Spring Fishing on Lake Mead at it's Best.
When most people think of the Mohave Desert and Lake Mead, they don't think of winter and seasonal changes. But, it happens here, like anywhere else in the country. As February and March start out our spring season, water that has been 52 to 54 degrees all winter begins to warm. All of the fish in the lake start preparing for the annual spawning season.
Now that the days are longer, the largemouth bass will start moving out of the deeper water of the main lake points and working their way towards the backs of the canyons. Like anywhere in the country, bass are looking for shallow water cover in which to build their nests. March is the peak of the largemouth spawning season. But, in a lake as large as Mead, the season can be spread over several weeks from the upper north end of the lake at Temple Bar (in the Colorado River arm and near Overton where the Virgin and Muddy rivers enter the lake) to the south end, close to Hoover Dam.
At this time of the year, spinner baits work well through the heavy brush and worms and jigs can be used on or near the spawning beds. The clear water of Lake Mead can offer some fantastic opportunities for "sight fishing." It takes patience to entice a largemouth that's concentrating on building his bed, but the rewards can be great.
The striped bass spawn somewhat later in the spring, but the warming water greatly increases their activity level. They are, at this point, cruising the lake trying to find the ideal open water where they can spawn. Stripers will also start moving towards the shorelines to find shad that are coming out of the deep water. As with any fish, stripers need to find a food source to build their energy for the spawn. Shad are the main food source in the lake for all the game fish. Until late May or early June, anglers will continue to fish for stripers with bait at depths ranging from 30 to 100 feet.
As I'm writing this article, the phone rings. It's a customer asking a question that I'm hearing more and more these days. "I've heard the water level in Lake Mead is going down," he says. "Are there any fish to be caught these days?" Fortunately, I'm on the phone and he can't see that I'm smiling. The fish haven't left the lake. They're still there. So I explain to him that Lake Mead is 589 feet deep at its deepest point and, even though the lake is over 70 feet low right now, we still have more than 500 feet of water in depth and probably well over 500 miles of shoreline. The fishing hasn't changed, only the areas to fish have changed. Fish activity still follows recognizable patterns that the fish have adapted over years of living in the reservoir and these patterns continue to be predictable to the savvy angler.
Now that the days are longer, the largemouth bass will start moving out of the deeper water of the main lake points and working their way towards the backs of the canyons. Like anywhere in the country, bass are looking for shallow water cover in which to build their nests. March is the peak of the largemouth spawning season. But, in a lake as large as Mead, the season can be spread over several weeks from the upper north end of the lake at Temple Bar (in the Colorado River arm and near Overton where the Virgin and Muddy rivers enter the lake) to the south end, close to Hoover Dam.
At this time of the year, spinner baits work well through the heavy brush and worms and jigs can be used on or near the spawning beds. The clear water of Lake Mead can offer some fantastic opportunities for "sight fishing." It takes patience to entice a largemouth that's concentrating on building his bed, but the rewards can be great.
The striped bass spawn somewhat later in the spring, but the warming water greatly increases their activity level. They are, at this point, cruising the lake trying to find the ideal open water where they can spawn. Stripers will also start moving towards the shorelines to find shad that are coming out of the deep water. As with any fish, stripers need to find a food source to build their energy for the spawn. Shad are the main food source in the lake for all the game fish. Until late May or early June, anglers will continue to fish for stripers with bait at depths ranging from 30 to 100 feet.
As I'm writing this article, the phone rings. It's a customer asking a question that I'm hearing more and more these days. "I've heard the water level in Lake Mead is going down," he says. "Are there any fish to be caught these days?" Fortunately, I'm on the phone and he can't see that I'm smiling. The fish haven't left the lake. They're still there. So I explain to him that Lake Mead is 589 feet deep at its deepest point and, even though the lake is over 70 feet low right now, we still have more than 500 feet of water in depth and probably well over 500 miles of shoreline. The fishing hasn't changed, only the areas to fish have changed. Fish activity still follows recognizable patterns that the fish have adapted over years of living in the reservoir and these patterns continue to be predictable to the savvy angler.
