Fishing 02-27-2016

[wolfs4evr]

Could not of asked for a better/nicer day! At sunrise it was in the upper 50s or so (forgot to look) and we were in shorts in no time thereafter. Water surface temp was 55 at the ramp and in the back of some secluded coves it hit 60 by the late afternoon hours. Boat traffic was very minimal. I don't think a boat came within a mile of us all day and we never saw another fisherman.

Soooo nice!





We started off trolling for some Stripers for something to do while waiting for the water temps to warm up some. Even broke out the planer boards for the heck of it since boat traffic was minimal. We ended up keeping 6 standard sized Mead Stripers for dinner/brunch.

Then off to hopefully find our first 2016 LMB. A whole lotta nothing for a long time. The first nibble was off a point with a 3/4oz slither rig. Felt him on for a good distance and finally let 'em have it. Felt good for a dozen cranks and then that was it. Odd... Hook tip never even penetrated the weedless rigged trailer I had on that set-up. Disappointing.

Finally in one small cove we found success. My first 2016 LMB and on a swimbait to boot. Something I almost never throw and something I have never had success on before. Followed by 3 more in the same small cove on that same swimbait. They were just crushing it. Soooo fun. Hardly even moved the boat. I just let the boat slowly drift against one of the shore lines and let the TM shaft/motor act like a anchor to keep us in one spot so we didn't spook anything as we worked that area over super hard. The only other bait to catch one in that cove was a Hula Grub Madi had on a spinning rod.







[url "https://youtu.be/Pc4dAYA70AM"]https://youtu.be/Pc4dAYA70AM[/url]



Eventually it ran dry on us. We hit a couple more coves in that area and only one other on a Strike King series 5 diving crank as we worked our way to the back.



All the fish were so clean. So haven't been molested in maaaaany months. All fat to boot. No marks on them at all. So just moved up from the depths.

Didn't catch this one but worthy of a picture to me. I have never caught one before nor even touched one. A Crappie. I've heard they are in there and now I have proof. This was a floater. Veeeery recent one to boot. I almost kept it. Couldn't of been dead for more than a hour or two. A couple serious slices on its back by the dorsal fin. Best guess a Eagle or something along that line tried to snatch it up out of the lake and dropped it.

Good sized one too.



Striper leftovers []



Tom
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[striperdude]

Nice post Tom...I have only caught one Crappie in Lake Mead and it was 30 years ago in the Kingman wash area.
So did you try and net any shad and are they still around ? How about your trolling success. Were you trolling from Boulder Harbor to Vegas wash or somewhere else.Hoping to get out next week and trolling sounds like a nice option if the shad are still difficult to net.

Thanks
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[wolfs4evr]

Shad wasn't on the list of things to do. Didn't even have the net or baitwell in the boat.

Trolled the same stuff you do for Stripers waiting on the sun to do it's thing and warm the lake up some in hope of finding some bucket mouths. Plenty of Stripers in the freezer so no need to be stocking. Figured I'd just grab a couple since I was there for a fresh dinner when we got home plus some spares for brunch the next day.

I caught a couple in your favorite cove, a couple a mile or so north of it and a couple just south of it.

Tom
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[iamthesmf]

Great report.

A Striper Club member got 2 crappies up at Echo on Valentines day weekend.
The bait is starting to show up again.

Thinking we had a big die off of the Gizzard due to a cold snap.

If you get the bigger shad over 18 inches, cut them into french fry pieces.
The still smell and taste good to the Striper. (or so the fish tell me anyways )
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[Gvec]

Wolf,

Nice job and thanks for the report. Definitely looks beautiful out! I am happy to hear there are crappie in the lake. Although it will probably be some time until they are plentiful.

When trolling for the stripers, what were you using? Has anyone used AC Plugs in the main lake before? They absolutely kill it at Willow with the AC's. AC just came out with a Gizzard Shad color that sounds like it would do well.

[fishon]
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[lvfishingdude]

The crappie are more up on the North End of the lake. If you can find the right place you can catch them like blue gill.
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[wolfs4evr]

I have never tried anything the size of most AC plugs on Mead. If/when I do troll for Stripers it is some form of a minnow like bait. Rapala Rap, Lucky Craft Pointers, Strike King Jerkabits, etc. Or just whatever is on my rods for LMB/SMB fishing like Strike King series 3-10 crankbaits, etc.

Tom
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[iamthesmf]

Trying to upload from my smartphone.
The crappie caught from up north was about 12 inches.
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[TheChief]

You and Madi inspired me to get out there now,as opposed to waiting another couple of weeks.On Friday afternoon the water was posted at 1084 ft. and 60 degrees.It was pretty calm from the bank around #33 hole and I got one on a swimbait (the earliest I've gotten one).
Do the carp spawn on beds near shore like the bass do? Also,do the smallmouth bass spawn earlier,same as,or later than the largemouths? I've only caught a few dink SMB out of Mead and would like to do better this season
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[wolfs4evr]

No idea'r about Carp other than they are annoying...

LMB and SMB both spawn at about the same water temps. 60 being the standard "magical" temp for it to start. But... SMB bed waaaay shallower than LMB thus 60 to them is earlier than 60 to a LMB. At least what I have noticed on Mead. SMB bed in 1-4 feet of water or so. LMB are in the 5-10 foot range. It is colder deeper so it would appear LMB spawn a pinch later.

The bottom of Lake Mead is always 55 degrees (what I have read) year round. It makes sense that any water warmer than 55 would start them moving. All the Bass I caught last weekend were clean. Not a mark on them. So not spawning but pre-spawning. Ie; feeding up in prep of the spawn.

SMB activity, to me, has gone down considerably over the last several years. (The last great drop off Mead water levels.)

Tom
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[TheChief]

Thanks for the info Tom,guess I'll just focus on the LMB as it's still pretty new to me.Those carp are annoying !
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