This is a slightly delayed trip report from earlier in the year:
It happens every spring. You have a day in mind to head out. Or in this case a day booked on Hilltop Lake to fish. The weather looks great a week or two out and yet when you check a few days prior, you see windy conditions forecasted and a 35-degree temperature swing down.
Spring cold fronts are notorious for making bass difficult to catch. My preference for spring is three days of trending up temperature and conditions into the low 70's.
I would not be having that this day. In fact, I would be lying if the forecast hadn't had me questioning the worth of going.
Hilltop Lake is a private 35 acre lake located near the town of George and managed through Red's Fly shop with both guided and unguided options. It is a perfect bass pond. Weed beds, rocky points, overhanging brush from Russian Olive trees and so on.
This would be my second trip to the lake.
Because of the cold front, I didn't set my alarm quite as early as usual starting fishing around 7:30 am. Like always I started throwing a popper working my way along the south shoreline. It felt cold, and after a few minutes I set the topwater rod down and picked up my jig rod. This is simply a fly rod set up to flip or lob cast a big hair jig.
Those @SpawnFlyFish tails make great crawfish pinchers!
It ain't pretty but it's deadly and fun. My line went tick and it was game on.
A jig really lets you pick apart the cover. Shoreline Russian olives are like crack to bass; they offer ambush points, shade, structure and are worth spending some time to fish from several different angles. One tree in particular provided several fish.
Watch your line for any movement or delay. Hook sets are free!
Never neglect shade and always spend time approaching from several angles. Think of attacking the cover.
The day was going better than I would have predicted. Flip, watch the line twitch or move and set the hook played out again and again. The bass were up to three pounds.
I know Hill Top has bigger. As I approached the north shore I switched to topwater.
Interestingly my bites slowed down to almost nothing but the quality increased. When I did get a blow up it was quality.
Areas I found bass last year seemed devoid of bass. The top water bite was slow. My strategy with top water has always been to throw big baits with a big stick.
I was sort of torn back and forth on what to use. As the hours ticked into the afternoon, I made a game time decision to focus again on the south shoreline and pick it apart with the jig.
It soon became apparent that bigger females were moving up shallow. I think the majority of bass were still pre-spawn (water 62f) but it became clear that something had changed and the bigger bass had turned on. The rest of the afternoon was as fun as it gets.
Fish of the day.
Can't wait till the next day I can get back out on this fun lake! Feel free to reach out with any questions on the lake or bass fishing in general.
Billy
It happens every spring. You have a day in mind to head out. Or in this case a day booked on Hilltop Lake to fish. The weather looks great a week or two out and yet when you check a few days prior, you see windy conditions forecasted and a 35-degree temperature swing down.
Spring cold fronts are notorious for making bass difficult to catch. My preference for spring is three days of trending up temperature and conditions into the low 70's.
I would not be having that this day. In fact, I would be lying if the forecast hadn't had me questioning the worth of going.
Hilltop Lake is a private 35 acre lake located near the town of George and managed through Red's Fly shop with both guided and unguided options. It is a perfect bass pond. Weed beds, rocky points, overhanging brush from Russian Olive trees and so on.
This would be my second trip to the lake.
Because of the cold front, I didn't set my alarm quite as early as usual starting fishing around 7:30 am. Like always I started throwing a popper working my way along the south shoreline. It felt cold, and after a few minutes I set the topwater rod down and picked up my jig rod. This is simply a fly rod set up to flip or lob cast a big hair jig.
Those @SpawnFlyFish tails make great crawfish pinchers!
It ain't pretty but it's deadly and fun. My line went tick and it was game on.
A jig really lets you pick apart the cover. Shoreline Russian olives are like crack to bass; they offer ambush points, shade, structure and are worth spending some time to fish from several different angles. One tree in particular provided several fish.
Watch your line for any movement or delay. Hook sets are free!
Never neglect shade and always spend time approaching from several angles. Think of attacking the cover.
The day was going better than I would have predicted. Flip, watch the line twitch or move and set the hook played out again and again. The bass were up to three pounds.
I know Hill Top has bigger. As I approached the north shore I switched to topwater.
Interestingly my bites slowed down to almost nothing but the quality increased. When I did get a blow up it was quality.
Areas I found bass last year seemed devoid of bass. The top water bite was slow. My strategy with top water has always been to throw big baits with a big stick.
I was sort of torn back and forth on what to use. As the hours ticked into the afternoon, I made a game time decision to focus again on the south shoreline and pick it apart with the jig.
It soon became apparent that bigger females were moving up shallow. I think the majority of bass were still pre-spawn (water 62f) but it became clear that something had changed and the bigger bass had turned on. The rest of the afternoon was as fun as it gets.
Fish of the day.
Can't wait till the next day I can get back out on this fun lake! Feel free to reach out with any questions on the lake or bass fishing in general.
Billy
