I meant big name pros.... There are certainly plenty of guys who qualify to
be called pros who fish this area.

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"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
I can see the FLW holding a tournament in this area some day, just to
support the local Wal-Mart stores. There is a super center, and soon to
be
a second wally world here. Personally i woud love to see the pros try and
figure out the bite here.

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"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
The Colorado River above Imperial Dam.

Its a pretty good fishery, but you do have to take some time to learn
it.
ABA, WON Bass, Yuma Bassmasters, Angler's Choice, Desert Bass, and
several
out of town small clubs fish tournaments here regularly. I think there
is
one or two others who fish here as well. Also, the classic for the ABA
aluminum boat series will be fished here.

I not would say we are getting shelled. I am in 2nd place in Yuma
Bassmasters because of consistency, and we finishied 10th for the season
(ended last month) for American Bass. I think I am currently running
sixth
in the ABA aluminum boat only series for this reason.

For gernal fishing info, there atripers, LM and SM, and crappie ( I
haven't
caught many but those I have were larger than I see on TV). There are
some
big flatheads with 20-30 pound fish being caught fairly often, and the
record being over 60. Channel cats ae in abundance, and from time to
time
you can get into a bluegill or sunfish bite with them all running a good
solid hand size.

I think that some of the really big pro series shy away becasue of the
distance to any really big cities, and because of the potential
navigation
safety issues. Big is relative. Yuma proper has a population of around
80,000 and the region probably has a population over 100,000. I have
grounded solidly on a submerged sandbar once, and guys who have fished
here
for over thirty years still have to be careful to avoid running aground
when
a sandbar moves. Dragging your skeg when running up the river isn't
even
counted as an accident. Dinged props are a regular occurence, and
backwaters can be a real trick to learn. Most good backwaters here tend
to
be a little confusing. I have to visit a new area three or four times
myself before I feel really comfortable with were I am going and how to
get
in and out in time to make weigh ins.

You like rocks? Rip Rap? Grass? Tulies? Heavy overhangs? Cane?
Grass
Mats? Current? Cliff Faces? About the only fishing structure or cover
we
don't have is really deep water, and lily pads.

It is a challenging area, but I have been fishing it seriously for only
a
little over a year, and I rarely come in without a limit of LMs. On fun
fishing days I try to spend a little time learning how and were to catch
some of the other species as well.

I am sad to say on the day that Joe came out and fished with me I was
not
able to put us on any really good fish. We just cast hit and miss
acorss
one of the backwater lakes I have started ot learn. I still caught one
decent fish, and Joe caught three or four. That was in the dead of
winter
on a cold day.

You might also be surprised about some of the canyon reservoirs around
Phoenix. Canyon, Saguaro, Bartlet, Apache, and Roosevelt all produce
some
decent fish. Pleasant is a popular fishery as well int hat part of the
state, but it gets huge amounts of pressure from fihermen and pleasure
boaters alike.

You want to go large? Well, that starts with Havasu. It host more pro
and
semi pro level tournaments than my area, and its not that far upriver
from
Yuma. Maybe a hundred miles. Go up the Colorado River a little further
and
you have several other intersting fisheries. I don't know that much
about
Topock Marsh, but I hear it can be incredible. Go a little further and
there are good fish to be had above and below Davis Dam which holds
Mohave
Lake. Then there is Lake Meade, not that far from Las Vegas. Meade
hosts
the ABA Classic in October.

Of course the Grand Canyo is a good fishery, but I am pretyt sure that
azrea
is more known for trout than bass as is Lee's Ferry between the Grand
Canyon
and Lake Powell. Only a small part of Lake Powell is in Arizona, but if
that is not a world class fishery I don't know what is. I personally
have
caught walleye, trout, huge bluegill, and decent large mouth there, not
to
mention the stripers which abound and overpopulate through out the
entire
lake.

I have refrained from commenting on huge amounts of the state, not
becasue
those area don't have good places, to fish, but because I don't know
them
as
well. Oak Creek is a nice little stocker stream for trout. It is
beaughtiful country and the stream wil support trou on its own, but
becasue
large portion of it are accessible it get a lot of pressure. That is
the
onyl reaosn that is is stocked. To maintian the numbers for fishermen.
Two
years ago a ten pound rainbow was caught out of it two years ago, and I
know
a couple pools that are extremely inaccessible that have some several
pound
trout.

The White Mountains are riddles with small cold water lakes and stream
that
are know for having decent numbers of trout, and there are several
decent
mountian lakes above the Mogollon Rim.

I could spend a liftime just trying to learn all the fisheries in
Arizona.
I certianly could not become profficient and knowledgable about all of
them
in a single lifetime.

Recently on my forums, I have been chatting with a fellow in another
part
of
the state who has found a put and take trout lake that has some really
large
LMs as well. I suspect it is like many of the California lakes where
the
bass have gotten big feeding on those 8-12" stocker rainbows. Better he
says nobody fishes for the bass in that lake. I'm goign to go visit him
when I get a chance.

I suspect that Arizona is like a lot of states in that it has treasures
not
discovered by those who have not spent any time here.


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"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
So you're not just loosing with 12 pounds, you're getting shelled.
Keep
at
it. You need to find where the big girls live (possibly deep,offshore
structure?). A 20 pound 5-fish limit is pretty damn strong. What
water
are
these tourneys held on? I wasn't aware that AZ had such awesome bass
fishing.

Warren

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Lately the winning bags have been over twenty. I'ld say the last 5
or
6
tournaments I have fished have had 21-22 pound bags for first.
Three
or
four tourney's ago we weighed in 16.5 for third with 2nd going a
19.05
and
1st going to over 22. I'ld say all season a 16 or 17 was the lowest
1st
place I have seen. May have been one or two lower back in January
or
February.

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"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
Good luck Bob. When you bring in 12 pounds what seems to be the
average
winning weight?

Warren

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Just Five Fish Bags.

Although I must admit I only caught 4 fish saturday for a
whopping
total
of
5.99 The previous weekend I weighed in 11.05 and 13.55 on
saturday
and
sunday respectively. Didn't make it in the money either day. I
blew
a
couple good crank bait fish on the saturday with 11.05 that
would
have
improved my bag by a couple pounds.

Next weekend I am fishing a club open with only a 3 fish bag.

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"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
Is that 12-16# for 5 fish or more Bob?

Warren

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
I weigh in 12-16 lbs fairly often yet, still have not
managed
to
win
a
tournament. Its pretty disenheartnening when you bring in a
nice
bag,
and
the first thing you see is an eight pounder on the scale.

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"alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...


Don't swell his head, he shook a worm : ) Nah just kidding
the
fish
was
a
nice one. I took the images and made him pose. Harry will
definetly
give
Warren a run for his money for best dressed ROFB'er. It
was
a
tough
bite
as
I fished as an observer, I landed two fish and slept for a
few
hours
into
early morning. But good to be back out on a big boat. The
fish
were
there
as
two members of that club brought in respective limits of
15
and
12
lbs.
It
was all about location as they both caught fish on
patterns
that
everyione
else was using



"Henry Hefner" wrote in message
...
Thundercat wrote:
I managed to catch my personal best largemouth in last
night's
tournament. It weighed in at 5 lbs 7 oz.

Congrats, Harry. I checked out your pics and they look
great.
I'll
try
to outdo you soon, I've got the Texas water advantage,
but
you've
got
the knowledge.