9/29 - 10/1 Roosevelt & Salt Rivers results

[anakin]

Rosevelt/Saltriver results !

Friday nite fished Schoolhouse, had one run on a live gill but missed the hook up.

Saterday nite fished the upper salt with live gills & pulled out a 20 #, & a 40 # early Sunday morning. Also saw a 38# pulled out from someone in the group next to us off of worms !

P.s. excuse the crack on the last pic ! lol

[ike whitson]

Dwaine,
Congrad's on the fish dude:cool2: :cool2: Look's like it was fun to handle!! Is that the river behind you?, look's like clear water, you can't get a boat up there can ya? Guess the season's not over yet is it? Good job man, may you have many more!!!!!

[SilencedMajority]

Great fish man! Congrats! I was down there all Saturday night and left Sunday about 9:00 a.m. I was camping down at Ead's wash, we were using nightcrawlers and cut and live bluegill. Last 3-4 nights we've been down there, NOT A SINGLE RUN ALL NIGHT. I don't know what we are doing wrong. Like I said before, we fish at Ead's wash, where did you set up? I am getting frustrated about that stretch of upper salt. I love the area, but can't figure out what is going on. You did real good though, really nice fish you caught there.

[anakin]

majority - Its not you man. All the locals I spoke with say the fish have been weird this year.

[anakin]

Ike - I had a blast. Always love being on the water, but its even better when im actually catching fish.

Yes, that was the part of the river I caught em at. Unless it was flooded, theres no way to get a boat up there. You could barley make out the diversion dam from where we were fishing.

I caught my only other flathead up until this weekend on 9/9/05. About the same time of year. The season being over is more me not wanting to be out in the cold rather then flatheads possibly not biting.

[AZflats]

Nice job on the flattys.

The salt is hot~ you can't deny...

Great job on the release. Is 40# your new PB?

* I will probably head up there again this weekend.. It is such a long drive for me, but with the action this hot, It should be worth it...

[anakin]

azflats - not sure, the first big one i caught got away before i could weigh it. fishergirl says my first was bigger then this last one though. Hard to tell from pics because im holding them a lil different but the previous big one does look a lil longer then this last one.

Im in Tucson so I know about long rides but worth every min. when I catch em.

[azcatman]

Headed out in a few minutes. I'll post a report when I get back tomorrow. You can bet we will be fishing the river with action this hot!!!!!!

[martinman]

Hey Tom,

I have to ask if you CPR'd the big flattie in your profile pic.

If you did, maybe that is the same one that Andy caught :lol:

I never thought about that until now.

Just a thought.

Ryan


P.S. Let us know how you do....I may have to pursuade my wife into letting me go out again before the end of the year.

[martinman]

By the way Anakin,


Congrats on the nice flatties. It is nice to see you guys catching some good-sized fish

Ryan

[azcatman]

Yes I did and the same thought crossed my mind. The one I caught was in the same area so who knows.

[AZflats]

We should start putting BOC shark tags on the fish we catch with the date..
~ Well, maybe not... lol.:lol:

I think Tom's fish is much much bigger by now, unless someone else caught and removed it... His was 65# over a year ago....

These big flattys up that river are feeding on all those carp...
~ And there are a lot of them, (carp).
Plus, there are no small carp.. So I doubt they are eating light meals..

BIG BAIT= BIG FISH

[Picksecky]

Great job Anikin. Great pics. I'll bet pulling those babies out of the river was a blast. I haven't fished there for a long time. May try it soon. gonna hit Patagonia again this week. I brightened up you pic of releasing the big one. Hope you don't mind. Rick

[anakin]

Good luck at patagonia ! Thks for brightening the pic. I was experimenting with the exposure on my digi cam for the last pic. I think im start saving the experimenting for pics that dont really matter.

[azcatman]

Well I'm back. Had a few runs but no hook ups. Flatheads won again. Man it has been a frustrating year!!!!! Hope to get a few more trips in. Were not giving up that easy!

[martinman]

Andy,

If you didn't catch the same fish, you probably caught its brother. :smile2:
Both fish are nice lookin flatties.

Tom,

I will say that this year at Roosevelt has been a different one for me too. I have had the hardest time there catching bait. Now that I know that cut carp can do some damage it changes things quite a bit.

I guess that is one of the reasons I started going to the lower Colorado instead. The bait is much easier to get and the past few times has warranted 20 good baitfish in about 25-30 minutes. It would take forever to get that many baitfish at Roosevelt.

Anyway, the flatheads may have won this last trip but they will see things change at some point in time.

Ryan

[jaytee]

Heres another rookie question so please be kind. Where is there access to the upper salt river, the only area I am familiar with is the popular tubing area near a bridge. Is the bridge area worth trying. Any reply is appreciated, James.

[AZflats]

I always boat from the main lake up the river when I fish the river, I have never driven to the river like some folks have..

Unlike Bartlett where the Yellow Cliffs ramp is right on the river (Verde)

* Correct me if I am wrong, ( I have never done it) but isn't the area where folks tube below Roosevelt? (Below the dam?)

