At Lake Havasu, John Galbraith (Bass Tackle Master) reports that the striper bite has been fair. Small to mid-sized stripers are chasing schools of shad in the mornings. Look for boils and cast shad-style baits such as a Pointer 128/158, White Rat-L-Traps, Poppers, or spook-style topwater lures no longer than 6 inches long. These tactics have been productive recently in and around the south side of the island, south to Havasu Palms.

Smallmouth bass have been cooperative for anglers and biting well on green pumpkin-colored hula grubs rigged on a 3/8 oz. or 1/2 oz. football jig fished around rocky banks in 6 to 18 feet of water.

Havasu’s largemouth bass are biting best on tubes and Senkos rigged as light as possible, fished around tule/cattail shade pockets during sunny times of the day. The bait must have a very slow rate of fall to give bass time to take it. Bronzeye and popper topwater frogs are working well just before sunset.

Pro Tip: Rig topwater frogs with braided 20- to 50-pound line on a medium heavy to heavy action 7-foot rod. A strong hookset is required to catch bass using this technique. Cast the frogs around the base of cattails and tules.

A good number of quality 5-pound plus channel catfish are being caught with cut baits like anchovies or mackerel fished on the bottom. Catfish come up to shallower areas at night to feed and can be caught from shore with regularity.