Northwest Fishing Reports

Alright, so this bass angler, yours truly has been really pursuing this power bait/egg type of fishing and surprisingly I have found it to be just as much a blast as bass fishing, albeit in a different way.

I just want to know if I am missing something when it comes to putting on the power bait dough onto the hook in a way that it doesn't fly off the hook.

Basically, I make a ball out of the dough and put enough to cover the hook completely and press it on pretty well.

As of late, I've had it fly off the hook on the cast. I don't think I've been casting too hard (but maybe - I might be perceiving that I am not casting that hard but I am) and my dough is fresh.

I think I might be casting too hard but I welcome any tips for putting on the dough in a better way. I see others whipping the heck out of their rigs but yet their dough stays on without issue.

I have noted that the dough falling off hardly happens with my light/ultra-light rod and more so with a cherry wood rod. Perhaps the more noodle-y rod protects the bait more on casts?

Thanks!

Treble hooks. More surface area for the dough to adhere to. they also make dough specific treble hooks with a coil around the shank for extra dough holding power, but being heavier can require more dough to float. Some doughs are more 'gooey' and less "doughy". the Berkley Gulp and the Yum TroutKrilla are more gooey and IMHO don't stay on the hook as well as the standard Powerbait. A lot of people use the Power Eggs instead of dough. Being rubbery they stay on the hook VERY well. Sometimes you just get a really fresh jar of regular Powerbait. I actually like it when its a little older and therefore firmer. i have used a very small "melon baller" like this http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-5135-Doubl ... lon+baller and made my own little Powerballs. I let them air dry for a couple hours so they firm up and then either put them into an old empty Powerbait jar or small plastic GladWare containers from the grocery store. I also do this to create my own custom Powerbait colors like Fl Red & Chartreuse swirl or Pink and White layers.

As far as rods go, its kinda like golf. Like club head speed and club weight = longer golf shots so is the same with a fishing pole. A shorter 'whippier' pole is still not moving as fast at the tip as a longer pole due to the angular velocity at the tip. Add the difference in sinker weight and length of leader and there is a lot of variables involved. I've stopped running 3/4 oz egg sinkers on my 6'6" Damiki IM8 2pc med action and instead been using 3/8 oz egg sinkers on my 8'6" med action Lamiglas G1307 IM8 steelie rod. The extra 2' of pole (and more sensitive tip) get it out there just as far as my shorter pole with twice as much weight with a lot less stress on the pole itself.

I am thinking you "may" have answered your own question. Not being a serious bass fishermen. I am going to take a stab and say bass rods are fast action stiff rods for the most part, with high test line ratings. While trout rods are rated for much lighter lines, have softer "slower" actions. A power bait specific rod is made of fiberglass or glass graphite blend, making it a softer rod. You might try using more lead, to maintain distance, while backing off the whip cast. Or practice not whipping the rod as hard. A freshly applied ball of powerbait generally stays on. The bait does milk out in warmer water, does become smaller in overall size and becomes gooey. That second cast can become iffy as to staying on the hook or not.

A tip would be to barrow some cotton balls from your wife's makeup drawer. Pull some cotton, about the same size as the power wad your building. Send the hook through the wad of cotton. Then embed, smear, thoroughly saturate the power bait into the cotton, rolling the final product into the desired shape. Doesn't have to be round. Now, try and whip that ball of stinky play dough, off your hook!

Thanks for the replies, guys! I really appreciate it. I have considered using a treble for the same reasons given, but I had little concern about whether or not executing a hook set might be a potential problem and this could be a needless worry too.

Power eggs have been very convenient and easy to use and I can confirm they can stand up to hard casts.

As soon as I read Damiki, I suspected it was a dark angel and that was confirmed at the bottom of your post. I have been seriously considering getting a casting one. How would you rate its sensitivity?

The cotton ball and melon ball ideas are just outstanding and I think I am going to need to work on smoother casting, lol. The 6'6" Berkley Cherrywood rod is the rod I have had issues with and it is more a general use rod as opposed to being bass or trout specific. My 7' Light action okuma celilo has just fantabulous.

My Damiki is an Angel EX 2pc I got for a steal. The Dark Angels are wonderfully sensitive rods(and a great value for the money), but after I sold several lockers full of $200-400 GLoomis rods and $200-300 reels when I sold my Bullet bass boat and all my other gear years ago I promised if I got back into fishing I would not go back to being a rod and reel snob. I had become proficient enough at that fishery to know I could have caught 95+% of the fish I did on a $700 combo on a combo I spent less than $150 on.

