Bad Weather Makes for Tough Fishing

Fishing Time:  March 9 to 10, 2016

Weather:  Cold and windy, T-60s

Moon Phase:  1 to 4 % Moon

Water Temp:  Morning - 59 deg, Afternoon - 63 deg

Location:  Colorado River, Arizona

Best Bait:  Super white KVD spinnerbait (3/8 oz)

Who Went:  Dunc

A storm front moved in this week and Monday through Wednesday was pretty cold and windy.  I didn’t even attempt to fish on Monday or Tuesday.  Wednesday the lake felt different.  The water temps were back down to the low 60s and not many fish were hanging in the shallows.  I found this bat hunkered down on my hallway attached to the stucko.  He too didn't seem to like the colder temps.  

I started the evening throwing a white/pearl Zoom Fluke (Texas-rigged), and then turned to the wacky rigged white/blue pearl Gamakatsu Senko.  Neither of which scored me any fish.  Just before dusk I began throwing a white spinnerbait and within a few casts I had my first bass of the night and the best bass of my trip.  It weighed in at 4 lbs 10 oz.  Finally a decent bass!

Only a few casts later I landed another nice chunky 3 pound bass.  The spinnerbait was on fire, but unfortunately it got dark soon after and the bite shutoff.

Thursday evening I went straight to the spinnerbait and fished it all night.  I landed one small bass right at dark next to my dock, but that was it.  Weird how one night can be so different from the next.

I didn’t get to fish Friday through Sunday because I met my wife in San Diego.  I guess I can take one weekend off to hang with the wifeJ

Plenty of Bass this Week

Fishing Time:  February 29 to March 6, 2016

Weather:  Sunny and clear, T-90s

Moon Phase:  62 to 8% Moon

Water Temp:  Morning - 65, Afternoon - 70 deg

Location:  Colorado River, Arizona

Best Bait:  Wacky rigged white w/blue pearl senko on a 3/0 (1/8 oz wt) gamakatsu weedless hook

Who Went:  Dunc

The family is gone and it’s time to get serious about fishing again.  The bass are on beds, but they are extremely finicky.  Probably due to the amount of pressure they see every day.  I caught plenty of bass this week fishing evenings after work, but size is still a problem.  I’m at least sprinkling in a few 3 pounders here and there, but most are still 1-2 pounds.

I did find a bait that seems to drive the bed fish nuts.  Not having much success with my typical Texas rigged senko, I started trying an assortment of plastics and different types of rigs trying to get the bed fish to bite.  I found one in particular that has worked wonders.  It’s still using a senko, but I’ve switched to white pearl and started rigging it wacky.  I can’t believe how many more bed fish I’m catching with this set up.

One evening I walked down to my dock and saw a little male on a bed.  Out of nowhere from deeper water came an inquiring female and WOW!  She must have been 7-8 pounds.  I took some film, but unfortunately with the glare on the water you can’t see much.  I threw everything I had at her and even had her nose down on a roboworm on a drop shot rig.  My heart was pounding in anticipation, but she soon turned and swam away into deeper water never to be seen again.  Dang it, that was my chance!

On Saturday I went on an adventure to Martinez Lake.  I found a bunch of coves with beds everywhere and it turned into a lot of fun.  I must have landed 20 bass, but again nothing over 2 pounds.  Either way it was a blast.  All caught on my new wacky rig.

I explored more of Martinez Lake and found another bruiser in the shallows.  This one was probably in the 6 pound range and just like the 8 pounder wouldn’t touch a thing.  I must have toyed with her for an hour before giving up.  She just wasn’t interested in anything.  It’s frustrating.

Family Fun in the Arizona Sun

Fishing Time:  February 25 to 28, 2016

Weather:  Sunny and clear, T-90s

Moon Phase:  92 to 71% Moon

Water Temp:  Morning - 65, Afternoon - 70 deg

Location:  Colorado River, Arizona

Best Bait:  Texas rigged white pearl senko (8 oz wt)

Who Went:  Devin, Addison, Dayton, Dunc

The family is here and it’s not quiet around anymore!  The kids love the lake house and especially the dock.  Surprisingly the dock is more exciting to fish from than the boat.  I can’t blame them since there are bass on beds all over near the dock.  The photo above is Dayton trying to entice a male bass guarding a bed two feet from shore.  Unfortunately with all the commotion the bass on beds were not biting.  Try explaining to a 4, 5, and 6 year old that you need to be quiet and sneak up on them.  Yeah right. 

