Sand Hollow winter bass fishing is tough. When the water temperature drops below 45 degrees it can be quite challenging. Here is my report on my recent trip, and how we finally managed to catch a bass in the cold of winter on Sand Hollow.
I headed down to St. George for a weekend to spend time with family over the holidays. Before I went down, I armed myself with an arsenal of some winter baits to try on Sand Hollow. My dad and I headed out to give them a try for a morning of fishing. After throwing the kitchen sink at them, We ended up finally catching a bass. Here are the logistics of the conditions, where we fished, and what we used to catch one.
We went fishing on Sand Hollow on December 18th, from 9am – 1:00pm. Here is what we faced that day.
Air Temperature mid 50’s, Bright & Sunny
0-5 mph, Flat calm all morning.
43 degrees. Brisk.
Stained. Visibility only 5 – 6 feet.
Here is a map of all the spots we tried while on Sand Hollow winter bass fishing, and the one place where we actually caught a bass.
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We tried several different things to catch a bass on this trip. We tried using a drop shot rig with no luck. We also tried ripping some blade baits off the bottom
with no success. I decided to try one last thing before we called it quits, and we finally hooked one up! Here is the only thing that caught a bass, and the logistics of how we set it up and fished it.
A black 1/4 oz Marabou Hair Jig
got the job done for us. I tipped the jig with a 3 inch green pumpkin curly tailed grub
, but I sliced the grub in half to make it fit on the jig. I fished the marabou jig on a spinning rod and reel. The bite came while slowly crawling the bait with an occasionally hop along the bottom. I was pretty stoked when we hooked up on it. You could tell the bass had been hooked before. How cool is it that someone let him go for me to enjoy as well. Bass are super tough. Check out the jaw damage.
I was extremely stoked to get out on the water again. I’ve always wanted to figure out how to catch bass in the winter, and so I armed myself with some baits I’d heard worked well in the winter. My dad took me out on his bass boat, and we gave them everything we had.
We started off by the dam fishing super deep in 50 ft of water. We tried drop shotting, some jigs, lipless crankbaits, and the blade bait but nothing gave us a sniff. We packed up and headed to the red ledges thinking there might be a school of them hanging there. Still no bites. We mainly were focusing on the 40-50 ft depth zone thinking that is where they would be this time of year.
We decided to try moving a little bit shallower into 30 ft off another set of red rock ledges. The water was really stained from all the moisture Southern Utah had been experiencing. Feeling like we were at our wits end, I busted out a marabou hair jig. We were planning on leaving in about 30 minutes. On about my 3rd cast, I felt something lightly thump my line. I swung and missed. I was super bummed. I left my jig down there, and another small thump, but this time I got him.
There is nothing more fulfilling than never giving up and finally being rewarded for your efforts. We fished the spot for another 20 minutes, but didn’t get any more takers. Still though it was fun to catch a bass on something new, and learn a little bit in the process.
Hope you found this post helpful if you decide to head out for some Sand Hollow winter bass fishing. Please, leave a comment below about your experiences with winter bass fishing. I’d love to hear some of the things you’ve found successful in getting a few bites in super cold conditions.
As Always,
Stay Stoked!
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 use 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.
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One Response
Nice work on that winter bass!