Antelope Lake 2001
Mar. 23- Mostly sunny, partly cloudy, light variable breeze, warm, almost T-shirt weather. Fished the lake for the first time this year. Snow made getting to the lake a little challenging, but we made it without major incident. Went with Pete Villa. We put the boat in at the ramp, the water is real low. Trolled to Lost Creek Cove. Both of us caught trout on the way there, trolling a small floating Rapala. Fished coves for bass, got some bites on plastic worms, but much to my surprise the only fish I hooked there doing that was a trout. We tried Rapala's and spinnerbaits with no success. Water so low all the usual coves are high and dry. I did manage to hook one bass on a plastic worm, but it pulled loose before I got it to the boat. We saw some bass in shallow, but no cover and clear water made them real spooky. Total for the day... Me-4 trout, Pete-1 trout.
April 1- Overcast, rain showers, cold and windy from the SW. Linda went with me, and we trolled straight to Lost Creek Cove. She caught a nice crappie on the way there, trolling a small floating Rapala. She also caught a trout doing that. I got one nice bass on a white spinnerbait along shore, but we had more hits on Rapala's than anything else. Bass were in close to shore in the coves. Steady retrieve seemed to work the best. I did end up with one bass on a pumpkinseed power worm. Weighed my largest, 2 lbs 9 oz. Picture Cold nasty day, so we came home early. Total for the day... Me- 4 (all bass) and Linda- 7.
April 9- Overcast, cold, snow showers sometimes heavy, Temp in the low 30's, windy from NE. Went with Pete Villa. Put the boat in at Lunker Landing, fished the north side of Long Point working our way toward the Pioneer cabin. Due to the wind, we were unable to stay in one spot for long without using the anchor. When we did anchor out, we fished plastic worms and threw Rapala's and spinnerbaits. We worked rocky areas with weighted worms as best we could, but didn't get any bites doing that. I think I got one hit on an unweighted plastic worm out a way from shore, but if it was a hit, the fish didn't keep it long. Other than that, the only action happening was trolling Rapala's for trout. We both hooked fish doing that, and Pete landed 3 of them, I only boated 2. Another cold miserable day, but we had the whole lake to ourselves, never saw another soul. Pete's 3 Trout
April 15- Hazy sun, but mostly sunny. Cool but not cold. Windy from SW. Went by myself, put the boat in at the boat ramp and went over to the S. side of Long Point. I tried fishing my usual coves there, but the water is too low and clear. The cement blocks are high and dry. Fished in the rocks with plastic worms, rapala, and spinnerbait. Got one hit on a spinnerbait (white) doing that. Worked my way down the south side going toward the dam. Got a hit on a plastic worm in one small cove, dragging it on the bottom. I did manage to catch one bass, a nice one, picture, that weighed 2lb. 5oz. Caught it in a tree on a pumpkinseed power worm. Water real clear and since there is hardly any cover, finding bass is a little difficult. Total for the day, one trout caught trolling, and that one bass.
April 16- Mostly sunny but a few high clouds. Warmer than yesterday, but real windy from the SW. Lots of whitecaps making boating an interesting experience. Went with Pete. Put the boat in at the boat ramp and went over to the north side of Long Point to get out of the wind. We fished all the coves over there, spending quite a bit of time trying different things and fishing slow. Worked our way down to the Pioneer cabin, and back up the north side of the lake toward the boat ramp. I had one surface hit in a sheltered cove on a floating rapala. Didn't hook it or get to see what species it was, but it was either a bass or a crappie, I'm pretty sure. After that we never got any more action, and even though we trolled back up to the boat ramp, we didn't hook any trout. Water still real clear in most places, and no fish seen.
April 22- Partly Cloudy, some breeze mostly from the west, but not too strong. Warmer than it has been. I really didn't go up there to fish, just took my daughter Tracey and my grandkids up to goof around, so I had to take a couple of fishing rods. When we got there, my grand daughter Laura wanted to try a blue lizard, something I would never normally try, so I put it on one of the rods for her. I threw a rapala and fished a little in the rocks, but didn't get any bites, so we did other stuff. Later on I thought I might just throw that lizard out and drag it slowly along the bottom. I threw it as far as I could cast, let it sink, then just let it sit there while I was day dreaming a little. I noticed my line straightening out, so I set the hook and landed a 3lb 1oz bass... Picture. Didn't get any other hits, but then I really wasn't there to fish anyway. We watched her swim away after releasing her, and went back to playing. Pretty nice day all in all.
April 23- Partly cloudy, warm, light breeze mostly from the west. Calm most of the time. Went by myself after Tracey and the kids went home. Fished the south side first, then went over to the north side of Long Point, fished a couple of little coves there, then over to the north side of the lake, and back west to the boat ramp. Found bass in coves in real clear water, in direct sun. (Got one in a shady spot too.) They chased my rapala, and I managed to catch 3 on that. Had other hits that didn't get hooked good enough, and also broke one off on the hook set fishing a plastic worm. Action not real good, but much better than it's been. Unlike normal, the action didn't improve much toward dusk. I could see lots of bass, some in schools, but they either spooked when I threw my rapala in, or didn't even acknowledge it. Saw some big mama's, but couldn't get them interested. All 3 fish caught were between 1 and 1½ lbs. Beautiful day, even if they weren't biting the way I like.
