05-06-2020 Whiskeytown Lake

I finally got the chance to wash the delta slime off and launch the boat into some clean lake water. For anyone that is looking to do some lake fishing. Whiskeytown and Shasta are both still open. I would just say try to be smart and go straight to the lake. Don't stop anywhere and don't bring anyone with you who isn't from your immediate household just to be safe and abide by the states regulations. The bite was okay for me. I'm not going to tell you it was off the hook because that would be lying. It was pretty slow to start and I was hoping to get on some bigger spots with big swimbait's but ended up busting out the spinning gear and throwing a neko rig. which if you are familiar with spotted bass, they freaking love eating neko rigs. I started out the day launching at 0700 and fishing the back of a couple wind blown pockets. Alternating between a Gan Craft glide bait and a whopper plopper, I managed to pick up two small ones with the whopper plopper. The Gan craft pulled some fish up to take a look but wasn't what they were looking for. With the wind blowing 10-15 mph out of the north I decided to make a run to some calmer waters and a potential transition spot for these fish to move in and out of a spawning area. I started making long casts with a neko rigged yum dinger and it didn't take long for me to realize that was the ticket. First cast I picked a 3.06 and then two 2 pound spots.

When the fish came up each one had friends with them. one follower was a solid 5 pound class spot. So needless to say I stayed on that spot most of the day. I continued to catch fish but in intervals, almost as if new fish were moving up every hour or so. I caught around 30 fish but only 6 or 7 fish were actually keepers. I ended the day with a 5 fish limit of 14.04, anchoring the limit was a 3.72. No giants but they were definitely around, I just hope next time I'm able to fool one. I got off the water at 2:30 pm to make the long drive home. This trip was fun but it also confused me, and feel free to message me if you have a theory or know something I don't because I kinda want to figure this out. I started fishing and the water temps were 63-65 degrees in most areas, so I expected to at least see empty beds from the spotted bass spawn, and probably some largemouth doing there thing. I searched a couple different spawning areas but I didn't see any beds, not even empty ones. I wondered if maybe they just spawned very deep like 15ft-20ft due to the water being so clear, but I still don't know for sure. it was a new experience for me and I need to do some more research to figure out the truth. Anyways I plan on getting back out on the delta this week and do my best to get on a bite. I just need to avoid the spray boats and all of the other bass fisherman out there lol. Until next time keep on living fast and catching bass.