Blythe again!

[Durdy Daug]

Heading out to my new favorite fishing spot again, this time we are going to try for a 5 day adventure. Trying for a record cat (record for me that is!)... Also going to try to coax a big striper to join our little party. I think that I will bring my Lap top and give reports daily for anyone that may be interested. I am also going to try to learn how to post pictures to this site. There have been many members that have been so helpful with giving me advise and assistance with the new sport for me. Hope that my posts are not too boring, and I don't know why I feel compelled to write posts to this site, but I do know that I really enjoy reading the posts of other members. Hearing about their adventures and mishaps. I have been adding to my tools / equipment to assist me with being more successful as a fresh water angler. The latest tool that I bought is a floating light that is advertised to attract fish at night, so on this trip I am going to try it out! I am also looking to buy a 1000 lumen bow / navigation light to assist with navigating the river at night, my concern is how much the light will drain my batteries, plan on asking BPS prior to buying the light, It would appear to be an excellent tool for fishing places like the river where you can fish all night if you are of mind to... Well once again I will have to see by trial and error!
I was thinking of anchoring (Spelling is not my best) up on the main river at some of the points to fish for the big cats, but I am concerned that if the anchor breaks free from the bottom, I may be in a lot of trouble really quickly... Any thoughts / experience with this?
This trip I am having a fellow FNN member joining me, as I generally fish / camp alone (The Wife cant stand the camping or fishing concept) and most of my friends and co-workers do not have the flexibility and spontaneity that I do, so if anyone else ever wants to join me, please send me a PM and we can give it a try. I plan on attempting on making these excursions (3) day trips every other weekend for the next few months. (Every other weekend because that is the wife's work schedule...

[riverbud55]

run your light off of your starting battery, myself would look at getting a smaller led light bar for offroad should be able to come up with something for 50 bucks er so,, a little light goes a long way on the dark river

when anchoring on the river, the very MOST important thing to remember is NEVER EVER put a anchor out the back of the boat http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?59969-Anchoring-101 http://www.leeroysramblings.com/Anchoring.htm me I use a 15lb navy anchor with 6' of 3/8 chain need to put out about 7' of rope for evey foot of water your in, 10 ft of water 70 ft of rope, always keep mine in a 5 gal bucket,, tie off end of rope to bucket handle then put rope in bucket then chain then anchor on top, should never tangel and can pick up the whole pile and move it around

[dpaulus9]

good luck. you can get a seperate battery for light. btw....keep posting your reports. always good to hear others fishing outings.

[Durdy Daug]

Just posted my latest adventure, I started out with another guy from this site, he had received a text on Sunday morning that his mother had been taken in to the hospital. Flew back home to get him back to his truck, I had left the tent , boat and trailer at the camp site, dropped him off and turned around for another 3 hour drive, I don't think that I had missed much by not being able to fish for the majority of Sunday, good news was that his mother was alright!
Traffic was really light, so I made pretty good time, got out for the evening red ear bite, I even soaked a red ear one line, and Chicken wrapped in bacon on the second line, what a waste of good food! No fish even came by to smell it! Oh well I really don't do much eating anyways, I always bring about 30 pounds of food, but I never get around to eating. I'm either fishing or I am sleeping preparing to get out and fish again. Funny thing was that for this trip I bought 10 pounds of "Dry Ice" and then added 15 pounds of regular ice, the eggs actually froze solid, I had never seen that before, the yolks were like they were hard boiled and never changed after cooking. I took a couple of bites and decided that I really wasn't hungry any ways, so I ended up throwing dinner in the trash.
I found that the fish finders were pretty much useless, with the exception for the one at the cockpit, which allowed me to gauge my speed and more importantly the water depth! I had bought and hooked up a "Lowrance Hook 7" for my trolling motor, all that I seen was a whole lot of debris... I was looking at my "Lowrance Mark 3" which is not in color, and I was thinking that I was missing something, I was tempted to take my "Lowrance Elite 4" off the new boat and replace that one with a "Lowrance Hook 5", at the end of the trip I came to the realization that all I really use the "Mark 3" for is speed, depth, and water temp, which really can not justify the added expense...
Not sure where to plan my next adventure? I would like to get a double digit Cat, LMB, and Striper!
Well in all reality I did get at least one of each of these this past trip, that is if you take into consideration, ounces, rather than pounds!

[jaggerbub]

Good on you for bringing the other guy back home. That's pretty cool of you to do that for him. I had my own Colorado River trip this past weekend as well. Water was a bit cold and dirty so the bite was off. My big cat honey hole seems to have dried out. Stripers were chewing but not as good as two weeks ago. Water was pushing this weekend which killed the bite somewhat I think. I'll be back at it again in two weeks. Got 3 respectable jailbirds this weekend. Beat the skunk so good enough for me.... Was waiting to hear your report to see how your trip went. Glad to hear you stuck something...