April 30- Sunny, windy from the SW, warm enough if you were in the sun. Linda and I went directly to Lost Cr. Cove. First we played around at the boat ramp for a few minutes because the fish truck had just dropped a load, and the fish were thick in there. Once we got to the cove, we threw rapala's, spinnerbaits, and plastic worms. I caught a nice bass about 2 lbs. on a plastic worm in the rocks. Also had one break me off under the edge of the dock on the island. Saw some huge bass hanging on the rocks, but couldn't get them interested in what we were throwing. Found a few bass in shady coves, Linda got one small one on a floating rapala. I had one on doing that same thing, but it came off. We fished the usual coves on both sides of the boat ramp, but the bass just weren't cooperating, so we finished off the day at the boat ramp catching trout. Total for the day, Linda-6 (1 bass) and me-12 (1 bass)
May 7- Sunny, warm, a little breeze from the East, but not too bad. Temp in the 70's. Linda and I fished the Pioneer Cabin end of the lake. We caught the first red ear of the year today, and some pretty nice bass, but nothing really big. Saw some big bass on beds, must be getting ready to spawn. Some fish hitting rapala's, and a couple hitting spinnerbaits. Didn't get any bites on a plastic worm. Tried dragging a plastic worm over some of the beds we saw, but couldn't get any hits doing that. A beautiful day. Total for the day, Linda-6 Me-7... no trout this time.
May 8- Mostly sunny, some cumulus but not enough to cause any cloud cover, warm to almost hot. Windy in PM from the SW. Went by myself, headed over to Lost Cr. Cove, but found bass along shore on the way, so I never actually fished there. Lots of bedding bass, many cruisers, some taking flying ants off the surface. Fished the small cove just before Lost Cr. Cove, and caught several nice bass in there on Rapala. Got some surface hits, but mostly they would hit it after a stop, just as it started moving again, or when it was floating up. After the wind came up, I moved over to the S. side and fished that. Caught a few bass on spinnerbait, mostly in the rocks, and also some crappie on the rapala. The rapala was the lure of choice today, didn't find any area's where I caught more than one, but if you moved along, eventually you'd get a taker. Some of the spinnerbait fish just slammed it. Largest fish weighed right at 2lbs, but I caught many almost as big... great fighters. Total for the day- 23.
May 9- Mostly sunny, a few high clouds, windy from the SW in PM. Warm, good thing there was a breeze to keep things cool. Went by myself, put the boat in at the Picnic area. I fished the West end of the lake primarily. Caught fish here and there, on rapala, spinnerbait and plastic worm. Plastic worms seemed to work the best. After fishing past the dam, I ended up going into Lost Creek Cove late in the day. The shadows were great, lots of fish. They would charge after my rapala, but not hit it. I did get a few takers, but mostly they wouldn't actually hit it unless I teased them a little. Caught a mixed bag today, crappie, red ear, smallmouth and largemouth bass. All the smallies were pretty small. I did manage to hook one nice largemouth on a plastic worm, picture. She weighed 3lbs 11oz. Had others on that came off at the boat. Had to do alot of casting today to get the ones I got. Total for the day- 22.
May 10- Sunny, warm, windy from the NE. I put the boat in at Lunker Landing, and fished the Pioneer cabin side of the lake. Got a fish on the first cast, which is always a good sign, and hooked another larger fish right after that on a surface hit above a rock. That fish was a nice one, but came off at the boat. Both of those were on Rapala. There were lots of areas where I didn't get a bite, but then all of the sudden, I would get bit and I ended up with some pretty respectable fish. The largest I caught weighed 2lbs 15oz. Caught her on a Rapala, on the stop. Also caught fish on spinnerbaits, tried 2 different ones, white, and Bomber. That bomber got some great hits. Lots of my fish today were red ear, but I didn't catch any crappie. Saw lots of nice fish that wouldn't bite... sitting on beds. Total for today- 30.
May 11- Mostly sunny, some buildup to the east, but warm to almost hot. Windy from the east early, then turning westerly in the afternoon. I started at the island by the boat ramp throwing a spinnerbait in the rocks. Caught 2 pretty nice ones doing that. Went toward Lost Creek Cove, since it was still calm, I fished along shore with a buzz bait. Got several explosive hits, hooked every one of them, all nice solid bass in the 1 to 1½ lb. catagory. Went over to the south side next, and fished back toward the east. Spinnerbait seemed to work the best, but then I didn't throw a rapala too much. Almost every fish I caught was a nice one, probably due to the size of the spinnerbait. I hooked one big one that I weighed, 3lbs 6oz. Finished off the day back in the small coves north of the boat ramp. Caught several fish there in real shallow water, on rapala. I weighed my last fish, 2lbs, 5oz. Caught crappie, smallmouth and largemouth today... total- 25.
