# Quail Creek Today--My Biggest Bass!



## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

I decided to get off to an early start this morning and head out to the place that has been frustrating me all summer...Quail Creek. I hadn't been out there since the weather has really warmed (actually heated) up so I was hoping the fishing would be better. I got myself out of bed (barely) at 6:15, and by the time I got all my stuff together and stopped at McDonalds for breakfast (I love the early morning Egg McMuffin and greasy hash browns :lol: ) I arrived at Quail at around 7:45. I launched my float tube soon after and was on my way.

For the first 45 minutes or so I had no luck using watermelon candy colored Yum Dingers. I decided to switch colors before trying a different lure, so I tied on a watermelon pearl lam Yum Dinger. Bingo. One of my first casts I had a fish on, and knew it was a nice fish immediately. I had tightened my drag a few minute earlier when I had a snag to try to get it loose and had forgotten to loosen it to where I like it again. Despite this, the fish still put up a hell of a fight and even took my drag for a few seconds. When I had it landed, this is what I observed:









I couldn't even zoom out enough to get the whole fish on the screen. I knew I needed a better picture. I wasn't too far from shore so I flagged down a guy near shore and quickly paddled towards him, while I held the fish in the water, so he could snap a few picks for me. I tossed him my camera, and lets just say I'm glad I did this because that first pic did not do that fish justice. 



























I quickly took a better measurement of the fish, and let him go. He measured at 17 inches, and as you can see VERY fat. I haven't seen many bass out of any lake that are fatter than the average girth of the bass in Quail. Even though it can be a test of patience, Quail is one of my favorite places because of how high the reward can be. That fish is my biggest bass to date, and by far my best fish so far this summer.

It took me a while to put a line in the water again just because I was too busy checking out the pics on my camera and thinking how I couldn't wait to get home and see them on the computer screen. :lol: 
I eventually told myself that there are bigger fish out there waiting to be caught, so I started fishing again. However, I didn't feel like going out in my tube again so I waded out into the water. Not a bad method, especially when it's hot out. Anyway, I caught another fish about 30 minutes later but when I hoisted him about the water it shook the hook right off the line and swam off. :x Oh well, my estimate is that it was about 15 inches. It would have been nice to snap a picture of it, but I wasn't going to be too disappointed after my first catch.

I decided to pack it in soon thereafter. I was out of there before 11:00 but I was thrilled with what I had accomplished in just the short amount of time. I'm going to enjoy this one for a while, but my goal for the summer is my first 20 incher. Hopefully today was a sign of some more good outings to come.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

I hope you didn't kiss him a la Jimmy Houston, he looks like he had herpes. :wink: 

Great bass, thanks for sharing.


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## iceicebaby (Dec 17, 2007)

Quail is where I caught my personal best LMB and it was similar to yours.
I know there are bigger ones out there and I will hunt them down!
Wish I lived closer than 4 hours from that lake though.
Congratulations on the sweet delicious bass, although like me, I am sure you sent him back to the depths from whence he came.
Good job!


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

Nice fish, mjschijf! How was the fight?  

Thanks for all the info you gave me too! Even though I didn't make it down there to fish I stopped by Sand Hollow for a glimpse on the way back from the doctor when we were at Zion National Park. 

I'll let you know when I come back down that way and maybe we can hunt down those LMB's together!


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## 2fishon (Jan 13, 2008)

Nice fish. Think spinnerbaits at first light.


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## skating miner (Jun 27, 2008)

Wow nice catch man! Looks like fun! I have never caught anything else besides trout and a few cats. I think i definately need to start going to some bass fisheries.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

So you finally nabbed a fatty from Quail. Congratulations! That's been bugging you for awhile, so I'm sure you're stoked. Good job.


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Treehugnhuntr said:


> I hope you didn't kiss him a la Jimmy Houston, he looks like he had herpes. :wink:
> 
> Great bass, thanks for sharing.


 :lol: If you're referring to the red spots on the tail, it isn't the first bass I've got at Quail that has had those. I'm not sure what it is...maybe a genetic thing? :?



iceicebaby said:


> Quail is where I caught my personal best LMB and it was similar to yours.
> I know there are bigger ones out there and I will hunt them down!
> Wish I lived closer than 4 hours from that lake though.
> Congratulations on the sweet delicious bass, although like me, I am sure you sent him back to the depths from whence he came.
> Good job!


Yep! I released him. I've never kept a bass...maybe some day to see what they taste like. However, at Quail there is the slot limit...all bass 10-20 inches must be released. The slot is probably what has made Quail such a good fishery so I'm certainly not complaining. I know there are some bass in there that are much bigger than mine. The catch and release state record Largemouth bass came out of Quail in 1998...27 inches!!! Imagine a bass 10 inches bigger than the one I caught. :shock: It probably would have been the regular state record as well, considering the current regular state record is 24 1/2 inches and 10 pounds, 2 ounces (from Lake Powell). I wonder how much the 27 incher from Quail weighed.



Jitterbug said:


> Nice fish, mjschijf! How was the fight?
> 
> Thanks for all the info you gave me too! Even though I didn't make it down there to fish I stopped by Sand Hollow for a glimpse on the way back from the doctor when we were at Zion National Park.
> 
> I'll let you know when I come back down that way and maybe we can hunt down those LMB's together!


He put up an great fight! Like I said in my original post, I had my drag tightened quite a bit more than usual and he was still awesome to catch. I kind of wish I didn't have my drag so tight so it would have been even better. Oh well, no complaints.

