Mead 4-5-14

[wolfs4evr]

Madi wasn't feeling good last night so I got the you're on your own at 9pm. I was going one way or another so off I went this morning all alone.

Of course there was a tournament but it was out of Callville so at least I didn't have to deal with that launch. Didn't take most of them long too get to the north end though... 1-3 of them in every cove on top of one another... How it goes. Been my luck lately to go fishing when a tournament is happening.

60 degrees at launch and the back of some coves in the later afternoon hours was 67 degrees. It was supposed to be windy but essentially it was glass the majority of the day.

Landed 14 large mouths including my "new" biggest bass to date on Mead, 6 Stripers, 1 kittycat and a stinky shad. I didn't go anywhere where a small mouth would typically be found. Should of... Would of rounded out the day by catching essentially everything Mead has swimming in it minus a carp...

They are out and about. Seen lots of LMB in 1-3 foot of water but the majority were under a pound size. Tough catching them consistently. Lots of casting for a few bites and each bite was far and few. I never got into any quantities in any one spot.

Mixed bag of tackle caught them. Off the top of my head... SK 3XD crank, LC 100DD pointer, SK 2.5 squarebill, LC KJ flatside squarebill, River 2 Seas Ish Monroe smalls squarebill, 1/2oz jig, Texas rigged worm and a dropshot all got some action today. Some more than others. I had rods everywhere trying a little this and a little that. Nothing really stuck out.

Took some pics but being alone leaves the picture department hurting...

A good way of getting the heart pumping in the AM. Please be a bass please be a bass... NOPE. Hate hooking into these things with 15 buck cranks... And I didn't have the net out at the time. Fun getting that big sucker in the boat w/o getting hurt or losing a spendy crank. At least a 5 pounder.



The weather looked threatening early on but never amounted to much other than some nice shade.



Another morning thrill. 2nd time so far for me on Mead. There isn't anything faster or wilder of a ride than hooking one of these suckers. About the same as hooking onto the rear bumper of a Vet. And they jump 6+ feet in the air. (Snagged on top between the head and vertical fin.)



Now this was more like it and made the day. 5.15 pounds. Just beat out the 5 pound even LMB I caught last year about this time. Dragging a 1/2oz jig across a cove (less than 10 feet of water).



A little over 22 inches.



Had to get into at least one picture with her [cool]



Then later on a nice 4.05 pounder on a drop shot. Gotta love a little medium light rod fun!



If there was any such thing as a mutt LMB this would be it... What a mangy looking thing. All beat up.



Almost all of the bass caught on cranks where solid! They were eating it! Almost all of them had both hooks in 'em. I never lost/missed anything that hit a crank today. They were killing them.


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[wolfs4evr]

I had all of the Stripers in the livewell but once I got to the dock I just wasn't feeling the energy to fillet them. What a fun chase getting them out of the full livewell dockside. Back in the lake to be caught again.

I also watched a young coyote do his best at fishing. He made several dives into the lake w/o luck no more than 30 feet away from me in a cove. He really cared less that I was there. I should of grabbed one of the smaller Stripers and tossed him a dinner but didn't think about it at the time.
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[StarsnStripers]

Nice solid day man. Im glad to see the crank bite getting started. I woulda been there but when I went to fire up the truck the passenger side trailer tire was flat and blowed out and of course it was already the spare...
So I finnaly had to buy trailer tires as I had been cheap and dumb and had regular car tires on my trailer...
Of course its windy today so im gonna give it a try tomorrow. Hope the tourney guys didn't kill all my coves.
Hope to see you out there next weekend bro.
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[wolfs4evr]

Solid trailer tires certainly is a must (and a good spare!!!). Especially heading to the north end of Mead. Not too many places one can get off the road to do a tire swap and plenty of places one doesn't have cell phone coverage.

The tires that came oem on my Tracker trailer were the biggest pieces of junk that I have ever encountered. I can't believe how shitty there are and that a big company would even sell such a product much less have their name on it. Way less than a year and they were toast. I switched over to Goodyear Marathons and they still look new. Going on just about 2 years on them now and plenty of miles including several 500+ round trip miles to mid Utah fishing destinations.

If the weather looks to be decent (wind) I am pretty sure we will be out there next Saturday. Madi was pretty mad she missed a pretty good trip and said "I am going next Saturday no matter what!"
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[StarsnStripers]

Hahaha I wish my fishing buddies were as dedicated as she is.
I made it out today for a few hours. Got 4 in the boat and one toad. Bout 4 lbs.
Lots of fish on beds today but they wouldn't eat. I had a male on a bed that would just barely grab the tail of my worm and move it 2 feet off the bed and drop it. He did that bout 7-8 times. To funny. I tried all different colors and trailers on a jig and the big females just ran most of the time. Wonder what I'm doin wrong??? I woulda stayed longer but the wind came up pretty strong so I headed for the ramp.
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[wolfs4evr]

Smallies?

