I had Friday off so I decided that the wind forecast looked pretty nice for fishing Hagg lake. I really wanted to focus on bass so I left my trout gear and panfish gear at home. I got to the lake at day break and fished hard all day long. I did see that the lake had dropped 2' since my last trip here with my son.

 

I started out fishing moving baits along the emergent weed edges but I think the 2' drop in the water combined with the clear water made that a no-go, at least for me. I did not even have a bite for the first 3 hours (which I thought would be the most prime hours of the day). 

 

With a surface temp of 67 I figured the largemouth had to be up shallow and I did not spend much time probing deeper waters. At some point I figured a stealthier approach might be in order and I switched to a 4" weightless wacky rigged senko. Eventually I had a bass grab it. I set the hook and the line broke, easily, right at the knot. I was so mad!!!!!

 

I had just retied my fluorocarbon leader the night before and apparently I had done a poor job. I got out my spool of leader material and tied on a new leader. I checked the know about 10 times and then tied on a new senko. I went back to where I broke off that fish and cast back out. I had another pick up. I set the hook and it was a good fish. I got it all the way to the kayak and was doing a terrible job of trying to grab the fish when my lure popped out.

 

However, the battle was not over yet! There was a long leader still attached to the fish. I grabbed it and started pulling the fish in when that hooked popped out. It was my first senko that I had broken off. That was a really nice fish (pushing 4lbs). I just want to point out the extreme skill it takes to lose the same fish twice (really three times). Not many people have achieved that level of skill.

 

I ended up losing my first 4 bass. I was feeling completely cursed. I finally got one to bite and was able to land it. It was a nice 3lb 4oz largemouth, but man what a brutal ride to get to that fish.

 

 

 

The rest of the day was fairly slow fishing enhanced with continued poor execution on my part. I ended up landing 6 largemouth on the day (including the 3lb 4oz above which was the big one for the day). I lost a total of 6 bass as well and missed multiple other bites where I happened to twitch the lure just as a bass grabbed it. I never really felt like I was fishing well or had them figured out. Each time I caught one it felt more like luck than any application of skill. I hate days like that. It just felt wrong all day long.

 

Anyway, here is some video from the day:

 

 

 

The two fish not captured on video were in the pound to pound a half range. 

 

The crazy thing was how many trout I saw feeding on the surface. They were everywhere chasing insects and perhaps some type of fry. I could sit really still and they would start coming up within 10' of the kayak. It was pretty cool to watch. I had trout following and nipping at my bass lures (swimbait, etc) many times during the day. They would follow stuff all the way to the kayak. I spent a lot of the day regretting not having brought any trout gear.

 

The other thing that was interesting was the number of dead and/or dying perch that were floating around the lake. Crows were picking them off all day long. Maybe part of the toughness of the day was having such an easy food source. I am not sure what caused that die off. Perhaps just normal stress of spawning, but that is a wild guess.

54 minutes ago, pdxfisher said:

I just want to point out the extreme skill it takes to lose the same fish twice (really three times).

 

That is legit one of the most gut-wrenching stories I've ever read. Like if Cormac McCarthy rewrote The Old Man and the Sea.

Wow. Good/bad story lol.  

It's peculiar how frame-of-mind can affect a fishing day.   Some days, you can get skunked or only catch one fish and still have an enjoyable day and, on other days, you can catch several decent fish and feel like you had a bad day...

Thanks guys!

 

@desmobob , you hit the nail on the head. I have had days where I worked hard all day and caught one fish and felt like it was a huge success. In retrospect the day I had was not terrible, but man it just felt wrong the whole time I was out there.

 

Fishing is definitely a mental game and some days I just feel like I am playing short-handed

My youngest brother is a golfer and he often claims he lost his game and a week will go by and he rediscovers it.

 

Last trip out, my casting was way off.

Claimed a few fish but could have done better with more precision. 

That’s rough. 

if i catch 1 fish all day and it comes time to drive home and hit the rack i sleep well knowing i switched up my technique many times that day and moved around alot and for that i am satisfied.

I had a day just like that last Sunday. Got 8 bites...landed 4...missed 1...lost 3. Pretty sad execution.

I posted a vid of my two catches from Monday - what I didn't post was the one that shook off my chatterbait, or the 4 Senkos I 'sacrificed' to the bass gods and didn't catch one.

 

Days like that happen...just gotta take it and move on.

Today I was standing ankle to shin deep in a nasty dirty water. Lotta rain lately. Fish jumping everywhere. Perfect weather. 
 

Nothing. Not even little panfish. They even knocked my bait away a few times. It was just sad lol. 3 hours and nothing. 

Awesome report. Mama said there’d be days like this, lol. I liked that you persevered and at the end of the day 6 bass caught is better than none caught. ?

Given pdx in your screen name, I’m betting you’re my neighbor just south of me in Portland. Nice to know there are other Pacific Northwesterners here.  I’ll be heading there in a couple weeks to visit a brother who I have not seen in a while but he doesn’t fish, lol. 

Good one @Tsunekich!

 

Yep, I am down here in Portland. You need to set your brother straight