Havasu fishing report

LAKE HAVASU

Lake Level 448.71 feet, water temperature 78- to 82-degrees

The stripers are continuing to boil and the best times are mid morning from 8 a.m. to noon and again later between 3-6 p.m.. The hot spots currently are the Windsor Basin, Crazy Horse Campground, Havasu Landing Casino and California Bay. The use of artificial lures such as the Ratl Traps, Pointers, and other lures containing beads or rattles that are noise producing and vibrate upon retrievals.

The large and smallmouth bass bite is most active during the early pre-dawn hours. Small topwater baits such as the Zara Spook and Poppers, chuggers and splashers will bring them up to feed . Buzz baits and frogs worked across the weed mats will wake them up too.

During the daylight hours switch over to finesse rigs such as drop shots and split shotting with small 4 inch worms . The colors that work best are the darker shades in the mornings and then switch to the lighter shades during the high sunlight hours. Light shades that produce are Prism Shad,War Mouth, Hologram shad or Baby Bluegill. The darker producers are Margarita Mutilator, Aarons magic and Orange Crush.

This report was provided by Debbie Blanchard of Anglers Pro Shop, Lake Havasu City.

LAKE POWELL

Lake Elevation: 3627, water temperature is 77- to 79-degrees.

Darn old full moon really put the fish down early week. Fish are fat after chowing-down all summer on a surplus supply of shad. There is plenty of forage. Living is easy. All this adds up to tough fishing for sportsmen when fish get a blast of full moon-itis. But the moon is now in the last quarter.

Striper boils are now defined as 3 fish splashing within 50 yards of each other. They can be caught if the surface lure is presented on time before the splash ring goes away. Splashing fish may be either bass or stripers. They are all lazily eating shad on the surface. The surface action may last for two bites but fish are up and gone in a flash.

The best way to catch them is to drop spoons in the vicinity of the splash rings. The best depth for spooning is 40 feet. When a school is graphed on bottom, drop the lure until it touches and then jig in short strokes. If the school is suspended, drop the lure below the school and then speed reel through the fish. Pause when above the fish and drop the lure back through the fish zone. This technique will catch more stripers than any other right now.

The only really good time of day right now is evening. As the moon darkens, mornings will get progressively better. The twilight periods are far superior to any other time of day for fishing success.

Report courtesy of Wayne Gustaveson, Utah Division of Wildlife.

LEES FERRY

Fishing is good! Fly selection is simple too. San Juan worms, in red and wine or burgundy and natural along with zebra midges, brassies and of course the famous dry and dropper. The back eddies are loaded with trout sipping midges. Just about any riffle with a drop off is producing fish. And if you like to drift, a sink tip line and a wooly bugger is sure to pick up a few fish for you. You might even want to drift the longer deeper runs with a worm and a midge trailer. I am kind-of at a loss for words every one I talk with is just as pleased as they can be. My guess is that it will remain this way for a while, 4 to 6 weeks at least. So what are you waiting for?

Walk in: I will leave this report as is until I hear something new: The walk-in section is fishing very well these days. The boulder field is producing fish. The big rock area is producing fish as well, and even down at the confluence area. These fish are focused on San Juan worms for the most part. But they will take midges and dries too. It’s all in the presentation. This weather is wonderful, don’t miss out.

Report courtesy f Ted Welling, Lees Ferry Anglers.

LAKE MEAD

Water levels have held steady, the elevation is currently at around 1,105 feet above msl. Fishing has slowed. Artificial lights will be more effective this week with the new moon being on Monday the 29th.

Launching conditions at South Cove have remained nearly the same for the last two months. The new concrete ramp the National Park Service just completed is one lane with buoys marking the edges. Use caution not to go off the sides of the metal extensions at either side. National Park Service is working to keep the ramp open.

LAKE MOHAVE

No new reports. The fishing for small stripers has been pretty good. Try using cut anchovies at night. The lake level has remained pretty steady and is running at 641 feet above msl. The stripers seen in the fall were fat and full of shad, with schools of shad being chased by striped bass. No sign of shad this year so far. If you can find schools of shad, try trolling a small crankbait.

WILLOW BEACH - Trout are stocked every Friday. Fishing has been pretty good for trout. Most of the success has been coming from or around the new pier. Try using green Power Worms, or salmon eggs. Anglers report the fishing being best before 7:30 a.m. The striper fishing has been picking up. No large stripers caught over the weekend, but a few were caught during the week.

TOPOCK MARSH

Water in the Topock Mash is beginning to cool down and the bass have gone deep. North Dyke has been fairly consistent with bass up to 2-pounds hitting 6-inch shaky-tail worms in a black/red flake color. This week stripers in the Topock Gorge are holding steady at 2-pounds. They’re in deep water and haven’t responded to swim baits at all. The better action has been on anchovy and crawdad imitators. Catfish activity is light.

Report courtesy Georgia with Capt. Doyle’s River Excursions/Fun Fishing Guide Service.

PARKER STRIP

Fishing is expected to be good to excellent for smallmouth bass, with fish over two pounds in size common. The best smallmouth bass fishing can be found in the upper half of the Parker Strip, while largemouth bass are more numerous in the lower half, in very respectable numbers. In addition, redear sunfish should also be good to excellent in the pound-plus sizes.