Bartlett Lake and Reports
Monday, February 26th, 2024
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Report: At Bartlett Lake (report courtesy of Sportsman's Warehouse), the crankbait bite is slow, but dropshot and Texas rigs are producing fish. The best bite seems to be later in the day. Remember, bass can be caught around boulders and in brush lines on Senkos and spinnerbaits. The lake is 49% full. Be careful when launching. Crappie is just starting, try around the Yellow Cliffs with 1/16-ounce jigs and 2-inch Kalins. Slow trolling can work well. Catfish are becoming active. In the days and weeks to come they will be lurking the shallows in search food. For channel cats, use live worms, stink baits and chicken livers. For flatheads, load up with big line 20-pound plus, fish 5-15 feet deep with live worms, live bluegill of small carp. Rig up a Carolina rig with 1-ounce egg sinker to help keep your bait on the bottom. Fish from dusk to dawn.
Thursday, February 2nd, 2023
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Report: At Bartlett Lake, angler Gary S. reported some slow fishing the other day due to the cold temperatures. Had some success on 5150 worms, which should produce as the weather warms. Fish were in about 12-15 feet of water. Drop shot worked well. See Gary's' videos on his Youtube channel.
Along the lower Salt River, AZ Fly Shop has a good video fishing report from Jan. 21. Visit https://www.azflyshop.com/videos/?v=e748b7c8fd06.
Jeffrey Lewis has a video on carp fishing in the Valley canals. He recently caught a 16-pound carp. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luLflYanKHY.
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022
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Report: At Bartlett Lake, angler Gary S. was catching bass drop shotting a 5150 pink worm. Most were caught at 18-19 feet deep, a couple around 10 feet, nothing shallow. Water temp was 65 degrees. No really big fish, but a lot of fun.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2018
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Report: AZGF
BY NICK WALTER · NOVEMBER 7, 2018
Here’s a quick update on the AZ crappie scene:
Bartlett Lake
The water temperature has dropped from 88 to 69 during the past 3 weeks. Better reports have been coming in from Bartlett that indicate crappie have been moving from deep water to about 10 feet. Some anglers were having success with small crankbaits by the power lines by the dam. Try small jigs or live minnows for crappie in 10 to 20 feet of water during the day. Most crappie have been in the 8- to 10-inch range but some anglers reportedly were catching crappie up to 2 pounds.
Friday, December 18th, 2015
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Report: From AZGFD
BARTLETT LAKE - Lake elevation is 1,748 feet, feet, 49 % full.
The Yellow Cliffs boat ramp is closed due to low water level; the Jojoba ramp remains open.
Gary Senft, Bass Pro at the Mesa Bass Pro Shops, fished Dec. 6 and reported the fish are going deeper, but still biting. Smaller fish from this spring are getting a lot bigger. He threw dropshots, Texas rigs, crankbaits and spinner baits.
Once the sun comes up, anglers should consider switching to dropshot-rigged worms (most colors have been effective) fishing points, reefs and islands.
Anglers also can try jigs, shakyhead rigged worms in green pumpkin, and 3-inch Rapala Shad Raps.
Finally, anglers are likely catching some huge flatheads at Bartlett right now using small bluegills (3 to 4 inchers) as bait.
These voracious monsters that can tips the scales well above 50 pounds are actively roaming the lake right now looking for meals, so this is still a great time to catch them. Stout poles and heavy line (20 pounds or better) are the order of the day.
Saturday, December 5th, 2015
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Report: From AZGFD
BARTLETT LAKE - Lake elevation is 1,748 feet, feet, 49 % full.
The Yellow Cliffs boat ramp is closed due to low water level; the Jojoba ramp remains open.
Gary Senft, Bass Pro at the Mesa Bass Pro Shops, fished Dec. 6 and reported the fish are going deeper, but still biting. Smaller fish from this spring are getting a lot bigger. He threw dropshots, Texas rigs, crankbaits and spinner baits.
Once the sun comes up, anglers should consider switching to dropshot-rigged worms (most colors have been effective) fishing points, reefs and islands.
Anglers also can try jigs, shakyhead rigged worms in green pumpkin, and 3-inch Rapala Shad Raps.
Finally, anglers are likely catching some huge flatheads at Bartlett right now using small bluegills (3 to 4 inchers) as bait.
