Wednesday morning met up with Shifty at his placed hooked up the Fish Steeler to "The Great White" and we were on our way to Sand Hollow Reservoir in Southern Utah for a two day fishing trip for bass. Shifty puts up with my need for fly fishing so I try to reciprocate with a trip to bass fish. Sand Hollow is his favorite to fish so we travel there one to two times each season.
We pulled into the state park at 9 am and were on the water fishing by 9:30 am. We started out in the east end of the reservoir hoping for top water action throwing spooks, frogs and woppers but not scaring anything up. We moved on to the pump house and started throwing crank baits at the bank and Shifty rigged up a texas rig and drop shot. He landed a little one on the texas rig and then another nicer one on the drop shot, but we didn't get anything else in this area of the lake. We moved to the north dike and fished cranks shallow and deep and Shifty got one there as well.
We moved across the lake to the west dike and weed beds looking for the deep bite. I set up a drop shot as did Shifty. Shifty got a couple on various set ups in the weed beds. I was trying everything I had in the boat. We moved over to the dike and started working the rocks and Shifty landed a couple more casting into the rocks. By this time it was around 4 pm and we decided to go check-in, plug in the boat and get something to eat.
Shifty is always for returning for an evening fish, being later in the year than we usually go the sun was setting and we still needed to hit Sportsman's Warehouse and get a few things. We talked to the local dept. worker and got some more hints on what to use and where to go. Shifty had his friends checking in on facebook telling us where and what to use as well.
We returned to lake to go evening and night fishing only to get turned away because they wanted us to pay the camping fee even though we weren't staying but a couple hours. This was not what we expected having been here a few times before and done the same thing and never been told that before. Shifty talked one of them into letting us go in but then she turned up saying she was wrong and had to ask us to pay or possibly be fined for staying past the time the entry gate closed, not the exit gate that stays open all the time but the entry gate, this was 8:15 pm and it closes at 9 pm, anyhow we left. We got back the hotel and hopped in the hot tub to relax for a bit.
Waking up at 6 am to load and get ready for the second day, we were at the gate by 7:30 after a quick breakfast. We started in the area the local told us about and used what he told us to use but got nothing. We moved out to the weed beds and let the boat float with the wind and current. We had fish on the screen but not on our lines.
We fished most of the morning on the weed beds producing one fish on a drop shot. I had a drop shot rig in the water and decided to look at the plastics I brought and set my pole down to go to the back of the boat and retrieve them. The next thing I hear is Shifty exclaim, "Oh NO!", I looked up and my pole was teetering on the edge, I ran and dove at the pole only to miss it and watch it sink to the bottom. Needless to say I was not happy with myself for losing a $150 set up! We tried to retrieve the pole by dragging large hooks through and across the bottom of the lake only to come up with grass. I contend that it had to be a state record Large Mouth Bass that stole my pole out of the boat. We moved after a bit and fished the west dike. I threw a swim bait toward the dike and got my first fish of the trip on a swim bait. Not big but it had fins and gills. We fished here for about two hours. I got one more throwing a crank bait again not big, but a fish. About the time were ready to move to a new location Shifty spotted two fish deep and dropped a drop shot on their heads and one took the bait. Shifty was happy and ready to continue working the same spot. I thought we were moving but I was wrong. He cast a few more times where the fish were and got nothing.
We left the water around 2 pm and made our way home. Bass fishing and I get along great when I can catch them on crank baits and swim baits as long as I'm casting, however drop shot and texas rigs are what they call "finesse" fishing but it is to slow for my ADD, but all reports were saying to use those methods and they produced some fish.
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| All the crap I bought to get skunked!!! |
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