Horsetooth Reservoir
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Horsetooth Reservoir Fishing Reports
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Smallmouth 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
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonSummerStructurePoints
Fish in 20-30 feet of water on main lake humps.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueHard Topwater (Popping)SeasonFallStructureBoulders
We 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.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonSummerStructureRock Pile
Water level is high and visible is 4 ft or more in some areas, they drop the water level 3ft last week so smallmouth pulled back to deeper water ,the bait fish are down in 30-40ft of water . The smallmouth moved with them down to 45 -50ft , I found smallmouth off main lake points with water level in 50ft Rock piles . Saw lots of bait fish with my Lowrance units on 2D and down imagining, some smallmouth would hang out under my boat ,then I'd drop down to them and got a few under the boat . I'd cast to the Rock piles and just use my reel to keep contact with the bottom, dragging the weight over rocks letting the bait hovering in one spot . Good luck, have fun ,be safe on the water.
