07-24-2004, 09:11 AM
Hey guys,
It's been a long day and I'm beat, but I'm still excited about tonights fishing so I figured I'd wind down a quick fishing report on Lake Mead this afternoon.
I got to talking to reellittlephish after I posted my last report with all the motor problems and all and we ended up going out together on his boat after I got off work today for an afternoon of fishing. First and foremost I can truly say it was an honor to meet and fish with him, and his company alone made the trip worthwhile.
You'll have to forgive me on names here as I'm really not all that familiar with Mead, but we launched at the Marina that's closest to Lake Las Vegas, probably around 6. I'm not exactly sure as I wasn't wearing a watch. We worked a few areas with the idea of getting to the 33 hole. At first, not much was happening and inside I was feeling sorta like here we go again, Lake Mead's striper's are gonna skunk me again. After an hour or so Phish(for short) caught a little striper so things were looking up. I can't tell you the exact location but it was in the curve of a little island on the way to the 33 hole. Then lo and behold, I caught my first striper of the day on a gold castmater, then a second. Both were small, but with the luck I usually have on Mead I was pretty happy with the situation. Phis was walking a floating bait and small striper were slapping at it, but I don't think there was any fish of much size in that area at the time. Hey, no problem, I'm thinking, just catching fish with lures at mead in a working boat was great for me.
Phish suggested we head towards 33 hole to find better pickens... inside I"m thinking hey, I finally caught a fish on Mead and we're leaving, but his judgment had been sound and I quickly agreed. Besides with two fish under my belt, I was wanting to look for some bigger ones as well. I think at that spot I also hooked a striper that was so small, I think my castmaster was bigger than he was. He dropped off at the boat which was just as well as I didn't want to mess with him.
We ended up arriving at/around hole 33 with fading daylight and man we got there just in time... within' minutes fish were hitting on every side of the boat. Now I'm a rookie, and I'm not sure what we were in was classified a "boil", but it sure was nice seeing all those fish hitting the water around us. We both landed several small fish, I didn't count, but it wasn't that many, but enough and fun stuff. Quite a few were hitting the top close enough for me to get a fly to them and I had a 9wt already rigged so after landing a few fish on the spinning rig I decided to give it a shot. Withing minutes I had caught 2 stripers on my fly rod, which really gave me a rush as this was my first on the long rod. The popper I was using was sorta small and the fish were taking it too deep, so I decided to switch back to the spinning rig while the bite lasted. I'm not sure if I caught any more fish, or if I did it was just one as the bite suddenely tapered off.
Now it was gettting pretty dark, but we decided to hang out and fished several spots trying to get a night bite. I think I got one hit in several hours, but I'm not even sure of that, so after that "boil" fishing was pretty unproductive for both of us. We saw plenty of fish on the graph, but they just weren't interested in what we had to offer I suppose.
We gave it a good shot however, and with a bit of refinement I believe we'll be able to get a night bite as well. Phis had me back at my truck around midnight. We talked about the day a bit and then it was time to hit it... work comes early.
I'm not sure of numbers each of us caught, but I know I didn't go over 10 and Phish will have to tell you himself what he caught, as I didn't keep track, but I"m thinking it's about the same. The biggest I caught was just under keeping size and Phish caught one that had enough size to put on stringer had we been keeping them.
To some, this was probably not a good day, maybe even a terrible day, but I"m totally stoked. I learned a lot, I met a new friend, and I actually caught a couple of stripers on my fly rod. It's all I could've asked for. I also learned that I'm gonna have to really be careful about the days I bring my 12ft boat on the lake. Tonight had a bit of wind(not even that bad), and though I think I could've handled it, I wouldn't of wanted to be out there in it. It's just not a big enough boat except in really good weather and even then I don't think I'd want to get too far from the launch.
For a short post this has turned out to be rather lengthy, but I wanted to get everything down while it was fresh in my head. I've also got a million ideas swimming around my head, hoping to refine what I learned. Until today, I'd been skunked every time I fished for stripers on a boat at Mead with the exception of a trip years back on my float tube at Hemingway point. I've been able to catch them over the years bait fishing from shore, but that's really not my forte.
I've gone on long enough, but I do find it interesting that I was sorta stuck in "trout fishing mode", and fishing with Phish brought home the fact that this is a totally different ball game. In my mind I knew this, but there's nothing like a little on the lake experience with a knowledgable partner to drive it home. I now realize that I was making some fundamental mistakes my last few trips going alone and now that I've tasted success I think you'll find me fishing Mead much more often.
If you've read this far thanks, I just wanted to share a really good day with you guys.
