Summer Time Fishing - Saguaro Lake

With work being insanely busy and tournaments at night and on work days, I had only been going fishing on Sundays and at Bartlett or Pleasant. A buddy of mine called me up since he had sold his boat and wanted to go fishing and figured we would hit up Saguaro hoping to find some better quality fish. It was a great decision, over the last few weeks we have caught so many solid 4-7lb fish and numerous other 2-3lb fish that got calls from tons of people wanting to go. I took people out and even got them on their first bass ever. I am still going every week and hoping for a few more monsters before the tournament season starts again.

AZ Head to Head Bracket - Roud 3 - Bartlett Lake

I had been out to both Bartlett and Lake Pleasant over the last week or two. The fishing at both lakes was great and both patterns were completely different but solid. For Round 3, Nick wanted to wait until the night of to draw lakes, it came up Bartlett. I had plenty of confidence going in and was going to stick to the game plan. Early my bite was fizzling and was trying to figure out what to do to adjust to the fish repositioning. I figured it out and once again started catching them on the carolina-rig but the moved to the steeper drops on the reefs and on the isolated boulders. Once I figured it out I got my limit quick and started culling. I knew was going to need some solid fish and Nick is a guide there and won 2 previous tournaments on the lake. It was another 50+ fish day and the weights were close. Nick took the win by under half a pound. I fished clean just didn't have the right bites in time. The fishing was so good I went back out and my first 3 casts all produced fish over 2 and would have propelled me to a win by a hefty margin, that's fishing though. I had a blast in the series and look forward to next season.

AZ Head to Head Bracket - Round 2 - Bartlett Lake

Round 2 in the bracket was against Jeremy, we fished in the finals a few years back. I had another excellent day on the water fishing the same pattern as the previous round. The carolina-rig bite produced another 50+ fish and had a great limit. We didn't weigh via looking and the fish size different. I took the win and moved on to round 3.

AZ Head to Head Bracket - Round 1 - Bartlett Lake

Round 1 I drew one of my close fishing friends. I had just recently been to the lake with my father and Bartlett Lake was randomly drawn. I Figured would stick to the same game plan as the previous week and throw crankbaits. I quickly learned the fish had changed patterns and started slapping at the bait. After catching a couple short fish and losing a fish or two, I made a complete change. I went to an area close that has a ridge and a dropoff on it. I decided to throw a carolina-rig out and caught 5 fish in the next 5 casts, including a couple solid Bartlett fish. I ran that pattern on the other spots previously fish and proceeded to catch 50+ fish by the 11 cut time. I lost a monster on a deep crank and thought was going to cost me but I was able to pull out the win with a little over 8lbs.

Summer Day with My Father - Bartlett Lake

After my partner having boat troubles and us having to skip the JML Championship, I was a little bummed. My dad asked to go fishing and I instantly said yes. He has only gone with me one other time. We went to Bartlett and hot some old spots since the lake level was completely full. I tied on a crankbait for him and I threw a different color. For the next few hours we absolutely wrecked them. He had an absolute blast and it helped me reset my mindset. That day on the water meant more to me than any tournament could have. The look and smile on his face said it all, that is what fishing is all about.