04-28-2003, 11:23 AM
[cool]Three replies in one...what fun!
AARON: You're welcome. I hope you make good use of the goodies and maybe learn some new techniques. Feel free to ask if you need clarification.
MR BEAR: Glad you liked the sunrise. I love sunrises and sunsets. In Arizona we get a lot of dandies, and people who get up late miss a lot of beauty. I have shot a lot of slides over the years and I put on desert slide shows for the winter visitors down here (snow birds). The last reel is all just run to music, no narration, and has lightning shots, cloud pictures, rainbows and sunsets. Some of the more spectacular are "Shock and Awe". And yes, the yellow bass are tasty. They are like small wipers on steroids. They fight well and give up nice little fillets...perfect for cooking almost any old way you prefer them.
JR: There you go again. So much practical advice from such a wise old man. I had considered explosives for the swimmers, but that would run me afoul of several governmental agencies. And, in these times of heightened concern for terrorism, I would rather be fishing than sharing a cell with cab drivers and convenience store employees.
The boats. You think they care about anybody spying on them. Their whole purpose in life is to be seen. That's why they come roaring past the no wake buoys wide open, look for the solitary float tube fisherman and make a couple of loops around him to get his attention and then snuggle up next to him so he can get a good look...up close and personal. Not only do they not care about people seeing their "private moments", there is a high incidence of boaters conducting these activities in full daylight...from the most visible part of the boat. Only thing I can think of is to do a reverse PETA thing on them...hit their naked bodies with paint-filled balloons...only after getting a good look of course.
Yes, Saguaro Lake is a good sized lake. But there are only two places where you can access it in a vehicle...the main marina and Butcher Jones Beach...where I launch my tube. Without a boat, there is little of the lake you can fish. The serious bassers hereabouts have a lot of shoreline they can work without having to deal with dimbulb shorecasters. But, they do have to know how to surf. The steady procession of water skiers, personal watercraft and the pictured cruisers maintain a constant barrage of heavy bow wakes. After spending a day standing and fishing on the pitching deck of a bass boat you can't walk a straight line after you trailer your boat.
Saguaro Lake is a "GOOD NEWS - BAD NEWS" pond. It has a lot of fish and the Salt River Project (water and power company) maintains it at a fairly constant level (even in these drought years). But, it gets hammered most of the year by crazies who compete to see who can drink the most beer, throw up the biggest wake, come closest to fishing boats and float tubers and run their boats wide open within the no-wake zones without getting caught by the rangers. In short, it's no different than most other lakes.
The Butcher Jones Beach area is ideal for float tubing. It has a large area of sandy beach for the swimmers (which show up by the hundreds by mid morning) and that beach is a good launching site for tubing. It is a bit tricky working your way back in after being out since before the swimmers showed up though. I get there right after the gate opens at daybreak, and have my choice of parking spots. An hour later, I would have to park a hundred yards farther from the water.
Through use of sonar, a lot of time on the water and some specialized lures and techniques, I almost always can count on catching fish. Even in the nastiest crowd conditions of early summer, I have had days where I have taken over two hundred fish...including specimens from up to seven different species. I have taken both bass and catfish over ten pounds from this area, walleyes to 5 pounds, lots of big bluegills, 2 pound crappies, smallmouth bass, and of course the plentiful and cooperative yellow bass. There are two or three other species of sunfish, plus carp, buffalo fish, tilapia and some other less common ones. It's like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
By the way, yesterday was the first trip in a long time I went fishing without Tube Babe. She is still out of town doing her impressions of sister, mother and grandma. I will undoubtedly have to make another trip next Saturday, so she can give me another demo on how to catch the big cats.
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AARON: You're welcome. I hope you make good use of the goodies and maybe learn some new techniques. Feel free to ask if you need clarification.
MR BEAR: Glad you liked the sunrise. I love sunrises and sunsets. In Arizona we get a lot of dandies, and people who get up late miss a lot of beauty. I have shot a lot of slides over the years and I put on desert slide shows for the winter visitors down here (snow birds). The last reel is all just run to music, no narration, and has lightning shots, cloud pictures, rainbows and sunsets. Some of the more spectacular are "Shock and Awe". And yes, the yellow bass are tasty. They are like small wipers on steroids. They fight well and give up nice little fillets...perfect for cooking almost any old way you prefer them.
JR: There you go again. So much practical advice from such a wise old man. I had considered explosives for the swimmers, but that would run me afoul of several governmental agencies. And, in these times of heightened concern for terrorism, I would rather be fishing than sharing a cell with cab drivers and convenience store employees.
The boats. You think they care about anybody spying on them. Their whole purpose in life is to be seen. That's why they come roaring past the no wake buoys wide open, look for the solitary float tube fisherman and make a couple of loops around him to get his attention and then snuggle up next to him so he can get a good look...up close and personal. Not only do they not care about people seeing their "private moments", there is a high incidence of boaters conducting these activities in full daylight...from the most visible part of the boat. Only thing I can think of is to do a reverse PETA thing on them...hit their naked bodies with paint-filled balloons...only after getting a good look of course.
Yes, Saguaro Lake is a good sized lake. But there are only two places where you can access it in a vehicle...the main marina and Butcher Jones Beach...where I launch my tube. Without a boat, there is little of the lake you can fish. The serious bassers hereabouts have a lot of shoreline they can work without having to deal with dimbulb shorecasters. But, they do have to know how to surf. The steady procession of water skiers, personal watercraft and the pictured cruisers maintain a constant barrage of heavy bow wakes. After spending a day standing and fishing on the pitching deck of a bass boat you can't walk a straight line after you trailer your boat.
Saguaro Lake is a "GOOD NEWS - BAD NEWS" pond. It has a lot of fish and the Salt River Project (water and power company) maintains it at a fairly constant level (even in these drought years). But, it gets hammered most of the year by crazies who compete to see who can drink the most beer, throw up the biggest wake, come closest to fishing boats and float tubers and run their boats wide open within the no-wake zones without getting caught by the rangers. In short, it's no different than most other lakes.
The Butcher Jones Beach area is ideal for float tubing. It has a large area of sandy beach for the swimmers (which show up by the hundreds by mid morning) and that beach is a good launching site for tubing. It is a bit tricky working your way back in after being out since before the swimmers showed up though. I get there right after the gate opens at daybreak, and have my choice of parking spots. An hour later, I would have to park a hundred yards farther from the water.
Through use of sonar, a lot of time on the water and some specialized lures and techniques, I almost always can count on catching fish. Even in the nastiest crowd conditions of early summer, I have had days where I have taken over two hundred fish...including specimens from up to seven different species. I have taken both bass and catfish over ten pounds from this area, walleyes to 5 pounds, lots of big bluegills, 2 pound crappies, smallmouth bass, and of course the plentiful and cooperative yellow bass. There are two or three other species of sunfish, plus carp, buffalo fish, tilapia and some other less common ones. It's like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
By the way, yesterday was the first trip in a long time I went fishing without Tube Babe. She is still out of town doing her impressions of sister, mother and grandma. I will undoubtedly have to make another trip next Saturday, so she can give me another demo on how to catch the big cats.
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