Glad you were able to check out Sand Hollow when you were in the area. It's an awesome place, even though I still like Quail better. Sorry you weren't able to do any fishing though. Next time you're in the area just let me know and we'll for sure meet up and slay some bucketmouths!



2fishon said:


> Nice fish. Think spinnerbaits at first light.


Spinnerbaits have never treated me well for some reason. I'm literally about 0 for 50 when I've used them. I'm not giving up on them yet because because I keep hearing how good they are, but my patience is definitely running thin.



skating miner said:


> Wow nice catch man! Looks like fun! I have never caught anything else besides trout and a few cats. I think i definately need to start going to some bass fisheries.


I love bass fishing. I like targeting trout sometimes as well, but being almost exclusively a catch and release fisherman, bass are much better for this. I've never released a bass that didn't dart off as soon as I put it back on the water. Trout on the other hand always need a little gentle rock back and forth action before they slowly swim off. Then I'm afraid they won't live because of how lackadaisical they are. Plus, it's much easier to unhook a lure from the mouth of a bass because of how big their mouth's are. Bass are also easier to handle because you can hold them by the mouth so you don't have to worry about them slipping out of your hands (which usually happens to me when I land a trout). Like I said though, these are only issues to me because I primarily catch and release. I understand that most trout have more vivid colors than bass and are prettier fish, but to me that isn't the most important thing. In short, I would definitely recommend you giving bass fishing a try! The big ones really are awesome to catch. There are plenty of knowledgeable bass guys on this forum that would be more than willing to help you get started if you are indeed interested.


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## hunterfisher (Sep 14, 2007)

I bet that sucker fought like a mother.


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## Christopher30 (Nov 9, 2007)

Nice quail fish, makes me want to give up trophy trout fishing for a weekend and go hit the desert ponds for a few days. I spent bass season this year at fishlake. the only way to get the monsters down there now is at night on the full moon or close to. Keep hitting em hard you'll turn one up over 5 lbs before long.


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## grousehunter (Sep 11, 2007)

mjschijf said:


> Spinnerbaits have never treated me well for some reason. I'm literally about 0 for 50 when I've used them. I'm not giving up on them yet because because I keep hearing how good they are, but my patience is definitely running thin.


Don't give up on the spinnerbaits; sometimes it is as simple as changing colors. I tend to swap colors every ten casts, you would be surprised how many more bass you will catch when you find the color they want. Also don't forget buzz baits, when you see a bass explode from the water with your buzz in its mouth it may take a while for you to go back to trout. At least that's the case for me. :mrgreen: My go to color is yellow and chartreuse. So far my preferred brand is Booyah, they can get expensive, however a bag of plastic worms cost about the same.


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## BootWarmer (Apr 20, 2008)

Wow, nice bass. Congrats on the catch.


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Christopher30 said:


> Nice quail fish, makes me want to give up trophy trout fishing for a weekend and go hit the desert ponds for a few days. I spent bass season this year at fishlake. the only way to get the monsters down there now is at night on the full moon or close to. Keep hitting em hard you'll turn one up over 5 lbs before long.


Hmmm...I've never tried bass fishing at night. Maybe I will give it a try. It's weird because I went to Quail twice in the end of May when I thought the big ones would be biting but I got completely skunked both times. It seems to me like the fishing is just picking up now. I guess I won't really know for sure until I go back out there a few more times. Hopefully I will catch some more bass that size this summer, if not bigger.

I would be so stoked to catch a 5 pounder! Which leaves me wondering, about how much do you think my fish in the pictures weighs if you had to guess? I've never carried a scale with me, just a tape measurer. 
By the way, with the way Fish Lake has been treating you lately, I wouldn't miss Quail _too_ much if I were you. :lol:



grousehunter said:


> Don't give up on the spinnerbaits; sometimes it is as simple as changing colors. I tend to swap colors every ten casts, you would be surprised how many more bass you will catch when you find the color they want. Also don't forget buzz baits, when you see a bass explode from the water with your buzz in its mouth it may take a while for you to go back to trout. At least that's the case for me. :mrgreen: My go to color is yellow and chartreuse. So far my preferred brand is Booyah, they can get expensive, however a bag of plastic worms cost about the same.


Thanks for the advise. Like I said, I haven't completely given up on the spinnerbaits but I'm definitely not confident enough to use them very often, especially if something else is working. Plus, I've lost about 5 of them so far this summer from getting them snagged underwater. That's a lot of money down the drain. Losing one plastic worm isn't quite as costly. It's funny, I actually think that I do have a yellow and chartreuse spinnerbait. I will make sure I keep at it. Hopefully it's not a matter of _if_ I will start catching bass on spinnerbaits, but _when._


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## grousehunter (Sep 11, 2007)

mjschijf said:


> Thanks for the advise. Like I said, I haven't completely given up on the spinnerbaits but I'm definitely not confident enough to use them very often, especially if something else is working. Plus, I've lost about 5 of them so far this summer from getting them snagged underwater. That's a lot of money down the drain. Losing one plastic worm isn't quite as costly. It's funny, I actually think that I do have a yellow and chartreuse spinnerbait. I will make sure I keep at it. Hopefully it's not a matter of if I will start catching bass on spinnerbaits, but when.


You may need to buy a bait casting reel and some super-line, when I moved up to the bait caster and after finally learning how to set them up I have increased my bass catch rate by 1000% if I find the fish I can at least usually catch one with a spinner, even when they aren't biting. I will never throw another spinnerbait with a spinning reel and anything other than super-line or 20lb fluorocarbon. When you see a bass dart from weeds and smack the spinner it will make you a believer.


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