Heres a good Striped Bass caught last week. Story and pic below.
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[black]"Well guys, I had a great day down at the Colorado River.
First I caught a nice respectable 20 pound striper below Willow. I went back to the marina and had a cup of coffee and decided to fish a little longer. Lucky for me.
I was down above Placer Cove trolling and my rod went off. It felt very heavy, and it was. After I fought him, he hung me in a bush and I couldn't get it off and was about ready to give up and break it off when she got loose from the tree and took off for the deep. It felt very heavy and fought hard. I got her up and landed her and I was stunned by the size.
It was a very beautiful 50 pounder, 48 1/2 inches long. She had the 10 inch AC Plug Casitas hooked hard in the jaw.
The weather has been very cold and today it got 70 degrees warm and was glassy out there. It is my 8th over 50 pounds so far...."
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8th striper over 50lbs?! Man, some people's kids... so wait, your post confuses me... did you catch it or did someone else? Whoever did...congrats...
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Need to fish water, that has big fish. Some one else. We fish this area heavely and have caught fish to 42 lbs.
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Where in the heck is that at?
TS
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[cool][#0000ff]Willow Beach is at the top of Lake Mojave...the next lake down the Colorado River from Lake Mead. It used to be fantastic for big trout. Now almost all trout planted contribute to the striper feeding program. A big trout imitating lure is the best shot at getting those big stripers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You get to it by crossing the Hoover dam and then continuing a few miles until you see the Willow Beach turnoff. That road goes down to the river and launch facilities.[/#0000ff]
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How is that body of water able to produce such big stripers? I have never heard of anyone catching (this many, 8) a striper that big out of Lake Powell and you would think that is the prime place to be doing what this guy is doing. I know that there have been quite a few "monsters" taken from Powell, most of the bigger ones were dead though. What is the difference between this body of water and Powell?
TS
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Wow that's huge! So...how does a 50 Lb. Striped Bass compare in strength and the fight to a 50 Lb. King Salmon?? Or say 40 to 40 Lbs? Anybody caught both?
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[cool][#0000ff]Lake Mojave is smaller and narrower, with current running through much of the lake. For some reason it is more fertile and the balance of predator to prey species is different. In Powell, there are more predators of more species and they overtax the available forage base (shad). Lots of nice largemouth in Mojave but not nearly the numbers of smallmouth and walleyes. The stripers have more to eat at all stages and they get bigger.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are lots of big stripers in Powell. But, proportionately there are tons more little skinny ones. Once a striper in Powell gets big enough to eat large sunfish, carp and other food...besides competing for the sparse shad forage...they will grow much bigger. And, those big ones seldom mess around with a wimpy piece of 'chovy on a jig hook. They want meat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are lots of websites that describe Mojave. Here are some of the better ones.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.desertusa.com/colorado/lm_nra/lake_mohave/du_lkmojave.html"]MOJAVE 1[/url][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.riverlakes.com/lake_mohave.htm"]MOJAVE 2[/url][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.thefishinguide.com/mead.shtml"]MOJAVE FISHING[/url][/#0000ff]
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Below Hoover Dam. The record there is 63 + Lbs
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Way more powerful plus current. These fish in the ocean stay in currents and feed
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All I can say is wow! What a great fish. Too bad it isn't a little closer.
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Nevada will help the shad by planting a few to help out when the shad get to low of numbers... But not Utah....
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Thats a nice fish! Silverwood lake in Cali, produced some huge stripers for awhile....also the Parker strip below Havasu on the Colorado
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Do you know if those big stripers are all over the lake? When i was at powell last year i marked fish deep around the 100 foot level and it was usually one or two at times. Makes me wonder if those were big stripers .Guess next time i will have to use my downriggers to to see if i can get them to bite.
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[cool][#0000ff]Big fish like that are NEVER "all over the lake". Unlike the smaller stripers, the bigguns usually travel by themselves. And obviously, there are far fewer big ones.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]However, they could be almost anywhere at any time. Like all predators, they tend to stay in the areas where the dining is best. If they are patterning on big shad...or sunfish...or small carp...or any other forage species...they will stay where they can make a food run when they get hungry. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The big fish you marked in deep water could have been large stripers. They do often travel in deep water. But, unless your sonar is sensitive enough to see the stripes on your "targets" they could also have been big carp or something else. And, as most of us know, seeing them on sonar is never a guarantee that you can get them to bite. In many cases it is just the opposite. If we see big fish suspending deep, they may well be just hanging out and digesting a big meal...in a completely neutral or negative mode. We all see a lot more fish than we catch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In Mojave there is probably a greater number of really big stripers, but they are not usually caught by casual weekend tanglers. A high percentage of all stripers over 20 pounds are caught by big fish specialists, who fish the lake regularly, know the fish well and use big gear designed to catch the big fish. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Timing and luck are important too. Showing up after a hatchery truck has "rang the dinner bell" by dumping a load of "striper candy" (rainbows). Big stripers come in and hang around until the trout are all eaten or dispersed. Big trout imitating plastics or hardbaits are the favored lures at this time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Utah and Arizona no longer plant trout in Powell. They used to and there was some good troutin' in the late 70's. Coincidentally, that is also a time when there were a lot of BIG stripers being caught at Powell. The combination of no trout, an explosion of walleyes, smallmouth and stripers all during the same period put a lot more pressure on the threadfin shad and led to the boom and bust cycles of shad populations and skinny predators since then. When the lake is good, it is very good. When it is off, it can break your heart to see the condition of many of the fishies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, like we have already discussed elsewhere, once a few stripers grow large enough to be able to munch bigger fish, they quickly grow much bigger. And, once they switch their diet to "super size" meals, they don't smack small jigs or little chunks of 'chovies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you target the biggest stripers you have to drag a big bait or lure. You won't get all the bites you do with smaller stuff, but you have a better chance at a braggin' fish.[/#0000ff]
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Hey Mactuna that looks like Alan Cole himself. Correct me if I'm wrong. He was the original maker of the A.C. Plug. If you were lucky like I was for $25 you could have bought one of his handcrafted, hand painted, wooden, rainbow painted A.C. Plugs. Now Lure Jensen owns the pattern and they are plastic and painted in different patterns. I have often dreamed of being in the 40 pound plus club. I dream of spending some time down there and learning the patterns of them big fish. If any of you have the same dream let's hook up. Pikeman GOFISH
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Yes thats Allan Coe. We go down when the weather is a little warmer. Now is the time until hot weather, then nightime is real good when hot.
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If you guys get out near the Bay Area, try San Luis Res. or O'neil Forebay. The all-tackle LANDLOCKED striper record was taken from here. Difficult, extremely windy lake with often finicky fish.
In the article, it talks of a guy (Sedillo) that has the 4# test sturgeon record. My friend, Terry Lewis (who owns the 8# record) is currently on the quest to break Sedillo's record. Too bad he snaps so many off! I know he'll get Sedillo soon!
[url "http://www.fishsniffer.com/dbacher/050224striper.html"]http://www.fishsniffer.com/dbacher/050224striper.html[/url]
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Lots of excuses on why Utah don't produce record class stripers or any trophy fish for that matter. It isn't that complicated. When is the last time you or anyone you knew fished with a 10" AC plug?? It really is that simple.
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It doesn't have to be an expensive 9" AC plug. One of the favorite lures down there is the less expensive J13 (5.25") rainbow trout jointed Rapala. It catches big ones too, if you're in the right place at the right time.
I lived in Las Vegas for 7 years and fished Mead and Mojave a bunch. During that time some of the guys that consistently caught big stripers on Mojave were either accused of fishing with live trout or in some cases caught doing it.
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