A Night At Canyon Lake to Remember

A Night to Remember

My fishing partner, my step-son Chris ,and I decided we wanted to go out for some full moon fishing.  Not having fished on Canyon Lake at night for a few years out we headed for some fun fishing.  We fished from 6 pm to 1am and had a blast. Canyon is known for producing hugh double digit Toads and we wanted to see if they were out playing.

The evening weather looked promising with no Summer storms, a slight breeze, no clouds and a full moon on the way.  Water temp was between 82 and 85 degrees, slightly stained with a 2 to 5 foot visability.

We started off in the first 5 minutes with a solid 3.5 lber LM, on a dropshot rig with a Robo Worm.  We worked the Canyon Walls and large boulders as we went. A few minutes later I flipped a Texas Rig with a 10" Red Shad Power Worm into a pocket along a canyon wall where I knew there was a shelf about 10 feet deep.  As I slowly dragged the worm over the shelf, I got another strike.  It was another 3.5lb LM.   As I was dropping into the water, my partner, who had flipped a Texas Rig with a small grub right back into the same pocket and he yelled FISH!, WOW, and what a fish, he blasted a 6.94lb LM from the same spot.  So, back to back fish from the same sopt in less than two minutes. 

At that point we felt sure this was going to be a good night of fishing.  Shortly thereafter, we hit another fish, which we thought to be another LM, that turned out to be a nice 16 inch Catfish. 

Then, as always, when the sun goes down fishing on Canyon Lake slows or comes to a dead stop for up to a few hours.  We pressed on leaving the river canyon walls and headed back to the main lake where we had several old spots we wanted to try our luck at.

It was hit and miss for a while but finally fishing picked back up and we found a pattern that stayed consistant.  Somewhat puzzled, a couple of my old spots just did not produced so we moved back to where I caught the first fish of the evening and my partner laned a nice 3+ lb LM on the same spot. 

Now, we pride ourselves on keeping our fish healthy and alive!  But our 6.94 suddenly went belly up.  I continued fishing while my partner tended to the troubled fish.  We couldn't figure out what happened' then we spotted it.  Somehow the livewell Oxygenation system and water circulation had somehow inadvertantly been turned off...for how long we didn't know.  So all sytems back on, U2 Pro Formula Livewell Treatment and some fresh water and 45 minutes of my partner and I switching places keeping the fish upright and near the circulating water nozzle, the fish finally recovered and stayed upright and seemed healthy again.

We headed to another spot  and started to work the boulders near the shore.  This spot was like  the others where we caught fish but, a strong breeze had come up.  We worked one direction through the area and would get to a spot where the wind would stop.  We'd fish it and move on and the wind would pick up blowing in the opposite direction.  Strange...  We would work back down until the wind stopped again and when we moved past that point the wind would pick back up again in the opposite direction....  I think you see where I'm going here.....  Each time in either direction the wind would stop at a particular point...for no reason as we were in the open.  So eventually after several passes in each direction we decided to just hang there in the calm zone for bit.  And then, it paid off.  My partner yelled FISH! and I grabbed the net.  He had not seen the fish yet and was looking down when the fish jumped at the back of the boat and I looked at him and said you have a Toad!...and the rodeo was on.  Needless to say this LM was his personal best of 10.11 lbs.  and she was a beauty. 

I don't know what happened, but it just seems like we had a little help....  If you know

We fished until 1:00 am pulled out our scale to see what we had.  What a night.  We took our best three and hammered a 21.30 lb bag!  (10.11, 6.94 & 4.25lbs.)  Then we added the two others for a five fish weight.  (3.5 & 4.0) for another 7.5 lbs totalling 28.8lbs for a 5 fish limit! 

A great night!!! With all the fish safely back in the water we headed home.  A persnoal best for my partner, twice in one night, a Team personal best and great teamwork saving a fish. 

I don't know about what happened, but it just seemed like we had a little help here... if you know what I mean. 

Canyon Lake, East of Phoenix, AZ is one of four lakes in a chain of lakes.  From Saguaro Lake, the closest to the valley, to Canyon Lake with its beautiful canyon walls and abundant wild life and majestic Big Horn Sheep to Apache Lake which follows the old Apache Trail and once Ppony Express U.S. Mail Station in Tortilla Flats ending at the Roosevelt Dam and Lake Roosevelt, each separated by man-made dams, each with its own beautiful desert landscape and great fishing.

What a great night!  One I am sure we will both remember and talk about for a lifetime.