11th year of our annual Trip to the land of Crocs and Zombies. AKA, The San Juan.

Came back from the SJ 2 weeks ago. As you head upriver water starts to get green around Desha, is very green with only a few inches visible by Paiute, and it’s chocolate brown by Neshki. We only found debris when there had been storms around, most many miles away from the lake.

Fishing in June and July was SLOW and we found lots of fish with the scabies, In Sept fishing picked up and fewer fish with the wounds, but fish were all pretty skinny. Finding lots of snipers in shallow water this year- very strange. The only fat fish seemed to be the crappie and sun fish. The past few years we were boating 12’+ SMB all day, with only a few 1-6”, this year it’s the opposite. We’ve seen a range of LMB from 1” to 21”

Sept we did see a few more fishing boats up the SJ and about the same number of Houseboats (3 to 5 over the course of 10 days)

Headed that way, hopefully Saturday morning, but some guest schedules may keep us in the marina until Monday morning
 
It really is amazing how fast the fishing can change. The last 2 years of fishing the San Juan have been beyond great. Last year several 4lb smallies. And several 4 to 6 lb. Largies. Now it seems it has drastically changed. I guess one benefit of all the years of low lake levels produced alot of growth that was then covered as the lake rose over the last couple of years, creating great habit for shad and also large and smallmouth bass. Its all the circle of life I suppose. Hopefully in the future we will again see fishing like its been the last 3+ yrs. Either way, Lake Powell is spectacular as yiu all know and even if fishing is below average the beauty doesn't change. We leave the 10th and will leave the lake the 24th. Will post some info about our 2 weeks.
 
Don't forget a massive increase in crawfish habitat. 2024 was a banner year for game fish in that section of Lake Powell, not just quality fish but the number of quality fish was something i haven't seen in many years. Not a single skinny striper caught between our fishing group last year and no need for anchovies to fill the boat if you wanted to. This spring fishing was good but they would not touch our swim baits which is what they wanted last year. It was obvious that the game fish were relying heavily on crawfish for their nutrients.
It was a perfect storm, a horrible runoff year and a weak shad spaw with a very large population of healthy game fish in that section of Lake Powell. Eventually their food source was drastically depleted which led to compromised immune systems in many game fish. Im guessing the larger fish went first. I'm not buying the water temps or green algae are the root cause of this event. It doesn't make since to me, based on our up close hands on observations since early may. They ran out of food. The question is..How long will take for that section to recover?
 
PowellBride said:
Came back from the SJ 2 weeks ago. As you head upriver water starts to get green around Desha, is very green with only a few inches visible by Paiute, and it’s chocolate brown by Neshki. We only found debris when there had been storms around, most many miles away from the lake.

Fishing in June and July was SLOW and we found lots of fish with the scabies, In Sept fishing picked up and fewer fish with the wounds, but fish were all pretty skinny. Finding lots of snipers in shallow water this year- very strange. The only fat fish seemed to be the crappie and sun fish. The past few years we were boating 12’+ SMB all day, with only a few 1-6”, this year it’s the opposite. We’ve seen a range of LMB from 1” to 21”

Sept we did see a few more fishing boats up the SJ and about the same number of Houseboats (3 to 5 over the course of 10 days)

Headed that way, hopefully Saturday morning, but some guest schedules may keep us in the marina until Monday morning
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Hope you've made it out on the water. I just want to clarify, im sure you meen stripers, not, snipers 😉. The couple of years ago we ran into you and your husband an there was the incident at the old Dangling rope. Just making sure there's no snipers in shallow water. The crocs and zombies are already alot to deal with.😜. Safe travels and tight lines.
 
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