I first fished Wildcat maybe a month ago, with a friend, in his boat. We trolled and weren't particularly successful, catching roughly 4 trout between us.

This Sunday, I arrived at 9 am, and there were about 10 people bottom fishing from shore. As I assembled my inflatable, one guy said the fishing had been particularly slow, having caught his limit by this time the day before. I'm not even sure if I saw anyone catch anything during the 40 minutes or so it took for me to launch. I was enjoying my conversation and so wasn't particularly quick in getting out on the water.

Since the goal was largemouth bass, I picked a target area on the western shore and headed that way. I still had to set up a couple of things in the boat, so I decided to troll my way over and rigged my line, then started to set up the fish finder. Before it was working, I had hooked a rainbow. I'll admit this was a little embarrassing, given the effort at the launch I'd just left. I brought the 12" fish in, reset the line and continued on with the fish finder. Just as I turned it on, another stocker hit. I reeled this one to the boat and was able to release it without getting it out of the water, using an always-handy pair of long nose pliers. I then decided to motor the rest of the way to my destination without trolling.

My spot on the shoreline looked very 'bassy', with overhanging trees and downed logs. I worked my way south, along a good length of shore, but got no takers from my J7 rainbow trout Rapala. The sun took turns coming out and then hiding behind the clouds. At one point it got hot enough that I let air out of the chambers of my boat because the pressure was starting to be a bit much. With little action, I cranked my electric motor up to 5 and headed for the south shore. My 3rd or 4th cast there got me a strike, and I landed a 4-5" largemouth. Poor thing was just able to mouth all 3 of the treble hooks! I was able to free him with limited damage and he was gone in a flash. A little further on I hooked a really nice one, that I definitely wanted to land. He jumped and shook, and I kept tension on the line through it all, but shortly after hitting water, he was free. Despite the quality habitat and bass in the water, I had no more hits, and only a couple of small ones show any interest.

I stayed until about 2 pm and then had to head back. I trolled back, catching 3 rainbows, one of which was a nice 13 incher. Maybe on that day the bass were looking for something else. Or maybe the water still wasn't warm enough. It was a bust for me for for bass, but I'll give it another shot on another day. All in all, a nice day on the water.

bob johansen

6/4/2013 7:15:00 AM

Wildcat Lake can be tough in the early spring. It takes a little longer to warm up than some of the shallower and lower elevation lakes. Besides that I suspect some of the shoreline residents are eating them.

DavidA

6/4/2013 9:06:00 AM

Bob: Good to know. Thanks. I won't give up on bassing at other lakes just yet, then! I got spoiled with some of the larger trout over the early spring, and so am trying for bass earlier than usual this year. Also, I didn't really try much other than a couple Rapalas, so maybe I just didn't offer what they wanted. Still so much to learn!

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