BY MIKE STEVENS
BULLHEAD CITY, Az. – With striped bass perking up below Davis Dam as well as finally starting to bite on Lake Mohave, the Colorado River chain is starting to exhibit the mixed bag opportunity those familiar with the watershed know it’s capable of.
“Our local anglers are using anchovies to land some nice striped bass,” said Rusty Braun of Riviera Marina. “Mike Merrett along with Ruseel and Evan Mynk were fishing off a SeaDoo in the lower Big Bend area and having a great time with (school size) stripers. There are a bunch of them running in that size, but they get bigger. Gabriel Rosales landed a 40.25-inch striper in the 20-pound range while fishing from shore with anchovies at Davis Camp.”
Up on Lake Mohave, linesides are still popping up in the zone between Katherine Landing and the dam, and anglers on the water when the wind isn’t an issue are getting some biters after what seems like weeks of all show and no go. That bite started to pick up during “The Battle of Bullhead” striper tournament, and Corey King of Torrance reached out to WON after having a good time in that event.
“This was the first striper tournament we have ever competed in,” It was a lot of work, but we had a blast. My son, 14-year-old Ethan King caught a nice striper on the river.”
Smallmouth bass continue to be the most consistent bite throughout that same zone on Mohave with finesse baits still picking off lofty numbers of chunky bronzebacks.
Some larger striped bass have been popping up in the coves and off points in across a large area “downstream” of Willow Beach where trophy striper hunters are finding some action slow trolling or casting swimbaits or working glidebaits.
The trout bite right around Willow Beach Marina has been solid thanks to weekly ongoing plants, and it seems like the quality of the rainbows being stocked have been bigger and better looking of late. Scott Martin of Barstow regularly makes the drive to Willow Beach to jump on whatever’s offering the best bite, and this time it was trout in the chilly water. He found some feeding trout and picked off a bunch in the 2- to 4-pound range on 1/16-ounce Hookup Baits in white shad.
