01-01-2003, 12:59 PM
[cool] Got some bad news and some really bad news for you, Eric. Horeeshoe Reservoir, and the washout pool below the dam, have been favorite spots of mine for years. As you remember, lots of nice crappies and some good cats too. Even caught a few decent bass below the dam. Today, the lake is dry. It hasn't had any water in it for over three years. That means that the pool below it is often just a semi stagnant puddle with only a few carp and an occasional catfish with wanderlust that has fought it's way up from Bartlett during a rare runoff after a rare rain.
The last good rain year we had was 1997. Horseshoe was full in 1998 and the crappies and other species were plentiful and fat. I loved it for float tube fishing because of the restrictions on boat sizes and no personal water craft allowed. I was often the only angler on the lake.
Everything has gone downhill since then. As the drought settled in, the lake kept dropping. I believe it was February of 99 that the remaining pool in the main lake got so low that the fish were in danger of dying from overcrowding and lack of food and oxygen. Officials opened the valves and flushed the lake into the basin below.
The word quickly got out and for several weeks the basin was a madhouse of harvesting fishermen...catching and keeping everything they could catch. At first there were lots of big crappies, bass and catfish...and millions of carp. It quickly degenerated to handsized crappies, six inch bass and tiddler channel cats. Since then, carp fishermen have been about the only ones to find any action.
What is almost as bad is the Arizona Fiah & Game's decision to manage the lake for "native species" when normal water conditions return. That means that there will only be humpback suckers and Colorado pikeminnows ...neither of which can be fished for...and not much of an angling prize anyway. No more bass, crappie or catfish for serious anglers. In a state where there are few waters where float tubers can find refuge from the "power squadrons", that is a tragedy.
Almost as nutty as their plan to remove trout from the Colorado River, and grind them up for fertilizer for the Hualapai Indians' gardens. But, that is another issue. Sorry about that.
The crappie fishing at Lake Pleasant has also gone down the toilet since they raised the dam. Each year they pump in Colorado River water through the winter months to fill the lake, and then drain it out to irrigate our worthless cotton crops through the summer. Not only has this resulted in a complete denuding of all the trees and structure for crappies, but the lake drops five or six feet a week during spawning time for bass and bluegill too. Another of my formerly favorite lakes is a shadow of it's former glory.
The good news is that Alamo Lake...currently at 7% of capacity (due to the drought)...has emerged as a good crappie lake and doesn't get too much pressure, since it is about three hours from Phoenix. More good news, for you, is that it is between Phoenix and California, ao it is relatively closer.
What part of California do you live in Eric? There are quite a few good crappie waters in that state. I know because I probably lived in almost every major population area of California, from San Diego to Sacramento for over twenty years. If you do some aggressive research, you can probably find something closer to home. But, if you just like fishing in the Grand Canyon State, stay in touch and I can probably keep you up to date before any trip you plan to make.
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The last good rain year we had was 1997. Horseshoe was full in 1998 and the crappies and other species were plentiful and fat. I loved it for float tube fishing because of the restrictions on boat sizes and no personal water craft allowed. I was often the only angler on the lake.
Everything has gone downhill since then. As the drought settled in, the lake kept dropping. I believe it was February of 99 that the remaining pool in the main lake got so low that the fish were in danger of dying from overcrowding and lack of food and oxygen. Officials opened the valves and flushed the lake into the basin below.
The word quickly got out and for several weeks the basin was a madhouse of harvesting fishermen...catching and keeping everything they could catch. At first there were lots of big crappies, bass and catfish...and millions of carp. It quickly degenerated to handsized crappies, six inch bass and tiddler channel cats. Since then, carp fishermen have been about the only ones to find any action.
What is almost as bad is the Arizona Fiah & Game's decision to manage the lake for "native species" when normal water conditions return. That means that there will only be humpback suckers and Colorado pikeminnows ...neither of which can be fished for...and not much of an angling prize anyway. No more bass, crappie or catfish for serious anglers. In a state where there are few waters where float tubers can find refuge from the "power squadrons", that is a tragedy.
Almost as nutty as their plan to remove trout from the Colorado River, and grind them up for fertilizer for the Hualapai Indians' gardens. But, that is another issue. Sorry about that.
The crappie fishing at Lake Pleasant has also gone down the toilet since they raised the dam. Each year they pump in Colorado River water through the winter months to fill the lake, and then drain it out to irrigate our worthless cotton crops through the summer. Not only has this resulted in a complete denuding of all the trees and structure for crappies, but the lake drops five or six feet a week during spawning time for bass and bluegill too. Another of my formerly favorite lakes is a shadow of it's former glory.
The good news is that Alamo Lake...currently at 7% of capacity (due to the drought)...has emerged as a good crappie lake and doesn't get too much pressure, since it is about three hours from Phoenix. More good news, for you, is that it is between Phoenix and California, ao it is relatively closer.
What part of California do you live in Eric? There are quite a few good crappie waters in that state. I know because I probably lived in almost every major population area of California, from San Diego to Sacramento for over twenty years. If you do some aggressive research, you can probably find something closer to home. But, if you just like fishing in the Grand Canyon State, stay in touch and I can probably keep you up to date before any trip you plan to make.
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