May 13- Sunny, windy from SW, warm, but cooler than it's been. Gene and I went up a little before Linda and Edie, and we fished a little before meeting them at our usual spot. Gene caught a nice trout trolling over there, and a smaller one that he didn't keep. After having lunch with Edie and Linda, they went home and we fished a little more. We caught some small bass and a few red ear mostly on rapala, but I caught some bass on a bomber spinnerbait. The wind was a real problem, and we didn't have alot of time, so we didn't get to fish all that much. We came home early. We didn't count fish too well, I think the total was something like Gene- 8-10, me- 5 or 6.
May 15- Overcast, rain showers on and off all day, mostly light, windy from the SW. Had most of the lake to myself due to the weather, so I went directly to Lost Cr. Cove. Caught first fish there on Rapala, a nice 2lb+ bass. After that it was slow until later. Caught a few red ear, some crappie, and quite a few nice solid 1-2lb bass... all on rapala. Caught them both on stop and go, and steady retrieve. All in all, even though it was a little wet, (but not cold) fishing was good. Total for the day- 24.
May 16- Sunny, but a few high clouds, warm and calm until about 1:00, then breezy from the west. Went to the little cove just east of Lost Cr. Cove, caught first fish there on rapala. Tried buzz bait and spinnerbait, no hits on either, so I stayed with rapala most of the day. That lure turned out to be best, caught lots of nice 1-2lb fish with it. Weighed 2 fish today, one was 2lb 1oz, and the other was 2lb even. Fished the south side back to the east, smallmouth biting good today. I caught nothing but smallmouth for about a 2 hour period, that's never happend before. They were all small though. Saw many of my fish take the rapala in the clear water. I did manage to get one bedding bass to take a plastic worm, about a 2lb fish, and I released it... I think it was a male. Great day, found some fish late in the day in real shallow water in the back of some coves. Total for the day- 34.
May 17- Mostly sunny, high thin clouds but they never blocked the sun much. Windy from the west. Linda and I put the boat in at the picnic area and fished the west end of the lake. Wind made fishing difficult, but it seemed that when we were fishing in the rocks, we were catching smallmouth. Caught alot of smallmouth on rapala, and occasionally we would get a crappie on that bait. Whenever we caught a crappie, we would throw a jig and catch a few more. I also caught fish on a bomber spinnerbait, a white Hank Parker spinnerbait, and a jig. Action seemed to get better later in the day, and the wind blown banks seemed to be pretty good, but boat control was a problem. I got one long skinny bass with a broken jaw that could have weighed 3 lbs if it had been filled out... caught it right near where we put the boat in on a rapala. Lots of slow time, but when we found fish they were biting pretty good. Total for the day- Linda-11 me-22.
May 18- Sunny, warm, windy from the NE. I fished the island closest to the boat ramp first. Caught a largemouth and a smallmouth on a rapala, and saw a huge crappie. Couldn't get the crappie to bite. After that, over to the end of Long Point. Got a couple of nice bass off the point out away from shore using a bomber spinnerbait. They just hammered it. After lunching on the shore, I went all the way back to the area across from the Pioneer Cabin. Fishing the weed beds out away from shore I caught several bass, one nice one. (also on spinnerbait) That little spinnerbait got me most of my fish today. Some of the weedy coves had lots of fish out in the middle. Had one 2 lb fish hit it on the surface, missed it, then I threw back to the same spot and caught her. Toward evening I also started throwing a Tiny Torpedo. Had one explosive strike on that, about a 1½ lb. fish. Pelicans were in my little coves next to the boat ramp, so I didn't get to fish there at the end of the day. Total- 32.
July 3- Partly cloudy, some T-storms in the area, hot, variable breeze. Linda and I went to Lost Cr. Cove and spent the day there swimming and fishing. Swimming was the order of the day due to the heat. When we finally did some fishing, we did pretty good fishing the weed beds. I used a plastic worm, steady retrieve over and through the weeds, moving it pretty fast, and the fish just attacked it. I had to reel fast enough to keep the worm on the surface. Linda threw a jig, and caught mostly red ear doing that. I didn't actually boat too many fish, caught 4 total, but 2 of them were nice ones, one about 2lbs, picture, and the other about 1½ lb. Linda ended up with 12 for the day, mostly sunfish, but some nice ones. Beautiful day to lounge and swim, with the cloud cover the heat was bearable.
Aug. 28- Sunny, hot, breezy from the SW. Linda and I went straight over to the island across from the boat ramp and stayed there most of the heat of the day, laying in the shade, swimming and drinking a few brews. As hot as it was, that was the best thing to be doing. Picture When the shadows got a little long in the afternoon, we went across to the cove south of the boat ramp, and fished the weed beds. I threw a plastic worm, and mostly used a steady retrieve. I got a couple of nice bass doing that, we invited both of them to dinner. Linda caught some redear and small bass on a small jig. We tried the cove on the other side of the boat ramp too, and I got a real nice bass there, it came right out from under a weed mat and took my worm.. saw the whole thing. Picture Got several explosive hits on my worm, steady retrieve, but caught 2 of my fish by stopping it and letting it drop. Great day today, all the way around. Total for the day, me- 4, Linda- 8.