These voracious monsters that can tips the scales well above 50 pounds are actively roaming the lake right now looking for meals, so this is still a great time to catch them. Stout poles and heavy line (20 pounds or better) are the order of the day.
Thursday, June 11th, 2015
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Report: Jim N.: Fished the flats using different rigs to catch bass. Mojo and splitshot, Carolina-rigged Roboworms and lizards work well around points and reefs with boulder piles on main points. Tyler D. and I caught and released 20 largemouth bass with a 2.5-pounder being the best. Good fishing!
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015
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Report: Lake elevation is 1,776 feet, feet, 71 % full.
Gary Senft, a Bass Pro at the Mesa Bass Pro Shops, fished the lake Wednesday, June 3, and said good numbers largemouth bass can be caught as deep as 35 feet. Like at many desert lakes, fishing at night might be the best option because of cooler air temperatures and no jet skiing activity. Good artificial bait options are dropshot-rigged Roboworms. At night, use darker colors. Texas or Carolina rigged Berkley 7-inch Powerworms with ribbon tails also are effective because they displace the water and trigger movement in the lateral lines of night-feeding bass.
“Flathead” Ed Wilcoxson said flathead catfishing slowed at Bartlett recently with an algal bloom. From Rattlesnake Cove, SB Cove and up the river, fishing is fair, he said, for 15-18-pound flatheads.
Saturday, May 30th, 2015
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Report: The lake level has dropped five feet during the past week.
Gary Senft, a Bass Pro at the Mesa Bass Pro Shops, said largemouth bass fishing is excellent. Water temperature on Monday morning was 73 degrees. He said anglers can catch some during the morning on crankbaits or spinnerbaits, but once the sun is up, bass will move into 10-15 feet of water into their comfort zone of about 65 degrees.
Anglers should try a variety of techniques: dropshots, Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, and with different colors of plastic worms.
“Flathead” Ed Wilcoxson said flathead catfishing slowed at Bartlett recently with an algal bloom. From Rattlesnake Cove, SB Cove and up the river, fishing is fair, he said, for 15-18-pound flatheads.
Thursday, May 14th, 2015
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Report: May 14 report from Jeremy Hoffman of the north Phoenix Sportsman's Warehouse: "Fishing is hot right now! Fish are being caught all over the lake on almost everything you can think of! The morning top-water bite is on for anglers throwing Ricos and Zara Puppies. Later in the day you can pick up fish on the old faithful dropshot rig with Roboworm colors such as oxblood lt., red flake, bold bluegill, and desert craw, just to name a few. Also, Zoom worms in watermelon candy will get the job done. Also, this is a great time to throw football jigs! One of my favorites is a 1/2-ounce football jighead with a 5-inch Gary Yamamoto Hula Grub in the 330 color (green pumpkin with purple/copper flakes). If you’re looking to throw crankbaits, try Rat-L-Traps and square bills in shad or craw colors."
Sunday, March 23rd, 2014
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Water Temp: 60 am 63 aftern
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: We fished Bartlett once again on Sun from 8am till 1PM as we had to be home by 2PM to be with the wife/kids. Working off the same pattern as the week before we fished primarily drop shot on main lake and secondary points leading into spawning coves. Seems every point held at least 1-2 fish in 15' of water like last week where the water clarity was at least a foot or more. This week we started at the dam and worked our way towards the middle of the lake. Didn't get our first fish in the boat until 10:45am however the size was a little better this week than last. Not as many bites but we're starting to put a better pattern together.
We didn't see much activity on the graph around the points near the dam area but we did see some huge schools of bass out in the middle of the lake over 100' of water chasing what looked like shad or bluegill in 30-40'. Not exactly sure how to catch those bass but we did try throwing spoons for them for a little bit. Any advice on how to catch those fish or what they are would be greatly appreciated.
Spoke to a few other boats who were on the same pattern as us running points and ran into a guy with a Tracker aluminum bass boat with his 2 teenage kids in the back. He too was out last Sunday and was catching unusually larger bass in the 3+ lb range last week whereas most our fish we were catching were rats. Rather than throwing the Bartlett staple of morning dawn chart tip roboworm (like we were throwing) he was throwing the new Strike King dropshot baits with the coffee scent built into the worm. This is probably the first time I've heard someone swear by strike kings coffee scent bait and probably wouldn't believe him until I had a chance to throw the baits myself. Especially with the report of how big the fish he was catching and how small some of the fish have been for us (largest was maybe 2.5 lbs the last 2 weeks). Then I saw some pics posted on the Facebook group by another angler holding (3) 3lb+ bass from Bartlett yesterday that was fishing the same area as us and I'm thinking I'll give them a try next outing. Doesn't hurt I suppose to give them a try as maybe that's the key to some bigger bites for us.
