Yates Place April 20th

Apr 22 2013

Larry Maupin

Fingerling

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
50

We stayed in their lodge and fished all day in celebration of my 65th birthday. The whole place is beautiful and the Yates’ are the best! Barbequed steaks Friday night and a great night's sleep and we were ready. Sunrise came up through the mist rising from the lake. Tried buzzbaits, spinner baits and several others. Not much luck. Fished the whole lake all day and only caught 2 small fish. Not what we were envisioning in our overactive imaginations. Susan was especially disappointed as she had not even a strike all day.

Since we would be fishing topwaters that evening, I tied on 3 rods with a Pop-R, a buzzbait and a SproFrog. I hadnever caught anything on the frog so I walked out of the cabin then along the shoreline to try it and see how I fished; I liked it. Walking back toward the dock, I noticed a big fish near the shore. I pitched the SproFrog in there, she grabbed it and hauled out to deep water dragging weeds and moss like it was not even there. I could not turn this fish! Fifty feet out she spit out the lure, dang! I got back to the dock and saw another big shallow fish. I cast the SproFrog at it and she hit it too then spit it out. Dang, this lure is hot! But I was not hooking up, so I turned the hooks 180 degrees so they pointed down instead of up along the sides of the lure. Now I was ready!

After an evening dinner break, we headed out for our last chance at a big one. The wind had died down so we were able to ease along casting toward the northeast shoreline. I got two strikes on the frog that did not connect. No action from the buzz bait. Casting toward the dried cattails, I finally hooked a good one. It was the best fighting fish I have ever caught! It was 21.5 inches and a bit over 6 pounds. It is not my biggest bass ever but it looks great. And I feel like I earned this catch.

My wife was still fishless, so I gave her the SproFrog. I wanted more than anything for her to catch a nice fish. We fished north then east along the dam and Susan never caught anything. After a few minutes of throwing the Pop-R, I got hit again. This fish was a monster! I never had any control over it. At one point my Shimano rod was bent double mostly under the boat! I managed to get her turned topside enough for me to get a good look. She was huge, probably 9-10 pounds or more. It dwarfed the 6-pounder! I willl never know for sure, since she threw the lure and was gone. My heart was racing and my mind running. I will never forget that day or the one that got away. We are already planning when to go back. I will be ready next time.

Posted By: Larry Maupin

Apr 22 2013

Steve Alexander

Keeper

Member Since :
2010
Number of Posts :
415

Wow, what a great story and story teller. Yates place is managed for the fish of a lifetime and is certainly not a numbers lake. It is that lake where you truly have a chance at a trophy fish with every cast. I so wish you had caught at lease one of those big fish. Most of us have had the one that got away. I had a similar story at Lake El Salto in March. I literally woke up the next 2 mornings at 4:00 AM replaying what I could have done different to land my fish of a lifetime. In my case, I was grumpy that evening.

Apr 23 2013

Larry Maupin

Fingerling

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
50

Thanks, Steve. There’s a saying that “the whole weight of the world can be lifted by the tug of a tine fish.”  The fish we caught saved the day for us! I might have handled the lost fish better somehow, but I don’t know how - I have no regrets. That fish was “large and in charge!’ I was mostly a spectator to a short but very exciting show. lol And we will be stocking up on SproFrogs for the next trip!

By the way, the fish we caught were all beautiful, healthy and very strong fighters. Mr Yates said he feeds them fathead minnows, red-eared bluegill and tilapia. He said of the thousands of fathead minnows he put in a few months ago, there are all gone now, eaten by the voracious bass.

Apr 24 2013

Larry Maupin

Fingerling

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
50

I meant to add that water was clear and stained - good visibility 6 feet or so and 68° water temp. Air temps from 40° at dawn to 70° mid-afternoon. Some wind but sunny all day. Lake level seemed full. Overall great weather!

Apr 28 2013

Paul Brinson

Fry

Member Since :
2000
Number of Posts :
24

Larry, what kind of tackle were you using with the hollow bodied frog?  I’d recommend 50 or 65 # braid and a 7 or 7.5 foot heavy action rod.  Especially if you’re fishing around heavy grass or wood.  The braid will help with the hook set, especially on a long cast.  I would not fish the rotated hooks, unless in open water.  I would fish them in stock hook location anyway.  That frog is built to collapse and expose the hooks when a bass strikes.

May 20 2013

Larry Maupin

Fingerling

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
50

Hello, Paul. I was using 20 pound braid on an Ambassador reel and 6.5 ft medium heavy Shimano rod. My wife had the frog tied on so I used a Magnum Pop R, with relatively smaller hooks than the frog. There was no wood or vegetation along the west shore and dam where we fished. Sue and I agreed that if I was fishing with the frog with its large hooks, I would have landed that big one. I’ll be back. ;-))