Fishing Rockport Rainbows and Smallmouth

Last Thursday Shifty and I hopped on the Fish Steeler and fished Rockport Reservoir. We arrived at the lake at sunrise and were the first on the lake. We started the morning off trolling hard baits and covered the water column with different depths of diving crankbaits.

Shifty was on fire after he put on a Flicker Shad purple tiger. He caught the first of many nice sized Rainbow Trout for the day. The first was a decent 2 pounder. Then a first happened for us while trolling. We turned off the cliffs and started across the channel and Shifty got a hit. I hate it when he calls his catch which he did, but this wasn't the normal trout hit. He thought he had a perch online, but as it got closer we could see the bronze reflection of the smallmouth bass. He got it boat side and hauled it in. Total surprise catch while trolling. He returned it to the lake and kept moving.

We trolled most of the morning and Shifty kept catching fish as we changed lanes. Yes, I put on a purple tiger but it wasn't getting action like his. He then put on a shad style and got hit on it quickly I changed out to spoon that mimicked the same colors as his shad. I finally got a hit and hook up. The Rainbow trout gave a good fight, but we got it in the "Net". That pretty well ended the morning bite for trout. We fished for another hour running the roadside lane and didn't get another hit. 

After the bite shut down, we changed tactics and went for Smallmouth bass. We started and stayed in the small cove and rocks at the dam. We were in the nursery for sure. We caught a lot but nothing of size. We fished multiple crankbaits, colors, depths, and actions and all produced. The best part for me was catching 2 more rainbows while casting crankbaits. I enjoy catching trout on crankbaits especially rainbows they give such great battles on crankbaits. 

 

We fished into the early afternoon and called it a day. We headed for home and stopped at The Junction in Heber for lunch. A great mom and pop shop with excellent food. We took home 8 nice rainbow trout and Shifty put them in the smoker.