Fishing Report: Central region — Saguaro bass bite strong, top-water good at Bartlett, Apache Lake remains closed

See the latest SRP water levels

Heading into late summer, the best bass bite in general will be from 6 p.m. through the night. The top-water bite has finally turned on at both Bartlett and Lake Pleasant and probably Roosevelt Lake as well.

Access to Apache Lake remains closed.

Bartlett Lake

Stay cool if fishing Bartlett Lake during the day.

Water temp: 85 degrees

Fishing for largemouth bass has been good. The water temperature at Bartlett Lake in the Tonto National Forest has topped out at around 85 degrees (surface temp). Bass Pro Gary Senft said the top-water bite has picked up. Try fishing around 5 a.m. throwing top-water lures in shad colors (white, white and red, etc.) After the sun rises, largemouth bass have in 8- to 20-feet of water. Senft fished the late Monday afternoon from 4-7:30 p.m.. He said the best baits have been Texas-rigged brush hogs in watermelon candy or watermelon. Shorelines structure type didn’t matter, he said. “Once you start seeing fish on the graph, they bite,” he said. Other good baits have been dropshot-rigged plastic worms. Best sizes of plastics is around 4 1/2 inches.

Saguaro Lake

Gary Senft with a 5 pounder largemouth bass caught Tuesday from Saguaro Lake

Water temp: 83 degrees

Senft said fishing on Tuesday from 5-11:30 a.m. was excellent using Texas-rigs with  small, curly tail worms, Carolina-rigged plastic worms (curly and split tail) in watermelon candy and green pumpkin. Best bite was from a dropshot rig. He said his party started catching 2-3 pounders over points, boulders and an island (Shiprock). Visibility was about 3 feet. The fish went up to 5 pounds.

“And they are very healthy fish,” Senft said. “There are a lot of 3, 4, 5-inch shad there, too. The lake looks good.”