udayansarma
05-17-2010, 11:03 PM
I have been planning to go out for Bass fishing at Vine - never ever fished the bass. So, was looking for some guide to help me out.
Mav & Frenchy referred Don for the guided trip and I was all set to go for the trip on 05/15 at 6:30 AM. Unfortunately, could make it to the lake at 8:30 and by the time I checked in it was around 9 AM. I also got late due to the fact that Irvine Lake blocked the regular fishing areas and moved all the boat docks to another spot - about quarter mile from the tackle shop - I guess they had the scheduled Beer festival going on by the time I got in.
Don was waiting for me at the boat dock and told me that I had missed some great bassing sessions as the bass were chasing the shads on top water and it was a school of fish boiling on the top water. I was sorry to hear that but did not give up - next couple of minutes Don took me to one of his favorite spots.
Even though the bass was not there on the top water, it did not take us more than 5 minutes to catch my first bass. After getting the basics from Don I casted to the shallow water and within first 3 cast got my first hit. I was using Don's gear and boy he uses ultra light setup - 6 LB test line floro. These fish fight so had don't like to come out of water so easily. The first few came on Sinko and within 20 minutes we had more than 6 fish landed and about 4 missed - all were in the 2-3 lb range. This continued till about 11 AM.
By this time the Sun came out and it started getting warmer which means the fishes were gone to deep water - as the bite slowed down we started trolling down to the deep water looking for Wipers. Don asked me use a different setup for the wipers as we got there. First 45 - 50 minutes we could land about 4 wipers and saw several of those chasing our jiggs. These guys fight really hard too and I could not imagine that a 2-3 lb wipers could put up such a nice fight. In the mean time besides wipers and LMB we got several Crappies and one nice trout - I kept it.
Took our lunch at around 12:30 and continued the fish hunt in deep water at different spots - by this time the bite slowed down a bit as the day got warmer. We already had caught about 25 fish and missed at least 10. I was talking to Don that since we already had a great day and lot of traffic going out we might leave early just to beat the traffic.
As we were discussing to wind up the wind picks up slowly and Don points out that with the wind blowing down towards the cove we might see some shad and if we see the shad chances are that we would see the LMBs. Out we go towards the cove for the last 10 - 15 minutes before we call it a day. Don was right. As we got closer we saw the boils again and the big LMBs chasing down the shad all over again to the shallow water and the birds following them. Immediately we casted out the jerk baits and sinkos and got couple of big ones right there. The best part that I liked was when I casted out the jerk bait 3 good size LMBs chased down the bait and as they were hitting the bait somehow I just stop reeling in and immediately they stopped too - they took a good look at the jig and left it there LOL.... That was one of my favorite sight of seeing the LMBs chase the bait all the way to the boat.
Don taught me how to use Sinkos, Lures, Jigs, Carolina Rigs and several other that resemble Shad and I caught fish with all those techniques - I am impressed with the amount of knowledge he has and the techniques this gentleman uses to catch the fish. He is definitely a great guys, honest person and would love to go out with him again just to work on my techniques.
All in all it was a great day - we caught plenty of fish, learnt a few techniques and found some great spots to fish on. The Bass bite has been really good there at the Vine and enjoyed the time spent with Don.
Here are some of the Pics of the fish caught:
22746227452274722748
Cheers
UD
Mav & Frenchy referred Don for the guided trip and I was all set to go for the trip on 05/15 at 6:30 AM. Unfortunately, could make it to the lake at 8:30 and by the time I checked in it was around 9 AM. I also got late due to the fact that Irvine Lake blocked the regular fishing areas and moved all the boat docks to another spot - about quarter mile from the tackle shop - I guess they had the scheduled Beer festival going on by the time I got in.
Don was waiting for me at the boat dock and told me that I had missed some great bassing sessions as the bass were chasing the shads on top water and it was a school of fish boiling on the top water. I was sorry to hear that but did not give up - next couple of minutes Don took me to one of his favorite spots.
Even though the bass was not there on the top water, it did not take us more than 5 minutes to catch my first bass. After getting the basics from Don I casted to the shallow water and within first 3 cast got my first hit. I was using Don's gear and boy he uses ultra light setup - 6 LB test line floro. These fish fight so had don't like to come out of water so easily. The first few came on Sinko and within 20 minutes we had more than 6 fish landed and about 4 missed - all were in the 2-3 lb range. This continued till about 11 AM.
By this time the Sun came out and it started getting warmer which means the fishes were gone to deep water - as the bite slowed down we started trolling down to the deep water looking for Wipers. Don asked me use a different setup for the wipers as we got there. First 45 - 50 minutes we could land about 4 wipers and saw several of those chasing our jiggs. These guys fight really hard too and I could not imagine that a 2-3 lb wipers could put up such a nice fight. In the mean time besides wipers and LMB we got several Crappies and one nice trout - I kept it.
Took our lunch at around 12:30 and continued the fish hunt in deep water at different spots - by this time the bite slowed down a bit as the day got warmer. We already had caught about 25 fish and missed at least 10. I was talking to Don that since we already had a great day and lot of traffic going out we might leave early just to beat the traffic.
As we were discussing to wind up the wind picks up slowly and Don points out that with the wind blowing down towards the cove we might see some shad and if we see the shad chances are that we would see the LMBs. Out we go towards the cove for the last 10 - 15 minutes before we call it a day. Don was right. As we got closer we saw the boils again and the big LMBs chasing down the shad all over again to the shallow water and the birds following them. Immediately we casted out the jerk baits and sinkos and got couple of big ones right there. The best part that I liked was when I casted out the jerk bait 3 good size LMBs chased down the bait and as they were hitting the bait somehow I just stop reeling in and immediately they stopped too - they took a good look at the jig and left it there LOL.... That was one of my favorite sight of seeing the LMBs chase the bait all the way to the boat.
Don taught me how to use Sinkos, Lures, Jigs, Carolina Rigs and several other that resemble Shad and I caught fish with all those techniques - I am impressed with the amount of knowledge he has and the techniques this gentleman uses to catch the fish. He is definitely a great guys, honest person and would love to go out with him again just to work on my techniques.
All in all it was a great day - we caught plenty of fish, learnt a few techniques and found some great spots to fish on. The Bass bite has been really good there at the Vine and enjoyed the time spent with Don.
Here are some of the Pics of the fish caught:
22746227452274722748
Cheers
UD