[anakin]

I think the bridge ur referring to is above rosevelt on the way to payson right? its about 100 yards up from the diversion dam. Anywhere below the diversion dam is prime flathead waters. Ive never tried fishing above it.

[anakin]

Fishergirl & I have for along time now thought live small carp where the best bait for flatheads & definetly the most hardiest. (ive had small carp in the 4 inch range stay alive hooked between the eyes with both eyes missing with nothing there but bare eyesockets) Talk about a tuff fish. This is unheard of with any other baitfish that ive ever delt with.
Although Ive never used cut carp for bait Ive always believed they were very similar to goldfish & recall as a kid being told that goldfish should only be put in a fish tank with other fish that can handle certain oils that they seem to release. Which lead me to believe that perhaps carp release a similar oil that is easily picked up by flatheads & the reason why its one of the best baits to use for us arizona catfishermen & gals.

[ike whitson]

I believe there might be a bit of confusion here? Jaytee are you talking about tubing down below Saguaro,or Roosevelt? As far as I know there is no access to the salt other than the diversion dam area by foot(upstream) unless you float down from above or walk in from the damn. I have hunted pig's and deer in there for many years and that part of the salt river canyon is tough!!! The biologist from the game and fish claim's that from the diversion dam up to at least where cherry creek meets the salt the flatty's have eaten everything they could, and are surviving by cannibalism and, there are suppose to be some monster's up there. I've seen some of the picture's and they are impressive. Hope this help's

[anakin]

There is a turn off that takes you right under the bridge above the diversion dam. Ive been there. Never thought about fishing there. Can you link us to some of these reports about the flats up there & any pics if they are avail online?

[azcatman]

Bait really hasn't been a problem. We were using small carp when we could catch them but if not we always caught enough Bluegills for a night. Last night I used the same 2 gills and they were still kickin this morning. We started hooking through the nose and they seem to stay alive alot longer that way. But our hook up ratio has gone WAY down. Of course last night the boat rookie got the runs and he forgot to engage the reel before he set the hook!!!! He won't do that again I hope. Good luck to all and hopefully I'll get one before it slows down.

[AZflats]

Although Ive never used cut carp for bait Ive always believed they were very similar to goldfish & recall as a kid being told that goldfish should only be put in a fish tank with other fish that can handle certain oils that they seem to release. Which lead me to believe that perhaps carp release a similar oil that is easily picked up by Flatheads & the reason why its one of the best baits to use for us arizona catfishermen & gals.


Carp is just an oily meat. When fishing with it you can bring it in and trim some off the sides to expose new meat, this "refreshes" the bait and releases the oils.
Gold fish are essentially carp in their own right. With an aquarium you don't want to mix other "tropical" fish with them because they cannot withstand the large amount of ammonia, or waste goldfish release.

Whatever it is that makes it a good bait..... It sure is plentiful.

[SilencedMajority]

Heres another rookie question so please be kind. Where is there access to the upper salt river, the only area I am familiar with is the popular tubing area near a bridge. Is the bridge area worth trying. Any reply is appreciated, James.

I think you are thinking of Sheep Trail Crossing off of Bush Highway, and that is part of the Lower Salt. The Upper Salt is the river before it dumps into Roosevelt Lake. Sheep Trail Crossing isn't productive for catfish nearly at all, I think I've seen some carp and trout down there, but when there is enough water to fish in, there are also hoards of tubers down there. I'd say the best river fishing close to Phoenix accesible by car would be any of the Salt River Access points just above Roosevelt and below the Diversion Dam. Take US60 East to Globe, 188 North and then 288 North before you get to the lake. There will be river access road on your left before you cross the river.

[ike whitson]

The guy's name is Jim Warnecke he is the region V1 Fisheries program manager. We had the pleasure of meeting him at one of his seminars on catfishing at the mesa Sportmans warehouse.He works out of the Mesa GFD. (480-981-9400 ext.213) You could call him to see if he's putting on any seminars or just BS with about fishing, he's a real friendly man and like most of us fisherman he likes to talk about his sport. Oh ya, ask him about smoking carp apparently he does it well. HOPE THIS HELPS.

[AZflats]

I beleive this is the same guy that does the "Camp Carp" He had an article in the AZ republic a few months back about carp fishing..

[ike whitson]

I beleive this is the same guy that does the "Camp Carp" He had an article in the AZ republic a few months back about carp fishing..

I do believe that is the same guy. I saw that article posted on the door of a bait frig. at a wall mart a few months back. I've heard a few people swear that their good eating [ " If you cook em right "] just like those pig like creatures we call javelina, their great when cooked in a PIT for 24hr's, but I swear you could put a football in there and it would taste like everything else in the pit:roll_eyes: :roll_eyes: :big_smile: Anywho have a great weekend fishin wherever you decide to go!

[USMC4u]

Dewaine, great job on them cats. I use worms but my biggest is like 10 pounder.

[USMC4u]

Dwaine sorry for the mispell

[anakin]

Ive seen two monsters in the last few weeks pulled out on worms. I guess you cant never count it out as a bait. Thks for the congrats. I have family coming down in nov hopefully weathers still warm enough to make another trip up...