Many of you have probably noticed I haven't posted any reports in a while. Don't worry, I'm not hiding anything, I just haven't gotten out in forever--February 28th to be exact (yeah...ouch). My summer finally officially began yesterday, and after sleeping in I decided to make the most of a free afternoon and head to Quail Creek.
I arrived to find the water level higher than I've seen it in a while, and I took the opportunity to fish the shaded section of the lake closest to Harrisburg, which is dry most of the year. I was in the mood for some shore roaming, so the float tube stayed at home. After hiking down to the lake, I saw two large bass right next to the shore (in their spawning bed?). I tried to sneak down so they wouldn't see me, and I proceeded to throw many different lures and plastics their direction for about 45 minutes to no avail. I was just about to give up when one of them finally picked up the green and black spider jig I dropped right in front of its nose. I set the hook and after a good fight I was able to hoist him (or her) out of the water.
It measured at just under 18 inches. It was my first bass of the year, and the first time I've gotten my hands on a fish of any kind for a long time.
I continued fishing, working my way towards the main open body of water. The action was pretty slow, but it felt damn good to just be fishing again. I tried spinnerbaits for a while with no luck, and eventually switched to a light colored 5 inch Yum Dinger and had another hookup casting into the shallow reeds. Here's what I pulled out:
Not as big as the first, but still decent. I didn't measure this one.
Later on, I saw a decent sized bass in the shallows and I pitched my worm a couple of feet in front of it. He made a move for it and picked it up, but when I set the hook I pulled it right out of its mouth.
So that was all the action for the afternoon at Quail. Even though the catching wasn't fast and furious, I caught a couple of nice fish and spent a beautiful afternoon and early evening outside. Not a bad way to get rid of that cabin fever that was plagueing me for months.
I thought this was a pretty cool photo looking towards the main body of Quail from the Harrisburg arm section:
Part II: Sand Hollow (May 15th)
I woke up this morning at around 7:30 and headed out to Sand Hollow. I brought my float tube this time, and by the time I launched it was about 9:15. A brisk wind pushed me around immediately, and for a while I wondered if I made a mistake in venturing out in my tube. I fought through it though, and as the day went on, the wind calmed.
I started off using a lure I haven't messed with much in the past: a plastic lizard (6 inch pumpkin chartreuse to be exact). I had a fish on within 20 minutes:
So apparently the plastic lizards work. There is no doubt I'll be using them more in the future.
The bite went dead for a while, and a switched to a white spinnerbait. I had a fish on within minutes, however it was able to throw the hook loose while showing some aerial skills. I decided to stick with the blade, and it didn't disappoint:
I continued casting and retrieving the spinnerbait, when felt some strong resistance at the end of the line. At first, I thought it was a snag for sure, but when I pulled the rod up, my line began to move. There was some serious weight behind whatever I had on, and when it came into view, I knew it was a beast. Every time I got it close to me, it would make a run straight down or underneath my tube. I was finally able to get it close enough to hoist out of the water, and I was quite excited to say the least. There was a guy in a small boat not too far away, and he saw the struggle I had with the fish. I asked him if he could snap a few pics for me, and he was more than willing. I kicked over to him, and handed him my camera.
Another view:
I asked the guy if he had a tape measurer on his boat, and he pulled one out. We measured it at 21 and 1/2 inches, making it by far my personal best bass
(Sorry, I'm not sure about the weight, but I'd like to know. Any guesses 
) I released the big guy (or gal) to hopefully put a huge smile on someone else's face, just like it did for me.
I kept fishing for a little while and caught one more on the blade:
At this point, I was starving and decided to call it a day. What a great couple of days it was though. I haven't had so much fun fishing in a long time. The 21 1/2 inch hog definitely contributed to that feeling. You can count on another report or two coming from me next week.
I'm back, and it feels damn good.
