First time fishing lake mary. help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spike]

Is my 22 foot pontoon to big?  Is there alot of crappie there. How do i fish for Pike and WAlleye. Is there camping at waters edge. HELP !!!!!

[Fish Hawk]

22ft. boat - no problem
I've graphed a couple good sized schools of crappie.
Pike - use Lg mouth chatter, spinner, crank, baits or large in-line spinner baits
no camping by waters edge

[cousinlll]

A lot of shore camping on the other side of the lake (not along the Lake Mary Road side).

Haven't fished much for Crappie there but my best Crappie catch day came in The Narrows trolling Road Runners w/ BBC & JD grubs.  Others have caught Crappie near the dam & aerator.

As far as Pike fishing goes, like Fish Hawk mentioned go with light colored spinner & chatter baits in white &/or chartreuse.  I prefer SB's with multi willow leaf blades.  Large Mepps Pike/Musky inline spinners w/ a buck tail fast trolled is another option - trust me on that one... .  I saw the other day that BPS had a better selection of these over by the gay bass section.

Spinner rigs w/ "real" night crawlers from Liar's Korner for Walleye.

LLL

[spike]

Valuble information i will use your tips. As far as camping on the west side of the lake are the roads accessable without 4WD and pulling a boat.

[cousinlll]

Guess I should of clarified that a bit - I assumed you were looking to boat camp on the other side of the lake. If looking for developed campsites, check out the Coconino National Forest website. There is Lakeview & Pinegrove along with sites around Ashurst Lake. Otherwise dry camping along roads to both Marshall & Ashurst lakes.

LLL

[spike]

Im not looking for developed camp sites, i like camping in the sticks. I was just wondering if i could drive around to the other side of the lake with a 2WD truck pulling a boat and not have to worry about getting stuck or having to turn around in a tuff spot. It would also be nice to be able to leave my boat in the water for 5 days and be able to access it easily from camp.

[cousinlll]

I'm with you on camping in da sticks!!

Your only chance of camping & leaving your boat in da water is to boat camp.  There are some very nice sites on the other side of the lake.

[spike]

Thx for taking the time to share all the info. If you ever see a pontoon on the water called LOONEYTOON stop by and i'll by you a cocktail

[spike]

Im back from lake mary had an excellant time. Good news for all you Crappie Slayers there catching them up to two pounds. I was at the general store at the upper lake and they had pic's from the same dates that i was there, 3 different catches. All i caught was Pike and Catfish. Bill thanks for the tip on the crawdad trap. I put it in the water 1 time and only caught 200 crawdads(no lie, i was shocked)