Fishing report: Striped bass still the Lake Mead catch in Overton Arm area

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 10:29 a.m.

Nevada Department of Wildlife

Boaters have been concentrating their efforts approximately 200 yards off Special Events Beach where they have been taking stripers, including some weighing 4-5 pounds, in deep water. Even though the fishing has been more difficult for shore anglers, some stripers are being caught around Hemenway Harbor.

Some skinny stripers have been seen in the catch in recent weeks in the Boulder Basin. Nevada Department of Wildlife biologists said this could be due to this year's poor spawning success for threadfin shad in the Boulder Basin. They said that it appears there was nearly average shad production in the Overton Arm and high in Las Vegas Wash, but very low in the rest of the Boulder Basin.

Fairly good fishing has been taking place at night around Hemenway Harbor for those who are still fishing with stink bait and shrimp. Catfish and stripers are taking anchovies in that area.

NDOW creel census clerks report they have seen very few stripers during the past week at cleaning stations in the Overton Arm. There have been some reports of largemouth and smallmouth bass being caught around the islands in front of Echo Bay.

Stripers continue to bite for boaters who are fishing above Cottonwood Cove. The fish are generally small with many weighing less than a pound. The fish are being taken from 40 to 80 feet with anchovies. Some anglers are chumming with corn to attract the fish.

Dan Maes, NDOW installation specialist, said trout were hitting bass lures last week at Cold Springs Reservoir. Trout fishing should be good at Adams-McGill Reservoir because NDOW stocked the upper and lower ends of the lake last week with 14,000 fish.

Largemouth bass fishing has been slow, possibly because of a drop in the water temperature. Maes feels that bass could begin hitting soon because daytime temperatures that are hitting the mid-80s should raise the water temperature. However, the action could be short-lived because cooler fall weather should soon arrive in the area.

NDOW is reminding anglers that there are daily and possession limits of five trout at all lakes on the area. A misprint in the current issue of the fishing regulations brochure incorrectly lists the trout limits as 10 at Dacey and Tule reservoirs.