Mohave 3-30

[fish_or_die]

Ran down to fish with a Las Vegas buddy and we ended up at lake Mohave for two days of hard fishing therapy. This was my first time down there and it's a beautiful lake! Water temps were 58-62, water levels were at full pool and crystal clear.
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We found fish on beds, but not very many. The ones we caught were fantastic quality smallmouths, but our grand total was 9 for both days. Kinda frustrating for such a great bass lake!
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A questions for you Mohave vets- where are the bait fish and smaller bass? After 20 hours on the lake, I saw ZERO bait fish or young bass. No shad, no bluegills or sunfish, nothing other than carp and 15" bass. We could see down to 20 feet easily so the fish weren't in the shallows, and we didn't graph much of anything down to 50' of water. It kinda felt like a ghost town.

Sorry about the picture rotations, I couldn't figure out how to get them to inport right side up!
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[TT600]

Quagga mussels are eating all the fish food. Be interesting to hear what Mojave was like pre-quaggas.
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[reellittlephish]

Mojave has always been very tough to learn.

I thought the lake level was down about 3 ft. Was the shoreline brush flooded? Full Pool is 647. Right now it is listed at 642.92 down from 643.27 on April 1; that makes things tough.

Historically all the bite turns on at the same time on Mojave. Go figure on that????

Wind is a big factor. In wind the smallies will set up on reefs and rock features to take advantage of the disoriented baitfish/crawfish. I've seen them on the man made stuff but they (for me) are difficult to catch there.

My best suggestion is every-time you catch a smallie waypoint it. Maybe you will figure out the higher percentage spots or at least accumulate some places to try in a milk run.
In flat conditions: Senkos weightless can be killer post spawn on rocky flats extending into the main channel. You just need to run about a million of them.

Weedlines are something to consider...for cover the smallies lurk in them and they are very hard to spot.

If my partner said I could only bring 3 outfits I'd bring a Texas rigged (maybe with a bobber stopper and a glass bead) Yamamoto Hula Grub or the equivalent, a weightless senko and a drop shot. Then I'd sneak in a surface lure and a crankbait running to 9' in my pocket.

Long casts, 10 or 8 lb fluorocarbon or braid for surface lures. judging from your photo backgrounds you were in some good spots. Boat silence and figure your angles carefully. Those bass hit on the first cast (make it count) so don't waste time with multiple presentations unless it's a follow up lure.

Best of luck. Mojave gives me a good spanking from time to time.
Gizzard shad, some threadfin shad, bluegill, crappie, carp and crawfish live in Mojave,
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