Friday September 14th Russ Meyer and Mark Lassagne filmed an informative Angler West TV show HOW-TO spoon for bass on Lake Shasta.

We took off from Jones Valley and headed up the Pit River to just before the thermocline  (the horizontal thermocline that is) and started fishing two creek inlets with trees.  The bass and the bait were thick right there. We started fishing and got about 20 bass in the first hour using Hopkins and Sonic spoons, we got a could close to 2 lbs but most were small.  We hopped around spooning from tree to tree all the while the bite was diminishing so we headed up past the thermocline to see if anyone was home above. When we got there the water was ten degrees colder (63) but the current wasn’t running very hard, so we assumed the slow current was the reason the bite slowed down.

Up river current is determined by the amount of flow from the dam and the dam flow is determined by the amount of electricity needed by the lower cities like Sacramento.  It was getting hotter as the day progress and we could see the current increasing, thus hoping the bite would pick up and the better fish would show themselves. Moving up into the river we tried different baits. I was throwing a R2S Biggie and a Rover top water, Russ was throwing a Revenge spinerbait and a craw colored Wiggle Wart.  Russ got one on the spinnerbait and I got a good hit on the crank , not too exciting so we drifted back and hopped spoons in the deeper holes managing a couple small fish.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH6rprz06R0?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]
Somewhat disappointed we headed back down the river a ways to see what we could spoon up. We arrived back at our starting spot, Russ caught one right away but it was still small we then headed in and out of the trees catching a fish here and there but once we headed into the creek channel we found the mother lode. The bass had the bait corralled in the creek channel in about 25 feet of water, then we caught fish on almost every drop for 45 minutes. I’m not sure how many fish but it had to be well over 30, most were small but we got a few 1.5 lber or so. (A two-pound fish on Lake Shasta in the summer is a good size fish)

I don’t know about you but after I’ve caught a bunch of fish form one spot, I’m thinking where else might be good and I’m sure Russ was thinking the same thing so we headed across the lake to another creek. Once there a patio boat was fishing there too – I was on the trolling motor and headed into the creek fishing and was about a 100 yards away from the patio boat and the guy flips out running his boat in circles yelling give me some room. We looked at the guy smiling and shaking our heads because we weren’t very close I caught a fish or two a ways away then turned and headed out. We were laughing cuz this guy was a jerk but pretty animated jumping up and down, I guess he wasn’t catching any fish either. On the way out we were talking I said probably no fish in the creek anyway, Justin chimes in and say nope it’s just full of A-holes. Too funny!

We head out and down to the next creek to see if were on a pattern, heading in to a creek with two small arms we hit the left side first and get about five fish all the way through, we turn around and head out and hit the creek on the right. As soon as we get to the next creek the bass had the bait pinned in and it was fish on every drop for another 15 minutes.  It’s getting late so we fished our way out to finish out the show when Russ spots a big oak tree and say let both pitch to it at the same time to see if we can get a double. We did this several time throughout the day – pretty fun.  So we both fire at the tree my spoon fluttered to the bottom and spoon master Russ’s spoon stops half way he sets and brings in a spot about 3 lbs to end the show.

I had a great time and learned a lot about spooning that day.  I’ll post the times the show will air son.