From what I can tell the bait he was throwing was a fairly good bluegill imitation bait and the roboworm we were throwing was more of a shad color bait. As for boat traffic it didn't seem to bad in the morning on Bartlett especially around the middle to south part of the lake. From what I heard Saguaro has been a zoo lately and the Rangers shut down the boat launch around 10:45am on Sag saying there was close to a 3 hr wait to launch a boat.
Tell you what the size of fish are no where near what you're seeing at Saguaro but at least the lake traffic is much more manageable. If we can get the bigger fish to go at Bartlett I'll be happy fishing a less pressured lake than dealing with the circus on Saguaro until the weather is warm enough for night fishing comfortably.
As for Bartlett conditions water temps in the am 60 degree 63 when we got off the lake at 1PM. Didn't see any fish on beds yet. Bartlett must spawn later than the Salt River chain of lakes. Threw dropshot, senko, shakey head, jigs, spoons and crankbait but only seemed to be able to catch them on dropshot.
City: Cave Creek
Sunday, March 16th, 2014
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Water Temp: 59 am 64 aftern
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Fished Bartlett with my buddy from 10am to 2:30 as we had a late start. Lots of boats on the water and the lake water level appears to be dropping. Sportsman's said the lake was a 60% but with this many boats the lake is fishing really small. We started up both above the no wake zone but all the brush was out if the water and looked like chocolate milk. Moves to the main lake and the water cleared up considerably and saw water temps from 59 in the morning to 64 by end of day. Caught about a dozen rats to 2lbs fishing a dropshot on 15 fort rock points leading into spawning coves and boulders. Missed just as many fish as we caught as it was a mush bite. Key for us was dead sticking the dropshot if you shook the bait they wouldn't bite. We threw cranks, spinnerbaits & jigs but couldn't get bit throwing anything moving.
Talked to a guy in a Champion who was on the same patten who only had 9 bass all day fish a Texas rig. Seems like the wind Sat messed up the bite but as the water warmed up the bite improved. No fish on beds yet. Bite should pickup in another few weeks
City: Cave CreekTips: Fish points leading into spawning coves in the middle part of the lake where you have at least 2' of water clarity or more.
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
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Water Temp: 76
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Fished from 10:30am till 3:30pm trying out some new gear on Bartlett. Only had 3 keepers on jigs before 1:30pm fishing main lake structure. Worked my way back up the river chasing shad and caught ~15 fish 13" and smaller on 1/4oz Yamamoto grubs & spinning rod realizing that they didn't want anything to do with my jig. I figured with the cold storm that downsizing would do the trick and it paid off catching a fish every 3rd or 4th cast while they were busting shad. Fun but not the size I was looking for.
Started to work my way back out from the back of the cove and ran into a big flathead catfish on the grub with 8lb test on a secondary point. After a little experimenting I decided to scale down the profile of my jig and caught 2 more keepers close to 14" before heading in for the day.
City: Scottsdale, AZ
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
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Water Temp: 77
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Fished from 1pm to sunset fishing jigs all day. Fished a 1/2oz Strike King Pro Model football head jig with a green pumpkin yamamoto twin tail trailer in 10-25 feet of water. Caught 7 fish with the bf weighing 3.2 pounds. Nice day on the water just using the time to get ready for the Stren Championship on Pickwick in a few weeks. Fish aren't quite in their fall pattern just yet and the lake is being dropped 1 ft per day as they are planning to repair the dam. Beware of unmarked obstacles as there are a few islands barely exposed at the moment.
City: Scottsdale, AZ
Saturday, February 8th, 2003
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Water Temp: 54
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: pretty slow, caught a ew 2-3lbs in around 14' to 25', purple lizard, bites happened during mid-morning near heavy rock structures
City: PhoenxTips: water is cold aound this time, use smaller baits and work it soooo very slow!!
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