This is Artificial Lure with your Lake Mead fishing report for Friday, June 13, 2025. Folks, summer is in full swing and the desert heat is cranking up, with air temps already pushing past 100 degrees again today. That means the best fishing is happening either at first light or after the sun drops behind the mountains. Sunrise this morning hit around 5:23 AM and sunset’s coming at 7:58 PM, so you've got a solid early and late window to work the water.

There’s no tidal action on Lake Mead, but weather plays a big part. Winds are forecast to stay under 10 mph most of the day and skies are expected to be clear, so conditions should be smooth for both boating and shore anglers.

Fish activity has shifted with the heat. Bass are pulling off the shallow beds and holding deeper during the middle of the day. For black bass, target those weedy shorelines at Calville Bay and Hemenway Harbor early, then slide out to 20-to-30-foot depths once the sun’s up. Drop-shot rigs with creature baits have been getting bit, and deep-diving crankbaits are working when the bass set up offshore. Don’t sleep on the shade lines—one little bush or boulder can hold a big fish when it’s blazing hot, so hit every pocket of shade you find, even if the spot looks dead otherwise.

Striped bass are still heating up, especially near Boxcar Cove and just outside Hemenway Harbor. Best results right now are on cut anchovies, but if you’re fishing artificial, three-inch silver swimbaits, Kastmasters, and Jumpin Minnows are all solid producers. Get there early: the hottest striper bite has been right around sunrise before the sun gets high.

Over in the Overton Arm, the crappie bite is peaking. Chartreuse jigs and tubes are the ticket, and folks are filling up stringers with slabs in the brushier cuts and flooded timber.

Bluegill and catfish are reliable near the 33-Hole area; night crawlers and even hot dogs are pulling in both species right now. For catfish, evening is your best bet.

As for lures, the local tackle shops and regulars are sticking to what’s working: whites and silvers for shad imitators, topwater baits like poppers and Zara Spooks for early morning, and classic drop-shots or football jigs when the bass get tight-lipped. For plastics, try wacky-rigged Senkos, Roboworms in Margarita Mutilator and Morning Dawn, or brown/purple spider jigs—especially when working deeper structure.

Hot spots to target today are:
- Calville Bay and Hemenway Harbor for bass—pound the weed lines at sunup, then move deep.
- Boxcar Cove for stripers—anchovies or swimbaits right at first light.
- Overton Arm for crappie—find the brush with a chartreuse jig.

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