Bullhead City/Lake Mohave this weekend...

**Smudge** · Apr-13-2006, 04:41 PM

Going out Sarah's parents this weekend and since the river is still way to cold to wakeboard I was thinking of taking some gear to try the lake.(Keep me out of the casino)

Anyone ever fish Lake Mohave from shore?? Carp?? Catfish?? Bass?? I have no clue what so ever. Can anyone recomend a tackle shop for advice or offer up any advice for me??

Thanks in advance,
Matt

Babu · Apr-13-2006, 04:44 PM

PM the "punk" he fishes there alot.

**Smudge** · Apr-13-2006, 04:47 PM

Right on, think I should adress him as "The Punk"??

Thanks Rick...

Fishrdan · Apr-13-2006, 08:30 PM

Hey Matt,

I fish on Mohave all the time for stripers, mainly on the north end of the lake from Cottonwood up to Willow Beach. Kind of wierd as I have never been down on the south end of the lake by Bullhead/Laughlin, normally fishing mile marker 32 > 52. What are you going after, LMB, cats, stripers???

LMB you'll need the standard worms, pig-n-jig, plugs, dropshot. Plastics, hula grubs, worms seem to work best for LMB, although I have killed them on small crankbaits at times, tandem spinner maybe??? If you have some LMB tackle in your box it will probably work.

Stripers... the best thing is anchovies 1# bag for $2.50, another choice would be squid though it's not as popular. Make sure to keep the chovies ice cold or your sunk,,, well atleast the stripers will be able to pick your hook easily. If you can get some dry ice it will keep the chovies frozed,,, chovie-sickles. The best fishing is at dusk though the night and at dawn, stripper fishing during the day isn't too good from shore as they either head out into the lake or into deep water. Try to find some reasonably deep (20-30') water that has deep water access (60-70') close by, shallow water isn't the ticket. Fish with 1/4 > 1/3 chovie on a #1 live bait hook (deep sea style hook like for alby fishing) or a #4 or #6 treble.

My favorite striper rig: slip a 1/4 - 1/2 oz sinker up the line, tie on a swivel and then 2' up the line tie on another swivel. Prepare your bait, cut the head of the chovie, about 1/2" off the tail and then cut the middle section in half. Take the middle sections and push 1 or 2 peices onto the treble, the shank of the treble should go through the side of the bait, or you can pin a peice on a #1 hook. Clip the trebles (or #1 hooks) onto the 2 swivels and your set. Yeah,,, that's a lot of hardware in the water, but if they are feeding they don't care and you have to get picked twice to get stripped. Crank baits, jigs and grubs also work for stripers, try white or chartreuse.

I have been out there in a feeding frenzy, couldn't keep the hooks baited fast enough and limited out (20 fish) in a few hours. Small fish 1-5#, but it's fun. That's from a boat in 40-70' of water, and normally the more wind the better, but remember, Mohave/Mead can get ugly real quick if the wind picks up. There are also monster stripers lurking in those waters, most of the big ones are up between Willow Beach and Hoover dam or Willow Beach south 10 miles or so. For those big guys your looking at 10-12" plugs and 30-40# casting rigs. I use 6500 Abu's or 400 Shimano's on 7' 15-45# freshwater sticks. Heavy line just in case you get into the rocks or trees.

Them's just the basics,

Good luck!

Zoomer · Apr-14-2006, 10:08 AM

Ask for Mike or Kenny, they do alot of fishing in these parts.

Premier Sports at (760) 326-2727

Gypsea · Apr-14-2006, 10:35 AM

W.O.N had a really nice sized striper pic from last week out of Lake Mojave. The fish are there..go get em.

**Smudge** · Apr-14-2006, 10:40 AM

Right on!!! Thanks guys.

Thank you very much Dan for the detailed info. I have everything you mentioned in your post. I even have acess to fresh dead chovies....

Hope to have some pics for Monday...

Fishrdan · Apr-14-2006, 12:22 PM

Matt,

Bring all the dead chovies you can, chummin is legal and the more bait in the water the better. The frozen chovies from the store have fish oil added to them for aded scent, but I would rather go out with 10# of fresh dead than 2# of frozen. Throw a few peices (heads/tails) out every couple of minutes to draw in a school and have them stick around. Stripers won't stay in an area unless there is a reason, they move around alot. When I am anchored I can see the schools pass under the boat, hook up a few fish and then they will leave,,, unless you chum and keep tham around.

Then there are times when you can't get them to go away

I also troll anchovies which is highly productive if they are in the area and normally renders bigger fish in the 3-5# catagory. I have thought of trolling a mac for the 20#+ fish, but have never done it. All my big fish have been on plugs.

I don't have a clue where to fish on the south end of the lake, but if your in for a drive try around 34-36, about 10 miles north of Cottonwood Cove... Very fishy area for trolling chovies in 20-40' of water,,, chovies down 5-10' and troll as slow as possible, spectra suggested for solid hookup's.