One day we went down to the bait shop to get some live bait.  I figured this might be there best chance at catching a fish.  Well… the live bait instantly became our pets and not many ever made it on a hook. 

Devin did finally land a bass fishing from the back of the boat.  It makes my day watching the kids reel in fish. 

About an hour later we were out on the boat and Dev had a snag (we had a lot of those), and I had just barely casted a senko into shallow water.  I gave the rod to Dayton (4 years old) and told him to reel it in really slow while daddy fixed Devin’s snag.  I got the snag out and turned around to find Dayton reeling in a fish!  Awesome!  

He got it all the way to the boat, but unfortunately it popped off right before I could grab it.  This was our last fish of the trip.  The kids had a blast, but keeping their attention to fish was near impossible. 

One night we ran up river a few miles, turned the motor off, and floated all the way back home during sunset.  I fished the whole way down river, but no fish were found in the cold river water.  Floating in silence and hanging with the family was really fun.  It was a great time having my family visit me at the Arizona lake house.

Bass Spawn Overnight...

Fishing Time:  February 15 to 18, 2016

Weather:  Sunny and clear, T-80s

Moon Phase:  50 to 84% Moon

Water Temp:  Morning - 62, Afternoon - 68

Location:  Colorado River, Arizona

Best Bait:  Texas rigged green pumpkin senko (8 oz wt)

Who Went:  Dunc

First let me start by saying that this week was unusually slow fishing, but the few I landed were a bit larger in the 3 pound range.  This made the slow fishing bearable. 

Then one day towards the end of the week it happened.  I came home from work and decided to stop in at the store at the marina and ran into a couple bass fishermen sitting in their boat drinking a beer after a long day of fishing.  I casually asked them if they left any fish in the lake for me and they told me they only landed one bass all day, but they were everywhere in the shallows on beds.  What?!  On beds?!  I haven’t seen a fish in the shallows since being here.  How could this be?  I asked them where they were fishing and sure enough it was the same area I fish.  I talked to them for a bit then drove home in complete confusion.  Once home I ran down to the dock and I couldn’t believe it.  Just as I hit the dock at least 5 bass swam from the shallows into deeper water.  I looked down and there was a bass bed built right in front of my boat.  A few seconds later the bass came back to guard his bed.  The spawn literally triggered overnight!  Crazy! 

Unfortunately I had to leave the next day for home.  It’s my daughter’s birthday.  Can’t miss that!  I’m still amazed that one day no bass were to be found and the next day they are swarming all over in the shallows.  Next weekend my family will be down here to spend the weekend with me, so hopefully I can get the kids into a few fish.

It's Starting to Heat up in Arizona

Fishing Time:  February 8 to 14, 2016

Weather:  Sunny, clear, breezy to windy, T-80s

Moon Phase:  0 to 43% Moon

Water Temp:  Morning - 58, Afternoon - 61

Location:  Colorado River, Arizona

Best Bait:  Texas rigged green pumpkin senko (8 oz wt)

Who Went:  Dunc

I'm not much for selfies, but I was getting a little bored with holding the same 2 pound bass out for a photo, so, I tried to switch it up a bit.  I took more GoPro video than photos this week and I'm hoping to make a video of my time down here.

This was my most successful week since I've been here, but still nothing over 2 pounds.  The water is warming into the low 60s by the end of the day, but it has been windy.  I think if the winds die down the water will warm even more and the bass should start to flock to the shallows.  This weekend air temps were reaching 90 degrees.  From what I'm hearing the bass usually spawn in the middle of March.  For now I'm still catching most my bass in deeper water. Anywhere there is grass or sunken trees in 6 to 10 feet of water.

I've tried a few other baits, but for some reason the only thing that continues to get action is the Texas-rigged senko.  Bites usually come as soon as I bounce through an underwater tree or run through some deep grass.  If there's no grass or cover then there is usually no fish.  Some of the background scenery while fishing here is pretty amazing...

Another Week in Paradise

Fishing Time:  Sporadic from Feb 1 to 7.  