[Durdy Daug]

I am actually thinking of getting out this next weekend, not the one in a couple of days, but the next. Any suggestions on where I might have fun and get bit?
I would need to know how deep, or rather how shallow the water is to know which boat to take, the Spectrum 17, is running great now and a blast in shallow water, but it lacks the comfort of the 18 '7" PRO195TXW. Kind of scared of getting that one stuck in too shallow of water!

[jaggerbub]

I don't have a boat Durdy Daug, so I do my fishing from shore. My kitty hole is off the beaten path so I couldn't even explain how to get to it. If you're interested in getting some jailbirds from shore, I can help. Shoot me a pm.

[Durdy Daug]

Done... Just now!

[riverbud55]

mite suggest fishing below/behind some of the wing dykes/dams down just below Cibola bridge/BLM ramp and camp nice place to work from the BLM camp down in the PV area,,,,,,always a good time at the ol river fish er no fish,,, How was the wind down there,, up in Topock was winder then a sob 3 days straight, never put the boat on the water, always a good time at the river fish n er not fish n,, just a way of life,,,

[MarkyMark]

mite suggest fishing below/behind some of the wing dykes/dams down just below Cibola bridge/BLM ramp and camp nice place to work from the BLM camp down in the PV area,,,,,,always a good time at the ol river fish er no fish,,, How was the wind down there,, up in Topock was winder then a sob 3 days straight, never put the boat on the water, always a good time at the river fish n er not fish n,, just a way of life,,,

Very nice!

MM

[MarkyMark]

mite suggest fishing below/behind some of the wing dykes/dams down just below Cibola bridge/BLM ramp and camp nice place to work from the BLM camp down in the PV area,,,,,,always a good time at the ol river fish er no fish,,, How was the wind down there,, up in Topock was winder then a sob 3 days straight, never put the boat on the water, always a good time at the river fish n er not fish n,, just a way of life,,,

Very nice! My dad used to take me to Blythe during the 70's ...we fished a lot of canals & back waters...memories..would like to go back now curious

MM

[Durdy Daug]

The wind was up on Saturday, and it calmed down about 17:00, Not really sure about Sunday as I had to run back to drop my fishing partner back at the house - 180 miles each way! got back in the late afternoon, and it was not too bad, Monday was flat calm, Tuesday as well, left at 12:00 noon, Not knowing my way around that part of the state posses a challenge for me, there was a suggestion to fish at various parts of the river, but even so, again I do not know how to get there... When I do fish the river I also need to know at what depth the river is running so that I can be prepared with the appropriate boat. As I fortunately have 2, 1 is a 17 foot Spectrum, and can fish in about 12 inches of water, whereas my 2nd boat is 18 foot 7 inches and rides much deeper. I don't like to get it into water that is more shallow than 4 feet or more!

[riverbud55]

get yourself one of these, one of the best investments you can make http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/sportsmans/Fish-N-Map-Lower-Colorado-River-Parker-Dam-To-Yuma-AZ/productDetail/Maps-and-Atlases/prod99990134371/cat100772 its a fishing map of the lower Colorado from Parker dam down to yuma have one also for Havasu , gives you water depth conture lines , gives you known fish n holes, boat ramp locations, camps sites, and a lot more,,, should be able to get them at turners, west marine,, out in Blythe yellow mart has them,,,.

saw you talk n Parker Dam, mite look in at Havasu Springs resort ,, located right above the dam on lake Havasu ,, be a good place for your bigger boat,, think they still have a camp there, also some boat in camps on the lake, have a nice hotel for when it gets hot,, good fishing near by,, flats can be had on the lower south end of the lake, head over to the Bill Williams arm fish the little river coming into the river ,,, wouldn't spend my time fishing the Parker strip below the dam, to much boat traffic

[gcopple]

get yourself one of these, one of the best investments you can make http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/sportsmans/Fish-N-Map-Lower-Colorado-River-Parker-Dam-To-Yuma-AZ/productDetail/Maps-and-Atlases/prod99990134371/cat100772 its a fishing map of the lower Colorado from Parker dam down to yuma have one also for Havasu , gives you water depth conture lines , gives you known fish n holes, boat ramp locations, camps sites, and a lot more,,, should be able to get them at turners, west marine,, out in Blythe yellow mart has them,,,.

saw you talk n Parker Dam, mite look in at Havasu Springs resort ,, located right above the dam on lake Havasu ,, be a good place for your bigger boat,, think they still have a camp there, also some boat in camps on the lake, have a nice hotel for when it gets hot,, good fishing near by,, flats can be had on the lower south end of the lake, head over to the Bill Williams arm fish the little river coming into the river ,,, wouldn't spend my time fishing the Parker strip below the dam, to much boat traffic

yellow mart in blythe has closed, if you want a map make sure to get one before you head down there.

