Lake Alamo Tuesday n Wednesday
I drove 325 miles from San Diego over to Lake Alamo State Park on Monday. Willie, Hank and I fished Tuesday and Wednesday. We ended up with 4 fish to show for it.
As you can see, the lake is up and there is lots of flooded timber. That is where we expected to find the crappie but found no joy in the shallows. While the lake is up, it has been higher in the not too distant past:
Since we could not find any crappie up in the shallows, we decided to join the flotilla out in 20-30 feet of water. There are a considerable number of snags and slumps of submerged timber out there also: (We ended up donating a significant amount of tackle to the snag gods.)
Well, we joined them and we had the same results that they were getting, about 1 fish per hour. Here is Willie with the first fish:
If I am not mistaken, Lake Alamo was formed by daming the Bill Williams River. I believe this is the river mouth:
Since we can't catch fish, I guess we do a little sight seeing:
A couple of "scenic views;"
Here is what it looks like sitting 20 feet from the Dam in 85ft of water and looking back toward the lake:
I do not claim to be an expert crappie fisherman but I am no longer a novice either. We tried minnows in the shallows, we trolled with jigs at 3ft and 6ft, we varied trolling speed, we varied the jog colors, we put minnows on the jigs, we put crappie nibbles on the jigs, we ended up with 4 fish and I did not catch one of them. So I would have to say that in terms of fish caught, the 2010 edition did not match up with the 2006 and 2007 expeditions. However, in terms of enjoyment it was a rousing success. Fish or no fish, time on the water with friends is good.
They are going to close the lake down on 3 June so if you want to go, do it before then. My understanding is that you will still be able to access the water from BLM land but there won't be any improved launch ramps.
Jim (Ike) Isaac - San Diego CA
Purveyor of sea stories, fish tales
and other prevarications.