Bartlett Lake 5-16

[AZfisherdude]

We launched at SB Cove around 3:30 pm and fished the Yellow Cliffs area until about 12:30 am. Water temp was 72 from what I remember at night. We trolled for a while and found a huge school of what I assume were crappie but we couldn't get a bite. We trolled through 3 times and moved on. I caught 1 crappie by trolling a grub on a leader tied to the tail end of a crank bait and that was cool. We were mostly fishing using shad and minnows but also used some grubs/tubes in various colors. We caught some bass including the one in the pic. We anchored up near a point at the mouth of a cove near Yellow Cliffs and put out the lights. The depth was about 35 ft with it transitioning to 20ft within 20ft of where we were. We managed to keep 16 crappie but no real size to them. Not like the ones I caught at San Carlos. I'd call them barely keepers. They tasted great BTW Grin They were all about 10-11 inches but not fat. Kind of skinny. We had a great time but I feel like we could have done better. I am pretty new to night fishing and have not had much success at it until now (which was still not so great). I'd love to improve so any tips are welcome.

[jimeisaac]

I am glad to hear somebody is catching them. I was beginning to suspect that SoCal/Az crappie had gone extinct!

[AZfisherdude]

Ha ha, I hear you. Sounds like a bunch of guys did well during the day at Alamo recently but the night bite didn't develop for them. I will be heading into the whites for some trout fishing next week so it will be a few weeks before I can get out and try the crappie thing again. Hopefully it will be turning on by then.

[jiggshooter]

We launched at SB Cove around 3:30 pm and fished the Yellow Cliffs area until about 12:30 am. Water temp was 72 from what I remember at night. We trolled for a while and found a huge school of what I assume were crappie but we couldn't get a bite. We trolled through 3 times and moved on. I caught 1 crappie by trolling a grub on a leader tied to the tail end of a crank bait and that was cool. We were mostly fishing using shad and minnows but also used some grubs/tubes in various colors. We caught some bass including the one in the pic. We anchored up near a point at the mouth of a cove near Yellow Cliffs and put out the lights. The depth was about 35 ft with it transitioning to 20ft within 20ft of where we were. We managed to keep 16 crappie but no real size to them. Not like the ones I caught at San Carlos. I'd call them barely keepers. They tasted great BTW Grin They were all about 10-11 inches but not fat. Kind of skinny. We had a great time but I feel like we could have done better. I am pretty new to night fishing and have not had much success at it until now (which was still not so great). I'd love to improve so any tips are welcome.

NICE BASS WAY TO GO

[azslabber]

Good report Chris.Nice bass also BTW.Well you got a few,so you know about where they are.The night bite will be coming on strong in a month,so keep track of your good spots.You won't get any like San Carlos though,maybe a couple.