Havasu 2-20-2016

[wolfs4evr]

Almost 60 at sunrise topping out in the low 80s. Water temp near the Site 6 launch ramp was 58 and topped off at 60-61 or so later in the day. Lake level was just a hair under 447 feet MSL. Water visibility was so so. Lots of green algae present.

The trip was just a hair under 350 miles round trip for us. Left at 3am and back at 9pm. I was in shorts within an hour of launching and enjoying the sun/perfect weather that we had. Essentially no wind.

First time for us to launch/see/be on/near Lake Havasu. Something different and with gas at $1.76 right now near the house what the heck. If fishing wasn't good then a chance to explore/learn a new lake. Online reports said the pre-spawn was getting close/a few more weeks and it will be on.

Another fellow Vegas BFT'r was down there on Friday and the text messages I got pretty much said it was tough. Still something to do so off we went Saturday to explore.

Madi launched the boat and got it to the dock all by herself. She wasn't happy about doing it but I gave her no choice. Girl has to learn one of these day.



Fishing... Ya. Today's BFT comic 100% described it.


I saw quite a few SMBs in under 5ft of water on sunny points but every single one had lock jaw. I have never seen them like that before. Typically a drop shot is golden when ones sees one. Not on Havasu. Not one would even look at it/turn at it. I got into one smaller deep cove down south some with quite a few 4-5lb++ LMB in it and same dealio there. I even left that cove and came back later holding waaay off from the area I knew they were at and threw the kitchen sink at them and then went for a reload of different stuff. Nada. In the back of some shallow mud bottom coves I ran into SMBs. Some really good sizes. Odd place to be running into SMBs IMO. LMBs for sure.

The temps must still have them off some. Just weird seeing them out and about and not being able to catch 'em. I figured they are out and about they should be feeding getting prepared for the spawn. But what do I know. I also imagine that place has some serious fishing pressure on it making the fishing that much harder. Lots of people out fishing...

Fishing while seeing civilization all around you was different/new...



So did some sight seeing since we were there. Madi was totally excited when I told her we were going to see the London Bridge since she knew about/had read about the history of it. That takes some time... No wake zone for miles to do the loop around the island. Still something to say been there done that and got the pictures to prove it.







Had a couple V-22 Ospreys buzzing the lake for a while.



This happened later in the day right at the Site 6 launch area. We were a couple coves away and saw the smoke so ran over to check it out. A little nervous knowing where the smoke was coming from and knowing the truck was over there. So was really happy to see it wasn't coming from the parking lot area...

Nothing fancy boat wise/big dollar wise. A typical big block powered 20-30 year old open header type of boat from what I could see.



The Sherriff, lake rangers and Tow Boat US buddas did one heck of a job getting it out. Backing there twin engine center console boats up to it, lifting the engines and hammering it in forward to shoot water over the boat to put it out. Eventually the fire department got there and stretched out several hundred feet of hose to finish the job.

[url "https://youtu.be/H5MQYsg2STM"]https://youtu.be/H5MQYsg2STM[/url]

Tom
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[wolfs4evr]

That lake is soooo covered with artificial habitat that tossing crank baits is seriously dangerous. I never lost one but one has to be really sure of where you are casting everywhere. All that artificial habitat is cool but yet... I never saw anything on it/in the area of it. Nothing visually or on the sonar. I tried fishing them from 10 feet down into the 30s. Zero anything.

Tom
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[TT600]

I had poor luck myself there with SMB. Would not bite even real worms. Then came back to the dock and a guy was cleaning ten lb stripers. I am thinking chumming with anchovies?
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[wiperhunter2]

Hey Tom, how old is Madi now? I'm all for getting the young ones out learning new things but I'm surprised your so trusting with your boat. On the other hand, I bet it will be nice to have a partner that can help you out more, when it comes to launching and retrieving the boat and practice does makes it easier to be better at doing anything. I remember when I got my first boat, with a steering wheel, how nervous I was driving it around other boats in the marina or bringing it up to a dock. I can only image how Madi felt, good for you for having that confidence in you daughter to let her do it on her own.
Too bad the catching wasn't happening but it sounds like it was a fun trip with lots to see. I bet those bass down there have seen everything. I remember when I was down there and saw the London Bridge.
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[wolfs4evr]

I've never chummed so no idea'r there. Also not sure about AZ laws on stuff like that. Good to go in NV that I know.

Summer time and I am looking for SMB/LMBs. Stripers are my winter past time and I don't work to hard on trying to catch them/learning all the tricks and tips.

