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A NEW HONEY HOLE TO CHECK OUT!
By: Ron Wilson
February 26, 2004....
Last Saturday I took a trip to the foothills near Angels Camp with my
cousin Blaine Wilson,
son Donald and grandson Derrick, to fish a private bass fishing resort
that Blaine belongs to. There is a main lake and several ponds that dot
the property.
Blaine was standing in
the rain tossing a small chartreuse spinner bait. Grandson Derick, also
getting soaked, was throwing worms. Son Donald and I were in my suburban
catching up on all the latest gossip and goings on in the world in
general.
We like fishing but
since we didn't bring any raingear we opted to sit the rainstorm out until
things settled down. Instead we watched as Blaine caught a nice bass in
the 3-pound class.
Blaine had several
years experience fishing the lake and knew that a small frog pattern
spinnerbait was one of the keys to success.
Once the rain let up
we got out and did a little fishing, but had no success. Blaine hooked
another nice fish but lost it.
There are several ponds on the property that all have fish. Wanting to see
more of the property we decided it was time to move onto the next pond.
One thing I found about fishing ponds is that you have to find exactly
what the bass are feeding on, otherwise you would swear there’s not a fish
anywhere!
I
knew there was a monster bass living in the pond we visited next. I saw a
pound plus crappie floating on the surface that had been chewed up pretty
good. The wounds were bad enough to be fatal, however it was to large for
the bass to swallow and he never even got a meal for his efforts.
We unhooked my boat and headed up the hill to another pond that was about
10 aces in size. Blaine said there were some monster bass that lived
there, but we never got so much as a nibble.
I
know one thing, when its “frog time”, this summer, there should be some
awesome fishing on this pond. The moss and grass never died off this year.
We headed back down to the main lake and launched the boat. Blaine said
there were bass, crappie, perch and catfish in there.
I
knew there were crappie because I saw one of last years hatches floating
on top of the water after something killed it.
I
started moving down the bank and watching the depth finder, my main
concern was finding the structure and where the fish were hiding.
From what I could see on the depth finder most of the fish were 8 to 10
feet deep in the grass or right on top of it.
Fishing was tough; the weather pretty much had their mouths shut. Derick
said “I like Kelsey Bass Ranch better grandpa.” I had to remind him that I
had Kelsey’s pretty much figured out from years of fishing there and knew
where and what baits to throw to catch fish. This was a new area and he
would have to wait until grandpa figured out what the fish wanted.
 I
tried all kinds of baits with no luck. I then put on a watermelon/grape
Brushog and soon was rewarded with a nice bass. He just sucked it up after
I twitched it off the grass.
We went on around the lake to the spillway. There were fish hanging down
at 18 to 24 feet with some suspended at 12 feet, however they could have
been anything.
At the spillway a nice bass grabbed my bait, headed sideways and buried me
in the grass. He tied me up so quickly I was lucky to get my bait back
after he spit it!
I
headed up the other side of the lake looking at the depth finder. Nothing
really excited me as the only pattern I could find was bass stacked on a
10 to 12 foot break near the bottom of a grassy point that had wind
blowing baitfish onto it.
I
motored back to that spot and Donald caught one on a junebug ringworm. I
scored again and then the wind really started blowing.
It was really getting cold as the wind swept down the ravine and over the
water. The chill seemed to be going right to our bones.
I
said lets call it a day and head to Angels Camp for a lunch break.
Everyone was all for that idea!
Derick had a ball looking at a bald eagle, all the honkers, swans and
various wild ducks that were on the lake. But unfortunately his black bass
fix will have to wait for another day.
I’m sure when I head back to the mountains to wet a line with my cousin,
Derick will be right there with us, trying his best to catch more fish
than we do!
It's a little early for the bass to really turn on, but give them a week
of water warming sunshine and look out!
One of the telltale signs that signal “bass'n time,” is the blossoms on
the trees. When they start blooming, get ready it won't be long! |
