Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3806 Mar 1-15 2019 | Page 25

March 1 - 15, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 6 BASS FISHING SPOTLIGHT 23 By Arlando Abella Midwinter Bassventure At New Melones Reservoir On January 26th, I went to New Melones to film for my new series on YouTube called “The Fishing Lifestyle”. I arrived at the lake around 8:30 am. With coffee in my hand I immediately begin rigging my 21 ft Bass Cat with GoPro cameras. I slid the boat into the water at approximately 9:00 am. I fired up my 225 horse power Mercury and immediately turned on my Hummingbird Helix 10 to gather information on water conditions. The water temperature was around 52 degrees and eventually rose to 55 degrees by the end of the day. The first location I hit was a main point up river. I began filming Matthew (tfl_ matt) and Daniel (tfl.daniel), they started the day throwing a drop shot and Neko Rig which yielded little success. I continued filming with them for about 45 minutes and then decided to run to a fresh location. I was looking for steep bluff walls that had immediate deep water access. My weapon of choice was a football head jig. For working the jig, I went with a Phenix Rod M1 7’8” MH rod paired with an Okuma Helios SX baitcaster. I had spooled my reel with some fresh Sunline that I had purchased from my local Fisher- man’s Warehouse. Using my Hummingbird Helix 10 and its side imaging capabilities I quickly zeroed in on a spot that looked ideal. I made my first cast into about 40 feet of water and before my jig hit the bottom something inhaled it. I swung and missed. Strike one and of course I got it on camera, LOL! I shot the next cast into roughly 20 feet of water. My jig hit the floor and I began to drag it into deeper water. A minute later my rod almost was ripped from my hands! I immediately swung and connected with a 3.5 lb. spotted bass….Boom! I was pretty excited. With the husky spot in the livewell, I continued making my way down the bank The water falls at New Melones paid heavy dividends for but didn’t make if far Arlando and his team during their late January visit to the before I got hit again. lake. Photo courtesy of ARLANDO ABELLA, Elk Grove. I reeled down with the Okuma and connected with another feisty bass. With two bass chilling in the livewell, I decided to go and check on Matthew and Daniel to see what they had caught. As I started filming, Daniel had just begun throwing a football head jig and landed a decent size spot. It was right after Daniel’s hookup that we unanimously decided to make a run up river in hopes of finding fish in the waterfalls. As we passed the second bridge, we noticed there was a plethora of floating logs Arlando Abella makes his debut in the pages of The Fish Sniffer this week. Arlando is an avid bass angler and that forced us to be more you’ll be seeing more of his work featured this year! cautious as we traveled. Photo courtesy of ARLANDO ABELLA, Elk Grove. At the falls, I hooked a 2.51l b largemouth on my second cast. As I landed the fish, I fast and easy. looked over my shoulder and saw that my As the sun went down over the hills, the partners were busy catching bass of their cool air of January began to take its toll on own. The move had paid off. All 3 of us the three of us. Without the adrenaline of caught a fish within 5 minutes of dropping hooking bass, it felt downright cold! the trolling out trolling motors. We exchanged handshakes and headed We kept at it and kept hooking bass. The home. While I was driving, I reflecting day had gone from okay to OH Boy! on how good the day really was. For As the day was starting to come to a Matthew, Daniel, and myself, the day had close, we took pictures with our biggest presented a challenge. While bass and released them back into the winter bass action can be great, water. We motored up to the dock as the finding a pattern can be sun was setting. We trailered the boats and difficult. I’m proud that we began to do what every fisherman loves were able to break down most, CLEAN (just kidding). Thankfully the lake as a team and for us, we had a selection of Babe’s Boat get great footage while Care products which made our cleanup doing it! CONTINUED ON PG 22 HIGH CAPACITY FOR TOUGH CUSTOMERS LEXA LINE COUNTER LEXA-LC300PWR-P Featuring 6 CRBB Bearings LEXA-CC LEXA-CC300H-P Featuring 6 CRBB Bearings Salmon and Steelhead fishermen demand Daiwa’s high capacity LEXA reels. Our new WN models feature comfortable WINN Grip knobs. Line Counter, CC and HD models round out this versatile reel series. 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