Spring is acting more like winter this year, as it sometimes has a way of doing, and the fact that I have been so busy, have combined to keep me away from my favorite lake. Hopefully in the coming days I can reverse that trend.
March 30- Mostly sunny, but some high clouds late in the day. Fairly light variable breeze, mostly from the north. Warm, almost hot when the wind wasn't blowing. Pete Villa and I got up there about 10:30. We fished the Pioneer Cabin end of the lake. We tried coves and rocky areas, the rocks finally paying off. Caught the first one dragging an unweighted worm slowly through the rocks. Had a top water hit dragging a worm over a mat of weeds, surprised me even though I half expected it. Caught one that weighed 2lb, 7oz, picture, back in another rocky area. Late in the day, got fish up shallow with worms pulled through the weeds. Lake coming up, not full yet. Tried rapala's, but no takers. Total for the day, me-4 Pete-2 (one trout caught trolling). Beautiful day... mosquito's bad.
April 7- Sunny, cool, light east breeze, calm sometimes. Went by myself and fished Lost Creek Cove. Caught my first fish right away on a pumpkinseed power worm, no weight, on a steep bank. Even though it's early spring, shallow shady spots had fish in them. Got one nice fish in close, she weighed 3lb, 5oz. Picture Fishing was slow, and late in the day, a blue bass boat came in and worked some of the same area's I had, then for some reason they came over and purposely gunned their big motor in a large tree I was getting ready to fish in. Real nice guys, huh? (next time I see them, I'll get a picture of them) Anyway, I managed to catch 3 fish that day, and had several other bites.
April 9- Some sun, but mostly cloudy. Fairly warm, breezy from the SW. Pete Villa and I went. We stopped and fished some deep rocks on the way across the lake, and I caught the first, and my only, fish there on a plastic worm with weight. It weighed about 2 lbs, but I didn't actually weigh it. We continued in that area fishing more rocks, and Pete caught one too. After we worked that area, we went across the lake to the south side, and worked our way back to the east. We didn't get any bites except I did get one to take a rapala, but it came off before I got it to the boat. Pete ended up getting one more later on, and I got some hits in the weeds with a plastic worm. It was real slow today, we ended the day Me-1 Pete-2.
April 27- Mostly cloudy early, then clearing later in the day. Breezy from SW, cold, temp in high 30's, low 40's. Some snow showers, but they didn't amount to much. Went by myself and since it was calm for the first hour I was there, I tried fishing some rocks near the island across from Lunker. I caught my first fish, a 3lb 2oz bass dragging a weighted worm through the rocks in about 15 feet. Picture Tried working an unweighted worm, but after the wind came up, that became harder, so the weighted one was the best choice. Worked rocks in several areas, catching another good one later in the day. That one weighed 3lb 4oz. Picture Had a pretty good day considering that it has been snowing and cold for the last week, ended up the day with 8 fish, all pretty nice ones. What really made my day though, was as I was driving home, I was nearing the Pioneer Cabin, and just off the road to the right, there was a bear standing on her hind legs with 2 cubs at her feet. She watched me drive by, and when I stopped, hoping to get a picture, she and the cubs ran across the road and into the woods. A great end to the day.
May 6- Overcast, cold, rain showers heavy at times. Light breeze most of the day. Started fishing some deep rocks near the boat ramp, and caught one on my first cast with a weighted plastic worm, brown color. Caught several more in the same spot, some pretty nice ones, see the first one here. It weighed 3 lb 5oz. The second nice one weighed 3lb 3oz. Picture Later in the day I got another that weighed 3lb 6oz. Didn't get a picture of that one. Linda met me in Lost Creek Cove, but didn't stay long due to the rain and cold. I stayed all day and when you were fishing in the right spots, the fish were definitely cooperating. Caught all my fish on the same bait, lip hooked most of them. Caught several in the 2 lb range that pulled like bigger fish. Total caught today- 13.
