Pineview Reservoir Fishing – Smallmouth Bass!

I was hired by a stellar Kraken Bass blog follower to go with them onto Pineview Reservoir Fishing.  We went out chasing smallmouth and largemouth bass. I’m not going to lie. Conditions were tough, but we managed to finally get into a few bass. The smallmouth we caught were good sized which made it fun. Plus, we had a tiger muskie give us a serious run for our money. Here are all the logistics of our trip of where we fished, what we used, and how things played out on Pineview Reservoir Fishing.

Pineview Reservoir Fishing

I feel very blessed to have been hired for a day of bass fishing  with such good people on Pineview Reservoir. It was my first time on a boat chasing the bass in this lake. I definitely was apprehensive of what we would find, but squared my shoulders up for the challenge. The folks I went with were super cool and already had a lot of great fishing knowledge of the lake. We had such a great time that we had a hard time leaving the water. The bites started to pick up a lot better as well which always makes it difficult to leave.

At the end of the trip we only boated about a half dozen smallmouth bass. Still though, we found a pattern that seemed to start working better as the day wore on. Here are the logistics of what worked for us. This report includes a map of where we fished, what we used, and a run down of what transpired. Hopefully, you can take this info and go out and “Krak” a few bass yourself on Pineview Reservoir or anywhere else close to where you are.

Pinveview Reservoir Fishing Conditions

Here are what the conditions were like for us fishing Pineview Reservoir. We launched and started fishing from 7am – 5:30pm on Thursday, May 26th.

Weather

Bright Sunny Skies, Air Temperature in the mid 70’s.

Wind

Calm in the morning. Winds around 12 mph or more later in the afternoon.

Water Level

High. Fresh flooded brush and trees lined the banks.

Water Temperature

Started at 58 degrees, and crept up to 60 degrees, and 61 degrees in spots at the end of the day.

Pineview Reservoir Fishing Report

Fishing Pineview Reservoir was a straight up challenge. The fish were definitely moving in for the spawn, but there wasn’t a lot of them to be found at the time. We tried fishing several different baits, but finally toward the end of the day we started getting some bites. The wind put a little bit of a cramp in our style, but it helped us find the key spots where the bass were holding. The guys who hired me where super cool about the lack of bites. The real kicker for me was the pictures of them fishing by themselves without me a few days later catching bass with the techniques they learned. So cool to see. My goal when I’m hired for a day isn’t to catch a man a bass and get him stoked for a moment. The mission is to teach a man to catch a bass and get him stoked for a lifetime!

We started off in a small cove that looked like a good spot for bass to spawn near some deeper water. We fished it shallow and deep with nothing to show for it. We tried pulling off out on the point of the cove a little deeper, and didn’t get any bites. I did have a huge tiger muskie follow a swimbait in. Gave my heart a serious flutter for sure. Still though, no bass, so we moved to another spot.

We pulled into the back of a nice cove. The water was calm and definitely warmer. Surprisingly, we finally saw a bass swing at a senko and miss. It gave me some hope, so we kept pushing forward. It wasn’t until we moved out more on the point of the main lake leading into a cove where we hooked up on our first smallmouth. He was laying quite shallow right smack between two cottonwood trees. What was funny is I pulled a swimbait right between the same two trees and didn’t feel a sniff. One of the dudes in the boat made a perfect cast in between those same trees with a senko, and after letting it soak the bass sucked it up. The bass were definitely not chasing, so we switched to subtle senko’s and started going to work flinging them up into the trees. Here’s a picture of one these bass we boated on Pineview Reservoir fishing.

The wind picked up. It cramped our style to fish the light finesse senko’s, so we targeted protected banks from the wind. It was a good decision. We started getting more bites as the afternoon wore on. We discovered our baits had to be right in the thick of the base of those big flooded trees. One bass I caught I threw at the same tree 4 different times. When I finally got the bait on the shady side, right up against the trunk of the tree, I got ripped. It was really interesting. We kept to this pattern, and ended the day with a half dozen good sized bass. The tally should’ve been more, but sometimes those bass can be hard to hook up in the thick cover. Here is a picture of one of the better ones we caught sitting right in the trunks of the trees.

Here’s a picture of the types of trees we caught smallmouth on. They were found laying up underneath in the shade of these babies. Hopefully, this can help you know what to look for in case you find yourself in a similar situation.

The best story of the day was the tiger muskie we hooked up on. One of the guys in the boat thought he had a snag. When we brought the boat up to where we thought he was hung up, a huge tiger was just cruising along acting like nothing had happened with the senko in his mouth. Then the fight hit, and we absolutely lost the battle. The wind positioned our boat weird, and we couldn’t get around on him. The tiger snapped us off diving back down under the boat. It was incredibly intense. Definitely one of the cool things about Pineview Reservoir fishing is you never know what you’ll tie into.

Pineview Reservoir Fishing Spots

Here’s the places we fished on Pineview Reservoir for this trip.  You can click on the spots for more details about what we found in each area. Hopefully, you can use this map to help you find other good areas as well.

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Pineview Reservoir Fishing Baits

We tried a lot of different things, but ultimately it came down to two baits for us that caught fish. Here is what we used, and how we set them up to “Krak” some bass at Pineview Reservoir.

Yamamoto Senko

A 4″ Green Pumpkin Amber Laminate Senko had more bites than anything else we threw. We would texas rig the senko weightless to keep it as snag free as possible up in the flooded cover. We used a 2/0 offset gamakatsu hook for rigging up the senko’s this way. The key was to get that baby right up in the shade of the trees, and let it soak. Every bite seemed to occur after the bait had settled down on the bottom. Once you saw your line start swimming off we would set the hook hard, and try to haul those bass out. It was a really fun way to fish.

Jackall Cover Craw

Lately, I’ve been playing around with a 3″ Green Pumpkin Jackall Cover Craw. At Pineview it worked quite well. I caught several fish on it while the other guys where throwing senko’s. The best way to rig the cover craw up is weightless with a 2/0 owner twist lock hook. The other key is you want the eye of your hook where the claws of the bait are, and the hook point coming up through the butt of the bait. The cover craw is weighted heavier in the butt, so it glides backwards into cover. It worked well in conditions like this when the cover was so thick that it was a challenge to get your bait up in the stuff. We would throw the cover craw out, let it fall down into the thick nasty, and let it hang out. The smallmouth would suck it up, once it was just chilling out on the bottom.

Hopefully, this report can help you in your bass fishing. The coolest part for me was getting pictures like these ones after I was hired out for the day Pineview Reservoir fishing. They took what they learned and made some lasting memories as a family. Fishing with others brings you so close, and it’s a blast! Check out my hire me page. Then reach out to me through my contact page and let’s see if we can help you find some things to help you “Krak” some bass.

Love seeing families out “Kraken” Bass and big Tigers! Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog for more trip reports and other tips to keep you “Kraken!”

As Always,

Stay Stoked!

Gear Used

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 this trip. Krakenbass receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits, and gear I personally trust and know work. I put these links to make them helpful for you, and not for the small amount I make for the sale of the products. I hope these products can help you “krak” some bass! Thank you for your support.