Weather:  Breezy to windy every day, T-70s

Moon Phase: 1 to 45% Moon

Location:  Colorado River - Yuma, Arizona

Water Temp:  54 to 56 degrees

Best Bait:  Texas rigged senko - green pumpkin (1/8 oz weight)

Who Went:  Dunc

Another week and the fishing still seems a bit slow on the Colorado River.  I seem to catch 1 or 2 on each trip, but just can’t seem to find any real numbers.  The fish are all clones in the 2 pound range, but fight like there 5 pounders.  Every time I hook up I think I’ve finally landed the big one.  These river fish have some fight in them!  The photos get a bit boring when you’re by yourself every trip. But here is the weeks catch…

Still haven’t seen any fish in the shallows and all my success has come from the deep end of the docks working the bottom with a Texas-rigged senko.  I've tried using a spinnerbait on windy days, but still no bites.  You would think with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s that the fish would be in the shallows by now, but the Colorado River water stays pretty cold.  The forecast for next week is mid to high 80s all week, so that might get the water temp up a bit, and hopefully the fish respond.  I leave you with another sunset from the water...

Ocean Front Property in Arizona

Fishing Time:  9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Weather:  Sunny, clear, calm until 11:00 then breezy, T-75

Moon Phase:  50% Moon

Water Temp:  58 degrees

Location:  Colorado River - Yuma, Arizona

Best Bait:  Texas rigged senko (green pumkin) 8 oz bullet wt

Who Went:  Dunc

If you think it’s been a long time since my last fishing trip… well that’s because it has been.  Work has kept me extremely busy from late summer through the end of 2015 working 13 to 14 hour days.  Weekends haven’t been much better.  On top of that I was relocated to Yuma, Arizona at the first of the year for a 3 month job (January to April).  Unfortunately this hasn’t left much time for fishing.

 

Okay now here‘s the good part.  I found a house for rent in Yuma that sits right on the Colorado River near Lake Martinez (Fisher’s Landing).  I have my own private boat dock and sit on one of the best fishing lakes on the river (Fence Lake).   

(My house is the middle brown one, boat dock bottom right)

(Boat at private dock)

Work is still keeping me busy during the week and a nasty cold the last couple weekends has kept me staying indoors, but I finally got the boat out for a few hours this morning and let me tell you… walking out your back door to your private boat dock, untying and instantly fishing is heaven on earth.  That said, it’s January and even though the air temps are reaching the 70s every day, the lakes are still cold and the fishing seems a bit slow.  There's been a bass tournament every Saturday since I’ve been here and dozens of boats have passed through the cove where I live and I have yet to see anyone boat a bass.  The only fishing I’ve done so far was a couple weeks ago when I launched and drove my boat to my dock.  Supposedly the hot bait right now is crankbaits, which I hate, but I tried an assortment of colors with no luck.  Once again the crankbait failed me. 

Today was a new day and I decided to fish with baits I have confidence in.  I started with a Texas-rigged senko in green pumpkin.  Shortly after leaving my dock I had my first bite.  I swung and missed only to reel in a have bitten off senko.  Rigged up again and continued to run the shoreline which is full of underwater cover and boat docks.  The underwater cover looks amazing, but all my action came from the boat docks in slightly deeper water.  I think the bass are still a bit deep right now.  I’ve yet to see one swimming near the shoreline.  I landed a couple chunky bass in the pound and a half range before the wind came up.  I switched to a spinnerbait, but wasn’t able to put anymore bass in the boat.  It should only get better as the weather warms.

I will probably start giving weekly updates  on the fishing since I sporadically get an hour here and there to sneak a little fishing in.  I leave you with the sunset from my back patio.  The sunsets are absolutely amazing down here...

Full Moon Failure

Fishing Time:  8:30 pm to 1:00 am
Weather:  Breezy until sundown then calm, T-70s
Moon Phase:  98% Moon
Location:  Deer Creek Reservoir
Water Temp:  69 degrees
Best Bait:  Walleye- none, smallmouth- curly tail grub, deep diving crankbait
Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

The full moon fishing failures continue to mount.  We tried our hand again at fishing under the light of a full moon at Deer Creek in hopes of running our lures into the mouths of a few walleye.  Unfortunately, yet expectantly, we failed miserably.  We trolled, casted, and drifted jigs all over the reservoir and not one walleye was landed.  We washed every lure in our tackle box and fished until 1:00 AM before conceding to failure.  Luckily we did have a few “fish on” moments to keep our spirits up, and while catching smallmouth is fun, it was walleye we were after.

I just can’t seem to make it work with these fish called walleye, as I continually chase them with very limited success.  But, I will continue to push onward trying new things and hoping at some point to figure it out.