September 20, 2014
Fishing Time: 2:00p.m. – 5:00p.m.
Rating: 8
Weather Conditions: Sunny with clear skies
Bait: Drop Shot with Strike King Green Pumpkin KVD Dream Shot/Roboworm Aaron’s Magic Straight Tail Worm and Quick Drop 1/4 ounce weight; Livingston Beauty Shad Howeller Dream Master Classic Crankbait
Rod: G-Loomis GX2 Jig and Worm
Reel: Quantum Catalyst PT
Line: 8-pound Sunline Super Sniper FC
Total Bass Caught: 5
Final Weigh in Weight: 4.10 pounds
With school starting back up, I haven’t had much time to get out onto the water, but Livingston was kind enough to send me their Howeller Dream Master Classic Crankbait to do a review on, so I really wanted to thank them for giving me this opportunity. I decided to head over to the Potholes Reservoir to give it a try. I have fished the Potholes a little bit in the past, but this is my first time getting out of there this year. Unfortunately, I got a really late start and wasn’t able to make it out to there until around 2:00. I launched over by O’Sullivan Dam and started at the rocks near the boat launch. I immediately tied on the Howeller and casted around for about 30 minutes, but wasn’t able to get any bites, so I decided to switch over to my trusty drop shot rig. On my third cast, I was able to hook into a 0.5 pound smallmouth. A few casts later, I landed another 0.5 pound smallmouth bass, so I knew that my dream shot was working. I continued working my way along the rocks in the canal and eventually I landed a nice 1 lb smallmouth bass. I fished the rocks in the canal for a few more minutes before I decided to work the sandy side of the canal. I kept alternating between the Howeller and the dream shot, but couldn’t get any bites. I was just about ready to head over to Goose Island, but then I spotted a long canal that led away from the main body of water. I hadn’t seen anybody fishing it, so I decided to give it a try. I casted my dream shot all over, but couldn’t get a bite. All of a sudden, I spotted a small set of sticks poking out of the water, so I casted over to them and on my fifth cast, something hammered my dream shot. I set the hook and was able to land another 1 pound smallmouth bass. I then continued on deeper into the canal and spotted a big beaver dam, which was extremely encouraging. After landing 4 bass on my drop shot rig, I decided to go back to the Howeller. I casted it just to the outside of the beaver dam and all of a sudden a bass hammered it. I set the hook and landed a nice 1.1 pound largemouth bass. It was nice to catch a largemouth bass and it was even nicer to catch it on the Livingston Howeller. I then spotted a smaller beaver dam farther down the canal, so I casted over to it. As soon as it hit the water a bass jumped up and hammered it. I set the hook, but just missed it and it got away. After that the canal got too shallow to traverse, so I decided to head in early and call it a day.
Observations: According to the weather reports, it has been extremely hot in the Moses Lake area, so it surprised me that the water was only 67-69 degrees. I thought after a warm summer, it would definitely be up in the 70’s, even though it is a large body of water. I actually caught my bass in a wide variety of depths, ranging from 8-26 feet. I did notice that the bigger bass that I caught were in shallower water, while the smaller ones were caught in deeper water. I really like the Livingston Howeller Dream Master Classic and am excited to try it out some more, so that I can finish my review of it. All in all, it was a great day of bass fishing considering how little time I had on the water.