By
Water Temp: 53-66 F 
The main event is right around the corner. Large
and smallmouth bass will begin spawning with the next warming trend. The long
range weather forecast is for sunny and warm by the weekend (April 14-15). My
best guess for spawning then is April 17-20. Did I mention that this is the
best year in recent memory for big bass? You may want to mark down these dates
in RED on the calendar. Fishing is going to be even better than it is now.
While waiting for the bass spawn, the prespawn pattern is not bad. Warming
draws all fish to the shallow edge of the channel where sunlight is warming the
sand and rock. ALL FISH are using the same warm water spot. There will be a
mixed bag of bass, stripers, crappie and walleye all sharing the warmth. Find a
sunny exposure with shallow water next to a deep travel route. There must be a
few tumbleweeds, tamarisk or aquatic weeds to provide the comforting shelter
fish crave. Find a brushy warm spot and the fishing is beyond belief.
Daniel Wray with his personal best largemouth
caught from shore near Bullfrog main ramp.
Stripers are still numerous and very hungry. Cast to weeds/brush with jerk
baits, spinner baits, tubes, grubs or weightless senkos. Cover lots of ground
because fish are bunched in small isolated areas. Fishing sandy points in
mostly slick rock canyons is very productive Locate striper schools to find the
other species. Catching one fish will likely lead to grappling with many more
willing fish. Sort through stripers on almost every cast to
find an occasional big bass, walleye, or crappie.
The other option is to fish bait in the channels of main canyons for stripers.
Anchovy fishing is good lakewide with the many stripers that still remain. They
were not all caught last year and most survived the winter. Expect spring
fishing to be almost as good as 2006. Stripers have been regularly caught at
the dam,
Near Bullfrog, try
Next week will be as good as it gets in the spring, if the weather warms as
forecast. I hope you can make it.
Ron Colby gave
87 stripers a ride home from Rock Creek