04-06-2009, 05:27 AM
My club tournament was supposed to be at Sand Hollow but due to an ABA tournament at Sand Hollow we decided to fish at Quail instead...should have fished SH anyway.
I drove down Friday in mostly snow and some rain and fished Quail from 2:30-6:00pm. I cruised around, checked temps, depths, structure, etc. The bass were not biting at all. I had one one bite on a 10" worm while I was feeding out line and had too much slack to set the hook and missed.
Saturday: Cold front had moved out-blue bird skies and cold. Not exactly ideal conditions, I could see the fresh snow on the mountains while in my boat at Quail in April!!! The sun had just crested over the cliff and I could feel the warmth on back despite the many layers of clothing. Now I was fishing in the cold water, cold breeze, cold fishing and I had a 20' shadow of me and my boat on the water...not good. I was thinking about where to fish while my jig was sinking fast, as soon as it hit the bottom in 17' of water, the end of the weed line according to the finder, the line went slack and curled down and away from me, I reached the bottom. I was just about to drag it when my line slightly 'bumped'.....swings are free so I set the hook and to my disappointment I was hung up in some junk or something. I kept pressure on the line and it all of a sudden broke loose and headed towards the surface. I knew I had a fish then and stuck my pole about three feet in the water trying to keep it from jumping to no avail. She lazily tried to jump and shake the hook but it was like it was in slow motion, the cold water had made her very lethargic. She tried to jump again but I forced her down, my co-angler grabbed the net and said "take your time" but it was like reeling in a log. She made one last run but had no energy and I simply dragged her in to the net and I let a "whooo!".
That was the only fish I caught on Saturday. 22" 6lbs. 6oz. It was the only bite that I had, despite seeing the bass hiding in bushes and under ledges I could not get them to bite. Greg caught two bass, everybody else blanked.
Sunday: Cold morning again, where to fish? I threw everything I had the day before so we headed towards the dam fishing the cliffs. A guy who wasn't in our club hooked in to a 6-7+ pounder on a swimbait but it shook it right at his boat. I felt bad for him but as slow as it was I was excited to see somebody catch something.
Of course, I tied on a swimbait just like the one he had but it would not run true no matter what I did to it so I tied on a LFT Live Shad and had some interested but no motive.
Moved to the North end where the water temp was 1.5-2 degrees warmer the day before only to find out that the temp had leveled out with the main lake, around 50.5*
I was drifting with the breeze throwing everything I had and convienantly my boat rested against two stick-ups about 40' from the shore. I was in nine feet of water, water was as clear as a presidential lie but I did not have to fight the wind. I stayed there fishing the small brush piles for about a half hour when I saw the most beautiful thing I've seen all day. I saw a bass come out of a brushpile and look at my craw, swim around it, and go back in...game on.
I threw threw the craw I had tied on for a while hoping that it was making a nest in the thick pile of brush that he would defend against intruders. I was about to move on when he came after it FINALLY!!!...Nope, turned around.
I looked at my other rods, I needed a rod with some heavy line. I quickly tied on a Lake Fork Hyper-Worm and flipped it into the brush pile. As it was sinking I got a tap-tap, felt the weight on the line and set the hook. To my amazement he came flying out of the brush pile and under my boat. I had the heavy line to pull him/her out of the brush but my drag was not set right and it zinged out line real quick. I adjusted the drag and pulled him right to me, measured 15 3/4. Took a pic and let him go. That was my only fish on Sunday.
A couple days of good weather and Quail should be right on track.
[inline bigfishQuail.jpg]
[inline "2nd fish.jpg"]
[signature]
I drove down Friday in mostly snow and some rain and fished Quail from 2:30-6:00pm. I cruised around, checked temps, depths, structure, etc. The bass were not biting at all. I had one one bite on a 10" worm while I was feeding out line and had too much slack to set the hook and missed.
Saturday: Cold front had moved out-blue bird skies and cold. Not exactly ideal conditions, I could see the fresh snow on the mountains while in my boat at Quail in April!!! The sun had just crested over the cliff and I could feel the warmth on back despite the many layers of clothing. Now I was fishing in the cold water, cold breeze, cold fishing and I had a 20' shadow of me and my boat on the water...not good. I was thinking about where to fish while my jig was sinking fast, as soon as it hit the bottom in 17' of water, the end of the weed line according to the finder, the line went slack and curled down and away from me, I reached the bottom. I was just about to drag it when my line slightly 'bumped'.....swings are free so I set the hook and to my disappointment I was hung up in some junk or something. I kept pressure on the line and it all of a sudden broke loose and headed towards the surface. I knew I had a fish then and stuck my pole about three feet in the water trying to keep it from jumping to no avail. She lazily tried to jump and shake the hook but it was like it was in slow motion, the cold water had made her very lethargic. She tried to jump again but I forced her down, my co-angler grabbed the net and said "take your time" but it was like reeling in a log. She made one last run but had no energy and I simply dragged her in to the net and I let a "whooo!".
That was the only fish I caught on Saturday. 22" 6lbs. 6oz. It was the only bite that I had, despite seeing the bass hiding in bushes and under ledges I could not get them to bite. Greg caught two bass, everybody else blanked.
Sunday: Cold morning again, where to fish? I threw everything I had the day before so we headed towards the dam fishing the cliffs. A guy who wasn't in our club hooked in to a 6-7+ pounder on a swimbait but it shook it right at his boat. I felt bad for him but as slow as it was I was excited to see somebody catch something.
Of course, I tied on a swimbait just like the one he had but it would not run true no matter what I did to it so I tied on a LFT Live Shad and had some interested but no motive.
Moved to the North end where the water temp was 1.5-2 degrees warmer the day before only to find out that the temp had leveled out with the main lake, around 50.5*
I was drifting with the breeze throwing everything I had and convienantly my boat rested against two stick-ups about 40' from the shore. I was in nine feet of water, water was as clear as a presidential lie but I did not have to fight the wind. I stayed there fishing the small brush piles for about a half hour when I saw the most beautiful thing I've seen all day. I saw a bass come out of a brushpile and look at my craw, swim around it, and go back in...game on.
I threw threw the craw I had tied on for a while hoping that it was making a nest in the thick pile of brush that he would defend against intruders. I was about to move on when he came after it FINALLY!!!...Nope, turned around.
I looked at my other rods, I needed a rod with some heavy line. I quickly tied on a Lake Fork Hyper-Worm and flipped it into the brush pile. As it was sinking I got a tap-tap, felt the weight on the line and set the hook. To my amazement he came flying out of the brush pile and under my boat. I had the heavy line to pull him/her out of the brush but my drag was not set right and it zinged out line real quick. I adjusted the drag and pulled him right to me, measured 15 3/4. Took a pic and let him go. That was my only fish on Sunday.
A couple days of good weather and Quail should be right on track.
[inline bigfishQuail.jpg]
[inline "2nd fish.jpg"]
[signature]