Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rodney]

I spent a coupe hours fishing for smallmouth bass at Cultus.



Video available at Noon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJWP1AIsy-k

[RalphH]

So Rod, you've likely had more experience with SMBs than most home grown Fraser Valley anglers.

A fellow I knew from Colorado where they have introduced SMB told me without any qualification that these bass fight better and pull twice as hard for their size as any trout he had ever caught!

You formed any impressions based on your experience in Cultus Lake and the SMB fisheries on the Island?

[iblly]

I have caught many rainbow trout in many lakes in BC over many years and I also have a summer place on Cultus lake and caught many bass here. I would disagree that fellow. My two cents.

[iblly]

Rod were at the derby ? Was there lots of entries this year ?

[Darko]

Rod were at the derby ? Was there lots of entries this year ?

When I left the weigh in around 12;30 the biggest smallmouth was 1.8 lb. Weather was pretty good as was the fishing. Though the event did seem relatively small to me. Sad to see all the fish wasted. I took home some smallmouth and they were delicious. I had to leave early to attend my prom dance. My friends all thought I was crazy waking up at 3;30 to go to a fishing derby on prom day. 

[colin6101]

So Rod, you've likely had more experience with SMBs than most home grown Fraser Valley anglers.

A fellow I knew from Colorado where they have introduced SMB told me without any qualification that these bass fight better and pull twice as hard for their size as any trout he had ever caught!

You formed any impressions based on your experience in Cultus Lake and the SMB fisheries on the Island?

Having caught both trout and SMB out of the same lake I would completely disagree as well. They do pull well but I have brought in 5lb bass on my 3 weights in under 2 minutes. No way I'm doing that with a 5lb trout.

[RalphH]

Any large, say 4lbs or bigger, SMBs I have hooked were among the most harrowing angling encounters I experienced. I think the biggest one was in the 6 to 8lb range. That was back in Ontario. That fish immediately jumped repeatedly  then sulked for a while then jumped again a number of times before diving and pulling my leader leader through a large mass of large rocks. I think it knew what it was doing. Another fish that was not quite as large also exploded from the water repeatedly. likewise I had it for a while before it dived before drew my line across a pair of waterlogged moorage floats that hung below the water like mines leaving me with another broken leader.

I caught my first SMBs in Quennell Lake on the Island in 1973 when I was vacationing with my parents. My father and i caught a large number of fish mostly, in the 1 to 2lb range. They really impressed me with how hard they pulled.

I have caught some duds too!

Overall for a given length SMBs will weigh more that trout so they will pull harder. They jump freely but not as high as trout. Trout are much faster. Any salmonid is capable of running farther and faster than any bass. i think SMBs are smarter than trout, at least than rainbows and cutthroat.

I don't know what sort of trout this guy from Colorado was catching. He mostly talked about cutt-bows. How vigorously a fish will fight when hook varies with the stock, river, species and water conditions. When temps are ideal for SMBs they are tending to marginal for most trout. When i fished the Madison I really found the rainbows rather tepid. the browns in that river fought far better and generally grew larger.

Too many variables for me to attempt a call but I do enjoy the research!

[Darko]

Any large, say 4lbs or bigger, SMBs I have hooked were among the most harrowing angling encounters I experienced. I think the biggest one was in the 6 to 8lb range. That was back in Ontario. That fish immediately jumped repeatedly  then sulked for a while then jumped again a number of times before diving and pulling my leader leader through a large mass of large rocks. I think it knew what it was doing. Another fish that was not quite as large also exploded from the water repeatedly. likewise I had it for a while before it dived before drew my line across a pair of waterlogged moorage floats that hung below the water like mines leaving me with another broken leader.

I caught my first SMBs in Quennell Lake on the Island in 1973 when I was vacationing with my parents. My father and i caught a large number of fish mostly, in the 1 to 2lb range. They really impressed me with how hard they pulled.

I have caught some duds too!

Overall for a given length SMBs will weigh more that trout so they will pull harder. They jump freely but not as high as trout. Trout are much faster. Any salmonid is capable of running farther and faster than any bass. i think SMBs are smarter than trout, at least than rainbows and cutthroat.

I don't know what sort of trout this guy from Colorado was catching. He mostly talked about cutt-bows. How vigorously a fish will fight when hook varies with the stock, river, species and water conditions. When temps are ideal for SMBs they are tending to marginal for most trout. When i fished the Madison I really found the rainbows rather tepid. the browns in that river fought far better and generally grew larger.

Too many variables for me to attempt a call but I do enjoy the research!

i love how descriptive Ralph is, I can literally imagine the fight in my mind.

[iblly]

The only bass I have ever caught is a Cultus lake bass so that’s my only comparison. Maybe the cultus bass are mellower than others. Although I did hook one off the dock last September that was pretty frisky, absolutely slammed my fly ! Short burst of violent action then popped off. Wasn’t expecting that kind of take. Caught me off guard.

[twocoaster]

My .2c Re SMB fight. I grew up in NS and caught thousands of SMB over the years there. Here in BC, I have caught maybe 100. I can say with conviction that the eastern fish fights harder and longer with more aerials vs. the BC fish. As mentioned earlier the variables are many, but maybe it’s due to genetics/strain/subspecies, environment, etc but the experience is different. In BC, I’ve yet to catch a SMB that rivals the better ‘bows that I’ve caught, trying to match them pound for pound.

[Rodney]

I haven't had time to answer this. Comparing rainbow trout and smallmouth bass is like comparing apple and orange really... I mean, I love fishing for them both. The fight duration of a smallmouth is usually not as long as a rainbow trout, but I would use 6lb test for Interor rainbows while using at least 10lb test for smallmouth bass, which are a lot less forgiving on your gear. I've caught 4lb smallmouth bass before, and it was pretty crazy... I caught a 4lb Pennask rainbow a few weeks ago, but the gear was a lot lighter than what I would use for the 4lb smallmouth bass. If I was using the same gear rod, I think that 4lb Pennask would have come in way sooner.

Anyway, I went back to the lake last week and this time I harvested some fish.



Video of the trip and how I prepared them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0pl-NrKrnk

[Rodney]

Some more photos.


Eggs from a 12" female smallmouth bass I harvested.


Half digested sculpin from a 13" smallmouth bass.


Smallmouth bass taco.

[Darko]

Some more photos.


Eggs from a 12" female smallmouth bass I harvested.


Half digested sculpin from a 13" smallmouth bass.


Smallmouth bass taco.

sculpin looks so sad

[RockyShowers]

The SMB in cultus are a blast to fight on light tackle. While invasive, they do provide a nice option for the kids (and others) to take home. Most of the rainbows are pretty skinny in there and you can sort through dozens of n. pikeminnows to get to em but the bass are fat and targeted pretty easily. The SMB have thick fillets, the skin and scales comes off nicely together, and fried in butter i think they taste very crab/lobster-like due to the crayfish they are feasting on.