I went fishing yesterday and this morning; yesterday I headed out to Yum Chi lake near Dunpo, after Rob had told me he did pretty well there last Saturday. Upon my arrival, I discovered that the lake was way down, and a lot of green algae/pollen was floating in the water.
The above bass was the biggest caught, the rest were dinks. Once the sun came up, the bite stopped so I headed out to the river and tried a few spots without a single bite to show for my efforts.
This morning, I headed back out to Idong with the goal of finding and catching some of those nice bluegill. The water level has dropped quite a bit in that lake as well, and instead of walking the Hill of Death, I was able to walk on shore all the way around the cliffs and rocks. About halfway along, I took a break and stopped to throw a Senko along shore to see if any bass were hiding out among the rocks.
Check out the pic of that tree. I was standing on the left corner of that tree, and cast over to my left with a 4 inch Senko, about 5 feet out from shore. On the second or third twitch, I felt a tap and then the line started going taut on me so I set the hook and felt a hell of a weight on there. The fish took off to the left of me towards deep water, taking out drag like mad and I thought I had hooked a big carp or snakehead. Then the fish jumped and I saw it was a bass, and a big one at that. I thought “Oh sh*t, big bass” and when it landed in the water, the splash reminded me of those mornings at the river when I can hear those huge carp splash when they jump out of the water. The fish then ran to the right, again taking out drag, towards deep water. I saw the line come up and I knew it was going to jump again and I was praying it wouldn’t throw the hook. It jumped again, and stayed on the line…then it ran back to the left again, closer to shore, not taking out as much drag this time and slowly, slowly, I fought it to right in front of that tree and I was so sure I had it…the fish was tired and you know how they get when you have them beat, they just sort of float in the water? The fish was about 2 feet in front of that tree, floating about a foot under the water and that’s when I saw how big it was…I was just thinking “OH MY GOD”. I thought at that point, all I had to do was keep tension on the line and pull it towards me, lip it and that’s all she wrote but as soon as I made a movement to lean forward, the fish took off towards the right, right under that tree and either rubbed against something or tied the line around a branch because suddenly, the line just went slack 
. I’ve been going over it all morning, there is absolutely nothing I could have done different…my line is good quality 10-pound line, I had cut some off to get rid of nicks; I had the drag set right, I kept tension on the line throughout the entire fight, and fought the fish till it was tired. I know it doesn’t sound like a long time, but that entire ordeal lasted at least 2-3 minutes and that’s an eternity when you have a fish on. Today’s fish is the biggest bass I’ve ever had on the line in my life – at least the ones I was able to see. I bet it was 60cm easy, and at the very least, 5 pounds but I’m going to say it was over 6. I honestly didn’t think the bass grew that big in Idong but apparently I was wrong 
The good news, however, is that I did manage to find those pesky bluegill and I caught a bunch on a 1/16 oz., white rooster tail on an ultralight rig, which was a frigging blast. As for bass, I caught some more but they were all dinks.
Don’t you just hate it when that happens
I lost a good fish yesterday, nowhere where near the size of the one you lost, but a 45cm bass, which I caught on a spinnerbait I made myself. I’ll post a report soon.
At least you know which spot to fish next time you go to Idong, apparently big bass will stay in the same area of the lake all year long. Nice looking gill
Yeah I do hate when that happens, especially when it happens to me!
I think you are right because I’m pretty sure it’s the same spot where my friend Gary caught a nice bass a few years ago on a jig.
http://landinglunkers.com/2006/05/29/this-helped-make-my-memorial-day-memorable/
That one particular spot is a bit of a deeper area and I’m thinking next time, I may try a jig there as well.
Yea, I read an article on how someone tagged some big bass to watch their movements. I’ll see if I can find the article.
Here’s that article…
http://www.flwoutdoors.com/article.cfm?id=143706
Sorry to hear that Nomad!!! WTF?
I think you are right because I’m pretty sure it’s the same spot where my friend Gary caught a nice bass a few years ago on a jig.
You shouldn’t have said that because now I know exactly where you were fishing!!!! I think I’m going to stop by Idong after work to do some night fishing.
Steve,
Thanks, interesting article!
Rob,
I ‘ll tell you EXACTLY where I was….if you were to walk the hill of death; when you come out there’s a small point with a net to your left. On the other side of that net, about 15 yards or so, is the tree in the picture. The entire bank is really steep right there so I assume the lake itself is the same; a pretty deep dropoff. Heck, I’m thinking about hitting it again really early tomorrow morning!
I think Gary caught his just a bit farther down though, but not real far.
And yea, from what I can tell it’s pretty deep right through there. He, or she, was probably up in there early this morning looking for unsuspecting bluegill to munch on.
Damn it man!!!!!
Ah well…that’s the way it goes, eh? Next year I’ll be out there with 70-pound braid
Nomad,
Looks like you got the Idong fever again. You’ll get that big one next time.
Dang Nomad, That is VERY un-characteristic of you giving detailed fishing locations like that.
Next time you go, there will be a dozen “wunnabe” bass chasers out there.
I am planning an overnight weekday camping trip out there sometime between June 15-19. Have you noticed any bullfrog activity yet?
Tex Mex,
I don’t know why I love catching those bluegill like I do but on an ultralight rig, it’s a hoot and I could do it all day. As for the big one, the odds aren’t with me in that lake; in the 4 or 5 years that I’ve fished there, that’s only the 2nd time I’ve hooked into what I would consider a “really big” bass. And yeah, I lost the first one too. LOL
Dave,
I figured once I posted that pic of the tree, anyone who knows the general areas I fish at Idong could find that spot with ease
The areas I fish have mostly rocky shoreline with no vegetation so I rarely, if ever see frogs out there and when I do, they are always the small ones. Why, do you have a craving for some frog legs?
The bullfrogs are out in full force down this way…in fact I even caught one on Thursday when fishing a frog for bass, but he got off.
I figured some night time gigging activity would help pass the evening. And some deep fried frog legs does sound good about now. At night, I’m considering running some long rods baited with small live bluegills hoping for some larger predators. We’ll see what happens.
Good luck Dave, and if you find a decent place to gig frogs, let me know where!!! When the cove at Idong fills back up it would probably be pretty good in there.
Dave,
A friend of mine had some luck a few years ago, using live goldfish that he bought on base. I believe he fished them without a bobber.
[...] The one on the right is the very same tree where I lost that big bass about a month ago (see here). The worst part is that with the water so low, almost every spot is super shallow. I [...]