San Carlos 4/19

[OneBlade]

Hit San Carlos I think first time for me since 2018 when it drained that summer.  They've had 2 good years of rains and the lake is higher than I expected (for all water levels, check out https://forum.azcrappie.com/index.php/topic,5213.0.html). Way more open lake area, coves, shorelines, etc. to choose from. I fished with AZCA member Patrick Middleton and we were on the water by 6am before it got busy.  We launched at the main Soda Canyon ramp. Also, got our habitat stamp, boater permit, and fishing permit online ahead of time. We didn't feel the lake was busy at all for a Saturday but could have been the cold front that went through the day before. Patrick had an epic fishing day a couple days before fishing from shore so we had hoped to replicate that.  Well the crappie were no longer in the same areas so we had to adjust tactics.  We fished often with bobbers near shoreline fishing jigs or minnows, as well as I did some casting with a jig. Much of the fishing was without leveraging LiveScope and near the end of the day we started targeting crappie schools and did well at that, but had to leave for the day. We caught a limit at 25 and each took 6 home for fish fry and released the rest. Crappie are everywhere in that lake and experience fishermen could probably catch a lot more if the conditions are right.

Most of the crappie I cleaned were males with a female in there with only a few eggs.  I measured water temp 61-62 degrees.

All crappie were under 2 years old blacknose from the stocking they did in March 2023 so don't expect any tanks or hogs. All were under 2lbs so really hoping the lake can survive this summer given lack of rains and risk it gets emptied like it does every few years.

Caught a big carp too on my crappie gear that was fun.

Reply here if you have any questions and please post a report if you go.

[Stevert]

Good work Matt.  Great report. 

[timbo]