Triadelphia Reservoir - 8/12/12 Bottom Bouncer Bass

[DanMarino]

I hit Triadelphia Reservoir from 6PM-8PM tonight since it was so beautiful outside.

When I got there I saw these 3 goats hanging out beside the water. I've seen them in the same area my last 3 or 4 trips there.



I put on the bottom bouncer with a worm harness and Gulp Alive Shakey Worm and began trolling in the 20-25 foot range.

I had a couple hits from small fish that I thought were white perch. None of them stuck.

At a main lake point in 25 feet of water I got a solid thump. I set the hook and a fish was on. It fought really hard and for a minute I thought I had a pike or large smallmouth bass on. Ended up being a 16 3/4" largemouth bass. Here's two photos of the fish.





There was such a nice evening I took this photo of the sky.



I had another bass on for a second while trolling the beetle spin. It hit in about 10 feet of water on a main lake point. I didn't get a good hook set and it didn't stay on but for a few seconds.

Great evening on the reservoir and still skunk free at Triadelphia in 2012!

13

[camelbird]

nice pics... will have to make it up there one of these days

[chex]

Nice bass! Nice goats too... lol.

[wssckim]

Hi, Dan. I didn't see your photos that you took at Triadelphia. (Congratulations on the 16 3/4" largemouth bass!) Can you tell me how I can access the photos?

[fredneckyaker]

Nice work. Dan when i am bit better with the wheel, hit me up sometime and i'll come meet you over there

[DanMarino]

Hi, Dan. I didn't see your photos that you took at Triadelphia. (Congratulations on the 16 3/4" largemouth bass!) Can you tell me how I can access the photos?

WSSCKim,

I'm not sure what the problem is. I think you need to login as a registered member to see the photos. I know when I'm not logged in, photos don't show up for me. If you are logged in, the photos are links to imageshack, so maybe your work has that photo hosting website blocked?

Tom

[ictalurus]

Congrats on the nice bass. That sounds like a cool technique. I wonder if I can use it to find some bigger bass in St. Mary's Lake by me?

[DanMarino]

In my opinion the bottom bouncer would be ideal for a mirage drive Hobie kayak. If you have a rod holder in front of you it would be even better. If you also have a sonar unit in front of you, then you would have the perfect set-up. I've caught a bunch of small fish on a floating firetiger jointed rapala minnow pulled behind a 3/4 ounce bouncer. A traditional worm harness with a live nightcrawler produces lots of white perch, crappies, and yellow perch. The worm harness and live nightcrawler works almost too good at Triadelphia. I can't keep the perch and crappies off the thing long enough to hook into some bass. This gulp worm kept the perch off and allowed a bass to eat it. So I'll keep experimenting with this set-up and see how it produces. This time of year always produced no fish for me once fish moved deep due to the thermocline. In 2012 I'm continuing to catch fish in the summer, so I'm thrilled about it.

Having a sonar unit and mirage drive will allow you to troll along at your desired depth and also allows you to figure out which depth seems to have the most fish at it. Right now, Triadelphia has lots of fish in the 20-25 foot range. You should give it a go Bill and report back. The one caveat is that Triadelphia does not have a lot of submerged aquatic vegetation. Once you get past 8 feet, there's really not much weed cover. So my bouncer is bouncing along rocks, gravel and hard bottom. Rarely does the rig get snagged. I've only gotten snagged when I've trolled through downed trees by mistake. On occasion it will get fouled with vegetation if i get too shallow. So it might just be the ticket for you if the place isn't too weedy.

[Shield]

Those three goats are always together. I look for them each time I go there.

[DanMarino]

Yup, the goats are really cute. They were checking me out as I paddled by them and took their picture.