Waterwolves

I fished there a few weeks ago and there really is nothing to worry about. Fishing was great. Can't wait to go back.....

You would think they would already be going pretty good by now. I am so pumped about this reservoir being full of smallies. Can you imagine a lake where you can catch a 15 pound rainbow (not common but they are in there), a 20+ pike, and a 5+ Smallmouth on the same day. If they can catch on and grow to any size in there it will make Elevenmile the best lake in the state!!!!

Why did the population of smallmouth explode? Does anybody know? A buddy of mine went out looking for them and he said he saw a small pod of them about 5 and he got a few hits but no hook ups.

No I fish for these when I am there. You would think throwing jerkbaits primarily that I would have lucked into a smallmouth if there was a good population there.

here is a pic of the latest one caught. To bad he kept it but oh well.

The Reservoir is called Elevenmile. It is roughly 3400 acres. I am not sure how deep it is but it is not super shallow. If I had to guess I would say the dam might be 100+ feet deep. Some of the bigger basin's are in the 50-70 foot range. The reservoir sits at 8600 feet too. The reservoir also holds pike (some huge), huge rainbows, salmon, a few perch, and brown trout. A small rainbow is 14 inches here. Double digit rainbows are caught every year.

I live in Colorado. There is a reservoir here that the DOW stocked with smallmouth one year because they didn't have any rainbows. They only put about 25,000 fingerlings in. Not much at all. This was like 8-9 years ago. Anyway there have been a few smallmouth caught but not more then a couple a year. My question is this: Does anybody think they will ever be prominent in the reservoir? It seems like a few more are caught every year so I think the population is getting bigger. Might be a tough question to anwser but

I did not try swimming a jig but it did cross my mind. The water also dropped about 2 feet in fours days so that could have turned the fish off. I am starting to think that the drop in water level maybe made them pull back off into deeper water. I went out today and again I got nothing on the jig but I did alright on a lipless crank. Go figure it was sunny too. lol

I had that same problem until I saw my buddy got on a good jig bite in my boat and handed me a butt whoppin. Easyily 4 to 1 bass in the boat. The next day I went back out on the lake with nothing but a box of jigs and I said I wasn't coming off the lake until i caught one. Well it took half the day but I finally got it and ever sense then it has been my go to bait. I think the real trick is putting the jig in the right spot. Sometimes you look at a spot and you say to yourself "if I throw that jig in there it is never getting back to the boat" and then you throw it in there anyway. lol It usually comes back with a fat bass on the other end too. Jigs also catch "BIG" bass anywhere.

Yeah I caught a nice one on a lipless crank and a few good ones on a spinnerbait but i couldn't buy a bite on a jig today and I was murdering them on it two days ago. The only thing I could think of was the cloud cover. It was a very cloudy day here today.

Does the jig bite die when it is gets cloudy? I have been flipping blue and black jigs in the trees lately and I have been doing really good. I went out to today and it was really cloudy. I started flipping my jig and nothing. I heard when it gets cloudy bass don't relate to cover as much is this true?

Last year I tried the night fishing thing and I had no luck. Not even a bite. I threw everything at them. black buzzbaits and spinnerbaits, black and blue jigs, senkos, frogs, and anything else i could think of. I am going to continue to try but I must not be doing something right? I fished deeper water most of the time so maybe I need to go shallower? The problem with that is I can't see the bank so I have a hard time throwing close to the cover. Any suggestions? Signed those night fishing pictures are killing me. LOL

Thanks guys for the info. i will keep trying. i know it is a big fish bait and a lot of my friends swear by it. I guess i got to just keep at it. I just need to hit a day when the fish are really on a jig bite. I have tried cutting my jig a little and I think I will stick with that. There is some huge spots in this reservoir but it might increase my chances of getting bit. Good idea. I think I am going to wait until summer time and I am going to bring 3 rods and everyone of them will have a jig on it. I will just fish that jig all day until I get bit.

Ok, I have fished jigs deep for a while now with no success. I feel I am doing something wrong so maybe some of you guys can tell me how you fish them to make the fish bite. I know I am on top of fish because I catch them in these same spots with different techniques. I have no confedence in this bait. > Do you drag it slow of rocks? Do you hop it along at a fast pace? Do you throw it really shallow and work it deep? Do you work it along break lines. Drop offs. The lake I have fished the most with it is a reasonably clear rocky lake with smallies, spots, and LM. Spots dominate this lake though.

I know it is hard to believe but Colorado does grow some pigs! Drop shotting can really produce some big fish. Now that I look back on it I should have taken her hom and put her in the tank.

Thanks bro. The big spot gave me the biggest fight. Caught her off a bed.

That is nuts. I have fished Fork before and even though I have never done that I know that when everything lines up right that Lake can produce a sack like that. I mean really there is 10 pound bass everywhere in that place.

After you saw where they were. Were you able to catch them? I have been thinking about buying a underwater camera but I heard that some people spend to much time trying to catch the fish they see without success.

I have heard that a lot of peoples opinion of the hardest water to fish is cold muddy water and that is what you have there. Not saying you can't catch bass there but there might be better places to try.

If they are really feeding then I will go to a two rod approach. I will throw a rod that has some kind big fish lure on like a jig and pig and a rod with another bait that catches a lot of numbers like a spinnerbait.

There is so much for me to learn I don't even know where to start. I am starting to get flipping jigs. It is really about where you put the jig. I fish spinnerbaits good. I fish tubes decent and I have got drop shotting down. Shallow cranking no problem. I have room to improve on all of these but I have caught fish on all of them. My problem..... deep cranking, rattletraps, and c-rigging. I have no idea if i am on fish or if I am even near fish. Are the fish running for their lives when I throw a deep diver? I have no idea.

Ok. I fished Fork a couple of years back. That lake might be the heaviest fished lake in the country. The guide I was with was having a tough time getting me on fish. Well he had me put on a worm but it was different then any other plastic worm I have fished. He had me thread it on to the hook with the head hanging over the top of the hook. He then had me place a nail in the head to weigh it down. He then told me to throw it out and let it hit the bottom them just barely shake it. kinda like a modern day shakey head but this was 6-7 years ago. Try that. We were going right behind other people and slaming them. I didn't kill it but I did catch about 20 fish on a day no one was doing well.

Sweet. That does look like a big 7 pounder to me too. Not that I have seen a lot of bass that size.

I burn out fishing the same species of fish. Some years I get into fishing Pike and that is all I will fish and other years it is Bass. Some years i will only take the boat out 10 times ina year but thats because I am fishing rivers all the time. It depends.