Went out for a day of fishing with my best fishing partner… my 8 year old son. The day was in the upper 70’s as we started and ended in the lower 80’s. Humidity was low and overall the day was perfect for spending time out on the water. We launched out of the marina boat ramp and started trolling with crank baits and spoons. Didn’t have much luck there so we moved up to the area near the Roberts Creek outlet into Red Rock. We hooked into our first white bass around noon or so.
The bite started to pick up through about 2:30PM or so. The water temps moved between 78 and 80 degrees depending on the depth. We caught fish in between 15 and 25 foot of water. They were suspended any where in that water depth. Marked a lot of fish, and for the most part the bite didn’t match what we saw on the electronics. There were several other boats in the area and they were having some success as well. I love trolling for these guys cuz when the hit, they hit like a ton of bricks. What amazes me is that they hit the lure as hard as they do and yet manage to miss the hooks…how I don’t know…LOL..
We swapped out our lures between cranks and spoons. The best color combo was chrome and green, more like a lime green, and then a few on a solid chrome spoon. I have a pretty limited inventory of cranks, but I’m guessing that if I had a few that were a bit smaller than the one I was using then I would have probably had a bit more success. The one I was using came from the bargain bin…LOL..
Over all though it was a great day to be out on the water. My son and I had a lot of fun, I pulled my boat up on the shore line for some lunch and he had himself a little swim. I think we caught 11 fish in about five and a half hours. At one point my son reached into his tackle box and asked if he could tie on a “Hawkeye” colored jig, with a chartreuse tail. Of course I said sure, tied the jig on and he threw it out. As we were trolling by a point down by the marina, I see his rod tip jerk forward once and then twice.. he sets the hook and fish on!!! LOL.. He’s cranking that reel for all its worth.. the great thing was that it was an ultra light rig so the little white gave him quite the battle.. We pulled it up and he let it go. I told him how proud I was that he picked his own lure and fished it all by himself and caught that fish.. ahhh a proud day for Dad!!. Well we took six home, with the largest measuring out to 14 inches. Great day had by all…. I’m think the whites will be picking up as the month progresses and the bite will improve.. We’ll keep ya posted.. Good fishing and tight lines all!!!
Thanks for the report! Are your whites working the top chasing bait yet?
Mike and I have that same discussion every time we troll, it’s amazing.
Nice job on the White Bass
Thanks for the report. I have not fished Red Rock,I am looking forward to giving it a try. Would you please advise me on a place to launch. Got a son coming home for a vacation after being deployed to Kyrgyzstan in support of the war in Afghanistan. Red Rock seems like great place to get him into some action.
No not yet…for some reason they aren’t as active as they should be for this time of year. We’ve had a lot of rainy cool days, so most think that it will be later when things pick up. I think we need a weeks worth of dry weather with some warm temps. Last year I was out the last part of July, just kept my eyes on the birds…when they were hitting the bait fish chased up to the surface by the whites I’d pitch out and get hooked up almost every cast…now that’s a blast..
Nice to see a report from our neck of the woods. When you find those whites schooled up, try vertical jigging the big hammered jigging spoons. We use trolling to find them, or put big numbers on the board, but its tough to beat vertical jigging some of those fish. They really mean business when they hit!