My experience fishing in Southern Utah Bass Fishing Lower Sand Cove Reservoir was incredible. I discovered this place from a couple subscribers pointing it out for me to scope out. In two separate mornings of fishing Lower Sand Cove, I caught several bass including some giants! It was Pretty mind boggling how such a little place can produce such good fishing. Check out the full post below with the baits, a map of the holes where I found fish, and plus some film of the action. Hopefully, all this information can help you catch a few more fish next time you head out on the water “Kraken” bass!
Fishing Lower Sand Cove Reservoir proved to be epic. I caught about a half dozen bass in the 3 – 4 pound class in two separate mornings of fishing. Here are all the logistics of my trip of what I discovered fishing this little gem tucked in the red rocks of Southern Utah. This post also includes some film of the action I was able to capture. In addition, all the goodies of what to use, a map of spots, and some more little tidbits to help you out fishing. It was a perfect place to use my Airhead SUP . I was able to get around the pond easily, and make casts to places where no one else could get to.
My trip to Lower Sand Cove in Southern Utah Bass Fishing transpired over two mornings while down in the area for work. The first morning was on a Friday, September 8th from 6:30 am – 9:00 am. The second trip was on the following Saturday morning, September 9th from 6:30 am to 10:00 am. My brother came out with me the 2nd morning, and we had a riot. Here are what the conditions were like on both of these excursions on Lower Sand Cove:
Stained, Visibility about 4 – 5 feet.
Around 72 degrees.
The first morning was cloudy with a little bit of rain. Second morning was cloudy to. Air Temperature around 78 degrees.
0-6mph. Wind would come and go throughout each morning. It never got really terrible.
I tried a few different things out at Lower Sand Cove each morning. Several baits worked, but here are the ones I found worked the best and caught the most fish.
The Chartreuse Gill Jackall Gavacho frog caught more big bass for me than anything else. The strikes were insane on this thing. The cool thing about this bait is you can work it like a popper along the surface, or walk it like a spook. On this trip the walking action worked the best to get those beasts to rise up and grab it. The key was to make sure to have a stout rod to bury the hooks in the mouth’s of those big bass after they sucked it down. My rod of choice on this trip for the frog was the Duckett Terex 7’3″ Medium heavy. It got the job done with my Quantum Smoke Baitcasting Reel paired up with 30 lbs braided line and 15 lbs fluorocarbon leader. The fluorocarbon leader I’ve found just helps you get more strikes. Especially in clearer water.
The Megabass Pop-X was my follow up topwater bait. The pop-x caught several bass I missed that would blow up on the frog and not get hooked up. The trebles on the Megabass Pop-X are super sharp and rarely miss. This technique with the pop-x was a fun one, two punch combo for getting those bass to chomp. The Megabass Pop-X worked best for me with a soft walk the dog action, and an occasional pause. Walking the bait about 4 or 5 times, then letting it sit seemed to produce the most strikes. The pop-x worked flawlessly on a 7′ medium heavy spinning rod paired with a size 30 spinning reel. The reel was spooled up with 10lbs braided line, and about 20 feet of 8lbs flourocarbon line leader. You can bomb this bait on this set up. This made it easy to make long casts, so you weren’t spooking the bass off in such a small body of water.
The 7″ Margarita Mutilator Roboworm caught the biggest bass on Lower Sand Cove Reservoir. This roboworm was set up on a drop shot rig with a size 1 split shot/drop shot hook, and 1/8 oz drop shot weight. The great thing about the roboworm on a drop shot rig is it kept the bait up out of the grass. The light 1/8 oz weight kept the weight moving perfectly along the deep drops of the vegetation, and that’s where the beast swallowed it up. Slowly dragging the drop shot along the bottom, with a little shake every now and then seemed to work well for getting bites. I caught several fish on this bait using a similar set up as I used with the popper mentioned above. The only difference is I downsized my fluorocarbon leader to 6lbs instead of 8 lbs. This really elevates the number of strikes you get on a drop shot.
Last but not least a 3/8 oz V&M Swim jig paired with a 3.8 Keitech Fat Impact Swimbait caught several bass. It worked perfectly coming through the vegetation with hardly any gunk. The key was to cast the jig out, let the jig settle down to the bottom, and slowly reel the jig along. Make sure your jig is bumping the top of the grass, and then rip it out. This technique helped produce some good fish. Swimming a jig and keeping it moving along is a fun way to catch bass. The bass really load up on your rod when they take a swim jig. This bait worked well for me on 7′ medium heavy baitcasting rod, and a lews speed spool baitcasting reel spooled up with 12lbs flourocarbon line. This set up casts incredibly well. This rod and reel will give you plenty of beef to rip the jig and the bass through the grass after you get one “Kraken” it down.
