Re: Any AZ fisherman here?
Hey, FsherDan, AZlakes, et al.! I am glad I was able to invoke the "time machine" by referencing Flagstaff!
I never thought about retrieving worms from the NAU lawn after watering. I am a professor at NAU so I should take advantage of the free bait as soon as the ground itself thaws out and the excessive university watering begins! Thanks!
Most of our pike time is spent at Ashurst lake targeting the monster pike that suck down trout like twinkies. My friends and I use some old school salt water surf tackle (7+ foot rods) rigged with 15 lb test, 18" wire leaders, and frozen anchovies hooked through the eyes (but pulled all the way through) and then hooked again in the back with a large, circular catfish hook. We find a nice, shallow weedy area, chum a whole lot, cast our weightless offerings into the mix, open the bails on the reels, and sit back and wait for the line to start peeling out.
Last year, in two hours, we caught 70 lbs of fish (in only 5 fish). One of these was my 21 1/4 lb fish caught on a medium action ugly stick with 10lb test. All of our pike so far have been caught from shore. Early spring is the best of course as the fish are either spawning, pre-spawning, or just plain aggressive and hungary.
Last year, I learned how to properly fillet those fish off of youtube. Those floating Y bones are no longer a problem. Pike is an amazing fish to eat with a really nice, firm texture. It is really tasty cooked in a glass pan with Old Bay seasoning in the oven for so long that it starts to dry out a little bit. I like my fish as dry as possible. We put most of the trout we catch into a smoker.
Until the roads open up, however, we sometimes fish Mary. We usually eat a few of those pike until we feel we have reached our mercury limit for the year and by then, the roads are open to the trout lakes that contain the big ones!
If anyone is interesting in fishing pike up here, let me know. The talk about catfishing the salt river sounds very exciting to me. Again, I still have no real clue about just how limited I will be against wind/current with my 3.5 mercury on my 14 foot starcraft. I am guessing it will work well in our local lakes. Would it be enough to get up a little bit into the Salt from Rosey?
Striper fishing sounds really cool at Willow Beach. I have never tried it. Up here we excited any time we fish for anything other than trout. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to catch anything, anytime. At 7,000 feet, however, there is only a lot of cold (and muddy) water. Somehow, the trout stamp seems to tax us high elevation cats disproportionately!
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and fished the local So. Cal. bass lakes a lot. Pyramid lake is my favorite So. Cal lake. When I was a kid, I found a hole near the boat launch ramp that always contains willing bass (large and small). Everyone goes there to jet ski or to striper fish so the black bass fishery is highly neglected. Great lake! I also used to fish a lot in the Santa Monica Bay for sand bass, halibut, calicos, barracuda, sheephead, sand dabs, mackerel, bat rays, shovel nose, etc. It is interesting how salt water techniques can bleed over into freshwater. For instance, I use a lot of salt water rigs/equipt. to fish for these monster pike (I have caught about 5 or so over 15 lbs).
Anyway, it is nice to talk with you guys. Any answers to my questions about the advantages v. disadvantages of using a 3.5 hp 4-stroke on my 14 foot aluminum Starcraft would be great. Thanks!!!
Danny (Channelcat13).
