Martinez and Ferguson lakes

Looking to fish both Ferguson and Martinez lakes this up coming weekend. Any tips out there as to where the cats hang out? I heard about some back waters south of Fishers Landing, I don't know if these back waters are off the main river or else on the actual lakes. I would like to find back water coves that have fish, where I can anchor up fro a few hours in the evening or even through the night. I was able to scout out Lake Havasu after a few trips there, but I could not seem to find any of the elusive cat fish. I even traveled up the river up from London bridge, I probably got only 2 miles up the river, it was really shallow, I fished in the toolies as well as the deeper pockets of 6 feet, I could not find any deeper spots, but I was told that the cats hunker down in the deeper waters, others told me to fish just inside of the coves and that the flat heads search the fast water and go into the slower current to hunt.

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Originally Posted by Durdy Daug

Looking to fish both Ferguson and Martinez lakes this up coming weekend. Any tips out there as to where the cats hang out? I heard about some back waters south of Fishers Landing, I don't know if these back waters are off the main river or else on the actual lakes. I would like to find back water coves that have fish, where I can anchor up fro a few hours in the evening or even through the night. I was able to scout out Lake Havasu after a few trips there, but I could not seem to find any of the elusive cat fish. I even traveled up the river up from London bridge, I probably got only 2 miles up the river, it was really shallow, I fished in the toolies as well as the deeper pockets of 6 feet, I could not find any deeper spots, but I was told that the cats hunker down in the deeper waters, others told me to fish just inside of the coves and that the flat heads search the fast water and go into the slower current to hunt.

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All of my success on cats at havasu have been in coves way south of london bridge, mid-lake and even farther south...

Like south as in Bill Williams Arm area? I tried all the way down to the dam and back up past the river north to the River, even went up river about 2 miles, but alas nothing... I was thinking that it was still too cold, but I know that May starts the time for stocking of Cat fish in the So Cal lakes, and it is even warmer in Havasu, and even warmer in Yuma, so there must be another piece to the puzzle. I plan on taking the first several hours scouring out the deeper pools on my fish finder and then returning to those deep pools and fish the deepest for a few hours at a time. What do you all think about that plan? I have Mackerel, Shrimp, Anchovies, and Chicken Liver for bait, and I suppose that I will be able to get night crawlers there at the store.

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Originally Posted by Durdy Daug

Like south as in Bill Williams Arm area? I tried all the way down to the dam and back up past the river north to the River, even went up river about 2 miles, but alas nothing... I was thinking that it was still too cold, but I know that May starts the time for stocking of Cat fish in the So Cal lakes, and it is even warmer in Havasu, and even warmer in Yuma, so there must be another piece to the puzzle. I plan on taking the first several hours scouring out the deeper pools on my fish finder and then returning to those deep pools and fish the deepest for a few hours at a time. What do you all think about that plan? I have Mackerel, Shrimp, Anchovies, and Chicken Liver for bait, and I suppose that I will be able to get night crawlers there at the store.

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Oh, I see... I've had most of my success between cattail cove and beaver point in all the coves around that part of the lake. Those baits sound good to me. I have always has good success at Havasu using a stink bait like hog wild to dip my bait (mackeral, shrimp, chovies, crawlers, etc) in. Put a little water in the container and make it like a thick soup, dip, cast, and catch! Hopefully....................... ;)

Well, I'm going to give it a try, but at Yuma, rather than Havasu this time. The last trip out there I brought a lot of heavy rods and reels, but this time I scaled down a bit, bringing 4 light spinning reels rods from 4 pound to 8 pounds, and then 3 heavy spinning reels and rods, from 17 - 30 pounds and finally 1 level wind reel and rod with 30 pound line for the night time, where I will leave the reel in free spool with the clicker on as an alarm. I was able to get anchovies, mackerel, bonito, shrimp, and chicken liver. I am going to just buy the worms at the landing this time, I have been buying 9 and 10 boxes before leaving for the river, but I have discovered that almost every time at least 1/2 of the worms die before I get to use them! I don't know why I can't just wait and buy them daily, but this time I am going to force myself to just wait, I mean after all it's not like they are going to run out! Well actually when I was fishing Silverwood, that did haven several times, but with the variety of baits that I have, even if they do run out of worms, I should be just fine. I hear that it will be really busy down there this weekend with the holiday and all, but I figure that if I just get off the main lakes and into the coves I should not run into too many people. I will leave a post upon my return on Monday afternoon. I wish that I could get away now, but to work I must go so that I can make money to fish!
Oh for the days of retirement!

This weekend is going to be a zoo at fishers landing. Sheriffs will be out in full force. And don't lose your concentration navigating the back waters. Jet skiers and wave runners love running the back waters and lakes. Even kids will be running the channels too fast. Launch ramp will be very busy during 9am to 6 pm, peak time for casual boaters.

Good luck and be safe.

If you are going too stay in Yuma, Walmart is a good place to get worms. Also, as mentioned just above, Fishers will probably be a zoo. Let us now how you do.

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Originally Posted by sweetfish

This weekend is going to be a zoo at fishers landing. Sheriffs will be out in full force. And don't lose your concentration navigating the back waters. Jet skiers and wave runners love running the back waters and lakes. Even kids will be running the channels too fast. Launch ramp will be very busy during 9am to 6 pm, peak time for casual boaters.

Good luck and be safe.

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No one follows the speed limit in the channels and backwaters, which is 5mph. Even at night , remember that when picking your spot.

Thank you all, yes it was a zoo! I was able to land a few fish while there. I started my days early enough that I was able to avoid mush of the traffic at the launch ramp, but then on Sunday evening it was a real mess. I was fortunate enough not to encounter many drunks, and yes the sheriff was out in force. I tried to avoid the crowds, which was not an easy thing to do as there were boats and personal water craft every where. The sheriff officers were friendly enough asking how my catching success was going. I had a real difficult time finding any deep places to get the fish. I had become separated from my fishing buddies, as I went to the Right out of Fishers Landing and fished the entrance with the 3 buoys, they apparently went to the left, they said that they found a channel that started out about 4 - 6 feet wide and went back for a ways and then opened up into a nice quiet lake with a whole lot of red ear and cat fish. He said that the remarkable points were a 200 foot hill or cliff, and some kind of "White dome" rock. Does anyone out there know where this is, or even something resembling it? 1 of the sheriff officers was telling me something about a dome rock, and I suppose that that was what he was referring to, but as I did not venture to the left or "Up River" I never did find the place. I want to return there in a couple of weeks with my cousins and I would like to check the place out. Any info would be appreciated!