May 7- Cold, windy from west mostly, rain showers on and off, but I did see the sun a couple of brief moments. Put my boat in at Lunker and fished the Pioneer Cabin end of the lake. Seems like all the other bass fishermen had the same idea, 2 other boats working the same area. Saw a guy catch one on a white spinnerbait, but couldn't bring myself to throw it all that much. I pretty much stuck with the slow dragging worm thing, but it wasn't working as good today. I did manage to get some fish, but it was much slower than yesterday. Got out of there a little early, just before a major rain shower started. Total caught today- 4.
May 8- Overcast and snowing most of the time I was there, but every now and then the sun would pop out making it pretty nice. Of course, nice is not the way I would describe most of the day, some of the snow showers were very heavy. When I finally gave up and came home I had an inch or so of wet snow covering everything. I put the boat in at the picnic area and tried fishing in that area right near some cattails. I caught my first fish dragging an unweighted worm deep. It was between one and two lbs. Worked that area some more, but got nothing else there. Went across the cove and started fishing some rocks. I got a nice 4lb 2oz bass doing that. Picture. Worked my way into Lost Creek Cove, but the snow and ice showers made me think about coming home early, so I didn't get very far into it. Total for the day- 2. At least I got the biggest fish so far this year.
May 9- Overcast and cold, more like a winter day than a spring day. Some light drizzle late in the day. The fresh snow covering the trees on the hills gave them a bluish cold tint, reminding me of fishing Almanor during the winter. Never-the-less, it's Antelope Lake, and the bass are still biting. Put the boat in at the Picnic area, and caught my first bass on the first cast. I love it when that happens. Tried fishing deep in front of the cattail patches. Caught a couple doing that, and had some other bites that I missed. Next I found a tree laying in the water, and, surprisingly the fish was right where she was supposed to be. Got a picture of her, 3lb, 7oz. Tried a weighted worm in the rocks and got another nice bass... 2lb 13oz. Since the kids were coming, I decided to cut my day short, so I headed back to the picnic area and tried there again. Caught 2 more in that area. One was 3 lbs... Picture The unweighted worm seemed to work the best, probably since I was fishing them deep over deep weed beds. Total fish caught today- 6.
May 10- Mostly overcast, but the sun actually came out a couple of times. Light rain showers, variable breeze around passing showers. Went across to the tip of Long Point. Caught 2 fish dragging an unweighted plastic worm deep in front of a cattail patch. One of them was pretty nice, 2lb 11oz. Went across and worked the south side back toward the dam. Didn't get any bites anywhere along there. When I came back across to the boat ramp side I stopped to fish a little spot I usually fish when the fishing pressure is high, and I got a 3lb 13oz bass on a weighted worm. Got a picture of that one. Pretty slow day, lots of bass fishermen which might have accounted for some of it, but the continuing cold weather has to also be part of it. Total for the day- 3.
May 11- Mostly sunny... SHOCK!! Much warmer than it's been, breezy from south to east. Paul and I put the boat in at the picnic area and went toward Lost Creek Cove. Stopped along the way to fish some rocks I noticed out away from shore, and Paul almost caught one there. He had it on, but didn't get the hook set hard enough. He was using an unweighted worm. Try as we might, we couldn't get any more bites till late in the afternoon. We saw one hit the surface in a shady spot. I let Paul throw in there and the fish took it, but again he didn't get a good hook set. I finished the day with no bites. It was till a nice day. Skunked?
May 12- Sunny, warmer still than yesterday, never had to put a long sleeve shirt on all day. Now that's the way it's supposed to be! Got a late start since Tracey and family left this morning. After putting the boat in at the boat ramp, I went across to Long Point and worked my way toward the Pioneer Cabin. Caught a nice bass in the rocks on a weighted worm, but nearly every rock pile I saw was either being fished already, or a boat would come roaring up soon. Caught a real small bass on a floating rapala in a small cove, and had another top water hit, but those were very small. I worked mostly coves, looking for some shallow bass, but didn't find any till late in the day. I ended up getting 2 real nice ones, one about 2 lbs, and the other 3lb, 4oz in the same cove on an unweighted worm. Such a nice day that not catching very many fish was not a problem. Total caught- 4.
