Awesome lake. Arrived Friday afternoon July 3rd and got the boat in the water at Tiffanys resort. After getting everything situated my dad and I ran the boat north of the resort to a small bay we seen earlier. Started fishing around 6:30 p.m. or so. I tied on a crawdad dt-4 and my dad a baby bass dt-4. He got 3 fish nearly instantly so I switched over to my trusted bleeding shiner dt-4 (closest thing I have to a baby bass pattern with me.). We began slamming the fish. Most were in the 4-8" range but a few up around 10". I noticed a school of fry surfacing escaping a predator so I plopped my crank right on em and instantly got slammed by a 14" or so bass. Pretty girthy fish and it ended up being the best of the trip. We managed 30+ bass a piece that night. The next morning we hit the same spot and managed the same working our baitfish colored cranks shallow. I also tied on a 4" Yamamoto smoke colored curly tailed grub with a 1/4 oz. tungsten weight rigged florida style and slammed em. Had a follow by a 12" tiger musky on the second day in the morning. Caught plenty more bass that morn working the same. That night we brought my mom and girlfriend out on the boat as well. I rigged my girlfriend up with the grub on my light rod and reel setup and I decided to try my new shimano curado and compre crankin rod combo. After adjusting the internal clutches I got this baitcasting thing down! My girlfriend ended up catching her first bass and she was super excited. I switched over to my old trusty off brand spinning reel. A 24" musky nailed my crank and when I set the hook and began reeling my internal gears began slipping and grinding. The Musky got off and my reel was shot, time for a new shimano! We fished above the trestle in the morning and seen plenty of musky and caught bass. This seemed to be the larger musky hotspot (several 24"+). Also seen a large catfish swimming about. The final morning(monday) it rained a ton off and on. We went to the lowest prortion of the lake and again found the bass in the 1-4' range on dt-4's in baitfish patterns. My dad managed 15 bass in 15 casts as well as a bonus rainbow. I had a rainbow on the jumped and lost the hook right at the boat... All in all I managed 3 tigers on, none boated with 1 follow, well into 100 largemouths, and 1 rainbow on that got off. Awesome fishing and the accomadations were spectacular. Reccomended to anyone! Caught fish on Oliver shiner and baby bass pattern cranks, bleeding baby bass pattern ratl trap, 4" yamamoto smoke colored curly tail grubs and fat ikas florida rigged.

Skeeterpilot

7/8/2009 9:07:00 PM

Curlew is one of my favorite lakes, too bad I live 6 hours away. My dad took me there as a kit and I have been going back time and again for over 30 years. Funny though that you should mention the failure of your Shimano reel. My friend has used Shimano for a long time and just recently bought a new one which turned out be be a big piece of junk, he expected more for $120! Sent it to Shimano to be replaced, they sent a "new" one which was the same old reel. He called them and gave them the riot act and they said "that's just the way those reels are", Yeah right!, He sent it back again and they took over a month to send him a new "rebuilt" reel. After his experience I have decided I will never buy another Shimano product again. I started using Pfluger reels on the advice of a friend that does pro bass tournaments, have been very pleased so far with them. It would seem (from what I have heard) that Shimano has switched their manufacturing from Japan to China and they are suffering because of it.

Teal101

7/9/2009 9:12:00 AM

It wasn't my shimano reel that failed it was my cheap off brand one. I was so pleased with the preformance of my curado I plan on replacing my off brand reel with a shimano!!!

Teal101

7/9/2009 9:14:00 AM

Also for some reason my pictures aren't showing up?

Skeeterpilot

7/9/2009 7:12:00 PM

Yeah, I read that wrong, but still, after hearing how Shimano treated my friend with his new reel I still won't be buying another one of theirs. The old one I have still works though. Did you fish Roberta lake through the channel on the south end? I caught a 35" muskie just inside the channel in Curlew lake last time I was there. Was just kinda trolling a spinnerbait through that area while we were leaving Roberta into Curlew and my pole just did a slow bend downward, just like I had snagged a log on the bottom. My buddy said "that aint a log it's a dang big fish!" Was a good fight though. Cant wait to get back over there, it's such a beautiful area and a little known bass fishery.

Teal101

7/10/2009 8:22:00 AM

Yep the last morning we fished in the rain we fished Roberta. That's where the 15 bass in 15 casts happened. My dad managed a trout and I had one on down there as well. Didn't see any musky, all the musky we seen were on the north side of the lake. I really cant wait to get back up there!

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