Photo by Tony Mandile.

Sitting among saguaro-studded hills with a backdrop of the rugged Bradshaw Mountains to the north, Lake Pleasant serves as the main attraction of the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department’s 14,000-acre regional park. Because of its proximity to the Phoenix metropolitan area, the lake on the Agua Fria River has become Arizona’s most popular recreation area. Fishing and camping draw visitors during the cooler months, and boaters add to the mix in summer.

The completion of the New Waddell Dam in 1993 tripled the lake’s size to about 10,000 surface acres, making it the second-largest in the state behind Roosevelt. The lake now contains lots of excellent bass habitat, with enough jutting points, shallow flats, brush stands, steep cliffs, rocky shorelines and underwater islands to keep any fishermen content.

Pleasant already contained myriad species of fish, including largemouth bass, channel and flathead catfish, black and white crappie, green and redear sunfish, bluegill and carp. Plus, it served as the only home for white bass in Arizona.

Then in 1994, when the 336-mile-long Central Arizona Project began pumping water into Pleasant from Lake Havasu on the Colorado River, it brought in another denizen of the deep -- the striped bass. Pleasant now harbors a very fishable and reproducing population of stripers, including many that have grown large over the last decade.

LARGEMOUTH BASS
Most anglers visit Lake Pleasant to chase largemouth bass. Fish heavier than 7 pounds are common, and several lunkers more than 10 pounds appear each year. Awhile back, one lucky fisherman boated a 13-pound, 13-ounce monster that came really close to the 14-pound, 2-ounce state record at the time. (The current state record is a 16-pound, 7.68-ounce bass caught in Canyon Lake in 1997.)

For anyone who enjoys catching a largemouth on a topwater plug, Lake Pleasant is an excellent place for it, according to Ben Koller, who operates The Hook Up Outfitters and Guide Service.

The best surface action occurs at either end of the day -- right at dawn or just before dark, he said.

Koller said to concentrate on the brushy areas in the coves, especially in the shallows along steep dropoffs into deeper water. If you’re not into surface-fishing, try a spinnerbait with a white or chartreuse skirt, he said.

Koller spends about 150 days a year on Pleasant, normally concentrating his efforts at the back ends of Castle Creek, Cole’s Bay or Humbug Creek. All of them have sufficient areas of brush and structure to attract largemouth.

In August of last year, Noel Arnold set a new inland striper record when he boated a 27.28-pound monster at Lake Pleasant.

Before the main bass spawn, schools of shad make their way into these areas early or late in the day. The largemouth bass, searching for an easy meal, follow right behind.

When the lake begins to warm in mid-morning, however, the bass seek out structure in deeper water, said Koller.

WHITE BASS
Among game fish, the prolific white bass is Pleasant’s most populous species. Finding a school containing fish that average 2 1/2 to 3 pounds is not unusual. The white’s favorite entrée consists of threadfin shad, so some fishermen locate them by trolling shad-type lures.

When it comes to trolling for them, white bass might be very selective. So experimenting with different boat speeds and plugs that run shallow or deep sometimes becomes necessary.