# An AWESOME Summer of Fishing



## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Wow...It has been forever since I've posted a report. Let's just say I definitely have some catching up to do because a lot has occured since my last report. I've been pretty lazy about posting anything on here in general but I am back now and will try to catch you all up on my last several fishing trips.

For most of the summer, Sand Hollow was my place of choice. I started the summer fishing Quail Creek almost exclusively, and although I did catch a couple of nice ones, skunks weren't uncommon so I decided to change things up and figure things out at Sand Hollow.

The catching at Sand Hollow has never been difficult for me, but up til a couple of months ago I couldn't figure out how to hook up with anything besides dinks. As it turned out, all I needed was to discover a different part of the lake and I was in business.

My success out there started when my cousin came out to visit from the east coast in about mid July. My dad and I thought it would be great to get him into some fish. We took him to Sand Hollow and he wasn't disappointed. Rod coming apart, weeds, and all, he was able to land this guy:

















While my dad and my cousin were shore fishing, I was out in my float tube trying to conquer some big boys. I was not disappointed on this day:

















I know it's almost impossible to tell this size from those pictures, and I wasn't able to take a very accurate measurement. However, the measuring device on my float tube goes to 18 inches, and he was at least a couple of inches past that mark. I think it's safe to say I had my first 20 incher! Unfortunately, something occured a few minutes later that made me stop fishing from my tube that day (long story :lol: ). It wasn't all bad though because I was able to join my cousin and Dad from shore. I had caught what I came for, and I was content catching some smaller ones from shore the rest of our time there.

I continued to head out to Sand Hollow my next several trips out, and I was never disappointed. I wasn't always catching monsters, but I usually hooked up with a couple of 15 or 16 inchers that made the outing worth it. I brought the camera out with me every time, but usually didn't bother taking any pics unless I caught something impressive. A couple of weeks ago I had one of my more successful trips, and I was in a picture taking mood that day so here is the result:








About a 17 incher, although skinny. Really fun to catch though, and it took some effort to ensure he didn't get tangled in the weeds.









This one is a slightly above average sized fish from Sand Hollow.









Another one of similar size.

My strategy at Sand Hollow was to fish closer to shore with plastics earlier in the morning, and then as the day went on and the weather warmed I would switch to a deep diving crankbait and move a little farther from shore. On this particular day, I had caught the two fish pictured above on this crankbait and continued to work my way parallel to the shore but would occasionally cast towards shore, as well as away from shore. On one of my casts toward shore, I started reeling and had a good hit almost immediately. The fish jumped just a couple of seconds later and I knew immediately I had a nice one on. It put up a great fight, and when I finally got it near my tube, it took my drag and started pulling my line straight down. Then all of a sudden...nothing. I lifted my pole up, and still felt tension on the line but felt no pull whatsoever. I was furious. I thought that the fish had taken my lure straight down into the weeds, gotten lose, and left my lure snagged. As I hoisted my pole straight up, whatever was attached was coming up with it. I thought for sure that I just had a huge chunk of brush attached to my lure and that's what it looked like when it came into view. But all of a sudden, it started to move as if a fish was still attached. For a few seconds I had absolutely no idea what had happened because I couldn't actually see a fish because of all the attached brush. I even began wonder if it was a fish. :shock: However, as I got it closer to me and got a better look, it was indeed a fish and a nice one. This is what I observed when I finally got it landed and got all the brush off of it:








The girth on that fish was riciculous. I just wish I could have gotten a better picture. I didn't get a measurement, but my guess is that it was about 18 inches. Definitely one of my most satisfying catches considering the fight and what I had to do to land it.

So as you can see, Sand Hollow has been very good to me this summer. After several Sand Hollow trips in a row there, I thought it was time to change things up a little bit, and head back out to Quail for the first time since late June. On Labor Day, it was calling my name and so that's where I headed with my Dad.

When we got there I ventured out in my tube, while Dad fished from shore. Within 15 minutes, I had a fish on!
















Sorry about the bad lighting, but the sun was rising directly behind me. As you can see, it was a typical quality Quail bass at about 15-17 inches.

About half an hour later, I had another hook-up:








I couldn't make my way through the weeds to get a good picture taken on this one, so I had to settle with the long distance photo. Another good-sized bass.

