Monday, April 2, 2012

Lake Amistad - 03/30/2012 and 04/01/2012


I arrived at Lake Amistad, at a park just off of 277, about 6:00 P.M. on Friday, March 30th.  The weather was nice, about 90 degrees, with high skies and a slight breeze.  I loaded up my Cuda with my “big-bass” gear and headed out.  I was aiming to catch one big bass for the Kayak Bass Fishing King of Spring event and the 30th was my last chance.  I chose this area because I felt it would be a great spawning flat, and should hold some solid females.  The cove has a gradual slopping bank on both sides and has a mixture of limestone, gravel, and mud bottom, and is covered in submerged mesquite trees.  The lake level was way down, leaving the cove to slope from nothing to about 12-15 feet at it deepest point and then back up.  My goal was to fish the deeper water, from about 8 to 15 feet in search of the larger female bass that either just finished spawning or were just about to.  

On my second cast I landed an 18 in bass.  Not bad, but not what I was looking for.  I needed a fish over 25.75 inches to win, or a fish of 21.5 inches to get in the top ten.  I kept casting my crankbait, a Rapala Fat Rap in a Bluegill pattern, with BioEdge sunfish scent wand swiped on. that dove to about 6 feet.  It was my thought that the bass where either chasing predators off the nests and therefore were looking for sunfish.  A few casts later I hooked into bass number two that got off right at the boat.  No big deal, it was a keeper size fish, but again not what I was looking for.  I moved deeper, to about 12 feet of water and tied on the same pattern crankbait, same scent, that dives to about 10 feet.  I fished it for a while, and could tell I was smashing into some trees with it, but I wasn’t getting bit.  So…I switched back to the 6’ diver and started throwing it again.  It was just nicking the tops of the trees.  I caught another keeper bass almost immediately, so I knew this is what they wanted.  

A few cast later, about 45 minutes into my day, I hooked into a big fish.  She smashed my crankbait and dove straight into the trees.  I thankfully pulled her out and got her to the kayak.  She barely fit into the net!  I finally landed the big girl and put her on the board to measure:

Awww…21.25.  Just short!  Oh well, she was a good fish.  

I made a few more cast with the crank and caught a couple more small fish, all under 14 inches.  My guess is they were males.  So I tried to slow down and throw a big jig.  Unfortunately, the wind was picking up and I had forgotten my anchor.   I was getting blown around way too fast to fish the jig…so I had to go back to the crankbait. 

I was able to fish for another hour before it got too dark and I had to head home.

The next day I was busy and was unable to fish, but I could head out again Sunday after Church.  It was April 1st, April Fool’s Day, and the first day of the next Kayak Bass Fishing Tournament.  I thought, well I will just head back out to the same place, and try and pick up a few nice fish.  It would be great to get something on the board this early.  I arrived at the lake at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  It was getting pretty warm pretty quickly.  I remembered to grab my anchor this time too.  I just knew it was going to be a good day!  I started throwing the Rapala 6 foot crank…and caught nothing.  I switched to the 10 foot crank thinking the fish were deeper…and caught nothing.  I switched to a jig and fished it slow, and fast, deep, and shallow….and caught nothing.  It was very very windy and even with the anchor I was being blown around. 

I kept moving around the cove, throwing crankbaits, jigs, and spinnerbaits trying to find the fish.  Later in the afternoon, I picked up one 14 inch bass, then nothing again for another hour or so at least.  I fished until about 8:30 when a nice sized storm blew in and forced me off the lake.  I managed to scratch 3 fish out of the lake, all on a crankbait.  The longest was only 16 inches, so…I didn't even bother taking a picture.

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