Mark
[signature]
It's been a long day and I'm beat, but I'm still excited about tonights fishing so I figured I'd wind down a quick fishing report on Lake Mead this afternoon.
I got to talking to reellittlephish after I posted my last report with all the motor problems and all and we ended up going out together on his boat after I got off work today for an afternoon of fishing. First and foremost I can truly say it was an honor to meet and fish with him, and his company alone made the trip worthwhile.
You'll have to forgive me on names here as I'm really not all that familiar with Mead, but we launched at the Marina that's closest to Lake Las Vegas, probably around 6. I'm not exactly sure as I wasn't wearing a watch. We worked a few areas with the idea of getting to the 33 hole. At first, not much was happening and inside I was feeling sorta like here we go again, Lake Mead's striper's are gonna skunk me again. After an hour or so Phish(for short) caught a little striper so things were looking up. I can't tell you the exact location but it was in the curve of a little island on the way to the 33 hole. Then lo and behold, I caught my first striper of the day on a gold castmater, then a second. Both were small, but with the luck I usually have on Mead I was pretty happy with the situation. Phis was walking a floating bait and small striper were slapping at it, but I don't think there was any fish of much size in that area at the time. Hey, no problem, I'm thinking, just catching fish with lures at mead in a working boat was great for me.
Phish suggested we head towards 33 hole to find better pickens... inside I"m thinking hey, I finally caught a fish on Mead and we're leaving, but his judgment had been sound and I quickly agreed. Besides with two fish under my belt, I was wanting to look for some bigger ones as well. I think at that spot I also hooked a striper that was so small, I think my castmaster was bigger than he was. He dropped off at the boat which was just as well as I didn't want to mess with him.
We ended up arriving at/around hole 33 with fading daylight and man we got there just in time... within' minutes fish were hitting on every side of the boat. Now I'm a rookie, and I'm not sure what we were in was classified a "boil", but it sure was nice seeing all those fish hitting the water around us. We both landed several small fish, I didn't count, but it wasn't that many, but enough and fun stuff. Quite a few were hitting the top close enough for me to get a fly to them and I had a 9wt already rigged so after landing a few fish on the spinning rig I decided to give it a shot. Withing minutes I had caught 2 stripers on my fly rod, which really gave me a rush as this was my first on the long rod. The popper I was using was sorta small and the fish were taking it too deep, so I decided to switch back to the spinning rig while the bite lasted. I'm not sure if I caught any more fish, or if I did it was just one as the bite suddenely tapered off.
Now it was gettting pretty dark, but we decided to hang out and fished several spots trying to get a night bite. I think I got one hit in several hours, but I'm not even sure of that, so after that "boil" fishing was pretty unproductive for both of us. We saw plenty of fish on the graph, but they just weren't interested in what we had to offer I suppose.
We gave it a good shot however, and with a bit of refinement I believe we'll be able to get a night bite as well. Phis had me back at my truck around midnight. We talked about the day a bit and then it was time to hit it... work comes early.
I'm not sure of numbers each of us caught, but I know I didn't go over 10 and Phish will have to tell you himself what he caught, as I didn't keep track, but I"m thinking it's about the same. The biggest I caught was just under keeping size and Phish caught one that had enough size to put on stringer had we been keeping them.
To some, this was probably not a good day, maybe even a terrible day, but I"m totally stoked. I learned a lot, I met a new friend, and I actually caught a couple of stripers on my fly rod. It's all I could've asked for. I also learned that I'm gonna have to really be careful about the days I bring my 12ft boat on the lake. Tonight had a bit of wind(not even that bad), and though I think I could've handled it, I wouldn't of wanted to be out there in it. It's just not a big enough boat except in really good weather and even then I don't think I'd want to get too far from the launch.
For a short post this has turned out to be rather lengthy, but I wanted to get everything down while it was fresh in my head. I've also got a million ideas swimming around my head, hoping to refine what I learned. Until today, I'd been skunked every time I fished for stripers on a boat at Mead with the exception of a trip years back on my float tube at Hemingway point. I've been able to catch them over the years bait fishing from shore, but that's really not my forte.
I've gone on long enough, but I do find it interesting that I was sorta stuck in "trout fishing mode", and fishing with Phish brought home the fact that this is a totally different ball game. In my mind I knew this, but there's nothing like a little on the lake experience with a knowledgable partner to drive it home. I now realize that I was making some fundamental mistakes my last few trips going alone and now that I've tasted success I think you'll find me fishing Mead much more often.
If you've read this far thanks, I just wanted to share a really good day with you guys.
Mark
[signature]