Bartlett Lake Fishing Trip w/ David J.

It was another brisk early spring day in Arizona. The sky was clear and sunny but the wind was very cold. The lake was not near as bad as the last trip out but was still covered by debris. Dave and I fished around the dock while Dad readied the boat for our trip up the lake. Normally, I would man the trolling motor but I was not feeling confident in my abilities this morning. Between our visitor and the cold weather my hands were just not working correctly. We had a fantastic trip, all be it cold, up the lake. I decided to have a shoreline lunch in a bay around the buoy lines. Fortunately, dad was able to anchor the boat in a small cove where we could lower our lines and begin fishing. I was not trying to fish hard, the cold weather it makes bluegill fishing very difficult. My main interested was getting dad to relax (a near impossible endeavor) and keep David occupied. To my surprise, David caught a small 6in bass! He had lowered his line down to a structure (not quite sure if it was an artificial fish-house or just some debre), allowing his bait to drifted around under the boat and to my surprise, started getting hit. Dave wouldn't let me take a picture of his little bass, worried that this would be the only fish he caught and his fisherman's bravo would be damaged if anyone saw it. Shortly there after, he caught a very nice 1/2lb bluegill hybrid. I made sure to get a picture this time!

I was feeling better about my trolling motor captaining skills, after practising during our MRE lunch. We up-anchored and headed down the shore. Before heading back to the marina, I trolled crank baits up the north side of the bay to a hot spot from years earlier, it didn't forgo us! Dave didn't catch anything but did miss a few good hits and dad caught a very yellow 1lb channel catfish. Our trip back to the marina was relaxing, I wanted to go up to the Yellow Cliffs but dad wasn't comfortable with the motors water cooling system. We headed straight back to the marina. One tiny issue, I forgot to pull in the fish basket w/ Dave's 1/2lb bluegill BEFORE the 5 mile trip back to the marina. The fish got scaled alive! We had to dispose of the little guy, his guts got busted up during the trip causing him to rot! Oops!

The marina was still completely trashed from the numerous dilusies and the air and water temperatures were still low, all leading me to believe the crappie fishing would totally suck! To my everlasting delight, I was wrong! I wasn't able to fish (forgot my pole holder), dad was fishing in our current favorite spot and David was chilling in the back of my boat. That was until dad pulled the second crappie from that hole, I bet Dave hadn't moved that quickly in years! We all fished that 2ft by 8ft hole for the next 3 hours, catching 16 crappie and a few bluegill. David had a hot finger for crappie, this day! I was also watching his line & pole, cheering him on and directing the action every time he got bit. It was a good time! The only difficulty we were having was the 1in thick of scum and branches jammed until the bay. Literally, the fishing line could not penetrate the muck and every 1/2lb netted fish also came with 5lbs of debre! It was a mess but made it interesting. We had a great day fishing! I could not have asked for a better day for David, cool and easy going...

David was still craving a pizza, so I ordered a pair from the road. It was waiting for us when we arrived!

Fish Count: 16 Crappie, 2 Bluegill, 1 Catfish Total: 19