Just got my new license today, and since it's been about two months since I've gotten out to the lake I'm getting antsy.
Anyway, I've never been very successful at catching lmb, and I've never caught a smallie. I want that to change in 2012, and I was hoping some of you might have some tips on catching these guys from shore in the Las Vegas Wash area (I generally park at the 33 hole overlook). Preferred lures, techniques, cover to look for, I'm open to any suggestions.
Thanks in advance
Aidan
[signature]
Find an area with submerged salt cedar, in the back of one of those coves at 33, and toss anything topwater right over the salt cedar once it warms up a little. You might have to crank it in fast one day, but the next extremely slow. Just change it up until you find whats hitting that day. Find a threadfin shad looking lure and your in the money. Good luck.
[signature]
Quote:Find a threadfin shad looking lure and your in the money.
Does anyone have a picture of what a threadfin shad lure they like using in Southern Nevada?
I know slight variances in colors and patterns can make a big difference. For example, on Lake Shasta in Northern California the Rapala Fat Rap is the best lure to use for bass. But only the ones with a white bottom and black back. Get a gold bottom and your hit percentage drops substantially.
Thanks!
[signature]
I find that the 1/2 oz silver/black back Rat-L-Traps work great. Walmart (Centennial Pkwy) have the Cotton Cordell 1/2 oz Super Spot red tagged at $2.50 ea. These work as well and are cheap enough to stock up. I also go with the 1/4 oz, they were cheap enough
[signature]
I know folks talk a lot about color preferences. And surely running depth, wobble factors, rattle or hum - lots of variations.
But I'd seen these "cheapo" lures at Wally World - and have tried a few. Landed a nice smallie on a Cordell fat-body crank, so I'm a believer they can work.
Grabbed a set of poppers, and cranks in one of those off-brands, so I get a whole color set for the price of maybe one or two high-end cranks. I know everytime I break of a $5-$10 lure - a little part of me dies inside! (and then my skin turns green, and my clothes start shredding - you get the picture)
I hear of taking off the front hook, and bending in the back hook to help avoid snags, and allow you to "tick off" the bottom, or debris. I just seem to spend more time fouling fresh water by moving in to retrieve a snag!
How do you guys do it with cranks?
[cool]I've used silver,gray, and white rattletraps and have success with all of them. I believe anything with white and maybe a lttle gray will do just fine. Once you get it close to a fish he will bounce on it.
Don't be afraid of trying other colors. Light blue and chartruese are also good. Also when going deeper you may have to change it up a bit.Experimentation is a good thing.Good luck.
[signature]
Some great Mead lures:
A spook
[inline heddon-super-spook-duo.jpg]
A popper
[inline lobina-rico.jpg]
A shallow diving squarebill
[inline gizzardshad.jpg]
A Lipless crank
[inline 411755_M1.jpg]
A Deep diver
[inline shad]
That should get you through to the winter. Drop shot a finesse worm when things get tough.
[signature]
A spook
A popper
A shallow diving squarebill
A Lipless crank
A Deep diver
Have you been looking in my tackle box?
BaySport
[signature]
"Have you been looking in my tackle box?"
I am guilty....
I wanted to know how you consistently put together a solid stringer, and I just knew it wasn't ALWAYS live shad! I had to go snooping in your boat late one night. I followed the blood and scale trail right to your front door.
I took those pictures on Baysport's front deck at 2am!
[signature]
Take a 3 to 5 silver/black shad rap and solder a bit of lead on the shaft of the center hook so it almost, but doesn't quite suspend when jerked. Up-size the hooks from a #6 or #8 to a #4 front and aft. Good here in the early spring and you can run it shallow with 10lb test.
[signature]
Whizzle, just wanted to bring this post from the dead. Of the lures you posted, are those straight from your tackle box, or we're you just posting types? Overall, i am trying to figure out good colors or patterns for this time of year.
Thanks.
[signature]
Those pics were pulled from the internet, but I own at least one of each of those plugs in similar colors.
I posted those pics cause the color selection and style of bait are both proven for Mead.
