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Lake Pleasant Shore Fishing

60K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  shifty 
#1 ·
I am a new fisherman of a couple of months. I am trying to branch out from Urban fishing places and neighborhood ones as I haven't had too much success from these places - 1 catfish and some small sunfish. I did catch a 1 1/2 bass in the local litchfield park city lake, but last wk, the parks dept did something to "clean" the water and 100s of dead fish including 2ft carp were ending up on the sides of the lake.

I am planning to go to Lake Pleasant for the first time this weekend (closest to me as I live in Litchfield Park). I have no boat, so it's only shore fishing for me in the daytime.

My questions are what to expect to catch from the shore if anything and are there are fishing spots that seem to be productive? Is a dropshot rig the way to go this time of year or can I use crankbaits? If the AZGFD reports "stripers at 60ft" is that even anything thats possible from the shore? People use frozen anchovies for bait. Where do they get this - from an Asian grocery? I have sardines and mackerel I got while fishing a pier in San Diego - can I use this for chumming?

Sorry for the amount of questions. :eek:
Any recommendations would be helpful.
 
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#2 ·
When you head up 74 turn at Castle Hot Springs and drive all the way to the end of the road and turn left go up the dirt road to the north end of the lake and fish either from the east bank or west bank of the bridge at Castle Creek, tons of dead trees sticking out of the water, try throwing some tubes, roboworms, white rooster tails, or a bluegill imitator, keep your colors bright as they are still spawning and you want it to look as intrusive as possible to get em nice n pissed off so they attack
 
#4 ·
My addiction to fishing started shore fishing plez about this time of year probably 20 years ago. From this time of year till the end of May the fish (bass, whites, stripes, cats, carp) are pretty much migrating to the back of coves. If you have a 4x4 you can get into some really good spots on the north side of the lake away from the crowds of the south part of the lake. Castle Creek, Bass Bay, Coles, and Humbug all have good access points. Humbug will be a little limited on variety of things to fish from shore. My favorite was Castle Creek and Coles. Google earth and a gps will help you on roads, having a 4x4 is not necessary but will get you to a few more spots then without. Good Luck!
 
#7 ·
My addiction to fishing started shore fishing plez about this time of year probably 20 years ago. From this time of year till the end of May the fish (bass, whites, stripes, cats, carp) are pretty much migrating to the back of coves. If you have a 4x4 you can get into some really good spots on the north side of the lake away from the crowds of the south part of the lake. Castle Creek, Bass Bay, Coles, and Humbug all have good access points. Humbug will be a little limited on variety of things to fish from shore. My favorite was Castle Creek and Coles. Google earth and a gps will help you on roads, having a 4x4 is not necessary but will get you to a few more spots then without. Good Luck!
FYI - No 4X4 required. People go back there in Corollas and Civics. Better off if you have some ground clearance but you can make it in 2WD no problem.
 
#6 ·
I used to do alot of shore fishing at plez, cant go wrong with watermelon and pumpkin senkos for bass,this time last year pulled 5 to 11lb cats out of cottonwood cove, liver, live blugill, live or dead shad. At coles nightcrawlers will catch you big blugill. As for striper, much easier to catch with a boat, depth finder and a grip of chovies, you can pick these up at certain walmarts, sportmans wearhouse, and the hood up.
 
#12 ·
If you want to catch stripers off shore at pleasant, go to the island below the visitor's center by the dam. You can wade across the saddle if the water's not too high. Take a long rod that you can cast far, use a 3/4 weight and cut anchovies. Throw towards the pumps and let it sit on the bottom. It's really steep so you'll be fishing deep.

If the water's too high you can fish directly below the visitor's center and throw towards the pumps. Both places can be snaggy so reel in fast and high when you check your bait and you won't lose as many rigs. Good luck.
 
#14 ·
No luck today

Went to castle creek bridge today. Fished on a ledge sw portion of the area. Used dropshot senkos, bluegill lures, shrimp, frozen mackerel and no bites from 7am to 10am. No bites from baitfish even using a sabiki rig. While there did see one family with lots of little kids that caught 1 striper. Same one caught two while staying overnight. Plenty of fish activity, with a fish jumping out of water literally every ten seconds the whole time, but I think these were all carp.
 
#15 ·
Went to castle creek bridge today. Fished on a ledge sw portion of the area. Used dropshot senkos, bluegill lures, shrimp, frozen mackerel and no bites from 7am to 10am. No bites from baitfish even using a sabiki rig. While there did see one family with lots of little kids that caught 1 striper. Same one caught two while staying overnight. Plenty of fish activity, with a fish jumping out of water literally every ten seconds the whole time, but I think these were all carp.
hope you only had 2 hooks on that sabiki rig...
 
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