Horsetooth Reservoir
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Horsetooth Reservoir Fishing Reports
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- Species
Smallmouth BassTechniqueHard Topwater (Popping)SeasonFallStructureBouldersWe Still open water its a good time to get out . I stayed with big baits. Water Temperatures at 55 degrees in the morning going up to 57 by noon , I side scanning the bottom looking for big bolders casting over them, Bass are down 5-7 ft deep on main lake over 20ft of water .Have fun and be safe on the water.
Patrick O’DonnellBronze AmbassadorSpecies
TroutTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonFallStructureLedgesWas targeting smallmouth bass, but found the trout more active in the coves.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueMedium Diving Crankbaits (7'-12')SeasonFallStructureRock Pile
A little bit of an atypical fall bite in Colorado, at the moment. Water temp hovering right at 50 degrees with air temps in the 60's to 70's. No major snowfall this year has kept the water temp warmer than usual. Normally, it's the time of year for blade baits and dropshots in very deep water. I set up on a deep main lake point and started throwing a deep crank. I saw some large trout coming out of 15-20' chasing lures to the surface. So I kept trying that for awhile without any luck. Also threw an A-rig without any chasers. Went over to the dam and switched to a Vision 110 jerkbait and a Storm wiggle wart. Caught one tiny smallmouth and a small trout on the jerkbait. Also caught one smallie on the wiggle wart. Moved back to the main lake point and had a few more chasers, but nothing eating it. Switched to a maxscent on a dropshot in 50' and got bit on the first drop, but missed it. No more luck, so fished one last spot where wind was blowing on a deeper dropoff around some submerged brush. Picked up a rock crawler. Bite felt like mush, but turned out to be a 17" smallie. Always good catching bass in November in CO!
SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonFallStructurePointsTourney Day for the Colorado Kayak Bassmasters BASS Nation Colorado State Championship and I managed to pull off the win! Fished a main lake point for the morning and dropped back to a secondary point to finish off my limit. Fishing was tough for most of the field. Managed to boat 6 and cull one fish before I had to leave early to go to a kiddo's soccer game. :) Limit went 75.5" which is solid, but not unbeatable at the lake. Hooked one on a Riot Baits Tungsten Lil' Creeper Jig early and the rest came on a dropshot. There was a ton of baitfish in the water, so figured I would try throwing a craw to show them something different. Kept the leader short and my weight heavy to keep it near the bottom. Fished relatively shallow, but made sure I was working steeper steps in the rock. Two craw baits did the most damage, with one of them being the Maxscent 3" Chigger craw. Threaded them onto the hook instead of nose-hooking to make sure I landed fish instead of them tearing the bait. Custom tied on a flouro keeper to the Gamakatsu Hook and used the Redline Nekos as well. When I ran out of dropshot weights, switched over to tying on a tungsten worm weight to land my last two fish. Tried ned rig, cranking, tube jig without much success so went back to the dropshot. Excited to be fishing Lake Tenkiller in March for the BASS Kayak Series Championship! https://tourneyx.com/leaderboard/standings/2023-bassmaster-kayak-series-championship?fbclid=IwAR2UM5LPvSULhLexljSWgvIFkdSMECm_gKtJiWDuzxlJloRbY5rjifirtTs
BLAKE DAVISBronze AmbassadorSpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonSummerStructurePointsI was skeptical of making a changing. My Drop Shot conference is in the Berkeley Maxscent flat worm (still a good bait), but the Trick Shotz killed it. Caught 30+ fish on 3 hour trip and 20+ on a 3 hour trip 5 days earlier. All on the same hook and bait. Yes I used only one Trick Shotz and it still looks new. 10+ fish 15”, three 16” and a 17”. Too many to count in the 8”-10” range. Also don’t forget light weight (thin) fluorocarbon leader. This allows the bait to move naturally. I used a 6’ leader of Sunline FC Leader (6lb) tied to Berkeley X9 Braid (8lb) with the Owners Mosquito size 1 hook. This hook has a large gap between the hook point and the eye. When nose hooking the bait this allows the fish to get a good bite and give the fish the best chance to get hook tip. This hook will give you more hook ups.
- BLAKE DAVISBronze AmbassadorSpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueFinesse JigsSeasonFallStructureLedges
WORK THE BAIT SLOW
- BLAKE DAVISBronze AmbassadorSpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonSummerStructurePoints
Drop shot was hot on deep structure 20’ deep. Work the bait slow
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueHard Topwater (Prop)SeasonSummerStructureBoulders
Getting consistent strikes in the morning from 6am to around 8 am on a whopper plopper 90. Most strikes occurred after ripping the bait. I would rip and let it sit for a few seconds. Switched over to a drop shot when the action on top slowed down alternating between a flat worm and a robo worm in 15-25 feet on main lake ledges
