Skinner Lake A Bust

Four juvenile coyotes wish us a good morning as we enter the lake.

I have not been to Skinner late since high school when my old man and I used to conventional fish looking for the schools of stripers that populate this lake.  Back then good fishing was almost a given after any trout plant and cloudy conditions.  Nowadays trout plants at this lake are no longer and today's sunny conditions were not going to help either.  We should have known how the day was going to end by how it began.  We arrived at the Skinner only to be told Chul's pram was not properly registered, forcing us to rent a boat at the marina.  When we asked the marina attendant how the fishing has been, he gave us a less than encouraging report.  Since Thursday the water has been lowered buy three feet.

The tules indicating how much water has receded.

Throughout the lake the tules show how much the water has receded.  Another sign this day was going to be tough.  The day started promising though as we saw some shad being chased into a cove.  We made our way to the action cutting the engine so not to spook the stipers and hoping we had a enough momentum to put us into casting range.  No fish were willing to bite.

Shad Game Changer

The rest of the day was much the same.  I tried just about every shad imitation in my box; none got even so much as a bite.   We should have just slept in.

Bluegill Game Changer

This years has not been kind to us and we don't see the season getting any better at least for freshwater bass or local trout fishing.  Let's hope the incoming rain later this week dumps on us good.