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Post by blunderbus on Nov 2, 2015 13:38:58 GMT -5
You are quite welcome frogman. Again, I am glad to hear some are finding it useful.
I'm not sure what happened to the smallmouth population in the lake. In the early 2000's I would wade the bank down near the dam and catch crayfish to use as bait. A day with several 3 and 4 pound smally's was not unusual at that time.
I don't think I have caught a single one from Chambers in the past 5 years or more. My only theory is that they were so aggressive that they were fished out, but I could be wrong. It's a shame because a 3 to 4 pound smallmouth on an ultra light spinning rod is a hell of a lot of fun.
On the upside I finally got some keeper size crappie this year and the yellow perch and largemouth population seems to be doing well.
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Post by teb67gt on Nov 2, 2015 14:25:17 GMT -5
I have not caught, nor heard of, any smallmouths out of there for quite a few years. I really don't think the lake has enough Smallie structure/depth for a significant population to thrive....unfortunately. The topography is far more suited for LMB except for the area near the dam.
There was also a really great pickerel fishery early on when the lake opened. It was top notch! I have not seen or caught a pickerel of any size out of there in three years.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2015 14:54:31 GMT -5
I guess I'll just keep fishing for green fish (haha) and maybe I'll get lucky and catch a smallie one of these days. Strangely though; the one smallie I hooked two years ago (about 15") was up going towards the other end; to the right side at the small rock pile near where the first stream enters the lake (if heading towards the upper end). As far as pickerel; I have seen some monster pickerel caught in that lake; although I didn't catch a single one this season. I seen a guy catch one two years ago I swore was a nice musky until he pulled it up out of the water and I saw the familiar pattern on its sides. But I have personally seen several pickerel caught over 27+ in the past two years; specifically last season (2014). The biggest one I caught there was roughly 25" and was caught on a plastic worm texas rigged. Also the monster one I seen caught was also caught on a texas rigged worm. This past season I was out with one of my buddies and he caught two pickerel in one day that both went 20". I do not specifically fish for them but in my opinion I think there are still some huge pickerel in that lake. And blunderbus; WOW.....if I could catch a few 3-4 lb brown fish even on my ML gear I would be ecstatic! Those brown fish fight like h*ll! |
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Post by blunderbus on Nov 2, 2015 16:08:24 GMT -5
And blunderbus; WOW.....if I could catch a few 3-4 lb brown fish even on my ML gear I would be ecstatic! Those brown fish fight like h*ll! It was great fun while it lasted. 6 lb. Trilene on an ultralight spinning rod with a small octopus style hook. That was the whole rig. No lead at all. I would capture crayfish along the shore, hook them on and hold on for the ride. You have to be very careful not to let the crayfish get you under a rock. I still catch largemouth and the occasional perch on this same rig. I miss the smallmouth though. |
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Post by wader105 on Nov 2, 2015 17:14:19 GMT -5
for what it's worth, and like i said, i've only been fishing chambers for about a month or two, but the first two fish i caught were smallies. none since then - everything else has been LMB and, i think one perch and one sunnie. the 2 bronzers were to the right of the boat dock, down toward the picnic area jigging a fire tiger late in the afternoon in shade about 20 feet out from shore. each was only about a pound but most excellent fight on the UL. i can't imagine why their numbers would decrease.
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Post by blunderbus on Nov 2, 2015 19:29:31 GMT -5
That is good to hear wander105. Maybe the smallmouth population has a chance yet.
I think the more you fish this lake the more you will come to love it.
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Post by teb67gt on Nov 3, 2015 7:39:35 GMT -5
I guess I'll just keep fishing for green fish (haha) and maybe I'll get lucky and catch a smallie one of these days. Strangely though; the one smallie I hooked two years ago (about 15") was up going towards the other end; to the right side at the small rock pile near where the first stream enters the lake (if heading towards the upper end). As far as pickerel; I have seen some monster pickerel caught in that lake; although I didn't catch a single one this season. I seen a guy catch one two years ago I swore was a nice musky until he pulled it up out of the water and I saw the familiar pattern on its sides. But I have personally seen several pickerel caught over 27+ in the past two years; specifically last season (2014). The biggest one I caught there was roughly 25" and was caught on a plastic worm texas rigged. Also the monster one I seen caught was also caught on a texas rigged worm. This past season I was out with one of my buddies and he caught two pickerel in one day that both went 20". I do not specifically fish for them but in my opinion I think there are still some huge pickerel in that lake. And blunderbus; WOW.....if I could catch a few 3-4 lb brown fish even on my ML gear I would be ecstatic! Those brown fish fight like h*ll! Good to hear there are some still around. Back in the day I routinely caught a couple of real monsters on most trips there. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2015 10:52:17 GMT -5
wader105; glad to hear you caught a few smallies. Next time out maybe I'll devote an hour or two to see if I can nab one. My guess is that most if not all would be down towards the dam area (including where you caught them). The water is certainly a little deeper over in that area and by the video posted a little while ago there a some rocks down there too.
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