Bonus bass from the Owens River

[toddmc]

Eight of my childhood neighborhood and little league friends headed to the Eastern Sierras from 5/7 to 5/12 for our 40th annual trip. We fish almost every lake, river, and creek from Lone Pine to Lake Crowley. We put a lot of miles on the trucks during this trip.
This bonus bass came from a recently finished culvert on the Owens River that had the fish stacked. We caught brown trout, rainbow trout, largemouth, smallmouth, and bluegill from the same small spot. We also managed quite a few brook trout at the Big Pine portal a few hours earlier. We call it a "damn slam".
The estimated 6 lb. bass hit my go to trout rig, a 3" Berkley Trout Worm on a dropshot rig. I was fishing it on my custom Phenix 60SRUL, Daiwa SS700, and 4 lb. Sniper. We got about 5" of snow in the upper elevations the night before. We were fighting the rain at the Owens Valley floor. You can see that I had my cold weather rain gear on. We have fished near 100 degree weather during the same week in previous years.

Owens River 5-11-19.jpg (113.49 KiB) Viewed 3624 times

[poisonokie]

I bet you that girl is over six pounds. Nice.

[toddmc]

I bet you that girl is over six pounds. Nice.

My buddies were calling it 8, but I would put it between 6 and 7. It was fat and healthy without a mark on it. That river water is cold, especially from the snow melt that day. That fish probably won't spawn until well into June. So, it was about as heavy as it will be this year. She almost spooled me because I only keep 50 yards of 4 lb. on that reel because I change it out every night. I do have a largemouth over 10 pounds on that combo with 4 lb. Trilene XT, but the XT tests at about 7 pounds of breaking strength . We rarely catch largemouth over a pound in that river, but the locals keep telling me that there are giants in there. Now I believe them!

[Knotty]

Well done. Amazing that there's such a big bass in those cold waters.

[earthworm77]

I bet you that girl is over six pounds. Nice.

I agree, she is "girthy"