Tom
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[wolfs4evr]

She's eligible to get her learners permit to drive a auto here in the next few weeks. 15 1/2. She has launched the boat 4-5 times before but not in the last year or so. Every time I have asked her to launch it was at a lake/launch that had no one else around. So all alone. All of those times the ramp had a dock on it so she just backed up and waited for me to walk down then drove to me on the dock on my voice commands. The launch ramp at Site 6 on Havasu didn't have a center dock so that was the intimidating part for her. She had to go about a 100 yards to the docks and wait for me. Also a friend met me in the parking lot and walked along the side of the ramp area watching Madi. So she had some oversight within talking distance watching her as I drove around to the parking lot. Also no one else was around boat wise. I wouldn't of asked her to launch otherwise. Blonde and all [crazy]

Sure would be nice if she would launch more often. Just that much more simpler of a evolution over digging out the ropes, etc. Mead is a pain since all of the ramps are 8-12 degree ramps for 100s of yards. I have to put the truck in past the rear wheels to get the boat off. Typically I get the bottom of my shoes wet just getting out of the truck. Up to my knees in water at the back of the truck. Summer, who cares. Winter... Not into shorts and flip flops in 30-40 degree weather. So if the dock is full (pretty much all the ramps on Mead/Mohave have 6+ lanes) I have to wait until a lane opens up next to the dock to launch/recover to stay dry.

Tom
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[wiperhunter2]

It always helps to have some guidance with young boaters, so having your friend keep an eye on her. Having her launch in unfamiliar locations are a confidence builder and seeing as how she will be driving a car soon, she better get use to it[]. Has Dad been taking her out on any back road yet and letting her drive? I remember when my kids were young, I'd take them up in the mountains, where no one was at and let them drive, it really helps when they start drivers ed.
Is this the first time you have fished lake Havasu this early in the year?
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[reellittlephish]

Maddie did a perfect job bringing the boat to the dock. Not even a bump; when she was about 4" away I reached out and steadied the rig while she tied off.

There had been some launch traffic earlier...maybe 4 or 5 rigs but when we launched it was just us 2.

Bite was tough for both of us. I picked a a undersized smallie about an hour into our day on a dropshot (Jackall crosstail) around 15 ft.off a brush pile and another keeper right at dusk off a main lake point with a mud line in about 15 ft. I fished from maybe 8 ft down to 30 ft on different types of terrain. No real pattern I could figure out.

Near where I got the first bass I found some reeds in a cut in 8 ft and got bit pitching back in there. I thought I was onto something but it never materialized though I found another patch of deep reeds.
I did not see any sunning fish but I stayed nearer to Site Six and at the end of the day a trip downstream to Copper Canyon. There was a lot of algae. I missed three other bites ..For me, every bite was on some form of deadsticking

I missed the burning boat but saw the black smoke plume. My moments of excitement involved staying away from a water flea who wasn't paying attention and a cabin cruiser whose driver couldn't figure out if he should pass to port or starboard. I was happy to have a 225 hp engine to get away with. I had 3 speedboats come into Copper Cove on plane while I was fishing the main and secondary points. With the water low there are a number of barely submerged reefs: I figured more money than brains. Even the mud line they created didn't stir anything up.

Got small dose of "docktalk"...I talked to few local fishermen; they were also struggling; though one said his son was in the tournament and doing well. Couldn't understand why dad wasn't catching.
Another group couldn't understand why they weren't cleaning up on root-beer gitzits. Killed em last week...I had a gitzit on one rod and no bites on that. I found the local fishermen to be quite friendly.

I'm again reminded to not try fishing Havasu on a weekend. Just don't.
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[wolfs4evr]

I've been meaning to get her out driving the truck somewhere in the desert. Time to do so when she isn't in school just hasn't materialized. Plus with Vegas being a big city one has to wander quite a ways from town to really be away from everyone. I was driving when I was 12 in Montana. Duck hunting, river fishing, etc down the river I always was the one to "volunteer" to be the one to go back to the truck and drive it to where dad was at []

First time to Havasu for us ever. So more or less a exploratory trip for us. I wasn't sweating that the reports for fishing was not good. Timing was good as I had nothing going on this past weekend, gas prices where good, the weather was good, etc. Hard to pass us. Not something I would of wanted to do for the first time once everything really kicks up and the place actually gets crowded.

If I remember right from previous years reading reports Spring Break seems to really coincide with the best time to be fishing down there. That isn't happening...

Tom
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[wolfs4evr]

Thanks for everything Tom. The only reason we went was because you were down there and had the place scouted [] Going to new places, especially a place that can be as crowded as Havasu, makes me nervous with Madison with me. Nice to have someone else around if something popped up.

I only got two hits/bumps all day. Both on cranks. One on a 15ft diver off a deep main point nook and one on a 4ft or so jerk bait on a tertiary point. The big LMBs that I saw in one small cove were tethered to 3 artificial habitat boxes in 10ft of water. I also saw one smaller LMB around some reed piles placed in about 5ft of water. All lock jaw.

Tried about everything though. All depths of Jerk baits, cranks covering all depth ranges, tubes, jigs, drop shot, senkos, single grubs/twin hula grubs, swimbaits, etc, etc. About the only technique I didn't toss was wacky.

To me cranks was the primary. Cover lots of ground and once something shows it face then slow down and work it.

Boat traffic I thought was very minimal. But we are use to weekend fishing. Never had any bad experiences. No one passing us close, shooting into the coves we were in, etc. We even had the launch ramp to ourselves when we pulled the boat out near sunset.

Tom
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