We met Capt. Mark (Adventure In Angling) at 4:45 AM on a "cool" 105 degree July morning , jumped in the boat, and headed out for some stripe bass action. Lake Mead has hundreds of small coves. In the first light of dawn we could hear, then see, the stripers chasing shad on the glassy surface. The water boiled with fish all around the boat. We each grabbed a rod and cast to the feeding fish. Hookup. A triple. Over the next two hours it was non stop action. We lost count of the triple hookups. It was common for at least two of us to be fighting fish at the same time.
Capt. Mark had surface lures and jerk baits tied on to spinning outfits loaded with 8 pound test line, just right for the 1 to 5 pound stripers. The day before I had been given a "sample" of a new lure by Ima-Japan at the I-CAST show. A Farina 90F, silver with a pink back. Naturally I just had to test my new lure. In short order it began to show the battle scars of many strikes. Once I even landed two fish on my one lure. One fish on the front treble hook and a second fish on the back hook. Those beautiful Japanese lures work like a charm.
How many fish did we catch? I have no idea. The limit on Lake Mead is 20 stripers per person per day. We caught more than that in the first two hours. Cleaning and packaging your fish is included. Since we were staying in a hotel we released all our fish. We also stopped to take pictures, rest, and drink lots of water. With all the hot fishing action, we hardly noticed the hot weather. LOL
As the sun came up, the fish went deep and we started dropping metal spoons. First you locate a school of fish then free spool the spoon down to them. The action remained fast and furious.
Capt. Mark suggested I return when the weather is a little cooler and the schooling fish are in the 6 to 12 pound range. Can you imagine catching over 100+ fish that big? No wonder Capt Mike says if you don't catch....you don't pay.
