NE Kingdom report

[stripergirl2]

Any news about  Willoughby or Crystal lake?  Thinking about making the trip this weekend.   

[Hilltopper]

Me and a buddy decided to give Willoughby a try on Saturday. Trolled streamers (Green and Grey Ghost, Red and White, Winni Smelt, Joe's Smelt) on sinking fly line. Trolled various lures (Pin Minnows, Chevy Chases, Top Guns) on lead core, 1 to 4 colors. Even tried yanking for awhile after marking a lot of lakers on the bottom @ 40 feet. Nothing all afternoon except for one hit when yanking. Water was 39 to 41 degrees...couldn't find any warmer areas. Great day to be out but at these water temps, the action we got was the action we expected. Good luck if you go and let me know how you did!

[stripergirl2]

Finally went up there this past weekend!  Love Willoughby.  I consider myself lucky to have hooked up on a Salmom. Never caught one before. Beautiful fish about 17 in.  got it on a mepps silver lure from the canoe.  Very windy. I think it was just luck that I saw him break the water and threw right towards him.  Went to Harvey's Lake too and landed a nice hold over rainbow. I think the fish gods are looking over me!

[Hilltopper]

That's great...thanks for the report! I've yet to catch a LL salmon from Willoughby although I've taken plenty of lakers and rainbow. What part of the lake did you land the salmon on? Pretty neat how you saw it surface and casted it in! I'll be on Crystal Lake Friday evening and Willoughby on Saturday. I'll let you know how it goes...

[stripergirl2]

I was down near the White Caps campground...across the Beach where the "tribe" hangs out       that cove and the one above it is hot in the afternoon for fly fishing. good luck this weekend.

[Hilltopper]

Fished Crystal Lake Friday evening from 5PM to 7:30PM. Got 4 hits and a friend caught a 12" Bow trolling a Dodger/Rapala combo just below the surface.

Fished Martin's Pond in Peacham, VT Saturday morning from 8AM to 11:30AM. Got a couple hits and I landed a 15" 1.4lb Brookie trolling a Muddler Minnow. Cold, wet, and miserable all morning. This pond is loaded with Brookies and, believe it or not, even though this is one of my biggest Brookies to date, it's fairly average for this pond from what I've seen taken from it.

[Cider]

Hey hilltopper - you ever try using a green mountain grabber crawler harness in Crystal lake??  I hear they work very well in your neck of the woods.

I just put a couple in my tackle box to try out in my favorite trout pond over here in NH...

[Hilltopper]

Cider,

Never heard of 'em...can you explain them? Something possibly similar that we have success with at Crystal Lake are the Davis (Les and Dave) lake trolls with a sewed-on crawler. The best trolls seem to be the Jack-O-Diamonds and the Sun Blade. The crawler's sewed on a 14" leader at the end of which is a treble hook. We fish this using lead core line. Catches a lot of mostly stocked fish, but not nearly the same as fighting them on the fly rod or downriggers.

Not a big fan of Crystal but it's easy access for us. Caught around 40 lake trout last year out of there...0 were legal size. Seven miles east to Lake Willoughby I caught 6 lakers...3 were legal. Anyway...back to the harness you're talking about...?

Hilltopper

[Cider]

Hilltopper - am surprised you haven't heard of the green mountain grabber!  They were designed by local Vermonter Arch Tilford.  The man is 93 years old and still actively trout fishing!  Vermont public television did an episode on him in their Outdoor Journal program.  They were fishing Silver Lake out of a canoe.

The grabber is pretty simple and there are other similar designs by other people.  It is just a monofilament harness that has three hooks tied in-line with a spinner blade.  You just hook the crawler on all three hooks so he is all stretched out and troll or cast and retrieve!

They come with various hook sizes and all sorts of colors for the spinner blade.  I get mine at a local "mom & pop" bait shop.

[Hilltopper]

OK, I have seen those. In rivers I'll often use a Joe's Spinner with a sewd-on worm behind it. Seems like the same concept and does work well. Thanks, and good luck out there!

[jf5]

Anyone fishing the Salem Lakes in Derby??  renting a cottage there for 3 days June 4-6th and was wondering if anything was hitting well??

[stripergirl]

hi all...had problems signing in  and posting.   going up to Willoughby this weekend...any reports?

[Hilltopper]

I haven't been up that way as much as I'd like to this year. I've probably spent 3 days fishing Willoughby, the last time being August 14th, and I have literally caught only 2 fish. One was a rainbow trolling a Joe's Smelt and one was a short laker bumping a Sutton off the bottom (that was on August 14th after trolling lures and fishing live suckers). It's been a very slow trout fishing summer on the lakes for myself and my fishing buddies. Good luck and let me know how you do!

[stripergirl]

Fished willoughby hard last weekend with no  luck.  saw some nice fish jumping and tailing...just teasing I guess.  Hit the CT river on the way home  with some success.  bass and pike.   I think Willoughby will have to wait for me until next spring.

[Hilltopper]

Willoughby has been nothing but a slap in the face to me all year after having a good year on the lake last year. I'm heading to Crystal Lake over the next couple of days. I've been having good luck with trolling streamers on sinking fly line at 2-2.5MPH. This tactic is producing a good amount of rainbows from 13" to 16". I'll post a report later...