As I worked my way down the shore away from my dad, I heard my dad yell "I've got one!". I was way too far a way to make it back in time to get a picture of him with his fish, but I saw him reach down and take his fish out of the water. I was happy for him since he hasn't had much luck at Quail in the past. I wasn't having much luck in the area i was at, so I started to work my way back towards my dad. He informed me that he measured his fish at just a tad over 17 inches, which is by far his biggest bass. Here is the pic that he snapped of his nice catch:








I was really glad he was able to catch a nice fish. He claims to not care about the size of the fish that he catches, but I don't buy it! :lol: I just wish I hadn't been so far away so I could have kicked to shore to get a picture of him.

I went back to fishing in the original area where I had caught the first two, and had another fish on within a few minutes. Probably my nicest looking and biggest fish of the day...measured right around 17 inches.








My Dad was quick to point out that his was slightly bigger. :lol: But I really didn't care. I was happy for him and this was one of my most successful days at Quail as well.

We left not too long after I caught that last fish. Three nice fish for me, and one for my Dad. I had at least two others hooked that got loose. Oh well...considering I have had days at Quail that were an extreme test of patience for both of us, I would say Labor Day was definitely a success.

That just about updates my summer of fishing since my last report up until now. Notice I said "just about". I went on a family vacation in the end of July/first few days of August up to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It was an awesome vacation. We saw tons of wildlife, and probably the best part for me was the guided fishing trip I went on at Lake Minnewanka where I caught this:








Definitely not huge by Lake Trout standards...my guide estimated it at about 8 pounds and 24 inches. However, it was my biggest trout and it was AWESOME to catch and fought harder than anything I've ever caught. I just thought all you trout guys would appreciate that after so many pics of the bass.

As the summer is winding down, I can say it has definitely been the best summer of fishing of my life, and I have learned a lot. Sorry about this report being SOOOOOO long. Hopefully you'll enjoy the pics if nothing else. I'll try to not be lazy about posting my reports soon after the trips occur in the future.

I hope the upcoming fall season brings everyone some awesome fishing! Good luck to all.


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Great report man! Those are some great looking bass you have hooked up with! Good laker as well, thanks for sharing the multiple reports. hopefully the fall fishing will be even more productive for ya!


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## XxFIREBOYxX (Jan 9, 2008)

GREAT REPORT! ! ! Those are some nice bucket mouths for sure!! Starting to see those ALOT on the weber !


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## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

I love these kind of reports from folks that can really appreciate their experience and have pics. too! Good on you guys!!!! Keep it up.  Wish those ponds were closer to me, sure would like to give em a go. Anyway, I'm jealous and keep it going!
Leaky and the Sparkinator


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

WOW! Congrats on the big lake trout. That's neat seeing all the wildlife. Sounds like you figured Sand Hollow out. Very nice report.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Wow, that's a LOT of stuff since your last post. Nice post. 

Don't believe the 8lbs theory. It's a great looking laker, but that's really doubtful. I'm glad you got into a huge trout though. 

Sounds like a blast all summer. Glad it worked out for you.


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

it looks like you had a awesome summer those are great photos and a great post.


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## Christopher30 (Nov 9, 2007)

Looks like you've been infected with Sandhollowitis. I had it for 2 years but 4 casts into fishlake and BAM! i was cured i could see the light again. Looks like you have it figured out though, i haven't seen the size out of there this year like last year, or Quail for that matter. Boom and bust i suppose... Nice pics! You should do SUBA next year, or if you want to try bigger pm me i'll fill you in.


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Hey thanks for the praises guys! I really do love posting the reports but I tend to be very methodical and it often takes me forever to type them so sometimes I just get lazy about doing it. 

LOAH--You very well could be right about that Laker not being 8 pounds. I've never weighed any fish that I've caught before. I was just going off what my guide said so he very well could have been exaggerating. It was an awesome fish to catch though and I really could not care less about the weight. 

Christopher30---Yeah I definitely have had SandHollowitis for most of the summer. :lol: I love those two lakes and it's awesome to live within a half hour drive of both. I am not by any means disappointed by the size of a lot of the fish I've caught this summer, but I also know that there have been bass MUCH bigger caught out of Quail and Sand Hollow. You might be right about the boom and bust cycle. I'm going to stick with it out there and hopefully one day I'll hook up with one of the real monsters. Even though I am hooked on the bass, I can definitely see how someone can get used to Lake Trout fishing after having caught my first one. What is this SUBA that you mentioned? I'm not familiar with it.


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## DIPPER (Jun 21, 2008)

Those are some nice bass!!!!

I would crap my pants anyday over a laker like that! :lol:


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Nice pics, I had noticed your absence, welcome back to the fold!


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Thanks for catching us up!


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## REPETER (Oct 3, 2007)

Wow! what more can I say? those were some fatties. Thanks for getting off your kester and showing us what we're missing. :mrgreen:


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