Question about Lake Mead

[Rick G]

You know most tackle stores are like Barber shops and there are always a bunch of fishermen around BS'n, and the hot topic here today was if Lake Mead is the worst fishing BIG lake in the USA and what if anything can be done to make it better. Think about it, small limits 90% of the time, skinny stripers. My guess is that NPS is really not interested in making it a great fishery, but look at Havasu and Powell, much better lakes. When I think of BIG lakes like Tablerock, Bull Shoals, Grand in Oklahoma, the good Texas lakes, they all have good fishing compared to Mead. Why, and what can be done. Rick G.

[Guy Williams]

Well if I remember right Lake Havasu used to suck till they got some structure (man made) in the lake. Also the weights might move up with more smallmouth bass in the lake. Where would Mead be without them right now? It is the worst big lake in the west, not sure about anywhere else. Also, smallmouth bass eat stripers too, largemouth tend not to so much. At least that's been my views at Havasu.
Guy Williams

[Nlvbassin]

Stop sending all the water to CA. for starters. LOL

[Rick G]

All lakes go up and down and Mead is still huge. I like the Plant massive Smallmouth plan and make it the next Lake St Clair. Rick G.

[Ricky-S]

I wouldn't loose any sleep if they drained Lake Mead tomorrow. JK.

I agree that the managers of the lake could care less about the fishing there.

Just imagine how things would be if the bass club had not planted the smallmouths.

[GaryKey]

Vegetation and man-made habitat would be huge at Mead... but both are pretty dependent on the lake not dropping 100'.



Lake Pleasant has some similar characteristics, and the common factor there is heavily fluctuated water with little to no vegetation.

[New Texan]

I think what makes a consistently good lake is fertility. The lakes here in East Texas are fed with watershed creeks from ranches and farms. The whole eco-system is healthy. The watershed from Lake Mead is the desert. The only thing that makes it fertile is the brush and trees that grow and get flooded during the drought and rain cycles creating years of plenty and years of famine. Pleasant was awesome when it was first flooded because of the fertility all the vegetation provided. Now its just another desert lake. Havasu is different in that it doesn't fluctuate as much and seems more fertile for whatever reason. I don't think there is anything substanative that can be done. Other than actively manipulate the water level. Good luck with that.

[mike goodwin]

Try to fill it from Powell, get the level back in the bushes and the shad will come. Next thing you get is a world class lake like it used to be not so long ago.

The big fish are still there beleive or not.

Then manage the water level and it's a thrieving fertile lake again, and your numbers for big events will come back......Mike G

[Pred]

Isnt there a few intakes into the lake?

Its straight UP the lack of structure. I asked about putting down christmas trees and they said I couldnt use cinderblocks.... and I forgot to ask what I COULD use.

Its a wolfpack lake because there is NO structure so they all roam. Roaming fish never get too big. I mean look at spots they roam 24.7 and a 5 is a biggin.

I dont think the NPS gives a care. I think they are actaully put out by anlgers, but "have too" let us fish because they dont have a good enough reason to boot us yet.

Fisheries and Wildlife is a COMPLETELY different case though, they seem to really like anglers.

[New Texan]

The majority of the fish population here on Lake Fork roam constantly in packs that would rival any lake in the country. The difference is the amount of food available. The roamers here look like sumo wrestlers. The lake is just full of life. Coming from San Diego it took me 2 years to recognize a spot worth fishing because every time I turned on the graph I almost peed myself. Everything looks so good. There is threadfin shad, gizzard shad, minnows, tilapia, fry, barfish, sunfish, crawfish, snakes, frogs, crappie up the ying yang. Everything gets fed.

It's the same reason why Clear lake is so phenomenal. The fertility of the water can sustain that much life.

Its the reason the fish in parts of Mead like the Muddy and Virgin River, and Vegas Wash tend to be bigger and fatter. Mead can be pretty good at times naturally but it would be hard to do anything artificially due to its size. When its been low for a while the water gets dead and all you can do is pray for rain. Lots of it.

[B Becker]

Rick,

I would say that Mead is the worst-big-lake in the West....I can't say for the Country, since I haven't been to other lakes that are similar, but I bet it would be up there.....actually, I think Mead is one of a kind.....I have been here 31 years now and watched the water go over the damn, and now at it's lowest.....I do know that the major reason Mead sucks now is the water level....this happened when Mead first started droping in the late 90's and early 2000's.....but a few years ago ( I think 2 to be exact) when we got all that rain and the lake came up 20 feet, the fishing was pretty good; not great.....but it showed promise....but now that it is dropping again, we are seeing the results.....the other reason Mead sucks is a few years back an endangered species act or law was passed that anything that was non-native to the Colorado River was not allowed to be stocked in any of the Colorado River lakes....(it was the Razorback Sucker that is endangered)....so we lost the the stocking of bass, which they did in the 80's....now all they stock is rainbow trout and only 3% of the stocking is consumed by anglers...Mead is considered a "recreational" lake, and I guess that means fishing isn't a recreation.....it is very frustrating.....I think adding vegetation would be the best thing they could do right now....they would have to plant it in about 20-30 feet of water and hope the sun can feed it.....we will see....

sorry for being long winded.....

[B Becker]

Ricky,

you wouldn't loose any sleep, but you may loose power.....I feel your frustration, and I know you were being sarcastic.....but in reality, Mead does more for you all in California, than it does for us in Vegas.....

