Here is my trip report on some Sand Hollow Reservoir fishing  in the late summer. My dad and I only got out on the water for a few hours, but found some sweet patterns for “Kraken” Bass. Here are all the details of the conditions, where we fished, what we used, and how we landed around 20 bass in only 3 hours. It was great fishing.

Sand Hollow Reservoir – Summertime Fishing

Conditions:

Here are what the conditions were when we fished on Wednesday night August 27th, from 6 pm to 9 pm.

Water Temperature :         80 degrees.

Weather:                                 Bright & Sunny. Air Temperature 88 degrees.

Water Clarity:                       Crystal Clear, visibility 15 ft down.

Wind:                                         0 – 3 mph, Flat calm all evening.

Where We Fished:

When we arrived every fish we caught was down deep in 25 – 30 feet of water. When the sun went down we switched to top-water fishing and caught some shallow. Here are both of the places we fished shallow and deep.
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What We Used:

I did a lot of experimenting with different baits and techniques. A lot of the stuff I picked up became a winner. Here are 4 of my favorites we used that got us “Kraken” Bass.

1. Jackall Flick Shake Worm: I wacky rigged the bait on a 1/8 oz tungsten wacky rig jig hook. The color I used was green pumpkin pepper. This flick shake worm set up worked great for fishing deep water. I would cast it out, and let it sink all the way to the bottom. I would then yo – yo it up, and let it fall back down again. The bass would always eat it as it was falling back down to the bottom.

 

2. Jackall Cross Tail Shad: I fished this bait on a drop shot rig in the ayu color. My drop shot was set up with a 1/4 oz drop shot weight, and a 1/0 gamakatsu drop shot hook. I would hook the bait straight up through the nose with the flat side of the bait facing up. This set up worked best in the deep water. Once you had your drop shot rig on the bottom, I would lightly twitch my rod tip and then pause. Having the bait rise and fall enticing those bass to strike was essential for getting bites.

 

3. Strike King Football Jig: I used this in the deep water, and crushed one of my better bass of the night on it. They weren’t hitting it as aggressively as the other deep water techniques mentioned above, but I felt like this jig caught bigger fish. The color of jig I used was summer crawdad with a havoc pit chunk summer craw trailer. I fished it using a technique I heard about called “Stroking a Jig.” All you do is let the jig fall to the bottom on a slack line, then quickly rip it up off the bottom. You then let it fall back down again on a slack line. You are basically just yo-yoing it up and down off the bottom.

 

4. Top Prey 100 Spook: When the sun went down this thing shone bright. My color of choice for the night was blue back shad. It caught us the biggest bass of the night. I would throw it parallel to the shore about 3 – 5 feet from the bank. This bait got me “Kraken” Bass.

 

How we did:

It was an awesome evening of fishing. We landed 21 bass in only a few hours. It was fun experimenting with some different techniques and baits. We only caught one fish that went about 3 pounds, but the rest were 2 pound footballs that were fun to catch. Here is how everything went down on this fun summer evening.

We got on the water at 6:00pm. I’d heard in the bass tournament the previous weekend most of the fish were caught deep, which is to be expected this time of year. This information lead me to pull out my go to bait the Jackall Cross Tail shad on a drop shot rig. It only took me about 15 minutes to catch our first fish. Once we hit the magic 30ft depth zone, they just started lighting up almost everything we put on the drop shot. Here is a cool action shot I took of a bass caught on the drop shot.

Once we caught several fish on the drop shot rig, I pulled out my bait casting rod and tied on my favorite football jig. I knew we were around fish, so I felt like it was a good time to try a knew tactic. I’d read about a technique called “Stroking a Jig” I wanted to try. Basically all you do is let your jig fall to the bottom on a slack line. Then you rip it up off the bottom, and let the bait fall back down again on a slack line. On my second or third cast yo-yoing my jig up and down off the bottom, I felt a little extra weight on my line. I set the hook, and up came one of our bigger bass! I was pretty pumped. I love catching fish on different things.

We “Kraked” a few stroking  jigs, and then decided to switch things up again. I’ve always heard how good a wacky rig worm can be, so I pulled out one of my 1/8 oz. tungsten wacky rig jig heads. I hooked a Jackall Flick Shake Worm right through the center of the hook, and threw it out into the deep water we were fishing. I twitched it up off the bottom, and let it fall back down. As the flick shake worm was falling on my third pull up off the bottom, I noticed my line moving a different direction. I set the hook and had a tug of war with my first flick shake worm bass! I was really stoked. I caught several on the flick shake wacky rig. The featured image on the post is one of the bass caught on the flick shake worm.

The day was coming to a close. The sun was practically set, so I knew it was top-water time. Late summer is awesome for top-water fishing in low light conditions. I tied the top prey on, and started along the damn. A short time later my rod almost ripped out of my hands. I was looking the other direction talking to my dad when the strike came. I turned to look back and saw the remnants of a huge splash where my bait was, and set the hook on the biggest fish of the night. He took me awhile to get in. It was exciting. We wound up putting another 5 bass in the boat on the top-water as we finished of the rest of the shoreline along the damn. None of the other top-water fish were as big as the first dude, but there is nothing better in my opinion then catching bass on top-water baits.

I love hearing your thoughts about my posts. Please share them in the comments area below. I hope this will help you next time you want to do some Sand Hollow Reservoir fishing. My goal is to help others get “Kraken” Bass!

As Always,

Stay Stoked!

Gear Used:

Here are some of my links to pick up any of the gear & tackle we used on this trip.

Baits:
Jackall Flick Shake Worm (Green Pumpkin Pepper)
Strike King Football Jig (Summer Craw)
Jackall Cross Tail Shad (Ayu)
Savage Gear Finesse Top Prey 100 (Blue Back Shad, 4-Inch/1/2-Ounce)
Berkley Havoc Pit Chunk Fishing Bait, 4-Inch, Summer Craw Fishing Bait

Terminal Tackle:
Drop Shot Weight 1/4 oz.     
Gamakatsu Drop Shot Hook-Pack Of 25 (Black, 2)
Jackall Wacky Jig Head

Spinning Rod & Reel Set up:
Abu Garcia Spinning Reel
Shimano Convergence 7’2″ Medium Heavy Spinning Worm Rod
6-Pound Test Fluorocarbon Fishing Line
Spiderwire Stealth Braid 300-Yard Spool Moss Green 15lbs.

Baitcasting Rod & Reel Set up:
Spiderwire Stealth Braid 300-Yard Spool Moss Gree 30lbs.
Sufix Invisiline Casting Flourocarbon 100-Yards Spool Size Fishing Line (Clear, 10-Pound)
Shimano Sellus Medium Heavy Worm and Jig Cast Rod 7’2″
Quantum Fishing Smoke 9 Bearing Baitcast Reel 7:3:1 ratio