Anyone here fish Bullards Bar Resevoir in Nor Cal?
Bullard's Bar is quickly rising as one of my favorite lakes to fish. It's absolutely beautiful....and the story is there are some monster smallies lurking there. I also hear that winter time is when some of the larger ones have been caught. I had a few late summer and early fall excursions where I had some great success in catching a lot of fish...but nothing of size yet. Wondering if any of you fish this lake and if you have any stories to share?
Unfortunately, I've never made it out that way. I would love to hear some stories about big winter smallmouth in Northern California. Are there spotted bass in the lake as well? What is the primary forage there?
I'm hoping I can share some of those stores with everyone. I just discovered this lake in the late spring of this year, so this will be my first winter run at Bullards. The lake has a vibrant Kokanee population and the bass definitely forage on those. I've read using glide bait and spoons that imitate Kokanee is the way to go. So we'll give it run this winter and see what we can do.
I enjoyed watching this video from Brandon Palaniuk on the Storm Arashi Glide that he helped design. https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/glide-baits-for-trout-eaters-brandon-palaniuk Seeing him catch fish in clear water definitely made me feel like the glide bait is viable. I've had some dynamic family things lately, so I haven't been able to get out much, but last I fished for bass, I was throwing 8" swimbaits and gaining confidence in them. I don't think I've caught a fish under 2lbs yet, but I am surprised at how many 2lb fish will bite an 8" swimbait.
