see them roaming the campground, but they skittered off when I got close. After setting up on the bank, I heard some rustling in the bushes on the other side of the lake. To my surprise, there were a few more cows clopping along the shore and through the bushes. Being in an agricultural area, I just figured that must be part of the "Amador experience"... Upon returning to my car that evening, the guy who gave me advice in the store happened to be there and asked me how I did. He was surprised to hear I didn't catch anything, but was even more surprised to hear about the cows who had apparently broken loose nearby and were roaming the shores!