Willow Beach 3/22/20

[BigE]

logo acura Hit Willow Beach at gray light on 3/22 with the wife on the kayaks. My wife caught a 6lber early but we lost it on the way back to the truck. Continued fishing and I caught a PB striper that weighed 23.21 lbs. Both fish caught on A/C plugs. Nice day on the water.

[wiperhunter2]

Does that mean they plant trout in the Willow beach area, is why the go for the rainbow pattern lure? Congrats on getting your PB striper that weighed 23.21 lbs, awesome.

[BigE]

Yeah they plant trout year round  even when the daytime temps in summer can be 115 because the water is cold coming from the bottom of Hoover dam even though it is 14 miles north of Willow.“wiperhunter2” pid=‘1096448’ dateline=‘1585144246’
Does that mean they plant trout in the Willow beach area, is why the go for the rainbow pattern lure? Congrats on getting your PB striper that weighed 23.21 lbs, awesome.

[wiperhunter2]

@BigE

Yeah they plant trout year round  even when the daytime temps in summer can be 115 because the water is cold coming from the bottom of Hoover dam even though it is 14 miles north of Willow.

LOL, those trout can’t survive long in with Summer temps that warm, good thing those striper are waiting to get them, when they come out of the truck.

[lvfishingdude]

@wiperhunter2

“BigE” pid=‘1096471’ dateline=‘1585173998’ wrote:

Yeah they plant trout year round  even when the daytime temps in summer can be 115 because the water is cold coming from the bottom of Hoover dam even though it is 14 miles north of Willow.

LOL, those trout can’t survive long in with Summer temps that warm, good thing those striper are waiting to get them, when they come out of the truck.

It is weird when its 120+ degrees during the summer and the river at Willow Beach is between 55-65 degrees.  Its quite refreshing.  I always bring a 5 gallon bucket with me regardless of fishing on Lake Mead or the river to scoop up water and dump it over me during the summer.  You will usually be dry in 10-20 minutes tops.

[doz2]

@wiperhunter2

“BigE” pid=‘1096471’ dateline=‘1585173998’ wrote:

Yeah they plant trout year round  even when the daytime temps in summer can be 115 because the water is cold coming from the bottom of Hoover dam even though it is 14 miles north of Willow.

LOL, those trout can’t survive long in with Summer temps that warm, good thing those striper are waiting to get them, when they come out of the truck.

They survive just fine year round.  Big trout are caught once in awhile down there (recently someone picked up a 6 lb Rainbow).  At Willow, the warmest the SURFACE temp will be is 65 degrees.  Below the dam, surface is 56 degrees even when its 115*.  Considering they can stay in the shade and go down 30-40 feet, surviving the summer isn’t bad.  Even on Lake Mead in the summer, water will get cold when you get deep.  Trout can survive in Mead as well year round (albeit most will be Striper food).

That said, I’m sure a lot get eaten up by the Stripers.  You don’t get the big Striper in Lake Mead like you do on the river.  Striper used to get pretty big in the lake as well when they were planting trout.  You’d hear about large ones caught much more often.  Not that Mead doesn’t have big Stripers but they used to be a lot more plentiful.

Awesome fish BigE, congrats.  You regularly pull some big ones!

[lvfishingdude]

@BigE

Thanks doz2. I remember those days at Mead . Loved casting to those big guys with big swimbaits.“doz2” pid=‘1096761’ dateline=‘1585611206’
“wiperhunter2” pid=’ wrote:

“BigE” pid=’ wrote:

Yeah they plant trout year round  even when the daytime temps in summer can be 115 because the water is cold coming from the bottom of Hoover dam even though it is 14 miles north of Willow.

LOL, those trout can’t survive long in with Summer temps that warm, good thing those striper are waiting to get them, when they come out of the truck.

They survive just fine year round.  Big trout are caught once in awhile down there (recently someone picked up a 6 lb Rainbow).  At Willow, the warmest the SURFACE temp will be is 65 degrees.  Below the dam, surface is 56 degrees even when its 115*.  Considering they can stay in the shade and go down 30-40 feet, surviving the summer isn’t bad.  Even on Lake Mead in the summer, water will get cold when you get deep.  Trout can survive in Mead as well year round (albeit most will be Striper food).

That said, I’m sure a lot get eaten up by the Stripers.  You don’t get the big Striper in Lake Mead like you do on the river.  Striper used to get pretty big in the lake as well when they were planting trout.  You’d hear about large ones caught much more often.  Not that Mead doesn’t have big Stripers but they used to be a lot more plentiful.

Awesome fish BigE, congrats.  You regularly pull some big ones!

If there are any Trout left in Mead, they are huge.