San Carlos 4/3

[standman]

My brother and I hit SC today. Man were there a ton of people on the water today. We hit the shallows hard and caught 43 crappie. Only 3 were females. All but nine were caught with minnows. Water temps got as high as 68. Fish were real tight to the bank. Most were caught within 18 inches of shore. Great day on the water. No wind.

 

Brian

[CouesWhitetail]

Good info. Thanks for the report. Gotta love a day on the lake with NO wind!!

 

Amanda

 

[tjhunt2]

Thanks Brian. I hope the weather stays like this till my days off. Can't wait. Does anyone sell minnows in globe now? I know last year they didn't.

 

TJ

[weatherby1]

TJhunts the gas and go across the street from Autozone sell them I think.

[Snapshot]

I have not been to SC for awhile, but the store on the Dam(soda canyon) end of the lake used to sell minnows and waterdogs?

[bonecollector]

TJhunts the gas and go across the street from Autozone sell them I think.

 

Ya I believe I seen a sign there last weekend saying they sold live bait. Its just past Big-O Tires on the right hand side of the road.

[crazyaboutcoues]

The dam store or should I say the store by the dam is closed...no minnows there...

[standman]

TJhunts the gas and go across the street from Autozone sell them I think.

 

That is correct or get them at Kilmer's about 5 miles towards Roosevelt from globe.

 

Brian

[Coach]

Ran down last night for a *really* quick trip hoping to get the kids onto some fish under the lantern. We had baseball tryouts 'till 2:00 PM, an hour to get everthing together and 3 hours from Lakeside to the water including stops for minnows and permits.

 

We hit the white point on the NE side of where the San Carlos Arm hits the main lake with about 40 minutes of light left. After rigging up poles for 3 kids it wasn't long before the first bite so I figured it would be a good night - we missed a few good bites before light dwindled and didn't put our first fish into the boat until almost 8 - thankfully it was my youngest son, Joshua who got to land the first crappie. He's the only one that went fishless over Spring Break at Roosevelt.

 

Unfortunately, it kinda went from light bite, to really slow, to pretty much no action and the fish just got smaller as the night wore on - opposite of what I was hoping for. The good news is, everyone got to pull in at least one crappie, and I got a little "eater" catfish, but overall a pretty disappointing trip - at least as far as the bite went. It was pretty cold for this time of year with the constant breeze and low pressure system flowing in. The water was way warmer than the air temp, but even in the warmer coves, we just couldn't find a good bite. Pulled the boat out at 11:05 PM and made the haul back. The kids slept the whole way back and at about 1:30 this morning we home.

 

Fun, but I sure would have liked to see the kids get into a good crappie bite. We'll keep trying, but if last year was any indication, a Spring like this with cold front after cold front, it may not turn into one of those years that you can get the kids on to fast biting fish - hopefully we'll get another crack at it but according to the weather we've got yet another front moving in this week.

 

Here's some pix...

 

The mighty fishermen

 

Rigging up

 

Sunset

 

Josh - first crappie

 

Carrie

 

 

Nick's first

 

Matt

 

One more for Joshie

 

 

Enjoy, and let's get down there when the bite really kicks IN!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[standman]

Jason did you launch at Mohave? IF you did I think I passed you on the road going into Mohave. You going in, me coming out. Think that was around 5:30 or so yesterday evening. Great pics. Looks like a good time with the family.

 

I know nothing about night fishing. Been a few times in the past but never could get into it. Always seemed, like you said, the later it got, the smaller the fish.

 

FYI, you can launch now over in the San Carlos arm. Looked like there was 200 (maybe not that many but it looked like you could walk across them) boats out in the flotilla in the san carlos arm yesterday.

[Coach]

Might well have passed you heading out - yeah we launched at Mojave (I think), so the time was right. I was surprised to see the number of camps inside the SC arm. I don't have any marked maps of the lake, and I used to launch at Soda. We took the first access point past the tribal farm that follows the SC arm. If you stay left, you would be right out on SC point. Is that the Mohave ramp site? You can either use the main ramp or head out on the penensula with 2 unmaintained ramps on the West and South ends? We were in a blue ford Excursion with a teeeny little aluminum boat.

[standman]

Yep that was you. We were in grey gmc sierra with a boat with a blue cover on it. Mohave is the one to the right fork, left fork goes to the memorial. Mohave has the blue top huts on it. Watch out on the concrete ramp, if you back to far you will back off the end of the ramp and fall off about 5 ft. If you take the road to the memorial and then take a left at the corral you go off into the SC arm and launch there.

[Coach]

Yep, we difinately "bumped" as you were leaving. Some brain-donor pitched a dome tent dead center in the middle of the West boat ramp. LOL. In years past, that main ramp was good, I'm glad I've seen it in shallow water so I knew to avoid it - that's why I always launch in one of the other "natural" ramps on that peninsula.

 

In Spring Breaks past, we've camped out on that peninsula and when the fishing is slow you can chum carp in to the little inlets there with corn and have a ball all afternoon watching the kids reel in 10-15 pound goldfish on ultralight tackle for hours on end. They don't care what the crappie or bass are doing if they're reeling something in.

 

We had a real nice family from Mexico the last couple of years that gave us a recipe for "shrimp coctail" that basically entailed soaking carp fillets in orange soda and onions at room temperature for a couple days and adding pico de gallo....I'll take her word for it, but I just end up chopping 'em up for cut bait for the cats

[standman]

Yep, we difinately "bumped" as you were leaving. Some brain-donor pitched a dome tent dead center in the middle of the West boat ramp. LOL. In years past, that main ramp was good, I'm glad I've seen it in shallow water so I knew to avoid it - that's why I always launch in one of the other "natural" ramps on that peninsula.

 

In Spring Breaks past, we've camped out on that peninsula and when the fishing is slow you can chum carp in to the little inlets there with corn and have a ball all afternoon watching the kids reel in 10-15 pound goldfish on ultralight tackle for hours on end. They don't care what the crappie or bass are doing if they're reeling something in.

 

We had a real nice family from Mexico the last couple of years that gave us a recipe for "shrimp coctail" that basically entailed soaking carp fillets in orange soda and onions at room temperature for a couple days and adding pico de gallo....I'll take her word for it, but I just end up chopping 'em up for cut bait for the cats

 

Seems like there is always some bonehead parking in the ramp, or the turnaround spot. Some people just don't stop and think about anyone else.

 

I caught one carp last time that was about 8lb. Yeah, I am like you, don't think I could eat a carp either. Kind of like javelinas, I will let everyone else try to eat them with any recipe they want. LOL.

 

Brian

 

[rogeti]

Me and my brother and sis went to SC yesterday afternoon and caught 3 crappie. it was a little windy, but there were about 5 boats on the lake. Try to find MINNOWS other than the place in Globe $3 dollars a dozen. And bring plenty of hooks. My brother stayed hung up most of the day. Lots of logs and debris in the water.