Garry2rs...Chasing Bass in the Desert.

[Garry2Rs]

My neighbour and I were on Mittry Lake Reservoir, about 20 miles north of the city of Yuma AZ, this morning.

This man-made lake is totally surrounded by walls of west-coast bulrushes called Tules...pronounced Two-Lees. There are also plenty of cane beds, stands of Bamboo and assorted scruffy Palms.

Dividing the lake into canals and bays, are islands or ridges of these materials. Some are solid, but others have waterways through. The solid walls can be 20 or 30 feet thick. There are huge shallow bays on one side of the lake. The balance of the lake is a series of interlocked canals. Between the walls of cane and the main channel is a muddy ledge that can be from 0 to 15 feet wide and is about 3 or 4 feet deep. Then the bottom drops quickly into the channel which is anywhere from 8 to 11 feet deep.

Today we were experiencing heavy winds, out of the north, at about 20mph. These winds were churning up the shallow water and had reduced clarity to somewhere between murky and muddy.

As we headed into the main canal, I started casting a shallow running, square billed, crankbait in my new favourite pattern, Sexy Shad. I backed this up with a lipless Red-eye Shad in the same pattern.

Although the sky was clear, I reasoned that the waves caused by the wind, and the roiled water, would make the Bass feel confident enough to stay up in the shallows. I positioned the boat in deep water, angled away from the wind, so that we were pushed down the canal with the bow toward the deep side.

We fired crankbaits at an angle toward the weeds, retrieving back over the shallow ledge, the drop-off and into deeper water. On the wider shallow flats there were new green weed beds.  That's where we were ripping the rattle baits.

About mid-morning, around weeds on the shallow side of the drop-off, I hooked up with a good fish.

There were numerous good looking weed beds here that could now cause me grief, so we moved the boat farther out into the deeper water.

After a couple of minutes I was able to lip this 3lb 4oz Large Mouth.

For the next two hours we tried similar areas without success. By noon conditions were deteriorating. The wind was dropping, the chop was dying and what had been a cool morning was getting hotter by the minute. We headed back to the ramp.

It was only one fish, but, I was pleased with the outing. I've been away from Arizona since last March and this was my first fish, from this lake, this season.

Garry2R's

Fishing is my favourite form of Loafing!

[b.Lee]

Great write up and glad you had a great time!

[Tanker4lyfe]

I myself learned how to fish tules when i lived in So. Cal (San Diego). being that you had high winds just remember this. tules are the first place any bass forage will go when the winds pick up therefore the bass will follow my best days fishing tules always came pitching as deep into them as i could. on calm days my best sucess has come with one bait A SENKO tossed right on the edge of the tules. heres what can happen when you get real deep in the Tulles....

[Garry2Rs]

WOW!  I just gained a new affection for tules!!!

[DEbassman17]

I myself learned how to fish tules when i lived in So. Cal (San Diego). being that you had high winds just remember this. tules are the first place any bass forage will go when the winds pick up therefore the bass will follow my best days fishing tules always came pitching as deep into them as i could. on calm days my best sucess has come with one bait A SENKO tossed right on the edge of the tules. heres what can happen when you get real deep in the Tulles....

that's gotta be pushin 13. It looks like it's way over 12

[paul.]

nice fish and great write-up.  good luck on your next trip.

[firefightn15]

Ditto on the write up Garry.  Sounds like you know how to coax 'em when they need it.