05-18-2004, 12:54 AM
Lake Mead Report – South Cove. Some trip beta: South Cove is about 120 miles from Las Vegas. Drive down AZ 93 40 miles past Hoover Dam to turn off. Look for signs on the 93 to Pierce Ferry and Meadview. Gas is available in Dolan Springs and Meadview. Meadview Store is open from 7:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. No authorized camping at the South Cove launch area, but several close beach places you can boat to. Ramp is narrow with low water – only room for 2 boats – and launching anything with a draft more than 24” would be risky. Last 4 miles to ramp is 7% grade. Ramp area is now also exposed to the prevailing NW winds. Parking for maybe 100 rigs. OK covered picnic area. Nearest drinking water available in Meadview. Overall it is a low key zone mostly used by fishermen from Kingman (a few from CA) and the rafting concession. They have their own staging area and are professional and courteous.
Fishing on Saturday, May 15th. Launched at 5:30 in mini-tournament from Kingman – total of maybe 20 rigs and I fished primary and secondary points upstream through South Bay to beginning of Iceberg Canyon. No wind. Surface temp – 68.5 to 69 °. Visibility 6 ft. Lots of small Tilapia, bluegill and fingerling bass present at the launch area. Surprisingly I saw no crawfish either day.
Predominate area rock is striated basalt. I tried fishing deeper to 30 ft, but bass were staged shallow drops in 5 to 10 ft, near structure on structure. That is, frequently, on a chunk rock spot on a reef shelf. Proximity to main lake points seemed important. Never located any bass back in the coves. Bass biting for me on swimbait, Texas rigged brass and glass plastics. Had 2 OK bass in the livewell by 11:00 A.M. and lost or scared maybe 5 more just because I motored over an area before I recognized it as a holding spot. Lake knowledge is a real advantage here due to many places being offshore and subtle. Right now it is still possible to get into Iceberg Canyon, but water is colored (visibility 0) and gets shallow so if you go, go slow once you get to Iceberg Reef.
1:00 P.M. trailered the Skeeter and drove up to Meadview to gas up the Toyota. When I got back to South Cove the overcast had fully developed and wind was blowing out of the NW about 10 to 15 MPH. At 5:00, I motored over about 1 ½ miles to what I hoped was the lee shore northwest of the launch area (Gold Cross Bay and Round Rock Point). It is an area of steeper walls and chunk rock slides. Still wind exposed, but not as bad as the south side. There is a shelf in many places at 10 to 20 ft and then a drop into deeper water and the channel. Local AZ fishermen mentioned it was an area where schools of stripers hang out. As I got within 50 yds of shore I noticed a cormorant with outspread wings warning me off and I suspected I was in a good spot. Motoring up to shore to look at the breaklines pattern confirmed that when I saw shad dead in the shallow rocks. I put on a swimbait on one rod and a spitting shad surface plug on another. First cast with the plug got a vicious strike. Every subsequent spitting shad cast resulted in vicious striper and 2 bass strikes for next 2 ½ hours. I tried a popper for 10 minutes, but they wouldn’t hit it. Out at 8:00 PM and wind finally died off at 11:00 PM.
Fishing on Sunday, May 16th. Woke up at 4:30 with sore fingers from releasing fish to calm conditions. Definitely postfrontal. Launch at 5:30 AM. Two large schools of shad at the launch dock, but no fish herding them. Surface Water Temp. 66 °. By noon temp was 70 °. I drove 3 miles downstream and fished downstream into Gregg Basin and the entrance of the Virgin Gorge. If you go here watch the speed and navigation carefully. Many points come shallow way out into the lake and some points extend across cove mouths (Hualapai Bay); could do bad things to the boat.
Having eliminated a deep pattern Saturday, I fished several outside reefs) and steeper walls on rock islands (Hualapai Island and Channel Island area). The fish were tight and skittish; had 3 bass by 9:30. Missed or lost 3 others. All caught on plastics in 15 ft or shallower. Dead sticking worked and just a slow lift and drop presentation.
