Arrived a little late on Friday. Got on the water about 1:30 pm. Great to finally get to launch off of concrete part of ramp. Headed uplake. The Padre Butte shortcut had 25 feet of water. Wanted to try Padre without houseboats and wake boats. Headed toward Cookie Jar and stopped at the island on the right side. Made camp on the island. Water temp 62-65. It was great to see the water come up 1.5 feet in the 2 days we were on the lake. First cast a 2lb smallie. The only one I caught for 2 days. My partner caught 2. When you are used to catching fish in 5 to 25 feet of water and realize it was all fresh, new water. The bass were nowhere to be seen. We changed tactics and went into Cookie jar where I caught stripers last year. The shad and stripers were there in 60 to 80 feet and reacted well to jigging. Cast masters were the ticket. Caught about 15 and headed back to camp. Headed back to CJ in the morning and were only able to jig up about 6 so we headed in and cleaned fish. Stripers were in great shape. 1 to 2.5 lbs was the average size. Back to camp for breakfast. Afternoon headed to Friendship to see if there were stripers on shad down deep in Friendship. It was a no go. There are a lot more camping spots in Friendship with the rise in water. Tried our old faithful bass spots and got blanked. Last effort was back to CJ and we got on a good bite right before dark. Early start had us go into Gunsight. Looks a lot better with the rise in water. Found the stripers and shad in 90 feet of water. The stripers were in the 50 foot range. Started jigging and filled the cooler. Cleaned fish and headed in. Great flat water in Maytag for a change. Final trip of "26 for me. It was a good summer of fishing. Will post pics later.
South lake report
- Thread starter RANDY
- Start date
stickbow shooter
Well-Known Member
Great report Randy, heading out tomorrow morning,
Dan Keller
UT DWR Fish Biologist
We had the same experience fishing for bass along the shoreline, the habitat looks amazing with all the flooded vegetation, however we didn't get many bites fishing jigs, the lake came up so fast, something fish are not used to in the fall, I think it might make bass fishing tough until fish settle back into the shoreline, we did have better luck casting small top water lures right next to tumble weed piles. Having all this newly flooded vegetation immediately available over the winter and spring will be great for shad, largemouth, sunfish and crappie. Great to see you did very well catching stripers, they are a great eating size right now. Thanks for the report!