You want those colors as your base.
[signature]
Gentlemen...
I'm here to catch Bass and chew bubble gum... and I'm all outta gum.[cool]
[#000000][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/community/community.cgi?do=user_page;pg=user_profile_view.html;username=reellittlephish"]reellittlephish[/url][/#000000] gave me a tip about Kingman Wash and I'm going loaded for bear... or I guess it would be loaded for Bass in this case.
I'll be out there early tomorrow morning fishing the sun up.
[signature]
Looks good man... If you put a chigger craw on one of those tour grade football jig heads and drag it along bottom, you should connect with something. Make sure to separate the appendages of the craw before fishing with it.
If you aren't getting bit, just keep throwing it. Have confidence!
[signature]
I'm already back and didn't catch a thing. I left after the boats, jetards, and divers showed up, all in the cove. As soon as the sun hit the water my fishing trip turned into a water circus.
[signature]
Timing is everything. You gotta know Saturday morning is testosterone time followed by beer and then things get out of hand. Where is the ranger when you need one? Places like Kingman get party action because they are accessible; the water tends to be flat and protected....the action however is just not as bad as Las Vegas Wash.
Nevertheless, if you can endure the noise, tow wakes and the Jet-tards there are still good opportunities to catch bass. I've noticed before a mudline or current against a rocky shoreline created by the boats can actually turn the bite on. Perhaps in high traffic areas the bass and stripers have adapted to the wave disturbance and use it to feed off the disoriented baitfish and crawdads. I'll cast right as the wake is hitting the shoreline. For some reason ...perhaps because a long cast from shore is over 80 ft deep...this place fishes different from Las Vegas Wash, Callville Bay or Crawdad Cove area.
The local tournament boys call this place "The Pig Pen"; there's a reason for that. [
]
I saw your "rack" of lures. All good. I'd go with about 10 bullet weights (5/32oz and 3/16 oz.) and hook set ups for worm fishing and figure to lose half of them. Maybe 2 crank baits, That sexy shad is good, Your Spook for later and rig the senkos with a 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG braid weight hook...no additional weight right now.
It's a bluegill and shad bite with some red/black craws in the mix, though I think purple/brown is also good. 10 drop shot weights in 1/4 oz and #2 or #4 drop shot hooks. Some Roboworms or equivalent. Aaron Martens had a good article on Mead worm colors..You might try searching on the internet. He won the US Open here 3 times so he must know something.
If you hiked out south from the parking area to the first point and then around the second cove to its main lake point (which is a good place...there is a shallow flat there and a deep drop into 80+ ft just beyond) ...you had about 300 yards of good territory to fish. The shore drops off steeply enough there the wakes are not such a big issue. With lowering water levels the quagga mussels are again becoming something to consider; the edges of their shells are razor sharp.
It was Gary Dobyns ( he won the US Open here in past years) who clued me to Mead; fish bite if you get the lure in front of them. If you don't get bit almost immediately then move on. Friday 6/1/2012 I was dead sticking a Senko (bluegill colors) and got bit twice while picking out an over run. I had 2 follows....I think because they are beginning to chase. The rest of the time I got bit within seconds of the lure touching down...not counting sink time, though sometimes they would hit it as it was sinking. I am transitioning from a dead-sticking or lift and drop technique to fishing a 5" grub or something with a bit more vibration as the water warms.
What The Whizzle said about a football head and craw bait I second.. That shore is good jig territory. Also a good place to use a glass bead and a bullet sinker with a worm to mimic the click sound of a crayfish. Check out the technique called "Doodle Sliding" if you don't know it.
I'm using liberal amounts of Megastrike on the plastic; I seldom get a rejection or a dropped bait...in fact I have pulled them a long way without the hook being stuck in them; they don't want to let go. You might consider a hollow body 4" shad swimbait...Lube this also and it will come through the cover better. Lately, a number of smallmouth bass have regurgitated small shad as they are coming to the boat.