If so sounds about right. The big females are always spooky. You have to be a fair distance away from them to get the big female on the bed otherwise they run. Sometimes I will drop whatever I am using in the bed then back the boat off a fair distance and watch to see if they come back. Sometimes far enough away that I can't really even see then just do some random wiggle on the bait with my fingers crossed.

Males. If one is persistent and messes around with the right amount of stuff you can eventually get 'em. I do run into the just not happening ones every now and then. I've spent upwards of an hour on one before. Gets to the point I am going to catch him/her no matter what type of dealio. lol We ran into several like that on Mohave several weeks back north of the ramp/into the river area. We both dragged a ton of stuff into the bed and the SMB didn't even twitch. It didn't take me 5 minutes of that to know and classify that fish as a "impossible" and move on verse waste time.

It is still just on the edge temp wise for the SMB to start their thing on Mead this year. I don't think the males really have anything to protect yet other than their turf. Thus they are not overly protective nor aggressive yet.

LMB beds are way harder to find. Unless there is zero wind it isn't worth trying since they are almost always deeper than SMB beds. The best trick for them to me is not using a natural colored bait. I usually swap to something vivid. Not for their purpose but for mine and my eyes to see what I am doing deeper.

I didn't catch anything that looked to be a bed fish Saturday. All pre-spawners out for a meal getting fat. Every single one I caught was very clean and perfect looking. No indications of spawning on them wear and tear wise on the fins/underside.

I didn't go anywhere that a smallie would be found (type of bottom, etc). Just guessing on where they are at based on the main lake water temp at launch.
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[wolfs4evr]

I got those winds too Saturday... It is just crazy how fast that happens on that lake. It was glass most of the day but near the end of the day I was back in a cove further south than where I had spent most of the day and came around this point and woosh, woooosh, woooooosh. I knew better in less than 15 seconds what was going to happen. lol I took five minutes to put the rods away and button everything down. Jumped on the gas and around the corner out of the cove to the main lake. White caps already... Luckily it wasn't the big rollers yet and it was out of the north so I got to ride the winds back to the ramp. Made it a little sporty at the ramp being alone.
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[StarsnStripers]

I got 2 smallies and 1 striper and the big bucketmouth.
It was largemouth messin with my worm. all the beds I saw were probly deep at one time but with the water getting flushed through all the way to mexico they were real shallow. One will probly be dry in 3 days. The females were really bright with a real dark stripe and the males looked to be darker. I just started getting serious about the bass fishin last summer so this is my first season bed fishin or spring bass fishin really.
How long will they be spawning? and should they really turn on as soon as they are finished? Or does it take a while for em to recover before they start eating everything that swims again?
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[wolfs4evr]

We are still at the extreme very beginning. A good 1 1/2 months or so to go till it will be all done. They come in waves. Some pre-spawning, some on beds, some protecting eggs or fry then others post spawning. Then another wave comes in for the full cycle/loop. Fun time of the year for sight fishing if the weather cooperates. I've been out there in 95++ temps and zero wind still catching 'em on beds. Pretty brutal standing around in that heat doing that. When I get my best sunburns. lol I usually stand all the way up on the bow where the TM is mounted for the best advantage for viewing (I haven't fallen overboard yet but it is going to happen some day doing that). With the sun bouncing off the water up at me I get burns in places I never think about putting sun screen on.
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[wolfs4evr]

Post they are all worn out. But hungry so it is on.

I know there is at least one tournament next weekend (Saturday) out of Callville. So that is a bummer. How it goes. At least they are not launching out of Echo. The lake is public... So one of those things one has to deal with. The only thing that bothers me about tournaments this time of the year is the removal of all the fat spawning female bed fish. I know they get released but doubting anyone is making a 30+ mile drive at the end of the day to release them way up north. I have never ate a LMB or SMB in my life. I turn them lose to get bigger and caught another day for fun. Sure wish more/all tournaments adapted a form of Major League Fishing format where the bass is weighed on the spot, logged and released.

I need to make out my own calendar for the rest of the year when the energy to do so arrives. lol I just did a quick search and found one listed. So many different clubs, etc hard to keep track of 'em. So much easier once school is out and I have a Friday off we can go then and avoid the weekend'rs and club'rs.
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[StarsnStripers]

Rite on bro. Thanks for the info. I looked back through pics and my calendar from last year and I didn't start chasing bass til end of may so that's why I got hooked. They were munchin everything hahaha. I'm pretty sure some friends and I will be camping somewhere north of echo this wknd so if you see my old grey ghost boat on a beach and wanna stop by for a brew or hopefully some striper lunch cmon by.
As for keeping fish never kept a bass and only keep striper if I or a friend wants to eat em. Probly should keep more striper but usually just let em go. I do like the weigh em measure and release for tourneys. Great idea especially when they are spawning.
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