How Are Things On the West Coast? 05/24/2012

I decided to hit one of my favorite little bass reservoirs to see how it was fishing.  It had been quite warm, but on this day it was sleeting on me while I rigged up my tube.  The day was a mixture of sun, clouds, sleet and rain, wind and calm.  I wasn't expecting much because of the inclement weather, but I was pleasantly surprised to nail a nice bass almost immediately on a spinnerbait.  I was also surprised to find the water in the upper 60s already.

The day was steady, I caught many bass on spinnerbaits fished parallel to shore along the rushes, and when the wind would die I would clean up with a soft jerkbait.

I really wanted to fish the far bank, but two other tubers were working it.  Once they left, I made a b-line for the far shore.  I immediately caught a spunky little bass on a Jackall Squirrel 67.

I love fishing miniature hard baits on light tackle.  The wind started blowing fairly hard again, so I went back to fishing the spinnerbait.  I switched over to a more compact bait, a Lucky Craft Redemption spinnerbait.  On the first cast I nailed this slot buster.

With the crystal clear water, I was able to watch her ambush the spinnerbait not far from the tube.  This far bank was on fire.  I was nailing fish after fish on the spinnerbait.  There was a slight lull in the wind, so I went back to the soft jerkbait.  I got to try out a new bait I just started shooting.  The bass approved.

I was really impressed by this little bait's ability to walk the dog on the surface, and even jump and skip across the surface like a fleeing baitfish.  The bass were also impressed with this.  I switched back and forth between the jerkbait and the spinnerbait with consistent success.

I glanced at my watch and realized I needed to get home.  I was sad to leave on such a productive day, but I was still on thin ice from staying too late on my 100 fish day a week prior.  I fought the wind back across the lake, but it wasn't a complete loss.  I broke out the fly rod and trolled a bugger as I went, picking up a couple of little chrome rockets along the way.

I love Kamloops, they're absolutely nuts.  I made a couple more casts with the spinnerbait as I worked my way along the bank towards the takeout point and managed a few more small bass.  I ended up with 51 bass and two trout in under four hours.  That was definitely better than I expected with the weather and a great change from last spring's lackluster action there.

Total for Trip:  51 largemouth, 2 rainbows

Total for Year:  548 fish