New at posting but have read this site for well over a year. Fished 33 hole and the surrounding area on Thursday begining around 1:00 pm. The striper were boiling all over the place. Not just one boil at a time but 3-4 seperate boils all located within 100 yds of each other. Fished the boils for about two hours boating 16 healthy striper. All were caught on tha Chug Bug top water. They seemed to only want the top water, tried other baits with no luck. Lost many other fish during the fight. Thanks for a great forum, have fished Mead since 1996 but still learn something new all the time from this forum.
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Wow, I thought boils only happen early mornings. I've fished Lake Mead for 6 years... and have yet to see how a boil looks like in person.
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Have seen them in the morning hours also in the past. My experience in the past has been the hotter it gets the better the boils. If you don't mind setting out in the 110 degree heat you can get some great afternoon striper fishing in. Wish I would have had a partner in the boat that day. Would have landed alot more fish. Kind of hard to chase the boils and try to fish when they only last a short time.
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You want Boil Fever, check out Wayne's Words ( Google it). Wayne is the Project Manager for Utah DWR at Powell. Slurps are going on right now with a few boils, but they are coming, FAST.
From WW's site[inline BOILS.bmp]
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I also thought that boils only occurred early in the morning. Can anyone else confirm that they do occur in the afternoon?
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I have fished boils well into the afternoon. Usually, they last longer later in the summer. August should see some good all day action.
The Whizzle
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[inline Boil2.bmp]
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Hi All,
I have seen boils happening in the afternoon at Lake Mead this year twice, end of June and the beginning of July, personally. They were off 33 Hole and the Striper were just gobbling up little Shad like they were going out of style.
Jay
treadhead1952
Las Vegas, NV
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please educate me on boils... do they normally happen near shore, middle of lake, shallow water, deep water... ??
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Hi Willy,
What happens is the Stripers will locate bait fish and more or less herd them up into a tight group and start to push them up to the surface and hold them there. Individual fish will take turns slashing through this 'bait ball" eating as they go. Naturally it is a moving game as the smaller fish dart this way and that to escape. The Stripers will work like a pack to do their best to keep them penned up, feeding as they go.
It all depends on where the hunting Stripers locate the bait fish as to where it occurs. The Shad are hatched out and seek cover in brush along the shore line or further out in deeper water. Cover for them can mean many things from brush to submerged rock formations to sunken debris. Once located they are pushed to the surface as it is easier for the larger foraging fish to move around and below it to keep it in a tight group. So as to where it happens, it can be anywhere. But once it does happen they are constantly moving. I have seen them go from deeper water right up into coves so close to the shoreline that the bait fish will literally jump out of the water and beach themselves on the shore lines to escape. I have also seen them just move along from shallow to deep in the bait fishes attempt to get away.
The key to fishing one of these "feeding frenzies" is to use a top water lure that closely resembles the species being fed upon since the Stripers are tuned in to keeping the smaller fish on the surface.
As you can see by the pictures, all this activity literally makes the surface of the water boil as the feeding takes place. I have chased boils in my kayak as well as caught them occurring near the shoreline. If you are fortunate enough to have one happen near a shore line and can actually snag one or two of the bait fish as they hit the shore line in their attempt to escape, hook it up through the lips and toss him right back in the boil. You will get bit and the fun is on.
Jay
treadhead1952
Las Vegas, NV
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[cool]They happen all over the lake. Sometimes they will drive the shad towards the shore but most times towards the surface. I was out yesterday south of 33 hole and saw one boil early am that was close to shore. Then saw a couple more around 11 am in open water. I couldn't reach them in time in the floattube.
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Sunday about 2pm in a cove across from echo bay we ran into a boil. we played with them for about 20 minutes as they moved toward the back and than just vanished.
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Whizzle maybe this should be a sticky too.
WW has some good info we could use....
[url "http://www.wayneswords.com/boil2.htm"][/url][url "http://www.wayneswords.com/boil2.htm[/url"]http://www.wayneswords.com/boil2.htm[/url[/url]]
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