Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

[NO WHINERS]

Hey guys...Was thinking about launching at Willow and fishing my way down to Cottonwood Cove and spending the night there...Has anyone done this? Probably would do this in September..I have beached camped below Willow this year but wanted to go a little farther..Anyone know mileage?? I have a 16.5 center consule and will have to carry extra fuel...Apprx 5 gallons... From what I see on maps it looks like about 30 miles...Jim..

 

[_chris_]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

I camp at Cottonwood Cove every year and take a day trip up to Willow beach. I go with my grandfather in a 16' Blue water runabout and we usually get up to willow beach and fuel up for the ride back. You can camp at Cottonwood for like 15 bucks in the campground and rent a slip or just a mile or two up towards Willow Beach is some nice coves on the right side, you can't miss them. Also a mile or two past Cottonwood is some camping on the shore with restrooms. There is alot more beach and usable shore downby Cottonwood then further up, hope this was somewhat helpful.

This map roughly shows were I have camped.

 

[QC]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Yeah, my GPS software says 30 miles. I've done it, water is smooth due to narrow part of the lake until right at Cottonwood.

 

[_chris_]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

I love that part of the lake, I will be back up there the first week in Oct and then I am gonna try for a second trip in Oct towards the end.

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Thnx Chris for the feed back...Cool map with where you camped...I did it years ago with a houseboat b4 they restricted them way up the river...I feel the need to try some different spots...

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

I fish at Willow Beach a few times a month and have made the run to Cottonwood many times, QC is right at 30 miles. Our last family excursion was 1/2 way between Placer and Aztec coves where we camped for 3-4 days, end of October, perfect sandy cove, perfect weather. One thing that was nice is they pulled the lake down 10' for maintenance and firewood was easy to find, huge bon-fire each night.

Since you are a fisherman, do you know about the huge stripers they have in the river? They are concentrated up by Willow Beach this time of year, but you will have a shot at them for the first 6 or so miles heading south towards Cottonwood that time of year. Big lures, heavy rods/reels, but it could pay off big time. Other than that the lake is loaded with small stripers, cats and LMB too. I wouldn't fish for LMB for the first 10 miles below Willow, too cold. Oh yeah, almost forgot, they stock trout at Willow Beach, it's what the big stripers eat.

Be wary of the wind/weather as we got caught in 50-60MPH south winds while we were north of Cottowood several years ago, not fun, The Perfect Storm comes to mind... I experienced Cottonwood's fury once and that was enough.

 

[QC]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Be wary of the wind/weather as we got caught in 50-60MPH south winds while we were north of Cottowood several years ago, not fun, The Perfect Storm comes to mind... I experienced Cottonwood's fury once and that was enough.

Missed this post. I was mentioning the issue with the fetch and Cottonwood being at the end in the Mead thread. It is pretty amazing huh? I almost think worse than Mead, but I had a harrowing day crossing the Virgin Basin a couple of weeks ago. I probably shouldn't have crossed.

Cottonwood is amazingly tough in a big blow though. I love the downhill run from Katherine to Cottonwood, but dread turning around and going back. I can imagine trying to get in there from the north would be plenty exciting

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

I was mentioning the issue with the fetch and Cottonwood being at the end in the Mead thread. It is pretty amazing huh? I almost think worse than Mead, but I had a harrowing day crossing the Virgin Basin a couple of weeks ago. I probably shouldn't have crossed.

Yeah same here, we should have found a cove and hunkered down. A buddy and I went out fishing the night before and it was dead calm all night around MM 35. When we decided to head back there was a 2-3' chop going and the closer to Cottonwood the bigger the waves, nothing to knock the waves down. When we got into the last big basin above Cottonwood it was 4-5'ers and nothing too alarming,,, until I saw a set of 3- 6'ers heading at us that we couldn't steer around, like a rogue wave, only 3 of them in a row Pretty nerve racking since the frequency something like 3-4 seconds, less than 20' apart, bow was pretty darn close to digging in. After fighting through the 6'ers we found a cove and waited until the wind died.

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Hey fishrdan...Yeah I have fished around Willow a few times but haven"t caught the big one yet...Around 7-8 pounds...Maybe I will stay in that part of the river if the stripers are thicker this time of year...We got caught in some nasty wind one year in June..We were heading back to Catherines on a house boat and the guy at Cotton Wood told us to open the front slider and the back slider and head straight into it...Wild ride...

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Hey fishrdan...Yeah I have fished around Willow a few times but haven"t caught the big one yet...Around 7-8 pounds...Maybe I will stay in that part of the river if the stripers are thicker this time of year...We got caught in some nasty wind one year in June..We were heading back to Catherines on a house boat and the guy at Cotton Wood told us to open the front slider and the back slider and head straight into it...Wild ride...

This year has been tough for me at Willow, lots of people hammering it and the fish are getting shy. Went out last night for 5 hours and not even a bump, but I got a 22 a few weeks ago. IF, they are biting you can do good, tough part is being there when they are biting. Someone caught a 45 a few weeks ago and I've heard of a bunch of 20's the last few months,,, so they are in there.

Open the front/rear slider and let the houseboat self-align into the wind, I would have never though of that. Was the inside of the houseboat like a wind tunnel?

 

[NO WHINERS]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Wind tunnel is about it..He said we should do it because another house boat had there slider broken by a huge wave...Do you fish at night at willow Dan?? I spent the night around MM 52 in March and woke up several times to see boats trolling by...

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Do you fish at night at willow Dan?? I spent the night around MM 52 in March and woke up several times to see boats trolling by...

If they weren't banging around, shining spotlights all over the place and generally doing anything in the book to scare the fish away, then yeah, it was probably me...

(as you can see I have a few pet-peeves for night fishing at Willow... LOL)

 

[hvachillbilly]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

If they weren't banging around, shining spotlights all over the place and generally doing anything in the book to scare the fish away, then yeah, it was probably me...

(as you can see I have a few pet-peeves for night fishing at Willow... LOL)

when is the best night fishing at willow idiots aside

 

[QC]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

Wind tunnel is about it..He said we should do it because another house boat had there slider broken by a huge wave..

My first HB trip was in Nov. '84; Mohave. I'll look for pics, but we were going from Cottonwood to Katherine; waves were crashing over the bow. It was cold so I put on a wetsuit and went out in the middle of the front deck and just sat in a chair. Young and dumb and thought it would be funny. The rest of the crew took pics of me being pummeled It was pretty funny and I might even do it again . . .

By the end of the basin, the waves had started to pound out the floor boards between the pontoons. I was getting wet from under and over. Cool pics, but I can't recall seeing those in a while

Oh, they shut the slider and left the idiot on the outside . . .

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Willow Beach to Cottonwood Cove

when is the best night fishing at willow idiots aside

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