Lake Mead Fishing Rundown - Stripers and Bass Bites Heating Up As Temps Cool

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Lake Mead fishing rundown.

We don’t worry about tides here, but water is still low and clear overall, with a light stain on wind‑blown points. Overnight temps have been chilly, but afternoons have been warming into the high 50s to low 60s with light north to northeast winds and high pressure settling in. Sunrise is right around 6:45 a.m., with sunset near 4:30 p.m., so that first hour of light and the last 60–90 minutes are your prime windows.

Striper activity has picked up with the cooler water. Local reports out of Boulder Harbor and Hemenway show steady catches of school‑size stripers, mostly 1–4 pounds, with a few bigger fish pushing 8–10 when the shad bunch up. The bite has been best just before sunup and again mid‑morning when light chop stacks bait on windward points. Anglers soaking cut anchovies on dropper rigs in 40–80 feet are still putting good numbers in the box, but the folks chasing birds and graphing bait balls are doing better on artificials.

Largemouth and smallmouth are in classic winter mode: tighter to rock, slower to chase, but still very catchable. The smallies are coming off bluff ends and chunk rock in 15–35 feet, with most fish in the 1–2 pound range and a few 3s mixed in. Largemouth reports have been scattered but steady around brush, old flooded structure, and the backs of coves with deeper water nearby.

Best producers right now:

- For stripers:
• **Cut anchovies** and sardines on a simple dropper loop or Carolina rig, 1–2 oz weight, leader 18–30 inches.
• **Jigging spoons** (¾–1 oz), white, chrome, or shad patterns, yo‑yoed vertically under birds or over marked bait.
• **Soft jerkbaits and flukes** on ¼–⅜ oz heads, counted down and burned through active schools.

- For bass:
• **Drop‑shot** with 4–6" worms in natural shad, morning dawn, and green pumpkin, fished painfully slow on main‑lake points.
• **Ned rigs** and small tube jigs on 1/10–¼ oz heads dragged across rock for smallmouth.
• **Football jigs** in brown/purple or green pumpkin with a craw trailer for the better largemouth bites in 20–35 feet.
• On calm, sunny afternoons, a **suspending jerkbait** worked with long pauses over 10–20 feet is stealing a few bonus fish.

If you’re running for stripers, two classic hot spots right now:

- **Boulder Basin / Hemenway to Boulder Harbor line** – Watch for birds diving on shad and watch your graph; the schools are moving, but when you land on them you can boat a dozen quick.
- **Around the Hoover Dam / intake towers and the Saddle Island area** – Deep water, current, and bait make this a consistent winter striper zone; vertical spoons and cut bait both shine.

For bass, a couple of solid choices:

- **Gregg’s Basin** – Rocky points and walls with access to deep water are holding a mix of smallies and largemouth; work slow plastics along the breaks.
- **Temple Bar area** – Clearer water and classic structure; target steep rocky shorelines and secondary points with drop‑shots and jigs.

Overall, expect fewer but better‑quality bites if you slow down for bass, and more action and numbers if you lean into the striper game with bait and spoons. Dress for the morning chill, keep an eye on the wind forecasts, and give yourself time to fish those prime low‑light windows.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI