Lake Havasu Striper Bass Fishing

[Axle]

Fishing Lake Havasu was in my dream plans for many years. Especially after finding out about world class shellcrackers and large striper bass which inhabit that lake. Life has a way of holding up good plans but I finally made it back to Lake Havasu City where my mother and her husband live. I took my family there for a visit 18 years ago but we swam instead of fished. With temperatures at 120+ degrees on that trip, we were all happy to simply swim in the water.

This trip, however, was to focus on fishing and teach my step dad how to fish. After my folks were here and ate our fish tacos, they wanted to be taught how to catch fish so they could make fish tacos back home.
I searched the internet for info on striped bass and shellcrackers (which are also called redear sunfish). There was enough info on the two species but not as much info on that particular lake. Striped bass are from salt water but they also make a great land-locked fresh water fish. Shellcrackers were put in the lake to eat the invasive muscles and they grew to very large proportions in the process and are highly sought after.

Leaving here in winter for warmer weather is always a good feeling too.

[Axle]

I wanted to fly down there at the end of April but schedules didn’t allow and I ended up getting there early enough in the year to miss the shellcracker experience. I knew enough about striped bass (from youtube videos) but figured I would ask locals for additional help. There were a couple older guys that were helpful and showed me some places on the map where we might be able to hook up with some fish. They advised to chum heavily with anchovies. With that being the case, I figured anywhere would work as long as we fished the correct depth. The magic depth seemed to be from 25’ to 30’ down. Just putting a 1’ chunk of anchovy on the hook worked fine and we found some #2 salmon hooks in the tackle box that worked well. Stripers have big mouths and even the small ones had no problem swallowing the big hooks. We kept some smaller bass due to them swallowing hooks.

Day 1, March 20th. When heading out the first day to fish, my mother took a picture for the history book. It wasn’t a fishing boat and I thought it might be a bit of a challenge to move around the lake often.
If you go there, you have to see the London Bridge. ‘Nuf said.

[Axle]

We got on the lake about the time the locals were getting off the lake but the fish were still biting. After getting to the first location, we baited and pitched out. I occasionally threw out some chum. It seemed to work too. After sitting there for what seemed like nearly 30 minutes, I was just beginning to say ‘well, I thinks it time to move’ when the first bass hit my line. It was getting close to noon and the bite had slowed down but stripers seem to be an aggressive feeder and some were still hungry.

The method I guessed would work best for rigging up was to put the hook on and go up the line about 18” and put on just enough split shot to sink it to the bottom right at the boat. I saw everyone else anchor and casting away from their boats but I have never felt a need to do that. I’ve always had good results fishing right under the boat. Fishing directly below the boat paid off for us on that trip.

The first day, we tried several locations and caught bass in each spot. We came home with 10 bass between the two of us. There is a 10 fish per person limit for stripers and no size requirement.

[Axle]

I wanted to hit the lake the next day as soon as visibly possible but certain people don’t get as excited to fish as some of us do. You know what I mean. We did manage to get out a bit earlier the second day which seemed to help and the weather was warmer too. We went to all the previous locations from the first day and ended up bringing in 18 bass. The smaller ones in the ¾ to 1 lb range were aggressive on swallowing hooks. We kept several of those but threw back as many as possible. We found a spot where smaller bass were hitting all day and when we were bored, we pulled anchor to go fish them for entertainment purposes. You can use 2 rods and there were times when all 4 of our rods had fish on at the same time. Talk about a frenzy! I was the bait man and took all the fish off the hooks.

[bigtex]

Sounds like you were there just in time for spring break... 

[Axle]

As is often the case – the biggest one got away but there is a story to that too.
My step day – not being a fisherman – didn’t have the gear he needed. I figured this would be the case so I took a reel down with me.
The reels he had were from the ‘50s. I found the best rods he had and we used them.
We put 8 lb line on the reels. I figured 8 lb test line would suffice even with a big bass. I like to go light on tackle.
I figured a big bass may put the reels to the test and might not hold up. My suspicion was right.
The biggest bass we landed were about 3.5 lbs but my step dad hooked into one that took off and showed us he had multiple gears to utilize.
When I saw his rod go down with that fish, I instinctively said ‘Don’t let go the rod! Don’t let go the rod’! He was trying to stand up and hang on to the rod at the same time and it looked like the rod was going to fly right out of his hands.
That bass took off with a desire to break whatever was holding it back.
I’m not sure if I saw smoke coming out from the reel but it was singing a tune and when that bass hit 3rd gear, the 8 lb test line snapped at the rod. Later that day, my step dad bought a new reel and some 20 lb test braided line. I told my mother that Loch Ness nearly widowed her. We had a good laugh on that one.

[Axle]

Sounds like you were there just in time for spring break... 

It was the right time of year but I only saw one bikini. Looked more like dental floss to me. 
It was a bit cool for them to be out dressed like that.

[Axle]

Day 3 found us on the lake with fairly high winds and cool temperatures. The fishing was slow. When we told the locals what we had done, they said we did far better than anyone else. We brought home 5 bass on the 3rd day and my buddy didn’t want to go out fishing after that. Not sure why. It could’ve been because he didn’t want his boat smelling like fish or perhaps didn’t like blood on the seats. By then, I figured I had given him enough instruction on how to fish for striped bass. I never saw anyone else with a striped bass on those 3 days.

And here is a picture of the reels. I'm not sure but I guessed they were from the '50s.

[Axle]

They have other old items too. a '39 Ford and 2 F100 Ford trucks sitting outside.
It's amazing to me to see those old vehicles with very little rust.
I think it rains about 2 times per year in Lake Havasu City.

[Axle]

With fishing done, we did the tourist stuff.
We took the boat up to Topock for lunch one day. It was a scenic ride up the Colorado River and the weather was just warm enough that we didn’t freeze.

[Axle]

The next day we rode down to a bar in the desert http://www.thedesertbar.com/
There was a hippie band playing that day. Friends of my folks were there and just about to leave so we left and headed to their house to visit. The music was too loud and quenched our desire to hang out for very long. The ride in and out on that road was brutally bumpy.

[Axle]

There were a lot of doves around town. My folks didn’t like them. I told them they would love them if they ever tasted one. Doves were nesting in their trees and their sounds were a pleasure to listen to each day. One dove had a nest on some scrap metal behind the garage. They sure don’t put much time into their nests though. A few sticks and nothing for comfort. In this picture, there is a dove setting on her 2 eggs on the second shelf down. For some reason, she liked that shelf of scrap metal.

[Axle]

Some cactus were starting to blossom.

[Axle]

I want to go back down there and my son is probably going to go down there one day soon. Hopefully next time will find us with shellcrackers in the boat.
If I was free to do it any way I could, I would drive down with my own boat and stop at Lake Mead. Striper fishing there is better and the lake is bigger. It would need to be a camping trip if I did that but you can camp in the desert in many places. If I could ever become a snowbird, I plan on spending some time down there in the desert and eating a lot of fish tacos.

Sometimes – life is a beach.

[Hilltop123]

How Stripped bass taste?

[Axle]

How Stripped bass taste?

They tasted just like smallmouth bass to me. I doubt I would be able to tell them apart in a blind taste test.

Another interesting experience I had was - I hooked into a 2.5lb striper and when bringing it up, there was a much larger smallmouth bass following it and darting all around it. The smallmouth almost swam right into the net for us.
We did see some smallmouth bass on the nests. They had just spawned.

[lokidog]

Those Mitchel spinners are probably 70's vintage, that is when we started using them instead of Zebcos.

I fished Lake Mead for Stripers way back when, but it was July.  We went out looking for fish working bait balls and then zoomed over and casted jigs into them on the surface.  What a blast!

And delicious too!

[wapiti hunter2]

I grew up down there. In the 70's the stripers typically went 10 to 20 lbs. There were tons of trout for food. Now days just schools of smaller ones and the trout are gone. Occasional lunker but the little ones get the bait. Those reels are Garcia Mitchel 300's. Early 70's. I still have one. Best part is the spools change quickly. Great reels. Worth cleaning up and keeping. A little light for lunker stripers though. My personal best was 25 lbs. It was as long as my fishing partners daughter was tall, made a great picture.

[Axle]

I grew up down there. In the 70's the stripers typically went 10 to 20 lbs. There were tons of trout for food. Now days just schools of smaller ones and the trout are gone. Occasional lunker but the little ones get the bait. Those reels are Garcia Mitchel 300's. Early 70's. I still have one. Best part is the spools change quickly. Great reels. Worth cleaning up and keeping. A little light for lunker stripers though. My personal best was 25 lbs. It was as long as my fishing partners daughter was tall, made a great picture.

I was guessing on the age of the reels. Can't ever remember seeing one before.

So - how do the big stripers taste? Are they as good as the smaller ones?

My thoughts are that the stripers are aggressive (similar to walleye) and they eat everything in the lake.