[Ricky-S]

Yeah, I was just joking-Maybe I have done fairly well at Mead and I have a couple top 10 and 20 there. I love to fish the lake in late April or May.

We had a great WON Bass event there this year.

It's just hard to want to fish Mead when the Delta, Clear Lake, Shasta, and Oroville all produce much funner events.

[B Becker]

I'm with you....I went to the Delta for the first time this past Spring....I will be going back every spring break from now on!!! I was born in the bay area and moved to Vegas in the 70's....it was the best move, back then, but now I wish I were closer to the Delta and Clear Lake again....you guys have it good!!! I think Dobyns said once "if Mead were my home lake, I would move" funniest line I ever heard!!!

[big_gorilla]

I haven't fished Mead for years cuz I don't think it's worth the gas any more.

So let me ask you this. Why does WON Bass continue to have the US Open at a lake that sucks? Would Havasu or some other lake be a better option?

Most of the big circuits move the championships around rather then have it at the same place every year. Is it more about money or politics?

[ttb31183]

*NM*

[ttb31183]

I haven't fished Mead for years cuz I don't think it's worth the gas any more.

So let me ask you this. Why does WON Bass continue to have the US Open at a lake that sucks? Would Havasu or some other lake be a better option?

Most of the big circuits move the championships around rather then have it at the same place every year. Is it more about money or politics?

I think they go to Mead because it's in Vegas. Vegas has alot more to offer to wives and families than Havasu, Clear Lake and the Delta. And like others have said its "neutral"...go to Havasu and 7 out of the top 10 will be locals....same with Clear and the Delta. Look at the top ten now...2 from AZ 1 from Utah, 1 from Idaho, one from Nevada and 5 from Cali....seems fair to me.

1 Clifford Pirch Payson AZ 21.67 4.10 21.67
2 Jamie Cyphers Cedar City UT 18.71 0.20 4.40 18.51
3 Andrew Jackson Boulder City NV 18.42 2.68 18.42
4 Mitch Southern San Bernardino CA 18.03 0.60 3.35 17.43
5 Jim Wells Fruitland ID 17.50 0.20 17.30
6 Shaun Bailey Agoura Hills CA 16.88 16.88
7 Mike Folkestad Yorba Linda CA 16.84 3.57 16.84
8 Bryan Grier Salinas CA 16.55 16.55
9 Mark Dotterer Scottsdale AZ 15.97 2.51 15.97
10 Leon Knight Tehachapi CA 15.95 15.95

[Ricky-S]

You "may" be correct Tyler, but look at the numbers.

I'm not a local at the Delta or Clear Lake, or any lake for that metter, and I would much rather fish those bodies of water over Mead.

[M. Warner]

hey Rick it would be great to make it like st.clair, but i would love to see it get to erie status, but for starters lake st. clair would be great, boy I sure do miss those two wonderful lakes that i moved away from. Back to mead, it does have a lack of structure but nobody cares to make it better. with the water dropping and all there are some 30 foot boulders that are decent but far from great. I would love to help plan and be involved into doing something for structure like they did in havasu and I am sure that our federation club would love to help. I have a few ideas in mind that i would like to try and do but just havent yet.

[Rick G]

Smallmouth love all that rock structure. Just gotta get about a billion Crawdads put in there. About the only big event left at Mead is the ABA fishoff which has 175-225 boats all the time and that would be a load at Havasu. Sounds like plenty of Casino's at Clear Lake, Wine Country, ect... Rick G.

[Ray L.]

even the #'s for ABA have been dropping every year for the fish off. Heck who wants to fish a 1 day crap shoot for a team finals.
I still like Mead. It is a challenge yes but fishing can be very good.
This is a tough time of year there every year. Heck look back at it. I think Clause was 1 of the last big weights to win an Open. That was many moons ago.

[micropterus]

I vote for more water ... we need a couple back to back wet winters and big snow packs in the Rockies. 'Back In the Day' .. I am thinking of the late 1990's the water level at Lake Mead was as high as we'll ever see. The 'water people' were taking advantage of El Nino storms to store water, they knew they needed it for the new res in So Cal (DVL) and Lake Pleasant in AZ (doubled in size). Just my opinion. Now is a great a time as any for a Lake Mead fish story .... I spent a weeks vacation each of those years up at Mead and the fishing was fantastic as many of you can attest. I would go up the week after Memorial Day. One trip I trailered up to Echo bay from Boulder City (Yikes!), fished around the Cathedral Cyn area, took out my binocs and looked across Overton Arm and saw a lot of submerged brush on the other side. Motored over to the other side and came in near that 'bluff' approx two miles west of the islands. It looked great. Started throwing a rip bait and the bass (and stripers) were all over it. It was overcast, then the wind came up out of the west and I found myself being pushed east, downwind, two foot rollers, throwing that ripper ... the fish were going wild, it was amazing. I would drift all the way past the last island near that south shore catching fish all the way in. Fire up the big motor, drive west for two miles back to the bluff and do it all over again. The next four days I 'commuted' in my boat from Hemmenway Harbor up to the Echo Bay and the fishing was better each day. Getting 20-30 fish LM and Stripers up to 5 lbs. Back then you could even take a short cut behind Middle Point in the Virgin Basin and continue out toward Echo. Best fishing of my life anywhere .... Anyway, more water would help for sure.

Dan Curtis