If I were shore fishing in Kingman, I'd go Saturday afternoon, take a head light and plan to stay late. Preferably I'd go Sunday when everyone is either hung over or in church, with
Sunday afternoon being a prime time. Once the shoreline shades and you get low light I'd consider throwing a smaller Vixen in shad color or a Lucky Craft Gunfish or 100 Pointer ( they are expensive however).
You can even catch fish listening to club mixes, trance, rap and classic rock and roll. [
]
[signature]
Thank You very much for the help. I'm almost certain now my issue is I wasn't fishing deep enough. I've included a picture of the area I was in showing my path of travel. The red x's are where I tried fishing from and the blue line in the water is where I was casting. I also think I may be reeling in my lures too fast. I was on the cliff at the second point looking into the big drop off but I only casted there about 5 times as there was still a group of guys there striper fishing from the night before. After I moved down the shore a couple guys came over the hill on the back side of the cove from the parking area. They said they fish in the tournaments and usually catch bass there. They spent about an hour working all the way around the cove only to catch one small mouth and then left. I was only there about about 15 mins after they left when the boat traffic rolled in.
I was also under the impression that bass liked shallow cover and thought they would be closer to trees and that the drop off would be too deep for them after about 15 feet. I tried the football jig with a 10" Powerbait worm off the cliff but I was fishing it more like a swim bait than anything. After I worked my way down the shore with it I switched it up to the 2.5 Sexy Ghost Minnow shallow diver. I was considering switching up again after the guys left but I decided to go myself as stated previously.
I'm confident I can catch fish. I have the gear, the location, and thanks to you guys; some know how. I just need to get my techniques down. I can't help but feeling like there's something wrong with my presentation that's causing a big part of my issue, but then again; I watch so many fishing how to's online it's ridiculous. And I run my set up to the letter in most cases.
I will say I ended the no Bass streak last week at 33 hole. It wasn't a keeper by any means but I managed to catch an 8" smallie on a 1.5 Sexy Ghost minnow... took all three points of the rear treble. So I can officially say I've caught a bass, now I just need one worth catching.
Also, I haven't tried using Megastrike yet, but I do spray all my baits down with BANG Combo Shad/Craw before I pitch it to get my smell off of it.
[signature]
Don't get discouraged man. Mead is a hard lake to fish, and even when you do everything right, you can still get skunked.
What reellittlephish said is golden information.
My biggest issue learning to fish Mead was all about learning to fish EFFECTIVELY. If you aren't in the fish strike zone, you will most likely come up empty handed.
Get your baits to the bottom (if you're using plastics or what-not) and work em slow. Keep a tight line too, so you can feel subtle strikes. Always stay in contact with your lure.
[signature]
I will continue to try but maybe a little more clarification would be helpful.
I've been told to work it slow before, but how slow? Should the bait be: almost stationary most of the time, slow but steady retrieve - constantly cranking, or just slower than a burn retrieve? I know bass are ambush predators and I know motion makes them strike. I don't want to be going too slow to interest them or too fast to know what the hell just whizzed by them.
As far as depth, using Kingman Wash as an example... There are some shallow rocks near shore that very quickly drop off into the abyss. Is my target depth 20', 35', rock bottom, or somewhere in between? I know you said bottom but the bottom in that area is a steep rock grade so the depth changes depending on how far out you cast.
Also I have football head hooks (the ones pictured previously) and I have also acquired a couple football head hooks with worm rattles in them parallel to the shank and plastic weed guards. Does the sound make much difference?
What about other fish in the area. I know stripers are more aggressive than the green bass. If people are catching large quantities of striper does that mean the other species could have been run off?
I'll admit I could be missing subtle strikes as well because other than that smallie I got last week, I'm not accustom to fishing with a moving lure just yet and I'm not sure how to tell a strike from just bouncing off the bottom. When that smallie hit I saw him come up from the bottom to the lure so I slowed it down long enough for him to grab it. I never felt a hit, I just eyeballed it.
[signature]
Also, reellittlephish, where in town do you buy Megastrike? or do I have to order it online?
[signature]