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Went on a bass fishing expedition yesterday. My bass flyfishing experience is fairly limited but I think I did quite well for my limitations. Here are some photos of my 12 hours on the water. Total score: 10 hookups. 5 bass landed (4 pounds to 5 1/4 pounds).
Here is a shot of some guys getting ready for their assault on the water. Yellow Super Fat Cats were everywhere. Some shop must have had a sale.
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Here's my ride. A much prettier color, don't you think?
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A shot of the launch.
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A beautiful Oregon lake.
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Once I figured out the pattern I was into the fish.
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Bass and basser. Mug shot inspired by ATFishing in an earllier post. What a pretty face! (The bass, I mean.) Just trying to be creative in the limited restraints of fishing alone.
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I was watched from on high. This is a shot of the lava flow that originally dammed this lake.
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Aerial bass mapping. A shot from above giving some length perpective.
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This one was the best fish of the day. A 5 1/4 pounder, hooked late in the day, that pulled my tube around in circles.
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Kicking back to the car. End of a perfect day.
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I must have kicked my tube about 4 miles. Boy am I sore today! Feeling my age. But after three Excedrin and a couple of cups of coffee, I'm starting to feel normal again. I may wait a few days to recover before another assault on the bass.
zonker
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[cool][#0000ff]Great report and great pics...except the mug shot. Puhleeeeeze! Too much beauty in one shot. (Ha)[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sounds like a fun trip. How was the overall success of the venture? As I recall you were trying to capture some fish for relocation or something?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I like the color of your ride. Close to the one I have. Only mine started out a darker green. It has been well aged, like fine vinegar.[/#0000ff]
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[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]Great report Uncle Z. Looks like you picked up some good sized bass for you little project you mentioned earlier. What were you using to catch those buggers? I want to start trying to catch them with flies.[/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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[size 1][size 1][b][#0000ff][size 2]""A shot of the launch.""[/size][/#0000ff] [/size][size 2] Tell me more about that lake. Big bass!! That looks like a real nice area to be fishing! Tuber's lake only? I would love to see one around somewhere! How different were the bass from the trout's fight?[/size][/b][/size]
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Great report and very nice pics, I wish we had more Bass that size around here. 3lbs around here are big for the most part and lots less than that. There are some bigguns around but are far and few between.
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Here's the story on the bass lake...
It is Davis Lake in Central Oregon. (I normally like to refrain from mentioning my fishing spots by name but this one is already being spread far and wide.) In the past it has been managed as a fly fishing only trophy trout lake (rainbows up to 10 pounds). As a high desert lake it grows trout very fast and big. Lots of aquatic insects. Tui Chubs. Perfect. But the lake has a problem. It is dammed by a natural lava flow and the lava leaks. No one has been successful patching it. In low water years the lake nearly disappears. Of course that kills off the trout. They cannot survive in the shallow, warm water. Previously, after a good water year or two the ODFW would rebuild the trout fishery with plants of trout adapted to alkaline waters. However, a few years ago some "midnight bucket biologists" took it upon themselves to introduce largemouth bass. This has also happened in nearby Crane Prairie Reservoir, which has damaged another top notch trophy trout lake. Now the lake (Davis) cannot simply be restocked with trout to rebuild because the established bass will (probably) kill off the trout plant. And they compete with the food sources. So ODFW is not yet sure what they are going to do. It is further complicated because the lake is connected by underground lava tubes to endangered Bull Trout habitat, which puts it under federal restrictions. Poisoning the lake is an iffy proposition. And if they did such, the midnight bucket guys would probably return and do their destructive deed.
In the meantime the bass have grown up. Many are like the ones in the pictures. With the fly only restrictions, even with no limit on largemouths, the fish can grow and keep growing to their full potential.
The reason I was writing about the need for a livewell in another post was because ODFW had decided to allow a bass fishing club (gear guys) to come in and help them survey the fish and reduce the numbers. Fly guys got wind of it and protested bending the fly only regs. So ODFW offered to let the fly guys help them with the survey provided they could catch at least 300 bass. If they do then the bass club gig will be cancelled. Plans are underway as I write this to gather an army of flyfishers. If they can't catch 300 bass ODFW will let in the gear guys and bass boats.
Frankly, I wouldn't be upset if they just decided to manage it as a trophy bass fly fishing lake. I love to flyfish for bass! To my knowledge there is nothing like that in this state. They already have a great start. It would seem that it would be low maintenance since the bass survive better. But Oregon is the land of salmon/trout/steelhead. Many fly guys don't know a largemouth bass from a fence post and don't really care to learn.
It was a wonderful trout lake. My all time favorite.
So it remains to be seen what will happen. In the meantime I have a few bass trips planned. I will also participate in the fishout in the hope that whatever happens the lake will still be a fly only lake. The gear guys (and I fish that way occasionally, too) have most of the rest of the state.
zonker (AKA, "Bassmaster" or "Stringleech" - at least for the next month)
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Zonker, have u gone back for that kind of fishing again?
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