Lake Havasu Fishing Report – February 6

Summer has officially settled into Lake Havasu. Temperatures have been hot, the wind has been a regular challenge, and water temperatures are now well into the 80's and still climbing. I've been extremely busy with both party charters and fishing charters, but I finally found a moment to sit down and put together a fishing report. With the spawn now behind us for all of our major species, it's time to start focusing on post-spawn patterns. Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass Soft Plastic Pattern Post-spawn bass are beginning to slide off the banks and set up around secondary points, rock transitions, submerged brush, and offshore structure. One of my favorite techniques right now is a dropshot or Texas-rigged soft plastic. Four to six-inch Roboworms, Senkos, and small creature baits have been producing well. Target the areas around Copper Canyon, Thompson Bay, the points around California Bay, and rocky structure near Steamboat Cove. Focus on depths from 15-30 feet and pay close attention to isolated brush piles and rock piles. Early mornings and late evenings have been especially productive. Crankbait Pattern For anglers looking to cover water, medium-diving crankbaits have been excellent. Shad and crawfish patterns fished along chunk rock banks, tapering points, and ledges have been producing both largemouth and smallmouth. Some of my favorite areas include the points around the north basin, the mouth of Castle Rock Bay, and rocky banks between Site Six and Copper Canyon. Deflecting a crankbait off rock and keeping it in the 10-20 foot range has been triggering reaction bites from bass that are feeding up after the spawn. Sunfish I am still catching quality sunfish, but the bigger ones have moved deeper and are holding tight to structure that provides shade and cover. I am finding plenty of medium and smaller fish tucked up in the reeds. If you're fishing the reeds on bright bluebird days, expect the fish to be buried tight against the cover. When we get a little cloud cover, they seem much more willing to venture out and feed. A dropshot rig with a fairly heavy weight to maintain bottom contact, paired with a small Aberdeen hook tipped with a chunk of nightcrawler, has been getting the job done consistently. Striped Bass This post-spawn striped bass bite has been a little funky in my opinion. Some days have been fantastic and other days we've had to work hard for just a few fish. I've still been catching quality stripers in the 2-5 pound range by trolling before sunrise with the newer 6.5" Live Target swimbaits at around 2.5 mph using leadcore line. I've been seeing massive schools of 1-2 pound fish boiling all over the lake, especially in the north basin just north of Windsor State Park. Topwater poppers have had some success, but 3.5" white swimbaits have definitely been the ticket for getting those schooling fish to commit. Of course, I've continued to rely on the tried-and-true white fluke on a Pulse Jig head while trolling, and it continues to produce fish. However, lately I've been dealing with a lot of short strikes, which tells me the fish are feeding but aren't fully committed. Catfish Both flathead and channel catfish are definitely in their post-spawn phase, and I expect this bite to only continue improving. We've had some incredible nights chasing these fish with both live and cut bait. Some nights have been absolutely nonstop with runs, while others have been a little slower, but overall the bite has been trending upward. With the next full moon arriving on June 29th, I fully expect the night bite to continue ramping up.

Lake Havasu continues to fish like winter, with water temperatures holding steady in the mid-50s and days slowly starting to get longer. While conditions haven’t changed drastically temperature-wise, the biggest shift over the last few weeks has been in how we’re targeting stripers. We’ve started throwing the cast net for shad and incorporating live bait into the program, which has made a big difference on certain days. My live shad setup has been simple and effective: 30 lb braid to a 24-inch 15 lb fluorocarbon leader, rigged with a small circle hook and as little weight as possible depending on the depth the fish are holding. Boils are still popping up periodically, and when they do, it’s been game on. During those moments, I’m still throwing Rapala CrushCity swimbaits on a 1 oz jig head. In several of the same coves where stripers have pushed shad shallow, we’ve also caught a surprising number of both smallmouth and largemouth bass mixed in with the stripers, all feeding aggressively on the same baitfish. Fishing over this stretch has been a true mix of highs and lows. The good days have been unforgettable, with fast action and aggressive fish that make winter fishing worth every cold morning. On the flip side, the tough days have been grind-it-out kind of days. Even when you’re marking shad and stripers stacked together, it doesn’t always mean the bite is on, which is just part of winter fishing on Havasu. I only have a few open dates left for February

Lake Havasu has officially shifted into winter fishing mode, with sunrise now around 7:45 AM and the sun setting close to 5:45 PM. The weather has been all over the place, with wind, more wind, and even a little rain mixed in, but that’s been great news for the lake. All of that weather has pushed water temperatures down into the mid-50s, which is exactly where striped bass thrive this time of year. This temperature range is a sweet spot for stripers because it allows them to feed aggressively without burning too much energy, while shad also group up tightly in the cooler, oxygen-rich water, making them easier to hunt. The biggest change over the last couple of weeks has been the consistency of striper boils on the north end of the lake. I honestly haven’t had much reason to run south because the action up north has been that good. Find the birds and you’ll find the stripers. The boils have been lasting most of the day instead of just short windows, and some of our best fishing has happened on windy days. We’ve also been seeing better quality fish, with stripers regularly ranging from 2 to 6 pounds, and most of them are fat and full of shad. To stay on these roaming schools, I’ve adjusted my trolling program to match the conditions. When the birds are working, I’m typically running one of three lures: a ¾-ounce Cotton Cordell silver jig with a feathered treble hook, a white Fluke on a ¼-ounce Pulse jig head, or a Rapala CrushCity Mayor swimbait in shad color on a ¾-ounce Dobyns extra-long shank jig head. I’m pulling these baits on leadcore line, usually letting out three to four colors, and trolling between 2.5 and 3 miles per hour to keep the lures right in the strike zone. We even wrapped up one charter recently by throwing those Rapala CrushCity swimbaits up shallow after the stripers pushed shad into tight water and pinned them for an all-out feeding frenzy. It was a bad day to be a shad. If you want to experience this winter striper bite while it’s peaking shoot me a message