Fishing Jones

On Friday, I spent the day on a Ranger bass boat with Dale Merry, a guide with Hook-Up Outfitters. He took me fishing on Lake Pleasant, a 10,000 acre lake north of Phoenix. The lake’s water level fluctuates during the year, depending on whether the proper authorities decide to fill or empty it. Fall coincides with a filling stage, which happens to be when the lake’s white bass and largemouth populations begin gorging threadfin shad. The shad run for cover up in the shallow backwaters of the lake’s four main arms, looking for protection in the recently flooded-over cockleburr bushes.
We made our way to the back of one such arm, where we witnessed several surface explosions similar to fall blitz activity here in the Northeast. I cast a popper with an 8w rod to try and take advantage of these bursts, but the fish wouldn’t hit on the surface. I switched to a 6w rod with sinking line and tried a few different shad patterns. That’s when we started getting bites. The first white bass I caught (marking a new species for me) turned out to be the biggest of the day, a three-pounder. Of course, I didn’t snap a picture of that one. I did get a good shot of the day’s smallest, pictured here. It wasn’t much bigger than the shad it was chasing. Dale got me into quite a few white bass, with some small largemouth thrown in, so it proved a successful day. The white bass hit hard on the initial take, similar to the forceful first blow of a schoolie striper. Like smallmouth, they are powerful for their size.
I enjoyed the setting of Lake Pleasant. It is not often I get to fish with redrock cliffs, desert mountains, and table top mesas in the background. Nor do I have too many encounters with saguaro cacti along the shores of Long Island Sound. In fact, I have enjoyed every fishing experience I’ve had in the Southwest, particularly striped bass fishing on Lake Powell and Lake Havasu, where a few years ago I enjoyed a wild October blitz. Next time I’ll bring a travel rod to try for some high country trout.