05-25-2006, 04:36 AM
I went back to the Bass honey hole yesterday and did even better than last time. Weather was nasty. Whitecaps on the lake nearly turned me back after the 125 mile drive that started at 5 A.M. This shot was taken at a quieter moment.
[inline windy-1.jpg]
But I finally just decided to go out anyway figuring that the worst that could happen might be that my tube would get blown up on shore and I would have to walk back. That never happened, though at times I was riding swells that caused me to catch my breath. Sometimes it was like trying to fish from a pogo stick. A few sessions I was unable to kick against wind gusts and was moved backward or into the shore. I just had to stay stationary until a calm between the gusts.
[inline windy-2.jpg]
With all the commotion of the wind and the waves crashing onto the rocks on shore, the big guys and girls were on the prowel. This lake continues to pump out big bass like this:
[inline LMB-1.jpg]
And this:
[inline LMB-2.jpg]
And this:
[inline lmb-4.jpg]
The hot fly of the day was this Bunny Leech fished on a #4 fast sinking 30 foot shooting head. The fly is unweighted. I substituted melted weed eater cord for the regular dumbell eyes. Such a rig allows the fly to ride above the line as it works its way down the sloping shore into deep water.
[inline eel-1.jpg]
At times it got very dark.
[inline dark.jpg]
At one point a sneaker wave pitched me very hard sideways. I had a brand new (untethered) net laying in the back of my Super Fat Cat. Unknown to me at first, the commotion pitched the net into the water. I regained my composure just in time to turn around and watch the net sink out of sight. I had thought with the big foam handle it would float but not so. Bye bye net.
The fishing was so good that I could hardly cry long over the lost net though. And lipping bass is fairly easy over the edge of the tube.
[inline lmb-5.jpg]
[inline lmb-6.jpg]
It was interesting to compare the fishability of the tube with the pontoons and hard boats that were in the area. Unless the toon and boat guys anchored they were hopelessly spun around and off their fishing track. Most of them gave up and went in. Though it took some kicking, and I had to suffer a couple of painful leg cramps, I was able to keep my fly in the fish zone most of the time.
My final score for the day was 11 fish hooked, 8 landed. All of them were better than 4 pounds. The largest was a little better than 6. These four came to the shore at the end of the day.
[inline zzz3.jpg]
I would normally have released all of these prespawn fish. However, these bass are scheduled for removal during June. ODFW will attempt to take as many as possible with the help of fly fishermen (regs are fly fishing only) and augment the take by electrofishing the spawning beds. The bass will be kept alive and transported to other bass lakes. These bass aren't supposed to be here as this is a trophy trout lake. Electrofishing the spawning beds in the past probably accounts for the lack of smaller fish available right now. They're all lunkers. While such a statement borders on blasphemy here in trouty Oregon, it wouldn't break my heart if they started managing this lake as a trophy bass lake. But I guess that isn't in the plans. Anyway, the fishing is nice while it lasts. I hope to make it over one more time before the big fishout. It's gonna be hard to go back to regular fishing after this.
zonker
[signature]
[inline windy-1.jpg]
But I finally just decided to go out anyway figuring that the worst that could happen might be that my tube would get blown up on shore and I would have to walk back. That never happened, though at times I was riding swells that caused me to catch my breath. Sometimes it was like trying to fish from a pogo stick. A few sessions I was unable to kick against wind gusts and was moved backward or into the shore. I just had to stay stationary until a calm between the gusts.
[inline windy-2.jpg]
With all the commotion of the wind and the waves crashing onto the rocks on shore, the big guys and girls were on the prowel. This lake continues to pump out big bass like this:
[inline LMB-1.jpg]
And this:
[inline LMB-2.jpg]
And this:
[inline lmb-4.jpg]
The hot fly of the day was this Bunny Leech fished on a #4 fast sinking 30 foot shooting head. The fly is unweighted. I substituted melted weed eater cord for the regular dumbell eyes. Such a rig allows the fly to ride above the line as it works its way down the sloping shore into deep water.
[inline eel-1.jpg]
At times it got very dark.
[inline dark.jpg]
At one point a sneaker wave pitched me very hard sideways. I had a brand new (untethered) net laying in the back of my Super Fat Cat. Unknown to me at first, the commotion pitched the net into the water. I regained my composure just in time to turn around and watch the net sink out of sight. I had thought with the big foam handle it would float but not so. Bye bye net.
The fishing was so good that I could hardly cry long over the lost net though. And lipping bass is fairly easy over the edge of the tube.
[inline lmb-5.jpg]
[inline lmb-6.jpg]
It was interesting to compare the fishability of the tube with the pontoons and hard boats that were in the area. Unless the toon and boat guys anchored they were hopelessly spun around and off their fishing track. Most of them gave up and went in. Though it took some kicking, and I had to suffer a couple of painful leg cramps, I was able to keep my fly in the fish zone most of the time.
My final score for the day was 11 fish hooked, 8 landed. All of them were better than 4 pounds. The largest was a little better than 6. These four came to the shore at the end of the day.
[inline zzz3.jpg]
I would normally have released all of these prespawn fish. However, these bass are scheduled for removal during June. ODFW will attempt to take as many as possible with the help of fly fishermen (regs are fly fishing only) and augment the take by electrofishing the spawning beds. The bass will be kept alive and transported to other bass lakes. These bass aren't supposed to be here as this is a trophy trout lake. Electrofishing the spawning beds in the past probably accounts for the lack of smaller fish available right now. They're all lunkers. While such a statement borders on blasphemy here in trouty Oregon, it wouldn't break my heart if they started managing this lake as a trophy bass lake. But I guess that isn't in the plans. Anyway, the fishing is nice while it lasts. I hope to make it over one more time before the big fishout. It's gonna be hard to go back to regular fishing after this.
zonker
[signature]
]