Dorado

Beetle Spins are my favorite lures to throw at slab crappie when they spawn in the shallows and I catch so many largemouths that way

I have a blast sight fishing them in our clearer waters with a Berkley Havoc Rocket Craw or Tubes. Two of my top producers

Don't get me wrong, post spawn, ripping a chatterbait thru grass draws such viscous reaction bites. However, that's a short window for me in Arizona because the vegetation will eventually get too thick. They're not weedless let's just say that. Last year, I finally discovered the swim jig and that was a game changer when the weeds got thick. It was love and first sight when it came to swim jigs. Good luck buddy!

I actually fish a white (threadfin shad color from TW) chatterbait w/ a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper trailer in open water a lot during the Fall from my kayak. Late summer and Fall, I prefer paddletails with a constant retrieval (not too fast and not too slow). During pre-spawn, totally different approach, I'll use the same chatterbait but use a Zoom Super Fluke Jr (white ice) as a trailer. It's all about the Yo-Yo technique, exactly how you would fish a lipless crank or a blade bait, in drop-offs close to where I'll think they'll spawn. Mouths of coves, for an example. The chatterbait at night is one of my favorite search baits of all time! No grass needed!

For this time of year, finesse is king IMO and having finesse type gear would be the ultimate investment for ponds like these. The southern end appears to have the shallower portions, judging by the map. I would imagine that the water would be warmer than the northern end with those steeper banks transitioning into deeper water. I would concentrate in the southern portion, especially favoring those rockier areas, and throw a green pumpkin Ned Rig. Use the lightest shroom head possible Fish it like a shakeyhead and almost dead stick it. Few rod twitches in between moving it a foot or two. Just be slow and methodical. Use 6# line. Next, fish a weightless wacky rigged 4” Green Pumpkin w/ Black Flake Senko. Try to cast that as close to reeds as possible. You want it to descend as slowly and seductively as possible. Use 6# line. Lastly, a 3” Kalins Grub In Ron’s Craw or 3” Berkley Power Grub In Pumpkin Seed on a light jighead. Slow roll that by deploying casts parellel to shore. I like the Keitech Easy shiner and Swing Impact suggestion too from the previous response. Good luck!

What type of retrieval worked the best for your ned rigs?

Do you know the forage in that pond?

Tom, does co-polymer line like Pline Fuoroclear float similar to mono?

I like your style. Referencing the tube, How do you retrieve it? I want to try this bank fishing and I’m envisioning the Action underwater Thanks!

Welcome!

Postspawn is one of my favorite periods because it reminds me of Fall. Your response is almost identical to mine. Here’s mine in order: 1) weightless Trick Worm in candy bug 2) Shad chatterbait with paddletail or grub trailers 3) Pop-R popper in baby bass 4) weightless Zoom Fluke Jr in white ice or albino or baby bass 5) Mann’s Baby One-Minus in variations of fire tiger colors. Honorable mentions: Zara Spook in either Black and Silver or Bone, 3” or 4” white grubs on underspins using waking methods, and my prized Livetarget Baitball Series Threadfin squarebill New for 2018 postspawn: swimjigs resembling Shad and bream along with Bluegill and juvenile bass-imitating swimbaits

Nice toy collection! My arsenal is a living bio dome that evolves daily it seems like.

I have this exact same rod and used it for mostly for inline spinners and kast master spoons for trout. However, ever since I moved to Arizona I converted it for finesse gear for large mouths and it has enough backbone to wrestle 2-3 lbers. I highly recommend the HMG ML for what you’re seeking

Thanks for the heads up and background again. You seriously saved me a road trip. I’ll book an RSVP first. Bookmarked the website.

Thanks buddy. Have you checked out KrakenBass website? It’s very Havasu-centric and he offers detailed tips. Seems like that place has a nice smallie population and world famous redears right? I’ll PM you if I’m ever in the area! I’m always down to fish with new anglers. When I lived in Colorado, everybody wanted to meet and fish. It was so easy. Arizona is different as anglers keep mostly to themselves. Just my observation

Cool post! I’ve only fished it once and it was for channel cats from shore. It was a couple years ago and I heard gun shots all around me. It was such a sketchy experience that I haven’t been back since. But, these posts lately have this hidden lake back on the radar. I pray that this gem will remain “hidden” and that the internet doesn’t spotlight this place for the poachers and people who do not practice safe catch-and-release. Personally, I discovered it by exploring Google Earth. I’ll take my kayak this month and follow your tips. Trust me, your secret is safe with me. I’m a vault. We haven’t met yet In person but I’m really stoked for you that you’ve had such amazing success!

After a January slump I knew I had to bounce back. Went to a highly pressured urban pond after work. Timed the churn of the prespawn just right this week with daytime temps at a constant low 80s. Bass were finally where I predicted they’d be from the past couple years and grubs (once again)all sparked a memorial night. Kalins 3” single tail grub in Ron’s Craw on a slider head caught four in the smaller range. Missed a nice cat last week on that same setup Also the Zoom Fat Albert (also in 3” but thicker body) in Junebug on a boring ol darterhead got anniliahted by the 2#-3# gals. One even chased it up to my feet No true signs of Threadfin yet moving to the shallows otherwise white grubs subsurface would’ve been the ticket however, there was plenty proof indicating that they were honing in on Watermelon red crawdads off staging points (see pic below). Those junebug and crawdad colored grubs were slow rolled off the bottom with slight rod twitches. I believe the downward position of the grub’s tail stirred up some debris and caused other disturbances to possibly mimic a scurrying crayfish. All caught on 6# co-polymer line on my beloved President reel and a Fenwick HMG medium-light spinning rod with semi-loose drag so the fights were insanely fun

I'm going to highjack my own thread that I started and say that I wish I lived in Grand Junction. You're extremely lucky to live in such an amazing part of our country.

from last month

I added the J-Spec because their HD Trout is one of my favorite Trout hard baits of all time. What’s your favorite J-Spec pattern?

This all sounds like a fun task and something I want to try this year. My old fishing buddy back in Denver customized Suspening Rogues by spray painting effects and using tape weight to find that perfect balance to em. He would just catch stupidly huge spawning walleyes at night along with some occasional bucketmouths Last time I threw the ol LC Pointer 65sp was fishing the San Juan River, below quality waters, in northern NM. It was early fall and catching 20+ pre-spawning Brownies and piggy bows. I should resurrect those lures for warm water species.

It’s a good argument

I fish highly pressured urban ponds and favor bodies of water with LMB + multi-species (especially crappie and channel cats). What finesse type jerk baits or twitch baits do you recommend? I was looking into smaller Rapala X-Raps (XR6 or XR8) and 2.75" Yo-Zuri 3DS Series Minnows. Thanks for the replies in advance

All I had for scale was a large jar of salmon eggs. My digital scale was out of batteries that day. Go figure

I use flukes for stripers from my yak and use a Side sweeping jerk to impart action. Works just as effectively than thinking you have to jerk downwards sitting so close to the surface.