08-04-2012, 06:25 AM
Let me start off by saying I LOVE SAND HOLLOW. I was farting around a few nights ago at home and couldn't sleep, so I thought to myself, "Self, it's 12:00am and if we start getting ready now, we can be on the water at Sand Hollow at dawn..." Ya, that's actually how it went. So I told Mrs. Trout that I was having one of those "things" and I simply must pack up and go -- damn, it's hard to find a good woman, but I lucked out. Got the pontoon boat loaded, rods ready, flies packed. On the road by 1am and 4.5 hours later, I was almost there. I was just patting myself on the back when I was pulling into the main parking lot thinking, "Boy Self, you sure timed this perfectly. Looks like the sun will be up any minute now, and you've positioned yourself to be on the killing fields when it happens." Unfortunately, the locked gate and sign that said "Park Hours 6AM to 10PM" put a damper on my self-love.
Fine, the dawn slaughter would have to wait until dawn-thirty, no worries.
I didn't sniff a breeze until about noon and even then it was only a mild one. I caught dozens of LMB and a few gigantic blue gill, all on flies and all in the shallow water that had cover. I caught them on the top, I caught them with wooly buggers, I caught them on pheasant tails. In fact, I don't think I tied anything on that didn't catch fish. The only thing grinding my gears was that my first 100 fish or so only generated a 14 incher as the king. I'm not one to complain, but I could see several 20+ monsters lurking and cruising. Nothing is as exciting and/or frustrating as seeing a killer like that and not being able to get it to bite.
I switched to my spinning rod and plastics and it was game on. I continued to slay LMB on just about everything, but of course, the Senko was the plastic of choice. Still, those big bastages were eluding me, and I couldn't figure out why. To make a long story short, I continued to fish until dark only taking a small break to pee -- good Lord have mercy, that was a hell of a pee -- and to drink a few Gatorades. I did manage to finally roll one of those big fella's that I was able to site cast with my fly rod. He took a chartreuse bodied wooly bugger with brown marabou tail and brown collar. Once I set the hook he was off like a dirty shirt, and I wasn't able to get him out of the brush. But man, what a rush! If I hadn't run out of Senko's, they would've been the Lure O' The Day, but alas, I only had two packs. The king, however, was a 2" white swim bait on a road runner style jig head (the kind w/ the spinner blade) -- nothing too big or fancy, but the bass wouldn't leave it alone. Once I destroyed all of my white plastics, I switched to a size 0 silver blue fox and had just about the same success.
I was totally bummed because I SO wanted to keep that monster and dedicate it to BASSRODS. Oh well, maybe next time. My phone died about an hour into my trip (stupid roaming) so I was only able to manage a few worthless pictures. All in all, I've never had a day like I had that day, and it was amazing. My best was 17 fish on 17 straight casts. Boo ya.
![[Image: IMG-20120729-01221.jpg]](http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/flakestein/IMG-20120729-01221.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-20120729-01226.jpg]](http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/flakestein/IMG-20120729-01226.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-20120729-01222.jpg]](http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/flakestein/IMG-20120729-01222.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-20120729-01223.jpg]](http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/flakestein/IMG-20120729-01223.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-20120729-01224.jpg]](http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/flakestein/IMG-20120729-01224.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-20120729-01225.jpg]](http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m71/flakestein/IMG-20120729-01225.jpg)
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Fine, the dawn slaughter would have to wait until dawn-thirty, no worries.
I didn't sniff a breeze until about noon and even then it was only a mild one. I caught dozens of LMB and a few gigantic blue gill, all on flies and all in the shallow water that had cover. I caught them on the top, I caught them with wooly buggers, I caught them on pheasant tails. In fact, I don't think I tied anything on that didn't catch fish. The only thing grinding my gears was that my first 100 fish or so only generated a 14 incher as the king. I'm not one to complain, but I could see several 20+ monsters lurking and cruising. Nothing is as exciting and/or frustrating as seeing a killer like that and not being able to get it to bite.
I switched to my spinning rod and plastics and it was game on. I continued to slay LMB on just about everything, but of course, the Senko was the plastic of choice. Still, those big bastages were eluding me, and I couldn't figure out why. To make a long story short, I continued to fish until dark only taking a small break to pee -- good Lord have mercy, that was a hell of a pee -- and to drink a few Gatorades. I did manage to finally roll one of those big fella's that I was able to site cast with my fly rod. He took a chartreuse bodied wooly bugger with brown marabou tail and brown collar. Once I set the hook he was off like a dirty shirt, and I wasn't able to get him out of the brush. But man, what a rush! If I hadn't run out of Senko's, they would've been the Lure O' The Day, but alas, I only had two packs. The king, however, was a 2" white swim bait on a road runner style jig head (the kind w/ the spinner blade) -- nothing too big or fancy, but the bass wouldn't leave it alone. Once I destroyed all of my white plastics, I switched to a size 0 silver blue fox and had just about the same success.
I was totally bummed because I SO wanted to keep that monster and dedicate it to BASSRODS. Oh well, maybe next time. My phone died about an hour into my trip (stupid roaming) so I was only able to manage a few worthless pictures. All in all, I've never had a day like I had that day, and it was amazing. My best was 17 fish on 17 straight casts. Boo ya.
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