May 13- Mostly sunny continuing to warm up. T-shirt warm all day, breezy from south west. Went straight across to the tip of Long Point and worked my way back into the cove on the south side of the point. Got one nice bass on a plastic worm in a beaver lodge. I saw many nice fish, but mostly they weren't interested in what I was throwing. I tried a rapala, worm, and spinnerbait. I did manage to get one nice fish to hit my worm, but she got hung up in a tree that was in the water, and came off. Saw the whole thing in the clear shallow water... very cool. Worked my way along the south side, mostly throwing a rapala. Found one spot where I got a hit, then threw it back in and hooked a nice smallmouth. After releasing her, I threw back in the same spot and hooked another slightly smaller smallmouth. Didn't get any more fish all day, try as I might. I did get some more hits, but couldn't hook them. Had action on the rapala and a worm pulled slowly over a weed mat. From the number of large fish I saw today, it's obvious that they are in looking for spawning areas. Total fish caught- 3.
May 14- Mostly sunny, some cumulus, but not much. Windy from SW. Still warm, but the wind made it feel a little cooler. Put in at the picnic area and worked the west end of the lake. Shady spots were the right places to throw my rapala, and I started catching fish right away. With the clear water you could see the fish take the thing. Trees, logs and other objects in the water held fish, and if you threw the rapala up next to them, let it sit a minute, then pull it, they would rush out and grab it. Several of the fish I caught were over 2½ lbs, weighed the 3 biggest, they weighed 2lb 14oz, 3lb 15oz, and 4lb 8oz. It is so special to see a big fish come out and grab your lure. Also got nice ones on a white spinnerbait, and plastic worm worked over a weed mat. Pretty nice day, good to see the fish are starting to get predictable. Total caught today- 10.
May 15- Sunny but very windy from the SW and cooler. Pete Villa and I started at the end of Long Point and worked toward the Pioneer Cabin. We fished mostly in coves, and the fish were there and biting. Mostly we threw rapala's, but occasionally an unweighted plastic worm, and both worked. We also threw a spinnerbait in the rocky areas where the wind made fishing otherwise too difficult. Didn't get anything on the spinnerbait. We found some areas where there were so many large fish, it made you crazy to see them and not get them to bite. I caught a huge crappie, a big female full of eggs, on a rapala. Got a picture of her then let her go, even though I really wanted to invite her to dinner. We did alot of casting, but it paid off. I ended up the day with 18, Pete got 12.
May 16- Sunny but some high clouds, windy in the afternoon from the SW. Went toward Lost Creek Cove and didn't really intend to fish there, but with the wind and the fact that no other boats were in there, I went ahead and spent the day. I started catching fish on a rapala, and stayed with that until I found weed mats, then used a worm. I hooked a pretty nice one under a weed mat, but it jumped and threw the hook. Later on I saw a nice fish in shallow water, threw my rapala in there, and she took it. After a brief struggle, she broke me off, an outcome that was not what I wanted. It was so cool to see her look at it then hit it though. Again, saw some nice fish, some on beds. Caught some really small ones today, but also some nice solid 2 lb fish. No big ones today. I also caught a nice fat one on a spinnerbait in the rocks. Total fish caught today- 20.
May 17- Sunny, windy from the SW, cool. Rene' Sarabia and I went to Long Point first, and worked some of the small coves on the south side going back into the main cove. We both caught some small bass on floating rapala, but no big ones. The fishing was off today from what it's been, lots of other bass fishermen might have been a factor too. We worked our way back up the south side of the lake, but most of the good looking water was unproductive. Tried spinnerbaits and plastic worms. Got a few takers here and there, I got one on a worm in a tree. Near the end of the day we got some action in one of the coves, on rapala, plastic worm, and Rene's toothpick. Too many people working the same water probably had an effect on things today, as well as the cooler nights. We might have done better with a different approach, but it was still a nice day to be out on the water. I ended up the day with 8, and Rene' said he got 5 or 6.
