Columnist Paula DelGiudice: Local anglers keen on catching big stripers

Paula DelGiudice

Wednesday, May 3, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

Paula DelGiudice's outdoors notebook appears weekly. Reach her at PDelGiudice@compuserve.com.

Although big stripers can be caught at lakes Mead and Mohave anytime, this time of year is usually the most reliable for catching fish. The fish head for the shallows to spawn when water temperatures begin to warm.

During this time, many anglers like to fish at night, jigging anchovies or trolling. Many a big striped bass has been taken at Lake Mead this way.

At Lake Mohave, according to Nevada Division of Wildlife reports, anglers are using a piece of squid and half an anchovy on the same hook to catch fish. The action on Mohave is happening above Cottonwood Cove, where boaters are finding schools of fish that are holding at 25-30 feet.

Everyone is familiar with the striped bass and its favorite meal -- stocked rainbow trout. Some very big striped bass have been taken looking for a free meal when the trout stockings take place on Mohave.

For those who like to take advantage of this phenomenon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to stock rainbow trout at Willow Beach on Thursday. The fish-stocking and the spawning season should make for some good fishing at Mohave in the next few weeks.

* WILDLIFE MEETING: Big-game tag quotas will be the agenda highlight when the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners meets Friday and Saturday in Henderson. The meeting will be held on the Henderson campus of the Clark County Community College, 700 College Drive, at 1 p.m. Friday.

Friday's session includes a report from the National Park Service on current programs and new initiatives at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Commissioners will also review proposed revisions to their policy on predator management, select projects for funding from the Heritage Account and hear a report from their access committee on range fire reseeding projects.

The Saturday meeting gets under way at 8:30 a.m. with approval of budgets for county wildlife advisory boards, setting of big-game hunting quotas and consideration of a proposal to allow disabled hunters to use crossbows for big game hunting. Also to be considered: a proposal to establish a steering committee to work with NDOW on developing a policy and plan for bighorn sheep management.