This week took us to Southern Utah and Sand Hollow where Shifty is at his best. Wednesday morning started off with a frenzy! I set my alarm for 3:15.....I forgot I had set it to PM that week and didn't change it back. Luckily my wife gets up every morning early to workout and woke me at 3:45am. I immediately texted Shifty telling I am late and will get there quickly. He texted back not believing me saying he would be on the porch, he was shocked when I was not waiting for him and that I showed up at 4:05. I had most everything packed except for the cooler items and the lights were with me to make it a quick trip to his place. We hooked up the boat, we took the "Cruiser" on this trip and were on the road by 4:10 we were was ten minutes later than planned. We made it to Sand Hollow by 8:30 and were fishing the shallows by 8:45.
Fishing the shallows for topwater, Shifty was throwing a frog and getting action from what we could tell were bluegill or very small bass. No hookups. I worked a variety of topwater ploppers to spooks and poppers but no takers. We went to deeper water and Shifty went to his favorite tactic for bass fishing, drop shot, and ned rig. I worked various cranks and swimbaits. Shifty got a couple fish off the drop shot and a big ole jig, which I tried as well. This might be a good time to explain that I am not a bass fishing guy at least some of the techniques, and for this trip the techniques used by Shifty to catch the majority of the fish I do not care for. I am not into the drop shot or Texas rig or any other slow technique style, that works best for hot summer bite. Shifty, on the other hand, loves it and loves the heat of the summer. We fished for until noon and the wind got bad enough that we decided to go in. No, we weren't done fishing! We loaded the boat and went to the north dam and fished it from the bank. I did manage to catch a couple bass from the bank running crankbaits. I got my biggest of the trip from the red rock cliffs that surround some of the reservoir. I ended up with 3 tying me up with Shifty for the morning. We fished till nearly 4pm and was rained on most of that time but it felt great. We watched a kayak fisher come in and hit a spot just outside our casting distance with a ned rig and started slaying them immediately, that got Shifty's blood pumping.
We headed back to the truck and went to town to check-in at the hotel. We finally got something to eat. We hit Sportsman's Warehouse for some more stuff. I did pick up a swimbait that later proved good that evening. Oh yes, we went back to the lake to fish from the dike and let the boat charge at the hotel.
We got back on the lake around 5pm and fished until nightfall and we couldn't our lines. That evening proved okay for me. I got a Bluegill on a jerk bait, and some more Largemouth bass on both crankbaits and the swimbait I picked up at Sportsman's. I also caught a nice Black Crappie for the day making it a Sand Hollow trifecta. Shifty, on the other hand, was on fire with his Ned rig setup catching probably 15 Largemouth bass. He had a boat literally come within 20 feet of him and into his hole, he just kept fishing and catching fish and they were not.......LOL. We left the lake in darkness and smiles on our faces. Fatalities of the evening were on crankbait and my pole busted on a hook set, I contend it was a monster largemouth and would have shattered the state record.....LOL. We stopped at Nielsen's Frozen Custard for an evening treat.
Day 2 - found us up at 5:30 having breakfast at the hotel and loaded and on the road by 5:45 and at the lake at 6:15, they don't open gates until 6am. We launched and went to the north dike back to where the Kayak was killing it with the ned rig. Shifty threw out a ned rig and got a couple but nothing fast and furious we moved around for the morning and ended up over on the dike and in a good spot for Shifty's drop shot and ned rig style of fishing. He started catching monster Largemouth bass! I changed up and gave into the drop shot and finally landed a few smaller bass nothing like what Shifty was getting into. He slew the monsters that early afternoon. I was happy one of my ideas actually caught me a fish! The first fish in the series of pictures was actually caught by hand lining it in, Shifty's line went crazy and he went to cut the line and the fish was on the lure so I brought it in by hand while he fixed his line.....LOL!
We had a great trip and it wasn't blistering hot like it could have been, so I survived the trip okay. Shifty was in heaven with the heat and the slow techniques that he enjoys using. He did catch a lot of Largemouth bass for the 20 hours we put on the lake. I was happy with the trifecta and number of Largemouth bass I did manage to catch. Returned home that evening with good stories to tell and I hope you enjoyed some of them. Leave a comment if you want to know what Shifty was using and I will give you the information. I did get my pole replaced by Cabela's.
No comments:
Post a Comment