Posts: 1,919
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2002
Reputation:
0
Well, with the onset of the cold weather and the first ice ups being 4 weeks off, I assume the best of the best smallmouth fishing is over for the year on jordanelle.
The funny thing is, in 2003 there were some real huge smallmouth being caught pretty regularly. In 2004 the big smallmouth went off like a rocket. You couldnt go a single weekend without hearing about someone getting a 5 or 6 lber.
Working at the tackle shop this year, and being on the web and in the bass federation I thought for sure I would hear about a ton of those 5 and 6 lbers now bigger. But this year seemed to have very little in the way of real big fish reports going around.
No doubt they are in there, and maybee they did get caught as much or even at a higher rate than last year and we just didnt hear about it. Maybee folks just kept it quiet.
Or, maybee this year was a real tough year up there.
What do you guys think? Did you hear about a ton of big ones and I just missed it or was there really a lack of the big ones being brought to the boat?
And by big ones I mean fish in a minimum of five pounds, but the real nice ones being the 6 & 7 lbers.
Sure there was a zillion 4 lbs caught this year, no doubt about it.
[signature]
Posts: 1,897
Threads: 0
Joined: Aug 2004
Reputation:
0
Last year I caught several in the 5 lb range. This year was rough. Alot of 2-3 pounders and only a couple 4-5's.
Jordanelle was pretty darn consistant this year with the 2-3 pounders which isn't bad but I hit Jordanelle so much this year and really was surprised by the lack of monsters that were biting this year.
Then again the year has been wierd for all the fisheries. Some fish spawned early, some spawned late, some didn't spawn at all. Alot of factors are at play this year with the high water and different water temps and conditions from previous years.
Maybe the big ones had so much of a pick as for feeding that they keyed in on one particular food source (chub minnows, perch minnows, etc) or are smartening up? Doubtful but it was odd to see so few big ones caught this year.
Let's hope we see some levelling out and normal fish patterns next year.
[signature]
Posts: 2,501
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2004
Reputation:
1
I fished the X about once per week this summer in the tube and all of the trips seemed to be about the same, catch several fish, get a few in the 2-3 lb class, no behemoths. (1-2 on the yr in the 4 lb.) I didn't catch phenomenal numbers on single trips like I did last year, but always had some good action. My impression was that with the high water and freshly flooded structure, the fish were spread out more than they were last season, but there is probably more to it than that.
[signature]
Posts: 6,126
Threads: 3
Joined: Jan 2005
Reputation:
1
In 04 I boated 43 smalles over 5 lb with 17 over 6 lb I hoped to do better this year but only ended up with 13 over 5 lb and all came before July 18 after that zip.
I know there was a fish die off this spring of perch and last year the DWR and other helped to get perch for Yuba and other lakes.
I met some divers at Jordanelle around the end of july that said they seen some big smalles dead on the bottom .
I hope that with the perch die off did not hurt the bigger bass , I know that the smalles that was over 15 to 16 in. wade less this year then last year and fish over 20 in was 1 to 1 1/2 lb lighter then last year and the 3 to 6 inch perch was few if any and that is what the bigger smalles live on.
.
[signature]
Posts: 78
Threads: 0
Joined: Jun 2005
Reputation:
0
I think Dog is right. More water and the fish adjusted to the change. But as anglers we fished the same baits in the same places time after time.
[signature]
Posts: 1,020
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2003
Reputation:
0
Your right bro,
I saw several six's come out this year ... but the water was much higher. Numerous times I was on the back of someone else's boat and they stayed pretty much in the same spots as the year before. There are some freakin huge bass in there. I don't think the numbers have changed it's just that the bigger fish are much smarter and utilize their energy and muscle a lot less. The bigger fish I caught were always in deeper water or in the back of cuts in thick @ss structure. They are in there just going to be harder to catch.
Future tactics will suggest less dropshotting and more pitching & flipping thick structure. This is a good thing ... keeps a good balance for the smaller fish and let's not forget the toad Largemouth in there.
This lake is no different in cycles as well. It will cycle through and have some down years. Jeeze, the water levels have fluctuated so much ... The fish were goin' "what the crap"?
[signature]