[wapiti hunter2]

I grew up down there. In the 70's the stripers typically went 10 to 20 lbs. There were tons of trout for food. Now days just schools of smaller ones and the trout are gone. Occasional lunker but the little ones get the bait. Those reels are Garcia Mitchel 300's. Early 70's. I still have one. Best part is the spools change quickly. Great reels. Worth cleaning up and keeping. A little light for lunker stripers though. My personal best was 25 lbs. It was as long as my fishing partners daughter was tall, made a great picture.

I was guessing on the age of the reels. Can't ever remember seeing one before.

So - how do the big stripers taste? Are they as good as the smaller ones?

My thoughts are that the stripers are aggressive (similar to walleye) and they eat everything in the lake.

I remember that they were excellent eating. I was used to trout and LMB so it was a huge change. They do eat everything in the lake. They were introduced into Lake Mead and Havasu in the late 1960's to add an addition to the LMB and trout fishing. By the early 1970's they were taking over as the best/biggest fish in the lakes and trout were becoming rare. When you got a trout, it was big because the smaller ones were bait for the stripers. By 1980, they had taken over. Now Lake Mead is similar to Lake Havasu. Big schools of small stripers everywhere and nothing else. An ecologic miss calculation with good intention.

[lokidog]

Those "smaller" ones are delicious and the big 36+ inchers are as well.

[Axle]

Good to know the bigger ones are good eating too. 
I'll tell my folks.
I was curious because of how it is with walleye being 'not so good' when they get big.

[lokidog]

Good to know the bigger ones are good eating too. 
I'll tell my folks.
I was curious because of how it is with walleye being 'not so good' when they get big.

How big is big for walleye?  I caught a 32" once and it was delicious, tasted like... walleye.   

[PolarBear]

Those Mitchel spinners are probably 70's vintage, that is when we started using them instead of Zebcos.

I fished Lake Mead for Stripers way back when, but it was July.  We went out looking for fish working bait balls and then zoomed over and casted jigs into them on the surface.  What a blast!

And delicious too!

We did that (jigs and top water) on the Sacramento Delta.  Had a couple in the 20's that burned up my reels.  Love sight fishing for those things!

[Naches Sportsman]

I'm jealous .

I was down there last July for work on the refuge baking in the mid 120's. While in the AC, I was starting at the Colorado and thought about the bass fishing. It's on my list someday to go down there when it's not extremely hot out and do some fishing.

I don't understand how people can live down there in the summer months.

[Axle]

Good to know the bigger ones are good eating too. 
I'll tell my folks.
I was curious because of how it is with walleye being 'not so good' when they get big.

How big is big for walleye?  I caught a 32" once and it was delicious, tasted like... walleye.   

I've never caught a walleye that big but I've heard many guys say the big ones don't taste very good.
I talked to a guy in person at Potholes a couple years back. He caught a very large walleye (thirty-some inches long). Being curious, I asked how it tasted. He said if he ever gets another one that big, it's going back in the water (said he had a hard time eating it). I've heard that from so many people that I'll probably chuck the big ones back in the water if I ever get one.
I would guess the time of year, what they were eating, and water quality may have an impact on quality of meat.

[Axle]

I'm jealous .

I was down there last July for work on the refuge baking in the mid 120's. While in the AC, I was starting at the Colorado and thought about the bass fishing. It's on my list someday to go down there when it's not extremely hot out and do some fishing.

I don't understand how people can live down there in the summer months.

They are called 'snow birds' 
I think that place is mostly vacant in summer.

[lokidog]

Good to know the bigger ones are good eating too. 
I'll tell my folks.
I was curious because of how it is with walleye being 'not so good' when they get big.

How big is big for walleye?  I caught a 32" once and it was delicious, tasted like... walleye.   

I've never caught a walleye that big but I've heard many guys say the big ones don't taste very good.
I talked to a guy in person at Potholes a couple years back. He caught a very large walleye (thirty-some inches long). Being curious, I asked how it tasted. He said if he ever gets another one that big, it's going back in the water (said he had a hard time eating it). I've heard that from so many people that I'll probably chuck the big ones back in the water if I ever get one.
I would guess the time of year, what they were eating, and water quality may have an impact on quality of meat.

Interesting... the one I caught was out of Potholes as well. It was caught in May/June.  I've never had a large fish of any kind that tasted worse than the smaller version of it. Now, if someone said they didn't like the texture, I could understand that as the muscle grain definitely gets larger as a fish gets larger, However, to me, it all tastes the same and good.    I got a 121 pound halibut and a couple people on the boat commented how they'd rather eat a 40 pound halibut, maybe because that was all they caught....