Then I fished into Hualapai Bay on the south shore with no bites. Shad present on the graph, but no surface activity. About noon wind had developed and I decided to go down into the mouth of the Virgin Gorge. Lots of steep walls there and I got off the main channel. Fished a ¾ oz. Yamamoto Football head shad pattern jig, pitching it tight to the rocks where the drops were more than 15 ft and backed up with 1/8 oz. brass and glass rig for the shallower shelves. Caught 2 bass like that; fishing behind one of the tournament fisherman. Graphed a couple more coves, got my jig nibbled by some Tilapia in Spring Cove and called it a day at 4:00.
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Fishing on Saturday, May 15th. Launched at 5:30 in mini-tournament from Kingman – total of maybe 20 rigs and I fished primary and secondary points upstream through South Bay to beginning of Iceberg Canyon. No wind. Surface temp – 68.5 to 69 °. Visibility 6 ft. Lots of small Tilapia, bluegill and fingerling bass present at the launch area. Surprisingly I saw no crawfish either day.
Predominate area rock is striated basalt. I tried fishing deeper to 30 ft, but bass were staged shallow drops in 5 to 10 ft, near structure on structure. That is, frequently, on a chunk rock spot on a reef shelf. Proximity to main lake points seemed important. Never located any bass back in the coves. Bass biting for me on swimbait, Texas rigged brass and glass plastics. Had 2 OK bass in the livewell by 11:00 A.M. and lost or scared maybe 5 more just because I motored over an area before I recognized it as a holding spot. Lake knowledge is a real advantage here due to many places being offshore and subtle. Right now it is still possible to get into Iceberg Canyon, but water is colored (visibility 0) and gets shallow so if you go, go slow once you get to Iceberg Reef.
1:00 P.M. trailered the Skeeter and drove up to Meadview to gas up the Toyota. When I got back to South Cove the overcast had fully developed and wind was blowing out of the NW about 10 to 15 MPH. At 5:00, I motored over about 1 ½ miles to what I hoped was the lee shore northwest of the launch area (Gold Cross Bay and Round Rock Point). It is an area of steeper walls and chunk rock slides. Still wind exposed, but not as bad as the south side. There is a shelf in many places at 10 to 20 ft and then a drop into deeper water and the channel. Local AZ fishermen mentioned it was an area where schools of stripers hang out. As I got within 50 yds of shore I noticed a cormorant with outspread wings warning me off and I suspected I was in a good spot. Motoring up to shore to look at the breaklines pattern confirmed that when I saw shad dead in the shallow rocks. I put on a swimbait on one rod and a spitting shad surface plug on another. First cast with the plug got a vicious strike. Every subsequent spitting shad cast resulted in vicious striper and 2 bass strikes for next 2 ½ hours. I tried a popper for 10 minutes, but they wouldn’t hit it. Out at 8:00 PM and wind finally died off at 11:00 PM.
Fishing on Sunday, May 16th. Woke up at 4:30 with sore fingers from releasing fish to calm conditions. Definitely postfrontal. Launch at 5:30 AM. Two large schools of shad at the launch dock, but no fish herding them. Surface Water Temp. 66 °. By noon temp was 70 °. I drove 3 miles downstream and fished downstream into Gregg Basin and the entrance of the Virgin Gorge. If you go here watch the speed and navigation carefully. Many points come shallow way out into the lake and some points extend across cove mouths (Hualapai Bay); could do bad things to the boat.
Having eliminated a deep pattern Saturday, I fished several outside reefs) and steeper walls on rock islands (Hualapai Island and Channel Island area). The fish were tight and skittish; had 3 bass by 9:30. Missed or lost 3 others. All caught on plastics in 15 ft or shallower. Dead sticking worked and just a slow lift and drop presentation.
Then I fished into Hualapai Bay on the south shore with no bites. Shad present on the graph, but no surface activity. About noon wind had developed and I decided to go down into the mouth of the Virgin Gorge. Lots of steep walls there and I got off the main channel. Fished a ¾ oz. Yamamoto Football head shad pattern jig, pitching it tight to the rocks where the drops were more than 15 ft and backed up with 1/8 oz. brass and glass rig for the shallower shelves. Caught 2 bass like that; fishing behind one of the tournament fisherman. Graphed a couple more coves, got my jig nibbled by some Tilapia in Spring Cove and called it a day at 4:00.
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