Bartlet lake help

[AZHUNTER05]

My dad and I heading out to Bartlet lake for the first time ever, in search for some catfish! Was hoping someone might be willing to give me some tips on getting into them. What side of the lake is best, best bait, how deep to fish, and ect. I don't know if these are inappropriate questions to ask or not, but I figured I would give it a shot. Thx

[CouesPursuit]

Not a huge cat fisherman but I do know to start with good bait

live blue gill

live or cut carp

 

if you bait up with live bream shave off one side of its scales, will cause it to swim in circles and will help keep it from hiding in a rock or other piece of structure. Good luck!

[PRDATR]

I have not fished desert lakes in decades. But if you're after cats try and catch some palm sized bluegills and hook them between the dorsal fin and tail then freeline them in coves in 5-15 feet of water after the sun goes down and fish between 9 and 4.

[rcdinaz]

I was just there on Friday. The river is VERY low, yes I mean lake but it looks like a river. Pretty easy plan drive upriver as far as you can. I talked to 3 different guys that said they were killing the catfish. We chased bass and crappie, bass were slow but in the morning there was a good crappie bite around yellow cliffs.

 

One more thing if you find a good transition spot to deep water (island, point, cliff) from shallow water the fish are stacked up big time. Right off the boat dock there is an island top sticking out, a lot of fish right there between the marina and the rocks. One boat we were by was fishing for cats and said they were doing okay just off one of the areas the fish were stacked on the opposite side next to another small island.

 

I would net or take some minnows in case things get slow The crappie should be doing well with the more consistent weather.