Friday, April 20, 2007

Bass Fever!!!

Moon Phase:
Fishing Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Weather: cool, windy, cloudy, 60's

With the nice weather we had at the end of March you would think that it would be a nice April. Wrong! April has brought storm after storm keeping the bass and the bass fisherman guessing when the spawn might begin. Well I got sick of waiting so I decided to go down to the I-80 ponds and test my luck. I put on a dark green sparkle Zoom Worm and rigged it drop shot wacky style as this picture shows to the right. This has always been my go to bait for the I-80 ponds. I fished it for about a half hour and had a few hits but they were all small as I could see them in the clear shallow pond. I finally got one of these little guys to hang on long enough to get him to shore. Then the wind started to blow and it became really difficult to know when something was hitting. I ended up with many fish on but didn't have much luck getting them in before they spit out my bait. I even had a few on topwater throwing a spook minnow and walking the dog. I couldn't get them to hang on either. Once the wind calmed down a bit I went back to the drop shot rig that has always treated me well here and I then Finally got something to hang on. I fought me left and then right, and then right into the bushes. I finally untangled him and was able to lip him and hang on. This was the biggest Largemouth to date for this year at around 2 pounds. He was a fat little guy. Once the temps steady for a few days in a row this place will be on fire. Can't wait for that day!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Strawberry ICE OFF!

Moon Phase:
Fishing Time: 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Weather: sunny, clear, 50's
It's one of the most popular times to fish Strawberry Reservoir. When the ice recedes back far enough to allow you to cast out to the edge, but not too far to where you can't reach the edge with a long cast. Something about these conditions seem to produce a lot of fish and some of the largest fish you will catch all year. So the conditions were almost perfect and we were there to take advantage of it. The only problem was that the fish didn't want to cooperate with the plan. We threw everything at them but the kitchen sink, with no success. Between me, JJ, and Ed, I managed to pull in the only fish of the day by drop shotting a gulp minnow in black shad color. This fish was one of the weirdest Cutthroats I have ever caught. I started reeling him in and it felt like I had on a log. There was no fight in him at all! Then once I got him about 4 feet from shore the life came out in him. He started reeling off line like he was an 8 pound bass. I would let him run and then get him about 4 feet from shore again and zzzzzzzzzst there goes my line. After about 4 of these I finally landed him and it was a nice 3.5 pound Cutt that was 22 inches long. I'm really upset about it to because I completely forgot to get a picture of this fighter. Ugh! So the only fish we caught all day and no picture to prove it! We ended the day by driving to the Soldier Creek side and finding no fish there either. We did get some good pics overlooking the Strawberry River, but the fishing was not what we expected.