Kelsey
Bass Ranch
2001
Yesterday I went over to check out the early action at Kelsey with a few friends. The weather couldn't have been better. The water temp on the main lake was around 58
degrees and climbing. In the inlets and coves
it climbed over the 60 degree mark. The grab
was very subtle and if you weren't paying any attention to business you would miss an
opportunity. The fish caught were in the 2
pound class except for one surprised friend who caught one big bass about 8 lbs. He said it was the biggest bass he had ever caught
a Kelsey. He was using a sparsely tied
clouser, green over white. I also went over
the small pond that I have been talking about. It
was on fire. Good top water action for very
aggressive fish up to 2 ½ lbs.
Wednesday
March 28, 2001
Weather Condition was a clear blue sky with five to eight miles per hour wind, temperature
was ideal, seventy degrees. Four or five times the size of D'Augustine Lake. Five peoples including myself travel to Kelsey
Ranch in two hours. Bruce Bartholomew caught
the biggest fish weight approximately seven plus pounds after Joe Shirshack gave him his
killer fly. Joe Shirshack caught the most bass; he said at least a couple dozens. Hideo Okino he was the only one on the float tube
with the bass towing him around. I didn't
catch anything when I was wind floating on my pontoon, but I did catch fish on shore. Richard Trimble was using my fly rod with Glenn
Yee Special flies and caught a few large bass. All
the bass average 3 to 4 pounds, hardy any small bass.
Recommendation - I would mostly likely go back again. If anyone wants to catch large bass, this is the
place.
Kelsey Update March
31, 2001
Thought you might enjoy a fishing report on our March 31st Kelsey Ranch trip.
First, the weather was incredible: T-shirt weather in the mid-eighties with only a light
afternoon wind to contend with. Coming at the end of a weeklong warming trend, I think
conditions were near ideal. The water clarity was much less than our early April trip last
year (perhaps 2-3 feet of visibility) which, while limiting the sight fishing, may have
helped to draw fish into the shallows. Most
of the fish were seemingly pre-spawn (at least I saw few spawning fish or nests). Top
water action was spotty early, with more consistent action on subsurface patterns-- Ron
Vanderheiden had good success on his new 'plastic worm' imitation--with small baitfish
patterns, leech patterns and clousers accounting for their share of fish. By mid-morning
the fish had become much more active with numbers of fish pushing sizable wakes in the
shallows. Top water activity seemingly picked up throughout the day (with a brief lull
during the mid afternoon breeze) building to a frantic pace just before sunset (Seth
Norman said it was some of the best top water action he'd ever experienced). As for
numbers of fish, best guess is our group members caught from fifteen to forty (at the
"gee, I lost count" end of the spectrum), with a solid three pound average. Top
fish pushed the six or seven pound mark with many "you should have seen the one I
lost" stories. Overall, a fabulous day of fishing-- with a personal thank you to a
great bunch of friends for the terrific lunch and their wonderfully entertaining company. Dave
April 27, 2001
We had a great time at Kelsey. We
caught some fish at first light using rubber buggers and large, size 6 and 4 , wooly
buggers in dark colors. I got just one fish
on a copper....they didn't appear to want to come up. In the after noon when the wind came
up, we fished coves that faced in the direction of the wind, and caught lots of nice bass
(and a couple of chunky rainbows) dragging #8 hare's Ear nymphs over the tops of the weed
beds. In the evening, the action really
picked up for fish to 8 pounds on the small stuff....#8 buggers or the Hare's Ears. The small stuff out fished the big stuff by a wide
margin. Our best fish was 8 pounds, with lots
in the 3-5 pound range. It was a good
outing. Mike Parrish
April 28, 2001
Saturday we arrived at Kelsey Lake for the very first time. This was to be my first attempt at fly fishing for
bass. The fishing was UNBELIERVABLE!! Started out with top water and caught several nice
2 lb to 3 lb healthy fish. When the wind came
up I switched over to a clouser, leeches, wooley buggers and had great success on all of
these with fish up to 5 plus pounds. As a
past tournament bass fisherman I could not resist the temptation to try conventional
tackle. My first 4 cast with a brush hog
resulted in 3 nice fish out of a bush adjacent to the boat ramp. Fish were very willing to hit rattling rogues as
well as chuggers. The most success was on a
senko worm fished slowly along the banks. We
did not have a boat, we waded along the shoreline. The
three of us landed over 45 fish during the day. I
will certainly return, as it was a beautiful place.
May 11, 2001
Kelsey Ranch Fishing report – Ten fishers drove down to Kelsey Ranch Lake. The weather was not in our favor, it was hot!! -
96 to 100 degrees no breeze. For some of us,
in the morning wasn’t good fishing at all. I
caught a few bass on a black clouser. Until some of the others fishers, Dan, Adam and Joe
came back for lunch and told us they have excellent result using hoppers. They show us how to use the hopper – strip,
strip and pause, then repeat again and again. It took me a while until I start catching
fish. It was awesome, how these large bass
would suck it in and made a swirl in the water, then I know I got a fish on the line. One must apply tension on the line, otherwise the
hook would come loose. I lost many that ways. I
also notice all the fish I was catching was large basses, one weight almost eight pounds. This time I bough my weight scale.
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