[riverbud55]

yellow mart in blythe has closed, if you want a map make sure to get one before you head down there.

that SUCKS!!, thanks for the heads up, been a few years since I have stopped by the place, was a great sporting goods store,,, how long they been closed??? thats the biggest problem with Blythe no place to buy any thing,one overly high priced grocery store, fart n smile(smart and finial) , kmart, true value hardware, guess now if ya need a fish n pole or quality gear your sol unless you go to Kmart lol

[Durdy Daug]

RB55, again I am in your debt. I will attempt to pick one of these maps up at my local turners, I plan to ride my Harley down there (To Parker) this Sunday to check the place out, is there any where down there where I can pick up one of these maps in the event that Turners does not have them? Or could you send me information on how to send money to you and you mail a map to me? Additionally I would be honored if I could get out and fish with you sometime. I still have to report for work M - F, but I try to get out on the water at least every other weekend, and some weeks I extend my weekends on either side to make it a 4 or 5 day stretch, especially when the fishing destination is in excess of a 4 hour drive one way. It is not really cost effective to drive all the way out there camp , fish, and then make a quick turn around. For me I am beginning to enjoy the solitude of camping almost as much as the fishing. It may sound crazy, but it is often a welcome thing to be at my camp site all by myself with nothing but the camp fire for company some nights, I would however rather get acclimated to fish through out the night and then sleep in the day. That has been my plan several times lately, but with the river being a fast current and the 2 back water spots that I have located so far, the night fishing has not worked out, either the fishing is too slow or I get too cold or else I simply get tired and give up and return to my tent and sleeping bag!
I am hoping that this Sunday I can scope out a good place to camp that is reasonably close to the launch ramp so that I can go from the tent to the boat, and ideally fish the evening and most of the night, if not all the night on anchor and then return to the tent for a couple of hours of shuteye, get up eat a little and return to fishing. Having not been out there yet I do not know how feasible that would be,
I have camped and fished out of Katherines Landing as well as Willow beach, both places I did not see a way to fish at night. I also camped and fished out of cattail cove, there were many more possibilities there, but during my time there the wind was up and that made for a difficult time fishing. I will obviously need to plan my trips around the wind forecasts. I do not mind the rain, but the wind is absolutely no good for me and fishing.

[Durdy Daug]

Thank you soooo much for the information, I just went to the web site and ordered the map! I will not be able to take that ride up to the river for the scouting trip today as the painting of my friends house has turned into a nightmare and I have to paint today again! But with the information of all of you FNN people I feel confident that I will be able to get in some quality fishing the weekend of May 14 & 15. The web site indicated that the map will get to me in about a week!
For the flat head cats, what is the best bait out there?

[riverbud55]

If your going to be fishing north of Parker Dam going to need the map for Havasu and the one for Mohave, should be able to find them at a local marina, mite find them at a wall mart out there, think I got updated one for Lake Havasu at the West Marine store in Havasu City, it also covers up the river from the lake to davis dam/Mohave also covers the Topock marsh,

As far as Blythe and flatheads go it's getting to be prime time down there right now,,, getting the itch,,, might make the 100 mile run down there from Topock Sat morn n, next weekend, think n fish up near the PV dam be launching from the Mayflower county park,, be bringing my G3 jon boat, got to get a new impeller for the North River jet boat,, not sure yet just think n and if theirs a hint of wind in the forecast wont go,, last 2 times out at the river got blown out for the weekend,,, was going to do some paint n on the house out there with a airless and gave up,,, think n just pay someone now, get n to hot and its time to go fish n

[Durdy Daug]

I just finished painting a friends house, took 6 solid 12 hour days, but now I am done... Looks awesome if I may say so myself. I broke my original Greco Airless trying to stray "Dry lock", which is a concrete sealing paint, about as thick as thick mud, ended up buying a new Greco from home depot for $399, if this one lasts as long as the old one, it will be worth it, I bought the old one 15 years ago. I was planning on riding out to Az today, but yesterday evening I finally quit painting at 20:00, and realized that it was going to take an additional 6 - 8 hours to do it right, soooo I bit the bullet and just went ahead and finished up today. I would really like to get down there to the river next weekend, but with it being Mothers Day... My wife would not understand if I was not at home...Oh well that just puts me off for 1 more week. Out of curiosity, what City are you from? I now have a brand new airless, and would consider trading painting labor for fishing knowledge... (LOL).
Oh yeah, I ordered the map off the web site that you posted for me. $8.95 + $8.95 S&H. I hope that it will give mea good idea of additional places to get on the river and increase my success rates.
The house painting is really time consuming doing the detail work and masking. The main painting is pretty quick and straight forward, I'm sure that you already know this!!!