ART HILL
03-17-2009, 07:27 PM
I think I should have went and fished with Pete at Perris. Today was an extremely tough day at Vail. Maybe good by any other lakes standards, but not for Vail.
My client's and I arrived at the lake at 5:15 to total darkness. We sat around waiting for the lake ranger to arrive, but at 6:15 I said screw it, let's go. Off we went to my favorite swimbait spot, only to find no one home. That sucked!
We threw jigs, jerkbaits, cranks, more swimbaits, and plastics, but no love from the fish. Now here is a Vail first for me. 3 hours, and no fish in the boat. To say I was worried was an understatement. My client's were starting to get nervous.
At 9:15 one of the guys caught one on a Texas rigged lizard. Soon after the other customer caught one on a jig. Soon I even caught one, on the dropshot. That is how desperate I was. I had to resort to the dropshot to get bit. Except it was 9 freaking thirty.
At 10:00 I finally broke through with my first of 2 swimbait fish. Not a big fish, about 3+, but it was a fish. We fiddled around, picking off one here, and one there. At 12:30, one of the lake regulars, and an expert bass fisherman I might add, rolls up and asked how we were doing. I told him we had 10, but it was a very tough 10. He said that it was very tough for him, and everyone else he had talked to today. He said we had a lot more than him, I think he said he had 2 fish up to that point. We chatted for a few more minutes, then we went seperate ways.
I fianally founf a bank where the water temperature was 65 degrees, and we found fish willing to eat. We caught several on jigs, a couple on the lizard, and a couple more on the dropshot. We finally called it at 5:00, for a total of 21 fish.
I know I predicted today would be the day that it would go off big time, but I failed in my prediction. I still think it will be this week though. I hope the weather stays good, and the bite picks up. I will not be out again until next Tuesday.
Thanks,
Art
Art Hill's Guide Service
www.vaillakeguideservice.com (http://www.vaillakeguideservice.com/)
My client's and I arrived at the lake at 5:15 to total darkness. We sat around waiting for the lake ranger to arrive, but at 6:15 I said screw it, let's go. Off we went to my favorite swimbait spot, only to find no one home. That sucked!
We threw jigs, jerkbaits, cranks, more swimbaits, and plastics, but no love from the fish. Now here is a Vail first for me. 3 hours, and no fish in the boat. To say I was worried was an understatement. My client's were starting to get nervous.
At 9:15 one of the guys caught one on a Texas rigged lizard. Soon after the other customer caught one on a jig. Soon I even caught one, on the dropshot. That is how desperate I was. I had to resort to the dropshot to get bit. Except it was 9 freaking thirty.
At 10:00 I finally broke through with my first of 2 swimbait fish. Not a big fish, about 3+, but it was a fish. We fiddled around, picking off one here, and one there. At 12:30, one of the lake regulars, and an expert bass fisherman I might add, rolls up and asked how we were doing. I told him we had 10, but it was a very tough 10. He said that it was very tough for him, and everyone else he had talked to today. He said we had a lot more than him, I think he said he had 2 fish up to that point. We chatted for a few more minutes, then we went seperate ways.
I fianally founf a bank where the water temperature was 65 degrees, and we found fish willing to eat. We caught several on jigs, a couple on the lizard, and a couple more on the dropshot. We finally called it at 5:00, for a total of 21 fish.
I know I predicted today would be the day that it would go off big time, but I failed in my prediction. I still think it will be this week though. I hope the weather stays good, and the bite picks up. I will not be out again until next Tuesday.
Thanks,
Art
Art Hill's Guide Service
www.vaillakeguideservice.com (http://www.vaillakeguideservice.com/)