Here is a trip report of some spring time Sand Hollow fishing with my family. To make things fun while we were at Sand Hollow we formatted a 3 hour mini tournament with me, my dad, and brother . It wound up being a great time, and the inter- family tournament made for some added intensity to our catches. We put about 32 bass in the boat by the end of the day between all three of us. Here is where we went, what we used, and how we got “Kraken” Bass!

Sand Hollow Fishing – Family Feud

Conditions:

Here are the conditions of when fished on Monday April, 28th for about 8 hours from 7 am to 3:00 pm.

Water Temperature:     61 degrees.

Water Clarity:     Clear, you could see down to about 12 feet.

Weather:      Bright & Sunny, but the wind was  howling at 12- 20 mph

Where we fished:

Here is a map of some the spots we hit up at Sand Hollow to get us “Kraken” Bass.
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What we used:

It took us a minute to figure out some good patterns. We caught fish on a variety of baits, but three solid baits and patterns rose to the top  to produce consistently.

1. Spinnerbait: We caught fish on spinnerbaits all day. The key was to keep it close to the bottom, and pop it every once in awhile to give it some extra action. The color which seemed to work best was anything with green & white in the skirt.
2. Crankbait: I caught the biggest bass of the trip on a crankbait. The key to catching bass with a crankbait was to make sure it was banging the structure. I’ve you weren’t banging the bottom, you weren’t going to catch a bass. Bluegill colored cranks seemed to work best.
3. Carolina Rig:  Using a 1/2 oz bullet weight with about 12 inches of 10 pound monofilimant leader, the Carolina rig caught some bass! I used a 4/0 hook with a texas rigged yamamoto fluke. I would fish it by casting it out over the flats, and slowly dragging it through the cover back to the boat.

Most of our fish were caught in 2 – 8 feet of water. The wind was really howling, so our bait choices were limited to those we could fish in the wind  the best.

(Refer to the “gear used” section at the bottom of the post of my affiliate links where you can pick up the baits and gear we used on this trip)

How things went:

Here are the logistics of how we set up our little family tournament, and how things shook out to “Krak” 32 bass.

Our tournament was set it up so all three of us had an hour at the helm of the boat. During your hour at the helm you could weigh in 2 fish, and the others could only weigh in one fish. All in all each of us could weigh in 5 fish in the three hours. Further stipulations were that each hour you could only weigh in one bass. Unless you were at the helm, then you could weigh in 2. The goal was to put more pressure on you at the head of the boat. We rolled dice, and the winner got to pick when he fished. It was a tight time frame to get things done, but it made it a lot of fun. The remainder of the day we just fished for fun.

I got the first hour, and got one bite. I tried throwing a crankbait and a jig, but couldn’t land a bass. It was ironic that a crankbait actually caught the most fish for me later in the day. I just didn’t give it enough time when I was at the helm. I spent 20 minutes cranking, and the remainder of the hour trying to pick up a couple on the jig. To dig the dagger deeper, both my brother and my dad picked up fish during my hour. I was behind two fish at the end of the first hour. Unless, my brother and dad also blanked on their turns at the helm.

The second hour my dad was slotted to run the boat, and he picked one up on a crankbait really early. He finished off his hour without connecting on another one though. I caught a fish on a crankbait as well during this hour, and my brother picked up a nice 17 inch bass on the spinnerbait. It put my brother in a good spot with weight. Here is the picture of the beast he caught on the spinner bait:

The third and final hour of the tournament my brother stepped up to the helm. All he needed to do was catch 2 fish and he would win it. The wind really starting showing it’s strength at this point in the day. He made it happen despite the conditions. My brother with only 20 minutes left caught a bass to put him as the winner. During this hour, my dad caught one, and I put two in the boat on the carolina rig.

The fun fishing started after my brother mopped us up in the tournament, and we started whacking the bass. The carolina rig produced some more, and we also crushed a bunch more on crankbaits. We found a good section of shoreline with stained water created from the wind, and we popped a bunch of bass on spinnerbaits.

I was proud to claim the biggest bass of the day. He choked my crankbait along the rip rap later in the afternoon when we were fun fishing. Here he is in all his glory.

It was a great day on the water with my family. Even though the wind was a howling, it seemed like the fish were in the mood to chomp our baits. Please leave any questions or comments, and hopefully this trip report helps you to start “Kraken” Bass!

As Always,

Stay Stoked!

Gear Used:

Baitcasting Set up:
Shimano Sellus Medium Heavy 1-Piece (7-Feet 2-Inch/10-17-Pounds)
Quantum Fishing Smoke 9 Bearing Baitcast Reel (Right, 150/7.3:1)
Spiderwire Zilla Braid Fishing Line, 30-Pound Test, 300-Yard Spool, Moss Green
Sufix Invisiline Casting Flourocarbon (Clear, 10-Pound)

Baits:
Megabass Cyclone Crankbait (Bluegill)
Booyah Ayu Spinner Bait
Yamamoto D-Shad fluke (Olive Shad)

Terminal Tackle:
Strike King Tungsten Bullet Weight 1/2 Oz.
Gamakatsu Extra Wide Gap Worm Hook-5 Per Pack (Black, 4/0)