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Colorado River and Lake Mead Fishing Report: Fall Bite Heats Up
Published 7 months ago
Description
Artificial Lure here with your local Colorado River and Lake Mead fishing report for Saturday, September 27, 2025. Fresh off that first cool snap of fall, we’re waking up to clear skies and a brisk north breeze rolling down the river. Highs will land in the mid-80s today—perfect weather to hit the water before the sun really climbs. Sunrise was at 6:35 AM, with sunset set for 6:35 PM, giving you a full twelve-hour window to chase that bite.
Tidal movement doesn’t have much say here with the river governed by dams, but the cool overnight drop kicked fish activity up a notch. Stripers have been thick at first light—especially chasing shad in the coves and along points around Boulder Basin and Government Wash. According to the Daily Lake Mead Fishing Report, early birds are seeing striper schools busting bait on top, and several local guides have reported stringers of 8 to 20 with a solid handful of 3- to 5-pounders landed on the morning run. The action slows midday, but things pick back up with catfish and smallmouth moving shallower as the sun starts dropping.
Best lures right now: topwater walkers and Zara Spooks at dawn while the water’s like glass. Once the sun’s up, swap to white swimbaits or mid-diving crankbaits—anything with a good shad pattern is working. Soft plastics like drop-shotted shad imitations are bringing in smallmouth off rocky points. If you’re partial to bait, cut anchovy and chicken liver are both producing cats and stripers. For the patient, drifting bait at 20–40 feet just off the bottom is classic for those school-sized fish.
The smallmouth bass bite is steady above Callville Bay—lots of 1- to 2-pounders reported, plus the odd kicker over 3 pounds up in the rocks. Ned rigs and green pumpkin tubes have been the top producers there. Overnight, a group pulled in a nice 14-pound channel cat out of Las Vegas Bay on stink bait, which just goes to show night fishing still pays off as the weather cools.
Hot spots to focus on:
- Boulder Basin: especially the east side points south of Saddle Island for boiling stripers at dawn.
- Government Wash: good numbers of stripers early, then decent cats and bass starting midafternoon into dusk.
- Temple Bar: the river channel edges have fish schooling up on blade baits and spoons as clarity improves.
Lake levels remain low from ongoing conservation efforts, so keep an eye on your depth near every ramp—Echo Bay especially is shallow and can get tricky. Bonus for naturalists: early fall migration has waterfowl moving through, so watch the sky while you’re cruising between points and share the shoreline with the birds.
Kayakers are having a great time in the Black Canyon Narrows, and Emerald Cave is always popular for an afternoon paddle, but anglers are finding their best action close to those sunrise and sunset windows, when water temps dip and the fish come calling.
Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for fresh reports and daily tactics straight from the riverbank. Keep your lines tight and your bait fresher than your luck!
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Tidal movement doesn’t have much say here with the river governed by dams, but the cool overnight drop kicked fish activity up a notch. Stripers have been thick at first light—especially chasing shad in the coves and along points around Boulder Basin and Government Wash. According to the Daily Lake Mead Fishing Report, early birds are seeing striper schools busting bait on top, and several local guides have reported stringers of 8 to 20 with a solid handful of 3- to 5-pounders landed on the morning run. The action slows midday, but things pick back up with catfish and smallmouth moving shallower as the sun starts dropping.
Best lures right now: topwater walkers and Zara Spooks at dawn while the water’s like glass. Once the sun’s up, swap to white swimbaits or mid-diving crankbaits—anything with a good shad pattern is working. Soft plastics like drop-shotted shad imitations are bringing in smallmouth off rocky points. If you’re partial to bait, cut anchovy and chicken liver are both producing cats and stripers. For the patient, drifting bait at 20–40 feet just off the bottom is classic for those school-sized fish.
The smallmouth bass bite is steady above Callville Bay—lots of 1- to 2-pounders reported, plus the odd kicker over 3 pounds up in the rocks. Ned rigs and green pumpkin tubes have been the top producers there. Overnight, a group pulled in a nice 14-pound channel cat out of Las Vegas Bay on stink bait, which just goes to show night fishing still pays off as the weather cools.
Hot spots to focus on:
- Boulder Basin: especially the east side points south of Saddle Island for boiling stripers at dawn.
- Government Wash: good numbers of stripers early, then decent cats and bass starting midafternoon into dusk.
- Temple Bar: the river channel edges have fish schooling up on blade baits and spoons as clarity improves.
Lake levels remain low from ongoing conservation efforts, so keep an eye on your depth near every ramp—Echo Bay especially is shallow and can get tricky. Bonus for naturalists: early fall migration has waterfowl moving through, so watch the sky while you’re cruising between points and share the shoreline with the birds.
Kayakers are having a great time in the Black Canyon Narrows, and Emerald Cave is always popular for an afternoon paddle, but anglers are finding their best action close to those sunrise and sunset windows, when water temps dip and the fish come calling.
Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for fresh reports and daily tactics straight from the riverbank. Keep your lines tight and your bait fresher than your luck!
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This episode includes AI-generated content.