Lake Mead (North end) 5-12-12

[wolfs4evr]

Lots of sun and fun. Water was fairly clean and visibility was as good as it was going to get considering all the wind from earlier in the week churning up the water. We launched at sun-up and left about a hour before sun set so lots of time on the water. My arms and back are feeling it big time, the same for Madi. Lots of casting and messing around. Overall we landed ~55-60 fish total. A mixed bag of a little bit of everything Mead has to offer including a Bluegill and a Kitty. The Bluegill actually jumped out of the water and grabbed a KVD 1.5 crank Madi was using. She had just brought it in and was lifting it out of the water for another cast when he grabbed it. The cat I caught on a drop shot worm. The water was a pinch murky and I couldn't make out what I was seeing swimming around so I casted to it with the drop shot and he took it. Caught maybe 30 Stripers, a ton of LMB and a decent amount of Smallies. For the second time in as many trips I lost what would of been my largest Bass on Mead. This time a LMB. I had him on and hooked well but... I was goofing around with one of Madi's spinning rods and a KVD 1.0 crank that only had 8lb Trilene XL mono on it. There was nothing I could do after a couple big azz jumps out of the water he darted for the vegatation and there was no way I was getting him out. Snapped the line... I was mad for hours after that. lol I should of finessed him longer and attempted harder to get him out verse trying to horse him with that light line... How it goes. I can't toss those 1.0 cranks on my rods since they are too light so the only choice is spinning gear. Very effective crank. Madi did very well using it plus the 1.5 size she had on one of her other rods. He was a easy 5-6 pounder. All the other stuff we tossed worked well too. Spinnerbaits, flukes, etc. I messed around with a Jigg some but nothing. Just not my cup of tea. I like fast moving, cover lots of water type of baits. We got into the Stripers off a cliff wall and caught them till we got tired of it and left with them still biting to return looking for LMB and SMB. Crazy school of fish. A ton of them and just all over the place in 15 foot of water or so off that cliff face area.


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[TheWhizzle]

Killer man! Great report. And great work! Gotta love this time of year - fish are everywhere.

I went out solo on Thursday morning. Woke up at 5am, and decided i should be fishing, so I left - forgot to post my pics, but I had a good day with smallies. I lost my only LMB of the day right at the boat. Not big, just a couple pounds, but it was a smallie day for me. I struggled a bit between 9 and 11am, but the bite was on early. Caught most of my fish drop-shotting 4" senkos and fish doctors in green pumpkin. Tried topwaters with no love. Shoulda thrown a crank I guess. Landed 7 smallies before 9am, it was fun.
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Not easy being my own camera guy
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[wolfs4evr]

Good looking fish right there!

There is nothing that I can think of that is fun as catching a smallie on light tackle/drop shotting. Now that the spawn is over the smallies have moved out further and are a little bit harder to come by compared to a month ago. I was catching nothing but smallies several trips in a row and now it is back to the occasional smallie and lots of LMB for me on the north end of the lake.
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[TheWhizzle]

Yeah, when I was out, the sun was high, no wind, and the shallow bite was spooky at best. I was focusing on the 20-30 foot range catching all those smallies.

I actually found one smallie that went well over 3lbs. She was sitting in about 15 feet guarding a small area. She was super aggressive, charging my baits and nosing them, but wouldn't bite. I've never seen a fish so worked up that wouldn't bite. I spent about 15 minutes working on her, when finally the drop-shot senko violently shaken on the bottom got her to bite. I set the hook, and she went right into the quagga mussel covered brush pile and snapped my 10lb like it was 2lb. I'm really starting to up-size my line. Quality 15lb fluoro works nicely for me.
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[wolfs4evr]

The 100% same here. 4 of my 5 baitcaster have 15 pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon on them. 2 with InvizX (medium rods for cranking) and 2 with AbrazX (medium heavy rods for spinnerbaits/jigging/worms, etc). The 5th rod has 15lb Copolymenr line for top waters/shallow jerks. It is a love hate relationship. Fluoro is a PITA sometimes but there isn't any choice. You 100% have to use it on Lake Mead IMO.

But it just isn't worth it on Madi's spinning rods. Just not as managable as mono. Especially for a child to use. So 8lb Trilene XL on medium and medium light spinning rods and 10lb braid on the medium heavy that she uses for spinnerbaits and swimbaits.
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[playa702]

Thanks for the great report.My brother and I took the boat out to the wash area on sat but every school of striped bass we would get into the fish would be really small. But there were a ton of them just tiny dinks though.We got fooled into thinking we saw boils but they always ended up being gizzards or a bunch of small black ducks.Tons of fish on the fishfinder the whole time. What were you tossing at the striped bass?
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[wolfs4evr]

Strike King cranks. What we had rigged up for LMB and SMB. We just came across them by accident as I was motoring around this area for the next cove I seen them on the side imaging and stopped for some fun.
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[playa702]

Thanks for the info, I found some at wally world for $5.50. I got the Kvd 1.5 sexy shad.
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[wolfs4evr]

1.5s are awesome everywhere! I rarely use the 2.5s and the 1.0s are too light for baitcasters.
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[bigdaddy_lv]

Would the KVD 1.5 do me any good from shore?
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[TheWhizzle]

Yeah man, those shallow diving cranks are great from shore. They are made for fishing shallow cover. Just up your line size!!!!! Use a 15-17lb mono or fluoro to help keep you from losing that little crank in five minutes. A mono will float, and may keep you out of the brush a little better. And fish don't get line shy with a crankbait that is running that fast.
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[smallmouth24]

Great fish!!

I was just wondering if you guys could give me a little info on where to fish lake mead in the vegas wash area. I have a tournament coming up at Calville and I am just not to familiar with the area. All info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
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[wolfs4evr]

Hit the coves on the north side of Vegas Wash. About the only place I have done ok down there. IMO the north end/Overton Arm is way better so I just don't know the south end of the lake very well. Even out of Callville the first thing I do is head north of the narrows and go from there. I need to spend some time down that direction one of these days. I know there is fish to be caught around Callville somewhere.
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[TheWhizzle]

I love fishing out of Echo, but I do most of my bass fishing out of Callville and I do well enough.

If you can find transition zones, you're in the money. The areas of the lake that have a sand bank, and then that shore turns from sand to gravel. Or better yet, a gravel bank that turns to chunk rock, or even better yet, a chunk rock bank that transitions to a weedy sand/gravel bank. You get the idea.

Fish transition zones thoroughly. These places tend to hold fish in a lake like Mead that lacks over-abundant cover.

If I were fishing a tournament out of Callville this month, I would run into the wash, throw a spook or sammy at first light, switch to a shallow diving crank as soon as the sun came out, and move on to the drop shot rig for the entire rest of the day. Once you start drop-shotting, don't get discouraged and switch back to a crank cause you want to be impatient. It will produce if you work it in the right zones.

When you have about an hour left of your day, head back towards Callville and fish the surrounding area. You may pick up a nice kicker fish in this area.

Good luck in your tourney - who are you fishing with?
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[smallmouth24]

I'm right along with wolfs4evr, I usually fish echo. I guess I will have to give the wash a shot since the whizzle and wolfs4evr said there.

Have you guys ever fished across the lake from calville in and around like fish finder cove?

Thanks guys I am new to the forum and I am a Nevada junior pro fishing the state qualifier for the western divisional. I normally fish Idaho tournaments and I'm gettin started in Nevada do thanks for all the advise about the lake
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