Yellow Fish to End the Year and Golden Fish to start the New One (1/2024)

[Latimeria]

I get a text to come on up to Cuyamaca and trout fish with Scott, Dan, and the kids.  They haven't had a stock in a few weeks and a new stock was coming today or tomorrow.  I almost opted out, but wanted some fresh mountain air before heading back to work.

I get up to freezing conditions, well at 31 degrees, it was quite nippy.  I got to the spot and only one guy was there, but I put the rods out anyway.  I seemed to get stuck behind the razor wire that would surely lose fish if they could help it.



As the sun came up, it felt warm, but the air was still chilly and the frost stayed around until 9:00 or later.



The few guys who got there early had one small trout on the stringer, but apparently the day before it was wide open here.  As time went on, every single person showing up at the lake was coming here as the word was out by now.  Unfortunately, the trout were all gone, or just moved on.

Finally, the boys showed up and we had a slew of rods out in the water.  By now there was about 20 people crammed in this small shoreline.  There was the occasional fish caught here and there.  Someone said I was casting too far, but I was using the new long rod with 2# and was letting it fly!  About 3-4x further than anyone else was casting on their far casts.  I have to admit, I was hoping for a cat to stop the skunk...

I got a quick pic with Dan and Scott as I was ready to leave here in the next 30-45 minutes.  Dan and his dad have owned the commercial sword boat "Shearwater" for 4+ decades and just crushes them every year.  I got some great information from him that I will definitely be trying next season and sworn to secrecy some of the knowledge he shared.



I just finished telling him that when my indicator bobber gets pulled up, it's always a catfish and I use the bobber to let me know when it drops, that it's a trout swimming at me.  He laughed and said that sounds like swordfishing.

I Was sitting down expecting nothing when all of a sudden, I see my indicator bobber drop like a stone!  I grabbed the rod right away and kept reeling looking to see when the rod loaded up... and then it did!

Right away I looked back and said "This is a REALLY big fish".  The water was so muddy that I would see an occasional flash that looked way too big to be a trout and we were just discussing sturgeon, so I blurted out "It's probably a big catfish, but maybe a sturgeon?".  Just then all of the people listening in came over to see what it was.  I had to keep it getting tangled in the antenna array around me and try to avoid the shark sticks all in the water in front of me.  Then the big flash happened, and I was like WTF is that?  Small sturgeon?  Then one of the locals said "Nope, that's a trout... a REALLY BIG trout!

Then Dan's son came down with a little net to scoop it.  I was nervous at first seeing a one of the young boys trying to scoop the fish, but Dan said "He's gaffed swords for me, so he'll be alright".  Then another guy came over and gave him a big net as the big nets we had weren't really big enough.

Then we saw it... a BIG hook Jaw Lightning Trout!  HOLY CRAP! 

I somehow avoided all of the hazards and got him to turn right into the net and he perfectly scoops it!  Even the big net looked small with this thing in it!

It's not easy impressing Scott, but he was even wowed!



It totally didn't look real!

It could have been a much heavier fish with a full belly, but its stomach was empty like a bottle of vodka in a Russian camp.



So I had to fish a little more before leaving, but now everyone is now fishing with 2 rods a piece down this little stretch of shoreline.  I figured I'd call it and head back with my trophy.

The other guys stuck it out until closing and said not another fish was caught the rest of the afternoon, so I was finally on the right side of things today!

Ironically, I ended 2023 with a Yellow Catfish, and started 2024 with a Golden Yellow Designer Trout!

Man, I am a happy dude.

Thanks for reading and it's going to be hard to beat this trout when I go trouting now.  LOL

[Tim524]

 Looks like yellow is your lucky color You should have that one mounted

[Fish Jerk]

Ended the year with a banana fish and started the new year with a banana fish. You ain't gonna catch a damn thing on your boat this year. Poor sucker. 

[jrodda]

Now there's a stocker I'd wanna get my hands on. Great looking specimen, hook jaw and all.

Hope you make good use of that sword intel this year...

[sasquatch]

That's one hell of a fish. Beautiful. Congrats

[vdisney]

Never even heard of one much less seen one, thanks for sharing Thomas

[Latimeria]

Thanks Guys for all of the replies.  The meat was like salmon, but I still might have a fiberglass mount made.  I got all of the dimensions, now need to decide if I'm going to drop any coin on it.  I really think I'm going to though.

[jrodda]

I was wondering if that thing might be a sockeye or kokanee. That kype is just so pronounced and I can't find another one like it online.

[Fish Jerk]

That is a male Lightning Trout. Brief summary of what a lightning trout is - "Lightning Trout are a genetic variation of a Rainbow Trout. Their genetic mutation changes the traditional grayish trout color to a yellowish-golden one (hence "lightning"). Mt. Lassen Hatchery in California is the sole supplier of Lightning Trout and often supplies them to Southern California reservoirs and East Bay lakes."

I know in PA they have a similar variation they also stock called a Palomino Trout.

[skrilla]

Nice creamsicle. 

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

Nice fish!

My wife asked how close to San Onofre do you fish?

- Keith

[Latimeria]

My wife asked how close to San Onofre do you fish?

hahahaha

One of my non-fishing friends told me it looked like one of those gag rubber chickens, and now I can't unsee it.  lol