I’m stoked to have another night adventure for you to read about on the water bass fishing Sand Hollow, Utah. I had to be down in St. George for work, so I called up my friend Bryan Wilson to see if he wanted to take a stab at doing some night bass fishing while I was down there. Needless to say, he was stoked off his face. Our trip started off slow, but we quickly turned it into an epic night of about 25 – 30 bass between the two of us. Here is where we fished, what we used, and the conditions we faced to release the “kraken” to crush us some bass!
We had some crazy varying conditions on this trip. The surface water temperature was 65 degrees and dropping fast. When we arrived at the lake at around 5:30 pm we had crystal clear calm conditions, but as the evening progressed we were faced with stiff 10 – 15 mph winds. Wind like this during the day seemed much easier to handle than it was for us at night. The wind made it tough, but we used the wind to our advantage to find calm spots tucked behind the rocks. We also used the wind to help us cover water to find fish. The air temperature outside when we arrived was at about 72 degrees. When we called it quits at 1:15 am the air temperature had dropped down to 49 degrees. It turned quite brisk!
Here is a map of where we went, and where we found the bass on this chilly October night. All you have to do to see the map is subscribe for free to the blog if you can’t see it already.
We used a smattering of baits. I’m of the opinion if you aren’t catching fish you either move or try something else. Here is the list of our consistent top 3 producers in the evening and at night.
I used a Jackall square bill shallow diver, and Bryan threw a medium diving crankbait. He caught the big fish, and I caught a lot more fish. It worked best throwing it parallel along the dyke and just retrieving it back to the boat. Nothing to it. Bluegill patterned crankbaits seemed to work best.
I used a 1/2 oz strike king jig summer craw football jig
. The heavier weight helped with the wind. I’m sure another jig would work, but there is something about the color with green pumpkin and a strip of chartreuse in the skirt. I used a Jackall green pumpkin craw for the trailer. This bait was money. It consistently produced bigger fish. Throw it out, and let it sink to the bottom. Then I would alternate between crawling, and hopping it back.
Bryan used a sweet beaver bait almost exclusively. I have to admit it caught a lot of fish. He rigged it texas style with a 3/8 oz bullet weight and a 3/0 offset gamakatsu worm hook. He would throw it out, and let it just sit on the bottom. Slowly crawling it over the grass and rocks. Spring grass was the color of choice. I almost converted him to a football jig. He threw one for about 5 casts, then went back to the solid sweet beaver. It was old faithful for us on the trip.
For more in-depth details for fishing Sand Hollow check out my Sand Hollow Bass Fishing Guide eBook. It will help you identify where you can locate the bass on Sand Hollow during each season, and it provides several baits, and techniques to use at those times for getting bass to bite. Click on the image below to learn more about what’s inside to help you catch fish on this lake, or snag you copy by clicking the purchase buttons.
Everything you need to know about finding and catching bass anytime of year on Sand Hollow
One of the funnest parts of the evening is when we caught our first bass. It took me a while to get rigged up, and all the while Bryan was pounding the water. I tied on a jerkbait, and it was diving too deep and catching grass, so I tied on a crankbait/swimbait hybrid called a fat smasher. Bryan spotted a brush pile sticking up out of the water, so he threw down the power pole to keep us in position to throw at it. I chucked my bluegill fat smasher right over the top of the brush. I was nervous I was going to hang up, so I buzzed it pretty quickly over the brush, and Whammo! At first I thought it was the brush grabbing me, but then it started grabbing me back! I pulled up this pretty guy. It got us really stoked.
The other really cool part of the night is after we got done cruising the flats we headed over to the dyke to get out of the wind. On the dyke I wound up catching another one, and also lost one using a pepper micro jig. I bet the bait would’ve kept working, but I got it hung up in the rocks and lost it. Then I tied on a jackall bluegill crank bait, and with the first cast, bam! Second cast, bam! Third cast…nothing. Fourth cast, bam! Three bass in four casts! Bryan got the hint, and tied on a bluegill medium diving crankbait. Immediately he released the “kraken” on the biggest bass of the night! Once again, we found ourselves in the middle of a stoke storm!
We headed over to the rock ledges once it got dark. The crank bait bite went on sleep mode, so I decided to bust out the 1/2 oz football jig with the jackall craw trailer. My thoughts were big bait, big bass. I had really good success throwing the same pattern before at night (Check out my night bass fishing post). After the third cast, I felt my line thump. I reached back and set the hook, and landed a good 2 pound stud. The football wound up producing exceptionally the rest of the night for me. Another few casts later I thumped a 3 pound chunk. Bryan also caught quite a few on the sweet beaver. Here is the pick of the 3 pound chunk on the football jig. It’s a night pic, so cut me some slack on the quality.
Overall, we caught the most fish on crawdad imitation jigs and soft plastics right on the bottom. It makes sense with crayfish coming out to feed at night bass would take advantage of gobbling a few up in the dark. We tried crank’s and spinner baits also at night, but only caught one fish. By far the best bait was the jig on the bottom crawling like a crayfish when the lights went out.
I hope this helps everyone in their next adventure out on the lake to get you “Kraken” some bass! Special thanks to Bryan Wilson for letting me hop in his boat with him, and sacrifice an evening with his family. The dude is a master “Kraken.” Plus, he has a photographic memory underwater terrain map of Sand Hollow. It gave us a distinct advantage in the dark.
As always,
Stay stoked!
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2 Responses
Again, Nice Bass!!!