September Fishing Report – Arizona Lakes

With the Summer heat coming to an end, our guided fishing trips have been picking up. We are getting a pretty good feel for most of our local Arizona lakes and excited for some Fall fishing. Most of the trips have been pretty good lately with the exception of a few in mid September that were in the late Summer funk. Tournaments are also picking back up for their new seasons so depending on where and when you go fishing, it could be after a weekend of some heavy tournament traffic. From what I have seen the bass aren’t totally grouped up yet. These fish can be caught on some random patterns when you just go junk fishing. With a few more weeks of cooler nights the water temps should continue to drop and the fall bite should get fun.

With the US Open just around the corner we are anxious to see if those smallies are tough to find. Fishing shouldn’t be like Mohave Lake in the spring time where you see everyone with massive weights at the scales. This time of year those Smallmouths should be grouped up and chasing bait, getting nice and fat for the Winter. These fish can definitely be tough to find on such a big body of water but some of these anglers are gonna sack em up pretty good. If you haven’t been fishing at Mohave Lake definitely put it on your list, its an amazing fishery. Let’s take a look at our most recent bass fishing report at our local Arizona lakes.

Lake Pleasant

Pleasant has been very hit or miss. We have seen a TON of bait up the river ( very small shad ) where you can get some smaller bass on cranks and drop shots up shallow. If you are Largemouth fishing, it seems we are getting our better ones in shallow water all across the lake. We had a trip this past weekend where we caught and lost quite a few smaller fish, but landed a nice 4lber on a drop shot. It seems once the sun comes up over the mountains the bigger fish are biting. Castle Creek has had some good activity and we have been able to get some decent fish on buzzbaits and flukes. Castle Creek and Coles Bay should be turning on any day. This time of year its always good to have a skinny dipper tied on as well, its known for being a great bait at Lake Pleasant. If you are looking to go striper fishing, I am kind of at a loss for Lake Pleasant. If you spend the time graphing you can definitely find some schools and catch em with a spoon but they are on the move like the Largemouth. I haven’t seen any striper boils all year but its seems guys are having a ton of success fishing for them at night. There has been some recent pictures posted with guys having great numbers and even better size.

Bartlett Lake

For the past few weeks Bartlett Lake has been on fire. There were days you could go throw a topwater, spinnerbait and an underspin, and catch 40-50 in one morning. The new vegetation with the rising water levels can make it really fun if you’re in the right area at the right time. Crankbaits seem to be working well as a lot of tournament anglers this past weekend seemed to have success with them. The weights were fairly low at the tournaments so it seems to be the kickers are tough to get. Mason Smook was on some big ones at Bartlett a few weeks ago and you can see one those monsters below. We had a guided fishing trip there this morning and had around 12 small bass. You could tell with the pressure from the Cashion Cup Solo Series and The Phoenix Junior Bassmaster’s on Sunday it made it a little tougher. Bartlett is still a great option right now. You can see bait all over the lake, so throw the usual shad imitators and don’t forget your drop shot and jig.

Saguaro Lake

We have had more trips than usual to Saguaro lately and the bite has been pretty good. The bite at Saguaro seems to be similar too Pleasant, in a sense that the fishing seems to be better once the sun is up. We have had some success with crankbaits, drop shots, jigs, jerkbaits, jigs, shakey heads and texas rigged worms. If you have not tried the Queen Tackle -Hammer Shake, do yourself a favor and get a few packs. They are awesome rattlin shakey heads. Normally when you have a trip at Saguaro and you catch em good, you are bound to hook into a good one. That hasn’t always been the case. Lately we have seen some days with good numbers but a lot in the 1-2 lb range. We did have a few really good trips at Saguaro last week where we had a bunch of 3’s and a few 5lbers. We were catching them all over the lake except the river, we didn’t ever explore the river. The bigger fish came on the jigs and texas rigs.

Alamo Lake

Alamo can be a great time to fish in the fall. The weekend warrior series is headed there in two weeks and I am sure we will see some good weights come out of there. We went up to Alamo last week and the fishing was decent. Had a few blow ups on topwater but other than that it was small bass on drop shots. The rising water is putting new new vegetation in the water and the bait is going up shallow. This place is about to blow wide open and these tournaments should be a slug fest. When the fishing picks up go to your spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swim jigs, frogs and buzzbaits and you should be able to get some big fish in the boat.

Roosevelt Lake

With cooling water temps some of the big largemouth are going shallow to feed on the big gizzard shad. Big walking baits , swimbaits and buzzbaits give you a great opportunity to catch a big fish at Roosevelt. The tonto end of the river will cool down first and and you will see a lot of those bait fish very shallow on that end. The salt end will not be far behind and will produce big fish. Drop shots, jigs and texas rigs are always a great option at Rosey. If you are fishing from shore on the main lake look for those rocky steeper banks close to the dam with a drop shot.

Guided Fishing Trips

If you would like to get out on a guided fishing trip in Arizona at any of these lakes, our guides at FishIn48 would love to take you out. October is filling up fast and should be a fun fall with excellent fishing. We work with all skill levels whether you are a beginner or a seasoned angler. If you are looking for classes on electronics we can help with that as well. It should be a great fall season and we hope to see you on the water!