ART HILL
02-19-2009, 03:02 PM
I had a re-schedule for yesterday's guide trip, so with a free day, I called my friend Scott, and asked my son Art Jr. if they wanted to hit up the lake. Like they were going to say no. We arrived at the lake to a bone chilling 27 degees. After loading up, and launching, we headed off to see if the fish wanted to play. At our first stop I picked up the swimbait rod, Art Jr. grabbed the jerkbait, and Scott used a jig.
On my third cast with the swimbait, I got hammered, but missed the fish. That would be my only hit on the big bait. The swimbait I was using is the "BLT" from Optimum Bait Company. If you have not used this bait, you really need to. And it is not a high dollar bait either. About $8.00. I have caught a lot of fish at Vail on this bait. You can see this bait, and the Ima "Flits" by clicking on the Optimum Bait Company link at the bottom of my website.
The jerkbait Art Jr. was using was the "Flit" from Ima, and we had been given 5 new colors to test. Our only problem was the bass were not eating the jerkbait. The cold had pushed them down deep. Usually you can find some shallow fish at Vail, but yesterday was not the case.
After 15 minutes, and nothing but frozen fingers, we moved to another spot that was in the sun, where we could warm up, and hopefully find fish. After arriving at the new location, I started metering fish at 25 feet. I decided to go with the dropshot, and on my first cast I was on. A nice healthy fish of about 2.5 pounds.
I was using my new favorite color, "Scared Shad", from "AA" Worms. I have been using this new color for a couple of months now, and it just kills at Vail. It should work anywhere though. You will be able to purchase this worm at Blue Water Tackle in Temecula very soon. Stop in and ask Kevin, or Dave, for it. And for those that may not already know this, Morning Dawn works great at Vail also. It's not just for Diamond Valley Lake.
We proceeded to hit all the main lake points, and every point was holding fish. We would catch 3 or 4 at every stop. We also would go back to some of the points for a second go round, and pick off a few more. This would be our tactic for the remainder of the day.
Art Jr. was fishing the Carolina Rig for most of the day, while my friend and I stuck with the dropshot. Both techniques worked well for us. The day turned out to be perfect with very little wind, a warm day, and lots of fish. We ended our day with somewhere between 45 and 50 fish. The last hour and a half was crazy, as we found a spot where the fish were stacked up, and all were willing to bite. Had we not found these bass, we would have ended up with around 25 fish. We had double hookups, and one triple hookup at this spot.
Most of the fish yesterday were in the 2.5 to 3 pound range, and they were all fat, healthy fish. They are gorging on shad right now, and these are big shad their eating. Our biggest fish was a few that went 4#. We had no giants yesterday, but plenty of quality fish to make it fun. It won't be long, and soon we will be back to our 100+ fish days.
I have guide trips tomorrow, Sunday, and Wednesday, so I will be reporting how they turn out. With the warm weather it should be great out there. We have another small weather system coming in on Monday, so I am looking foward to that. Vail is insane during a cold front. By the way, yesterdays action was on the backend of a cold front, and those are usually tough days.
I am already booked for the first two weeks of March, but I have openings starting with the third week. If anyone is interested in a trip to Vail, just give me call, or send me an e-mail. You can book a trip through my website as well.
Thanks,
Art
www.vaillakeguideservice.com (http://www.vaillakeguideservice.com)
On my third cast with the swimbait, I got hammered, but missed the fish. That would be my only hit on the big bait. The swimbait I was using is the "BLT" from Optimum Bait Company. If you have not used this bait, you really need to. And it is not a high dollar bait either. About $8.00. I have caught a lot of fish at Vail on this bait. You can see this bait, and the Ima "Flits" by clicking on the Optimum Bait Company link at the bottom of my website.
The jerkbait Art Jr. was using was the "Flit" from Ima, and we had been given 5 new colors to test. Our only problem was the bass were not eating the jerkbait. The cold had pushed them down deep. Usually you can find some shallow fish at Vail, but yesterday was not the case.
After 15 minutes, and nothing but frozen fingers, we moved to another spot that was in the sun, where we could warm up, and hopefully find fish. After arriving at the new location, I started metering fish at 25 feet. I decided to go with the dropshot, and on my first cast I was on. A nice healthy fish of about 2.5 pounds.
I was using my new favorite color, "Scared Shad", from "AA" Worms. I have been using this new color for a couple of months now, and it just kills at Vail. It should work anywhere though. You will be able to purchase this worm at Blue Water Tackle in Temecula very soon. Stop in and ask Kevin, or Dave, for it. And for those that may not already know this, Morning Dawn works great at Vail also. It's not just for Diamond Valley Lake.
We proceeded to hit all the main lake points, and every point was holding fish. We would catch 3 or 4 at every stop. We also would go back to some of the points for a second go round, and pick off a few more. This would be our tactic for the remainder of the day.
Art Jr. was fishing the Carolina Rig for most of the day, while my friend and I stuck with the dropshot. Both techniques worked well for us. The day turned out to be perfect with very little wind, a warm day, and lots of fish. We ended our day with somewhere between 45 and 50 fish. The last hour and a half was crazy, as we found a spot where the fish were stacked up, and all were willing to bite. Had we not found these bass, we would have ended up with around 25 fish. We had double hookups, and one triple hookup at this spot.
Most of the fish yesterday were in the 2.5 to 3 pound range, and they were all fat, healthy fish. They are gorging on shad right now, and these are big shad their eating. Our biggest fish was a few that went 4#. We had no giants yesterday, but plenty of quality fish to make it fun. It won't be long, and soon we will be back to our 100+ fish days.
I have guide trips tomorrow, Sunday, and Wednesday, so I will be reporting how they turn out. With the warm weather it should be great out there. We have another small weather system coming in on Monday, so I am looking foward to that. Vail is insane during a cold front. By the way, yesterdays action was on the backend of a cold front, and those are usually tough days.
I am already booked for the first two weeks of March, but I have openings starting with the third week. If anyone is interested in a trip to Vail, just give me call, or send me an e-mail. You can book a trip through my website as well.
Thanks,
Art
www.vaillakeguideservice.com (http://www.vaillakeguideservice.com)