Here is a map of Lower Sand Cove Reservoir with all the areas marked where bass were caught. It is a small body of water. Don’t let the title of “Reservoir” fool you. Plus, included on this map are little notes about each place of what transpired in these areas when you click on the google map markers.
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Here’s a quick little run down of some what happened each day on Lower Sand Cove Reservoir fishing. Each morning was awesome. I arrived about 30 minutes before the sun came up around 6:15 am and got on my Airhead SUP to fish and paddle around the lake. I found something new each morning that helped me catch more fish.
The first morning I started out with topwater on my brain. Conditions seemed perfect for it with the overcast rain and the warm water temperatures. I started throwing a frog, and weirdly didn’t get any bites until it finally got light enough to see. The bites I got though were incredible ones. My strategy was to throw the frog to draw the big bites, and if I missed hooking up on the frog I would through in a follow up megabass pop-x. It worked sweetly. Also, the first morning I flung around a swim jig after the topwater bites topped off, and it produced some solid fish. Here are some of the big bass I slayed on the frog and the pop-x that morning. They were incredible!
The second morning I brought my brother out with me. He had never caught a big bass on a topwater frog before, so I put him on one of my Airhead SUP paddle boards and pointed him to the land of giants. It wasn’t long before a loud Ka-BOOOSH shattered the early morning silence. My brother had his rod bent breathing deep and saying , “Oh my GOSH!” He was pretty pumped, and so was I! Nothing better than sharing the things you love with your friends and family.
The craziest part of the morning is when I went in behind my brother after he fished an area, and started flipping a 10 inch worm on a 1/4 oz weight with a 5/0 gamakatsu hook. After about my 6th pitch, my line started moving off, and I set the hook on a beast! In the craziness to take a photo of the bass, my go pro hero 5 flew off my chesty into the pond. I was absolutely sick. Incredibly, with 3 dive attempts blind and my hands sifting through the mud at about 7 feet deep. I pulled the go pro up! It felt like a miracle. My brother and I rejoiced, and we kept on fishing.
My brother couldn’t stay very long, and after he caught a couple more nice fish he headed back into town. I stayed and milked out the area with a drop shot rig. Literally, 10 minutes after he left I hooked this incredible monster on a drop shot. This beast scared me to death, with the finesse tackle and all the grass. It was another miracle that I landed him. He was hands down the biggest bass of the trip. He weighed in at 4.9 lbs. I wound up catching several more bass on the drop shot rig as well.
Southern Utah Bass Fishing on Lower Sand Cove Reservoir proved to be epic on both mornings. Between these two trips I saw about 15 bass hooked and released. The size of the fish was really impressive. Topwater worked well for about an hour in the low-light conditions, and then after the sun came up weightless texas rigs, swimming a jig, and the drop shot produced some more fish. I through a 10 inch worm a lot, but only caught that one giant on it. It was the perfect place for doing some Paddle Board Bass Fishing on my Airhead SUP. Using the SUP to get to places like this, as you can see, will help you get to spots others can’t access.. Hopefully, you picked up a few tips, and tricks from this post to use next time you go out “Kraken” Bass!
Here’s some film of all these stories, and tips in action. Hopefully, you can pick up a few additional things to help get out here and catch some toads like us. Plus, I included more of my more rookie moves in this film to hopefully make it a little more fun. When I get excited catching big bass, sometimes the wheels just fall off. I dropped my go pro in the lake, lost my paddle to my Airhead SUP, and got some serious snags. Enjoy the clip!
Thank you for your support! Hopefully, you found this information valuable to help you in your fishing excursions. Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog, so you can be notified of any new posts in your email to keep you “Kraken” Bass! One more little side note, the links above and below in this post are affiliate links were you can pick up baits, rod’s, reels, line, and anything else I used to “Krak” some bass on Lower Sand Cove Resersvoir. KrakenBass.com receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits, and gear I personally trust and know work. These links are here to be helpful for you, and not for the small amount made on the sale of the products. I hope these products can help you “krak” some bass!
As always,
Stay stoked!
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