TAGGED Bass at Cultus Lake! Smallmouth Bass Fishing Went Crazy

After coming back from a long trip with my girlfriend, I decided to stop by Cultus Lake and see how the bass fishing was looking… and wow, this lake did not disappoint.

Cultus Lake is known to have plenty of smallmouth bass and northern pikeminnow, but right now it feels like full blown bass season. In less than an hour of fishing, we managed to hook into some seriously good sized bass right from shore before we had to leave.

The funny part? I did not even bring my actual bass fishing setup.

I started off using my trout bobber rig and got absolutely nothing. Not even a bite. Straight up ignored. But luckily, I had my Savvy Rider travel combo, a collapsible fishing rod that comes with a kit of premade lures. I also packed one of my own premade weighted Texas rig setups, and that ended up being the money rig for the day.

The setup was simple:

Weighted Texas rig
Green pumpkin Senko worm
Shore fishing around the docks
Slow drag, hops, and little pauses

The bass were cruising pretty close to shore and around the dock areas, so fishing here can actually be pretty easy when the lake is not packed with swimmers.

These smallmouth bass are invasive in Cultus Lake and can damage local salmon populations, so I decided to keep the bigger bass and bring it home for some fish and chips.

Then on our last cast, we landed something I was not expecting at all… a tagged bass. I had no idea there were tagged fish in Cultus Lake. We recorded the tag details, released the fish, and sent an email to the researchers.

All in all, this was a quick little stop after our Region 3 trip, but it turned into one of the most exciting short fishing sessions I have had in a while.

Region 3 fishing and camping video coming soon.

Drop a comment if you have ever caught a tagged fish before.

Gear Used:

Savvy Rider travel combo @amundson_outdoors https://amzn.to/4ftSlr2
Weighted Texas rig
Green pumpkin Senko style worm https://amzn.to/43et0tR
Fluorocarbon leader

Timestamps:

0:00 Back from the trip
0:25 Weighted texas rig explaination and diagram
0:48 First bass from shore
1:48 Bass close up
2:38 Big smallmouth bass caught
3:51 Big bass close up
4:20 Third bass
4:40 Tagged bass close up
5:43 Releasing the tagged bass

Follow along for more BC fishing, camping, catch and cooks, trout fishing, bass fishing, and outdoor adventures.

#CultusLake #BassFishing #BCFishing