Have been tough to say the least..
Fished 3/28, 3/29, and 4/4 on the Tonto end of the lake, launching at the beach ramp at Bermuda Flat. I spent most of my time long line trolling above the trees along N/S buoy line and through the deepest portion of the channel running E/W. Found one exact depth that provided 14/15 crappies in the last 2 weeks. 32.5 ft, the deepest water I could find. I spent hours trying to disprove the crappies location, I couldn't except one small male in the trees. With little exception, Roadrunner's with BBC and JD and tipped with minnows were the chosen baits. I think I caught 2 on a bare red hook/minnow and 2 on Acid Rain. Some fish barely tapped it and needed several feet of line and a few fish just nailed it, setting the hook on themselves especially with the long rods.
4/3 I fished the Salt end launching at Grapevine, water temp was 67 degrees, warmest I had seen yet. I attempted to duplicate my Tonto end success and set out for deep water. Although I didn't have the time to thoroughly search for it, I was unable to identify a distinct channel. I worked my way in from 38 FOW, zig zagging trying to find a pattern to no avail. I ended up trolling the N/S buoy line south back towards Grapevine and we picked up our first fish above a widespread treeline topping out at 12-15 feet beneath the surface in 23-28 FOW. Eventually, we picked up two more feeding crappies on 4/3. All on roadrunners with Kalins grubs and minnows, one white/chart grub and 2 on bubble gum..
Derby day 4/5, launched at Grapevine. Major decision in this was water temp. On the weekend of 3/28, the Tonto had upwards of 65 degree water. It plummeted to 59.9 when I prefished it Friday 4/4 after a few days of high winds and I only caught 2 crappie duplicating what caught 13 the week before. It was a tough decision but I figured warmer water and a couple of recently caught fish were enough to launch at Grapevine and grind it out. And grind it out is what happen on derby day. I knew the general area I would be fishing and it was snaggy and eventually, crowded. I picked up the first fish at 7am, marked the waypoint and didn't leave the area until I was blown off at noon. I would have stayed there until 2:30 if I had a choice. The bites varied in intensity but of the 4 keeper crappies (Also cught 3 LMB and 1 9.5" throwback crappie), 2 smacked it and 2 barely tapped it. 2 took the bait while trolling 0.9 MPH and 2 took the bait on the inside rod on sharp boat turn. 2 liked BBC and 2 liked JD. I must gone through 6 pre-tied 3 way rigs and tied on another dozen/broken jigs from there. It was tough fishing but we put some fish in the boat with a some luck and a lot of persistence.
If anyone wants to fire away a question or have me clear something up in the ramble of a report, ask away. Thanks to everyone at AZCA crew for everything they do but a special kudos to Matt a.k.a Oneblade for his continued excellence as derby director. Always on time and on the tip top of things!