The Bass College

I spent 4 days on Saquaro this past week. In a nutshell it was......unbelievable, I really got to work on my sight fishing skills and watch the fish progress through the stages of the spawn. Between last week at Havasu and this week at Saguaro I feel like I took a graduate course in fishing the spawn. I will post a story on my blog this week about both Havasu and Sag. But in the meantime, the water temps rose from 59-60 in the beginning of the week to 64ish by friday. The water was clear most days and the fish were in various stages of spawning. I did good on secondary points for the females, while the males were on the beds. On Friday some females were moving on to the beds and starting to lock on with the males. It was a ton of fun. Caught them on everything from drop-shot to texas rigged creature baits and jigs.

cool Tom  when you have clear water sight fishing is one of my favorite ways to fish

I was out at Saguaro on Sunday after we had a major wind storm and prefrontal conditions with lack of sun. I had been up there for the last few weeks on Sundays fishing the beds and it was the same this week. I went to new places but this time I saw the females and males starting to lockup on the nests together. The males were still keeping them off but they were hovering close. Any time a female would get close to the nest the male would get aggressive push her off then attack the bait. Some of the fish are seeming to be getting skittish from repeated intrusions and probably sore mouth from being caught. Had a massive female, over 10 easy, last week that I swung and missed just before two big males pushed her out to deeper water. None of that size this week but did have one close to 5lbs on the scale that came after the boat she was so aggressive. All in all the bed fishing is still great just takes more patience than previous weeks but they are still in the early process of the spawn and should see another wave of females soon. Best baits are smaller creature baits in natural colors or senkos.

Nice Chris Thanks and welcome.

Good report Chris, It seems like the water conditions change sometimes hourly in that lake depending on how they are pumping it. I have noticed when they raise the level it gets dirtier and then it will get clearer as they drop it. Throw wind and boat traffic on top of that and you basically never know what the clarity will be like. i think I have 2 more weeks of going there before I really concentrate on Roosevelt and hopefully they will still be moving up in waves. I think after last weekend and the full moon and spring break over, the pressure should subside a little. (hopefully)

Had an evening tournament there about 2 weeks ago, sorry for the late post. I got to prefish a few nights prior to the tournament, and developed a pattern on the Carolina Rig. Found most the bites came in about 20 ft of water off a shelf near where small rock and grass met. Decided that was the bite I was going to focus on considering the tournament was 6pm-10pm and 3 fish limit. I met Tom in person finally, great guy. Decided to hit the spots I had found fish and it only produced one fish, 2.75lbs until about 7:30. In the same area I was in I figured might as well try the steeper wall that had bigger chunk rock that dropped from 5ft-15ft then a drop to 25ft which then dropped to 50ft. That was the key as I missed a few fish that were eating it on the drop and figuring I was still dropping, needless to say I learned fast and caught two more very quickly, 3.25lbs and 2.5lbs and was catching fish almost every other cast. Those were the three I weighed and know probably should have had more weight but it ended up being enough for the win. 8.58lbs for 3 fish limit on a tough night.

awesome try and take some pictures or better yet a video if possible !

I kinda had the same pattern going on as Chris did, Carolina rigs on secondary areas near grass. I didn't get the same quality bites as he did, He ended up winning the thing, I think I got 9th. Chris is the real deal! I am looking forward to fishing against him again. Chris and I have been talking alot and sharing info and I respect him for that.

Jonathon, I just picked up a Kodak Playsport, best buy has them for $89 now. so I am going to work on getting some videos.

Great that is the deal Tom.

Glad able to help people out, its about spreading the knowledge. I'll see you at the next tournament there Tom. Ill prefish it again to see if the patterns are holding or if theyve completely moved again.

Chris, if I get the chance to work overtime that night I will. I need to pay for my Alaska trip and new tires.... Anyway, If I don't get the overtime call, I will be there. Probably fishing the same kind of pattern, but I do have a few secrets up my sleeve this time...:D

I took a friend prefishing for his Western Division High School Championship yesterday. It was the day after a major storm and was by far the coldest morning all year. I figured Id start in a deep ledge area and show him some new spots around the lake since he never fishes it. Sure enough first cast caught a small one on a drop shot. We fished the area as well as the around the corner and it produced a few more fish, time to change spots since was prefish. We hit another ledge but wa sover grown with grass and fish werent in it. We decided to hit the points in the secondary lake and it produced a few bites a small keepers. Time to hit the steep cliff banks, within a couple cast we had fish including a fat keeper that went about 2.5 which isnt bad for a 14 inch fish! These fish a feeding heavily on shad and have the stomachs to prove it. The Florida Stran stocking was a success there for sure. We finished out the day on some reefs and threw topwaters as well with a few short strikes and blowups. Turned out wasnt too bad of day for post frontal conditions and bright blue skies. Dropshots are working as well as smaller topwaters and jigs. Heard the spoon bite was on but couldnt locate them this time.

Well the Spawn has start at Saguaro, I have been out there the last 2 weeks and even though the water is 55-57 I have been catching fish on the beds. They are just starting as there are a ton of beds being made but few fish on them. The recent cold front that came through pushed them off the beds so the next full moon should really lock them in. Most the fish that were locked on were in slightly deeper water 7-15ft. The shallow fish were really spooked when anyone came near. My baits of choice thta have worked well when few are catching them have been the Warmouth and the Sweet Beaver. Hopefully I will catch a big female this year, last year was few 4-5lbers but I want a bigger one this year.

Great reports I would REALLY like to have some videos of you guys fishing and catching something. It is much easier to promote you the right way with video. Thanks 

Well I have been spending time on Saguaro the last 4 days breaking in the motor on the boat and all I can say is A-Rigs are amazing. I found a spot in 56ft of water with bass,shad, and yellow bass suspended in 25-40ft. The first day I graphed it, the second day, i fished it for 15 mins and had 3 fish. Fished a Thanksgiving Day get together for some bragiing rights and won them with a 5lb big fish, and a limit that would have went 17lbs+ with tons that we caughted and culled. A friend heard of the bite I was on and called me to go this morning. I was a little worried since we hit them so hard yesterday but said why not. We got out there and he had to use my main A-rig rod since he didnt have any tackle with him but oh well, about 7:45 the fish started biting and it was on for a little over and hour with a limit over 16lbs. The rig I was throwing outfished the original A-Rig 10-1 and had another 15 bites over the original. We were using skinny Dippers as the main baits. Ill be out again in a few days to see if the bite is still as incredible as it has been.

awesome chris , sounds like you had a blast!!!

Tom, I did. Ive never been on a bite as much fun as this one. When most guys are struggling to get bit and we catching solid fish consistantly and having fun while doing it, theres not much better!

Great Report Chris !

get some video please. Thanks