Lake Oviachic MX
Air temp 57-85
Water temp 68-72
Lake water level down 6� from 1 month earlier

My guest on this trip were long time MX fishing buddy Dick Westergard and second time MX participant Bob Flaherty, (aka Big Fella) both from Mesa.

There was a different difference in the pattern from this seasons prior two trips to this one with more fish inside vs outside as the fish were in �pre-spawn� mode and I suspect there�ll be a major move up to spawn during the next full moon. It�s been an unusually warm winter so it appears the spawn is happening early this year. And finally the hordes of small green bugs is mostly gone, for now.

Every day we boated over 100 fish inc Friday when we knocked off a few hours early for cleanup. A couple days were just slightly over the century mark while a few days were way over. Friday morning was 8 degrees colder than the other days and the fish took awhile to get real aggressive again until the late morning water warming.

BF was 7.3 on a lizard in 7� of water about 2/3 back into a cove out of a small tree. A 6.1 was also caught on a lizard in the mouth of a cove on a 15� hump surrounded by 25� water. All of our fishing was done between 3 Sisters and a mile south of LRII. 15 lb fluorocarbon has proven adequate for most all our fishing this season except for 17 mono for top water and 17 carb on the big, deeper diving cranks. TW was just ok one evening and one morning this trip as was spinnerbaits. The lizard seemed to get better as the week went on but cranking still seemed to put more fish in the boat than anything else inc a couple of 5.75 lb fish. Targeting shallower water with rock vs lotsa wood was where the crank really shined. A month ago the best crank I used was the new Berkley Dredger 14� but this trip it was the Berkley Digger 8� that really shined in colors of perch, citrus/blue shad, and chartreuse. The knock on cranking of course is that they can hang up a lot and with the water level down as it currently is, wood doesn�t seem to be nearly the problem it normally is but those old abandoned unseen nets....#%^*, what a pain!!!

Even though there were still some fish in 15-25�, concentrating on 6-8� deep water up in coves with a deep cut down the middle was the way to go for us. I also found that switching over to a 26P Fury 4-blade prop made a noticeable difference with 3 guys and choppy water with my Mercury Verado 250 Pro (and it still hit 73.3 mph with all our gear, gas, and big butts) and having that ginormous front deck of my Phoenix 921 PHX made it ez to fish 3 guys every day and run the windy big bay.

As it sits right now with the ongoing low water situation and somewhat challenging launching situation at Oviachic, along with feeling like I almost have met half the fish population personally, it looks like myself and some friends will be headed down to revisit Huites Lake at the end of Feb to see if the new lodge there is acceptable and if the fishing is as good as it once was before all the lodges closed. I�ll be posting a report when I return in early March. I look forward to meeting the owner of the new lodge, Humberto, and taking advantage of his offer to come see and experience what he has to offer at a highly discounted price for those going that week.

Regards,

Sam Sherwood
Mesa, AZ

Sam,you will enjoy Humberto,the lodge,food-service,and fishing. I went last year