Hello Everyone!
I have a family trip planned to Lake Mead in a few weeks. We will be renting a houseboat so I was hoping to get some shore fishing in. I was hoping to get any tips or pointers from the Lake Mead experts out there. I am really excited about the striped bass, it would be my first time fishing for them.
Anyways, its wonderful to have a resource like this for a beginner fisherman.
What marina are you heading out of? What part of the lake are you cruising?
Two words: cut bait
One phrase: chum till they come
BaySport
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Hello BaySport,
I know that we will be leaving from Callville Bay and am pretty certain that my family doesn't want to travel too far from the marina if possible. If I could find some good spots to shore fist from I'm sure that I could persuade them to head there for a day or so.
Thank you for your advice on cutting bait and chumming. I did hear from a friend that anchovies were pretty popular but I'm not certain if that info was completely correct.
I was looking at the map of Lake Mead and I cannot believe how huge it is! The biggest lake I have ever fished before is only about 1/25th of Lake Mead. Its going to look like an ocean!
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Mead is definitely a big one. It can be intimidating, but don't let that get the best of you. There's fish out there, so keep confident.
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Thanks for the encouragement!
I guess I'm a bit paranoid because I am reading that the striped bass is much deeper at this time of the year which might be bad for shorefishing unfortunately.
Do you guys think this will pose a problem? If not, does anyone have any chum recipes that tend to work well?
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Early in the morning, there are still stripers pushing shad up against the shoreline (at least in boulder harbor). You might do well from shore out there. They also have the fishing pier out there. As for chum, just cut up a bunch of anchovies in about 1/2 inch chunks, and let them fly. Use sardines as bait, or use traditional striper lures like crankbaits, kastmasters, swimbaits or anything else resembling a shad. Good luck out there
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Thanks for the advice Whizzle!
I've actually never used anything other than worms and powerbait before. I always wondered how you don't get snags when you use lures like kastmasters? Also, is there any type of shad color I should be looking for? I went to a local store today and there are a dizzying amount of different colors.
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With lures like kastmasters, just cast out, and reel it in fast enough to keep it from hitting the bottom, and you wont get hung up. Color to looks for: Chrome, silver, black and silver, black and white, or all white are good options. Stick with shiny chromes and silvers on sunny days, and the whites and bone whites on cloudy days.
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Nice, thank you for the advice. I will be going out tomorrow to buy my fishing gear for the trip. I will go ahead and pick up some kastmasters and some rapala crankbaits.
Just out of curiosity, have you guys been successful with any of the other species of fish at Lake Mead (trout, catfish, etc)?
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I have done pretty well catfishing at lake mead. Even in the winter if your soaking chovies at any depth there is always a shot for some cats. In the summer the bluegill fishing can be good in the backs of coves. Never fished for trout at Mead myself but I am sure the standard offerings (Powerbait, worms, small spinners etc.) will work if your near the stocking sites, but note the fish often head for deep water fast. Of course there are large and smallmouth bass to be had too... they can be tricky in the winter, small palstics fished deep is a proven tactic this time of year...Might want to stick to the stripers rather than the bass, they cooperate better in the winter. Good luck and cant wait to hear how you did!
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Nice, thank you for the info Dan.
It looks like we will be staying in the Boulder Basin area not too far from the Calville Bay Marina, probably to the NorthEast a bit. Hopefully we will find a nice shore to push up on and we will have some success. If not I'll have to do my best to convince the rest of the family to move on. Its a bit tough when fishing might not exactly be everyone else's priority!
I'll take your advice and just concentrate on the stripers (that's what I'm looking forward to the most anyways!). I purchased my Daiwa shad crankbait and a silver kastmaster so I am good to go. I also bought some dog food to freeze up (after much googling people swear by frozen dog food for chumming, mixed with some chovies of course). I'll also try floating some inflated worms (dunno, its what I'm most familiar with).
Anyways, I love this forum! The wealth of info and support is awesome.
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we just got on the houseboat and will be heading out in the morning. The staff at callville bay is telling us to go to rufus cove to fish so hopefully we can not only find it but have some luck there as well
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Hello and Happy New Year!
The trip was a blast. We caught about 20 fish total for the 5 days, a mix of catfish and stripers (weighing about 1-2 lbs each). We didn't have any real monster fish, the biggest weighing in at 2.6lb striper, 3lb cat and a 6lb carp.
Overall it was fairly slow, especially because we stayed in Rufus Cove for the most part due to bad weather. But, I have to say that Lake Mead is so beautiful and serene and the whole family had a lot of fun.
Again, thank you guys for all of the info and support. We are hoping to make a trip during the late summer - early fall.
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Nice to hear you enjoyed your trip and had at least some luck with the fish... I am guessing by the mix of your catch they came on anchovies? Did you try out that dog food chum deal? Anyways congrats on your catch, winter can be tough esp if your stuck in one cove the whole time.
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Glad to hear you all had a good time and caught some fish. Thanks for the report.
BaySport
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