MotoBoat wrote: A tip would be to barrow some cotton balls from your wife's makeup drawer. Pull some cotton, about the same size as the power wad your building. Send the hook through the wad of cotton. Then embed, smear, thoroughly saturate the power bait into the cotton, rolling the final product into the desired shape. Doesn't have to be round. Now, try and whip that ball of stinky play dough, off your hook!

This... this is brilliant.

also, don't cover the entire hook with the power bait. I like to leave a good chunk of the hook point exposed, for easier hook penetration into the fish. i mold the power bait just on the hook shank. it ends up being oval in shape, rather than round, when formed on the hook

Heres a tip stick to the power eggs their a lot better and you can catch more fish using less bait also just today I caught three using the same power eggs yes garlic scented yellow power eggs are the truth for sure

On a single hook you can slide on a spring from an old click pen. Works just like the treble hook w/ spiral wire and costs little to nothing.

snick wrote:On a single hook you can slide on a spring from an old click pen. Works just like the treble hook w/ spiral wire and costs little to nothing.

I cut them in half or thirds depending on size of hook. The residual power bait from the last outing dries inside the spring. Becomes very hard, and must be dug out during the beginning of the new trip. But is "very effective".

You can purchase these from Cabalas...

It does take significantly more powerbait to float the trebles with the wire spring, and I don't think I've seen them in a size smaller than 6/8 which is a relatively large treble for stocker size trout. The ink pen spring is a good idea because the wire is a lot lighter. Just make sure to check to make sure it floats before you cast it out there.

I use the floating power eggs as they do not come off at all. I have fished all day with the same 3 eggs on the same hook until I got my limit. Fastest has been 25 minutes for 5 trout, and the longest to limit with 3 eggs and 1 hook has been 4 hours. The things seem to last FOREVER!!!!!

I wanna know where you are going *lol*. granted I got a real late start this year and didn't get a line in the water til June, but the most I've picked up so far is 3 12'+ fish in a day. Of course I'm also stuck on shore duty too.

TroutSnipr wrote:I wanna know where you are going *lol*. granted I got a real late start this year and didn't get a line in the water til June, but the most I've picked up so far is 3 12'+ fish in a day. Of course I'm also stuck on shore duty too.

Alpine lakes on Hancock land mostly. Also beehive, Clearlake, Burke lake, and rock island. Fishing off the bottom, let the eggs float your hook and WHAM! The limit I got in 25 minutes was a total of 5 casts. Took me longer to walk back to the car than I spent fishing. Just kept throwing my hook in the same hole and they kept taking it.

islandbass wrote:Alright, so this bass angler, yours truly has been really pursuing this power bait/egg type of fishing and surprisingly I have found it to be just as much a blast as bass fishing, albeit in a different way.

I just want to know if I am missing something when it comes to putting on the power bait dough onto the hook in a way that it doesn't fly off the hook.

Basically, I make a ball out of the dough and put enough to cover the hook completely and press it on pretty well.

As of late, I've had it fly off the hook on the cast. I don't think I've been casting too hard (but maybe - I might be perceiving that I am not casting that hard but I am) and my dough is fresh.

I think I might be casting too hard but I welcome any tips for putting on the dough in a better way. I see others whipping the heck out of their rigs but yet their dough stays on without issue.

I have noted that the dough falling off hardly happens with my light/ultra-light rod and more so with a cherry wood rod. Perhaps the more noodle-y rod protects the bait more on casts?

Thanks!

When the air temperature gets hot, the dough is pretty tough to keep on the hook during casting. Keep the bottles cool, or just dip the baited hook into the water for a couple of minutes to cool it down before casting.

I never use a trebble with power bait, and as long as I do the above, I never have issues.

bugmasta wrote:

TroutSnipr wrote:I wanna know where you are going *lol*. granted I got a real late start this year and didn't get a line in the water til June, but the most I've picked up so far is 3 12'+ fish in a day. Of course I'm also stuck on shore duty too.

Alpine lakes on Hancock land mostly. Also beehive, Clearlake, Burke lake, and rock island. Fishing off the bottom, let the eggs float your hook and WHAM! The limit I got in 25 minutes was a total of 5 casts. Took me longer to walk back to the car than I spent fishing. Just kept throwing my hook in the same hole and they kept taking it.

It's funny that when I lived on the Eastside that when the water temps hit 60 over there the bite doesn't seem to shut off as early as the bite on the Wetside. When I used to fish the I-82 ponds, Wenas lake etc I could still catch fish at a pretty good clip up until the water temp hit the low 70's. Over here it seems like once it starts hitting 60 the bite shuts off pretty quick. Of course many of the Eastside lakes have quite a bit more depth and water volume than the lakes over here, and a lot less fishing pressure as well.