Bass and crappie help

[csheep]

Headed to Bartlett lake around Phoenix for my dads 60th birthday. Never fished for bass or crappie, any lure advice for both? Been told to fish the cover like fallen trees and docks. Rented a pontoon boat. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Poppa]

Originally Posted by csheep

Headed to Bartlett lake around Phoenix for my dads 60th birthday. Never fished for bass or crappie, any lure advice for both? Been told to fish the cover like fallen trees and docks. Rented a pontoon boat. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bass are, without question, my favourite species to target. There's a lot of different presentations you can try, but my favourite is topwater. Heddon Zara Spook is a legendary bait for a reason. I personally have a lot of success (in Manitoba/NW Ont) with Matzuo poppers. Some people love to work a wacky or Texas -rigged Senko plastic, bouncing it along bottom...

For crappies, I'm less versed there......but I know you can get after them with tiny hair jigs under a bobber in structure. Look for fallen/submerged trees, and drop a jig-under-bobber (smaller the better!) near the structure and generally they'll come out and go after it....

[frederickwreid]

Like the above reply, I LOVE bass. I miss them dearly since moving out to Alberta from Ontario (almost the only thing I miss!).

My favourite was using a topwater as well - but I like a frog. Pick up a live target weedless frog and throw it into a bunch of pads, or into some grass. Bass love to hang out under that stuff - especially when it's hot. Then work the frog back in little jerks. Be ready for the water to explode... but also be ready to give it a second to set the hook - let them turn on it before setting. I've lost a ton of fish because of excitement, and pulling the frog out of their mouth.

If the Bass are picky, I like using a drop shot rig - with a senko worm. Plop that sucker down near a dock, or on the edge of a weed bed... almost guaranteed to get sucked in.

You're in for a great time.

Best of luck.

[Smoky buck]

Bass spinner baits, rapalas, swim baits,and rubber worms/lizard/creature Texas/Carolina rigged or just on a weed less hook

Crappie beetle spins, small rapalas, small spinner baits and small jigs tube/twister/marabou as is or under a float

If I had to choose 1 lure for each spinner bait for bass and a marabou tailed jig under a float for crappie

[erkel1]

I finally caved in last year on our trip to idaho and started fishing a jig about 3-4 feet under a bobber for crappie.Always thought of fishing with a bobber to be kids fishing,but when youre boat mate is outfishing you 10-1,you put the damn bobber on and start catching fish. found chartruese jigs about the best but white worked just about as well.last note,them crappie are fine eating fish as well cant wait for our trip in may.

[mosbos]

like others who have posted I love to bass fish. Moved from Ont to AB in the late nineties and the cottage country lakes is the one thing i really miss. I'm fortunate to have family who have a cottage in Parry Sound and have been spending about a week half there for the last few years fishing for small mouth and largemouth bass. Tried some new baits last year that really increased my success. The Strikeking rodent and rage bug rigged texas style with a pegged 1/4 or 3/8 oz sinker were deadly. Worked them around all types of cover; rocky points, fallen trees, docks, beaver houses, deadheads.. Summer craw was the color i had the most success. Also tried out the new Live Target bait-ball spinner rigs and had some crazy aggressive hits casting to docks and other shoreline structure. Experimented a bit more trolling and casting deeper diving crankbaits and working rock shelfs off points in about 12-18' of water. Livertarget baitballs and various rapala deep divers (shadow rap, xrap, shad rap) all worked. Had good luck on multiple colors. The other techniques mentioned all work well. Good luck!

[PlayDoh]

The good thing for you is, that there’s billions of videos, shows, and articles out there on Bass. Maybe only millions on Crappie.
Maybe look for an AZ fishing forum.
You’ll also be able to make use of the more abundant and detailed mapping.

[csheep]

Thanks for all the advice. No luck today. After the big winter storm in Phoenix the water levels rose and became very muddy. I will be back next year to try again.

[Fishwhere]

I was catching them on a split shot with a leech plastic about 12-18” behind, and that worked ok.

But something you should definitly try is use something with lots of vibration like a spinner etc and throw it at night in pitch black - caught some monsters in this little florida pond like that once. Would work well for your murky water too.

Good luck

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by csheep

Thanks for all the advice. No luck today. After the big winter storm in Phoenix the water levels rose and became very muddy. I will be back next year to try again.

Under those conditions I would be going with soft plastics with a slow presentation putting it right in the cover. Using scents makes a big difference under these conditions and jell is the way to go. The other good option is going simple and old school with a simple split shot and a big dew worm working cover

Bass don’t take to float fishing too well but they are a sucker for slow fall or twitching presentation working pockets in cover.

[Dave P]

If you are a youtube guy, check out Jon B, apbassing, or Googan Squad. They have some pretty good info as they are all Bass guys and do a pretty good job on showing what they are using.