One of the best ways to catch summer bass on Lake Pleasant is with a Carolina rig. I remember back in the day when VanderKooi and his partner came to the scales with a 42-pound limit they caught on Carolina rigs! That’s a 7-pound average!
Giant worms are ideal baits for big fish at Lake Pleasant, especially at night. The man who introduced us to giant baits was Rich Jones, an Arizona fisherman who loved the Wednesday night tournaments and often took home a wad of cash. He actually used to pour his own giant baits – the Bullwhip was super big heavy worm.
John Murray may have recently moved down south to be closer to the big tournament lakes, but the fact remains that he dominated bass fishing in Arizona for decades.