How in the world do you catch these Desert Bass?

[Hipster]

I cannot buy a fish since I relocated here to AZ. One bite that I know was a fish but came off is it!!! Period no good!!!

Darter head
Flick Shake
Topwater
Jig


I am thinking forget the Largies and just run and gun Lake Pleasant with Ripbaits for the Striper boils!!!

[Ray Coleman]

First, you need 4 wheel drive.... Not really, right now chase them with a top water. The largemouth will be in and amongst the stripers. When they go down use a dropshot rig or your jig. Be persistent.

[Paul Matthews]

Saguro is good right now. D/S and topwater early. Bartlett is good for numbers of small fish. With the water dropping a ton at Plez right now the bite will be off. Hintmorning dawn with chatruese tip works good here as does a jig, green pumpkin black flake. For info on Plez swing by The Hookup at Pleasant Harbor. They'll steer you in the right direction. Fishing is tough right now. Alamo is great for unders and slots but the overs are hard to come by. FYI. The slot goes way at AlamoJan. 1'st 2013.

[dyollp]

Hey Mark,

Where have you been fishing? Lake Pleasant can be tough. I'm usually happy if I catch a couple there, but I haven't spent much time on that lake. The boat traffic is a little crazy too.

I usually fish at Lake Bartlett. The fish are not very big, but you can catch a bunch of them. They've been eating flukes, sammys, blades, rip baits, and drop shot. I've also caught some fish at Saguaro in the last week doing the same thing, but that lake gets crazy on the weekends too with the boat traffic. The fish in Saguaro are a lot better quality than what you'll catch at Bartlett. Canyon Lake is kinda the same deal as Saguaro.

If you're up for the drive, you can run up to Lake Roosevelt. I like that lake a lot, but I haven't been there in a couple months. I've heard the bite is kinda tough recently. Between Canyon Lake and Lake Roosevelt is Apache Lake. Apache can be awesome and it doesn't get the boat traffic the other lakes get because the road going to it is borderline dangerous. I've done it though, and it isn't too bad if you go the long way around from the north. There's some solid fish in Apache, and you can catch them in numbers if the bite is good.

Anyway, if you've only been trying Pleasant, you should check out a few of these other lakes. I think they are much better for catching fish than Pleasant. I hear the thing to do at Pleasant is to try for the stripers at night, but I haven't done it myself.

If you become a regular on the salt river lakes, you should check out the Tonto/National Park pass. I think I paid $100 or so, and it's good for a year from the month you purchase it. After ten outings, it pays for itself. The pass is also good at any national park. I used it at the Grand Canyon, and I've used it at a few other parks. It's a good deal. It works at all the lakes I mentioned except for Pleasant.

I live in North Phoenix if you're ever looking for a backseat. I'm no expert, but I can usually catch a few fish. Not sure if you remember, since it's been so long, but I've met you at a few Nutcase events. It may have been back when we were still NCBF. I don't even think I was required to have a fishing license at those first few events. That would have been a long time ago.

Peter Lloyd

[Hipster]

Thanks Peter,

I have been getting pretty much the same response from everybody, Bartlett and Saguro are the lakes to hit nearby. I quit dropshotting about 6-7 years ago looks like I need to start doing it again.

Mark