Weather Clear Blue Bird Skies
Temp 30-50 Deg
Water Temp 54 Deg
Water Stained
I have been making trips to Bullards bar in December for a few years now. I go there to get away from the crowded Lakes and Fish what to me is a Mini Lake Shasta Look Alike. This Lake truly is a Special place and needs to be treated as so. Im on the Hunt for Trophy sized Spotted Bass and this is the place for that fish of a Lifetime. Dont expect a on Fire type of fishing,this is a grind it out type of Lake,but the rewards are well worth it.
Dan McElroy and I arrived early at about 6:30 Am we were the First Boat there. The lake is still really low,but has risen a few feet just this week alone. We launched at Dark Day launch ramp. I would advise caution as the weather cools you may encounter Black ICE when heading down the road to the ramp. Make sure you have good Tires and drive slow when towing your boat.
Dark Day Launch Ramp
Overall Fishing the Blue Bird Skies condition was tough for us on the bigger fish. We had alot of short bites throughout the day. There is no shortage of small fish here right now as we did manage to catch alot of small fish. In fact I would say the future is bright,but its going to be a few years before all these little fish grow up. We fished from 2ft to 80ft deep trying to locate the bigger fish and figure out their mood and location. I fished with Hula Grubs on Freedom Tackle Hybrid Jig Heads, I use these because they give me a totally weedless Jig Head and I can use my favorite Daiichi Hooks on them since the Hooks are interchangeable with this Hybrid Jig head System. I only lost 1 jig all day! We tossed crank baits, Swimbaits,Tubes, Yamamoto Senko’s and VMC Rugby Heads with Roboworms in 7″ sizes. I really like these VMC Football Style Shakey Heads they allow me to fish all the wood lay downs and stumps without loosing tackle. We did not find a reaction bite at all. The better Fish were caught in 5-15ft and 25-30ft. We hopped around from spot to spot until we marked fish on the Lowrance HDS8 then we would slow down and fish thoroughly to get bites. Below is a good shot of when i would get the better bites. You can see the bait ball on the Graph with the Big Spotted Bass below them. I had 3 bites in a short time when I found this. i was able to boat 2 of the fish. You can see this was the end of a long flat tapering point with a dropoff nearbye. The Pondsmelt and the Kokanee would swim up and over this flat point and the Bass would get active when this happened.
The fish were biting much lighter than normal, I think its due to all the fishing pressure the lake is receiving. I would let the fish hold the bait a bit before setting the hook, this was a key to getting the Bigger Fish Hooked. My better fish ranged from 4Lb-12oz to my personal best 8Lb-01oz.
8Lb-01oz Spotted Bass caught on a Yamamoto Senko in 15ft of water.
A 4Lb-12oz Spotted Bass caught in 25ft of water on a VMC Rugby Head on a 7″ Roboworm
A 5Lb Spotted Bass caught on a Yamamoto Senko in 5ft of water
A 6Lb Spotted Bass caught in 25ft of water on a VMC Rugby Head on a 7″ Roboworm
All fish are caught using Abu Garcia Reels and Abu Garcia Veritas Rods with Berkley Trilene 100% Flourocarbon 6Lb and 15Lb test line. All fish are caught and released immediately after taking pictures to preserve this Trophy Fishery. Please handle these fish carefully and practice catch and release.
Good Luck
Ron Howe
RB BASS ANGLER
