Striper club can aid anglers

About three years ago, a frustrated fisherman looked on as a group of anglers filleted their catch over the whirling blades of the fish cleaning station at Lake Mead. He wondered how they always seemed to reel in such nice catches.

“You’d see these guys … and they always had all these fish, and they always had all these stories. It was just a little intimidating,” said Mike O’Donnell, who learned the lucky anglers were members of the Nevada Striper Club.

Then while driving one day, O’Donnell saw a fireworks stand with the striper club’s name on it. He stopped to learn about striped bass. After talking to club members, he decided to accept their invitation to attend one of their meetings and to join the club.

“I said, you know what, I need to get into this club because I need to freshen up and learn some different angles. That was probably one of the best things I did,” O’Donnell said.

“I love fishing and Lake Mead’s a big lake. It’s good to know guys who fish a lot. They share information — of course, they’re competitive guys so they won’t tell you everything, but I have learned a lot.”

O’Donnell, now the striper club’s tournament director, said Lake Mead’s size can make it tough for anglers because some of the water doesn’t hold any fish. A boat can help cover more water and a fish finder can help you locate the fish, but shore anglers catch their share of striped bass as well.

One of the techniques that helps is chumming.

“Before, I would cut up a couple of anchovies and throw them in the water, but that wasn’t enough,” O’Donnell said, while explaining that you have to use enough chum to attract and hold the fish. “Once you get ’em there, once they are biting, you want to keep them there.”

If you’re in a boat it’s important to be double-anchored so you stay over your chum. Anchovies can get expensive so some anglers use corn or oatmeal.

O’Donnell said that heading into May, anglers will want to look for spawning shad and throw live bait. From May to early October, they should look for boils early in the morning and in the evening.

“Look for the birds diving on the water and feeding on shad. You’ll know there are fish in there feeding, and just about anything you throw out there will work,” he said.

If you aren’t seeing boils, O’Donnell recommends fishing at depths near 60 feet or more. He said 65 feet seems to be the magic number along the beaches between Pyramid Island and the Hemenway launch ramp. In the Vegas Wash area, the depth is 65 to 80 feet.

Sometimes shore anglers can get lucky and reach boils, but if not they will want to look for deeper water at places like 33-hole or areas in the Vegas Bay arm, where O’Donnell recommends fishing along the main channel. Boulder Beach also can be real good.

I learned a long time ago that if you want to learn more about a particular outdoor pursuit it’s a good idea to associate with those who know more than you.

The Nevada Striper Club meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Lake Mead Lounge in Henderson. You don’t have to be a member to attend. For more information, visit nevadastriperclub.org.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column, published Thursday, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.