Water temps over the last few days have been holding in the low 70s during the mornings and climbing to around 72° by late afternoon. Sunrise has been right around 7 AM, and overall conditions have been steady with light winds and mild fall weather. I’ve been all over the lake the past few days running charters and scouting, so here’s a breakdown by location and technique. Sod Farm to the Casino: I haven’t spent a ton of time up this way recently, but I did dedicate a morning to checking it out. We started working the Sod Farm and had mild success pulling fish on a 6” paddle tail. I marked a fair amount of bait, though the shad are still grouped in smaller pods rather than big, dense schools. Once the water cools off a bit more, we should see those shad bunch up tighter and attract more aggressive striper. Out in front of the Casino, the bite has been fast and furious right as the sun hits the water, but it slows quickly. You’ll often see a solid school on the graph one minute and it’s gone the next — they’re clearly chasing and feeding on the move. Thompson Bay to Steamboat Cove: There’s tons of bait in this stretch, and it’s been producing good opportunities for striper boils. Many of the fish in this area have been quality 2–4 pounders, especially if you can get on the boil early. The biggest fish this week actually came from this area — my 4-year-old son landed a beautiful striper just over 5 pounds! The boils here have been short-lived, firing up as soon as the sun breaks the horizon and tapering off within the hour. Once that happens, switch gears to bait fishing or throwing lures. The lake is still turning over, so visibility is limited, but as that clears, expect the jig bite to improve once the morning boil dies off. Be sure to keep a pair of binoculars handy — scanning for birds working the water is the best way to find active fish. On Sunday, despite 15 mph winds, I located a large group of birds over Thompson Bay. Even in tough conditions, we were able to throw lures and pull a few solid fish from those boils. From Pilot Rock to Steamboat Cove, I’ve been marking good striper schools working shad, and we’ve had excellent success casting jigs directly above them for quality fish. Black Meadow Landing, Three Dunes, & Cattail Cove: These areas have been producing boils with much more consistency. I’ve also been marking tons of bait, and they’re balled up tighter together than in other parts of the lake. My customers have been throwing blade baits, paddle tails, and jigs in all the coves throughout this stretch and continue to catch high numbers of striper of all sizes — even when we’re not directly on an active boil. Bonus Note – Catfish: Channel cats are starting to school up with the fall pattern in full swing. We’ve been catching back-to-back channels in the same holes — often while fishing for striper. Don’t hesitate to drop a bottom rig to take advantage of the opportunity. If you catch one, there’s a good chance another is nearby. Fishing is only getting better as the lake cools down!

Sunrise was just before 7 AM, water temps were holding around 72°, and the wind was light. The lake is still turning over, so water clarity isn’t great, but the conditions finally came together for an incredible morning. I’ve been saying for weeks that the north end of the lake had all the ingredients for boils — bait, striper, and birds in the air — and today was the day! I had two Havasu locals on board for a 3-hour trip to learn how to fish our beautiful lake. As we were heading toward Pilot Rock for some early morning trolling, I noticed a shad get tossed in the air by a striper. I stopped the boat, pulled the jigs out, and by then, the birds were diving — it was game on! They ended up landing 9 nice stripers in total! We eventually tried trolling, but the bite had slowed. We finished the morning over in Thompson Bay, where short, scattered boils were still popping off. We switched to bait fishing and picked up our fair share of schoolies to end a great morning. Reports from the south end near Three Dunes show strong morning boils the last couple of days — a perfect starting point if you’re heading out this weekend!

Water temps have continued to drop, holding around 71–72° in the early morning and climbing to 74° by late afternoon. Sunrise is about 6:30 AM and sunset is around 6 PM. I haven’t spent much time on the north end lately, but I’ve heard reports of both bait and striper showing up around Mesquite Bay. Most of my recent charters have focused on the south end of the lake, and fishing has been solid down here. With the full moon behind us and a new moon tomorrow (Oct 21), we’re seeing more surface activity and expect boils to continue increasing. My October 18th charter landed two great boils near Three Dunes—one around 7 AM and another at 9 AM. Tons of fish were caught, with the biggest measuring 23" and just shy of 3 lbs. The hot lures were ¾–1 oz jigs and Little George’s. Trolling has been slower the past couple of weeks but still consistent. We’ve been running 4" and 6" paddle tail swimbaits on ½ oz jig heads, along with lipless rattle traps—dark colors early, switching to white once the sun hits the water. The stretch from Pilot Rock south to Standard Wash continues to produce quality fish for those trolling at the right depths. I’ll be heading out solo tomorrow morning, so stay tuned for part two!