Report 6/26/23 courtesy of Dan Keller on www.wayneswords.net. Water temperature 72-76 F, lake elevation 3,584.42 MSL. Now is a great time to locate and catch striped bass on the surface at the southern end of the lake. On my last trip up lake, we found slurps starting about mile marker 16 up to mile marker 45. Most of the surface action was in the main channel; however, we also saw slurps at the beginning of Navajo Canyon and Warm Creek. We didn’t see any slurps/boils further up lake. The water is still quite turbid (low visibility), making it difficult for stripers to locate young-of-year shad.

As runoff slows over the next few weeks, the main channel will clear up and stripers will be ready to feed on the surface at locations such as Rincon, Bullfrog, and Good Hope. Going out when the lake is calm and seeking water with better visibility will increase your odds of success. This often means getting out early and fishing the middle or lower sections of the lake (at least for now). We did fish from our camp at Bullfrog Bay on June 27. Visibility was poor, only about 1 foot, however using chatter baits and under-spin jigs with shad-colored swim baits, we caught four largemouth and two stripers in about 20 minutes.

I like to use an under-spin jig head to add additional flash and vibration when fishing
stained water (also works great for striper slurps). Using anchovies is a good method for catching stripers in the turbid water. It’s amazing to see all the flooded vegetation in the backs of canyons and bays, this will provide cover for forage fish and lots of angling opportunities. Species that prefer this habitat such as black crappie and bluegill will have good survival this year, resulting in improved panfish angling in future years.