Fishing guide shares secrets to Lake Mead success

While working on last week's column about Nick Olivas and the 52-pound mega-striper he caught at Lake Mead, I had the opportunity to talk with Capt. Don Martin, the Kingman, Ariz.-based fishing guide who snapped the now-famous photo of Olivas' trophy and launched it into cyberspace.

During our discussion, Martin mentioned he had spent the night before our visit guiding clients to one of his honey holes where they reeled in 204 stripers and five catfish in just six hours, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. That was followed up with three hours on the business end of a filet knife.

"We quit because we filled up," Martin said. "What I do is put my fish on ice as soon as we catch them. I keep four ice chests in the boat. Doug, we ran out of ice chests. It wasn't because the fish quit biting. They were biting as fast as you could throw in. I told my people we were done because I had no more room."

Obviously, that story piqued my interest and I wanted to know more. After reassuring Martin that I didn't expect him to give up any trade secrets, I asked if he would share a few tips for anglers thinking about venturing into the upper reaches of Lake Mead.

His answer took me by surprise, probably because I expected him to be more guarded in his response.

"I know how some fishing guides act like there's some big dark secret," he said. "A couple of guys have called me, and I just told them, 'I will tell you exactly what I do. I won't tell you the exact spot I go to, but I will tell you the exact technique that I use, how I do it and when I do it.' I believe in sharing the wealth. It's a great fishery, so why not share it with everybody."

And so he did.

To begin with, Martin doesn't consider what he does to be any great secret, saying, "I do what everyone else does." But while most anglers prefer to fish during the day, Martin would rather fish his clients after dark, and he uses lights to attract stripers into catching range. He uses his electronics to locate fish, then lights up the area to draw fish.

"I've got lights all over the boat," Martin said, "and I've been targeting these fish in anywhere from 50 to 100 feet of water -- and it's really interesting, I don't know if other people see this, but I'll turn my fish finder on and see these fish setting on the bottom. They're just layered, and as soon as I put on the lights and start chumming, then you start seeing fish coming up through the water column."

First to come to the lights is the tiny stuff, plankton. Next are the small fish looking to feed on the plankton, and they, of course, are followed by the striped bass. Then, "all of a sudden, man, you look underneath and the stripers are just swarming underneath them," Martin said. "And you can pick off literally as many as you want, as many as you want to clean." All you need at that point is cut anchovies.

Although some large fish have been caught in the Temple Bar and South Cove areas the past couple of weeks -- at least two topping 20 pounds each and Olivas' 52-pounder -- Martin said most fish average about a pound. But that's OK with him.

"Everybody wants to catch a larger fish," Martin said, "but the reality is if you want the best-eating stripers, they're from 10 to 12 inches. Those are the best-eating fish in the lake."

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.