8/23 thru 8/29 Bullfrog

RandyAustinFishing

RandyAustinFishing

Well-Known Member
Having never fished Powell in August I had a bit of a learning curve. KYKEVINS recent report on Halls was a starting point. I would fish Halls area in the morning while I waited for the wife to get moving found a few striper and smallies but I am a bass guy so my main target was largemouth. Found none in Halls but a few eager stripers each day. No boils.
We would then head down lake to Rincon or Escalante. Lots of smallies, size was best in Escalante but again no largemouth and a few hard fighting stripers. Again no boils.
On Sunday the 27th we went north up to Good Hope, Red and Blue Notch and Ticaboo. Finally a decent Largemouth in Ticaboo, again lots of smallies with better quality. No boils. It was HOT so swimming was the ticket for the day. Came down lake and finished in Moqui found smallies and striper. Brought 1 striper back and fileted it up cooked in Italian dressing like someone posted in the recipes. I am not much of a fish eater but that was tasty, Bleeding and putting the fish on ice I think is the key.
The 28th I went back to Halls and found schools of striper, not boiling but easy to catch nice eater size. Went back in picked up the wife and headed back to Moqui caught lots of smallies and a few decent striper no boils but if you find the school they will eat. I remembered Kevins post of the assassin paddle tail, I didn't have any but I trimmed down a pearl swimbait body that I had and dyed the tail chartruese on a 3/8 jig head and that was the ticket. Caught more nice striper and took a fatty back for dinner. YUM!
We had originally planned to stay til the 31st but with the heat, missing our dogs, and some pressing business we decided to go home on the 29th. This morning I was
fishing in Bullfrog at first light pitched a spinnerbait up next to some live willows along a rock wall and BAM my largemouth a nice 4lber. Looked over at the next cove and there was my boil. Put the trolling motor on high to get within casting distance and they would crush a whopper plopper. I caught 12 all over 5lbs super hard fighting fish. What a great morning, sure wanted to change my plans but when I went get back to the hotel my wife she was already packed and ready to go.
Overall a great trip for August, just gotta take a dip every now and then to battle the heat. I would probably do morning, then nap mid day then back out for the evening session if I went back in August.
 
RandyAustinFishing said:
Having never fished Powell in August I had a bit of a learning curve. KYKEVINS recent report on Halls was a starting point. I would fish Halls area in the morning while I waited for the wife to get moving found a few striper and smallies but I am a bass guy so my main target was largemouth. Found none in Halls but a few eager stripers each day. No boils.
We would then head down lake to Rincon or Escalante. Lots of smallies, size was best in Escalante but again no largemouth and a few hard fighting stripers. Again no boils.
On Sunday the 27th we went north up to Good Hope, Red and Blue Notch and Ticaboo. Finally a decent Largemouth in Ticaboo, again lots of smallies with better quality. No boils. It was HOT so swimming was the ticket for the day. Came down lake and finished in Moqui found smallies and striper. Brought 1 striper back and fileted it up cooked in Italian dressing like someone posted in the recipes. I am not much of a fish eater but that was tasty, Bleeding and putting the fish on ice I think is the key.
The 28th I went back to Halls and found schools of striper, not boiling but easy to catch nice eater size. Went back in picked up the wife and headed back to Moqui caught lots of smallies and a few decent striper no boils but if you find the school they will eat. I remembered Kevins post of the assassin paddle tail, I didn't have any but I trimmed down a pearl swimbait body that I had and dyed the tail chartruese on a 3/8 jig head and that was the ticket. Caught more nice striper and took a fatty back for dinner. YUM!
We had originally planned to stay til the 31st but with the heat, missing our dogs, and some pressing business we decided to go home on the 29th. This morning I was
fishing in Bullfrog at first light pitched a spinnerbait up next to some live willows along a rock wall and BAM my largemouth a nice 4lber. Looked over at the next cove and there was my boil. Put the trolling motor on high to get within casting distance and they would crush a whopper plopper. I caught 12 all over 5lbs super hard fighting fish. What a great morning, sure wanted to change my plans but when I went get back to the hotel my wife she was already packed and ready to go.
Overall a great trip for August, just gotta take a dip every now and then to battle the heat. I would probably do morning, then nap mid day then back out for the evening session if I went back in August.
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Thanks for the great report Randy.
Making me want to go back 😊
I have caught a lot of large mouths on the Assassins over the years fishing for Striper, but mostly in the fall. When I get serious about Large mouth fishing, usually in the fall, I all ways get out the Bushwhacker's, or double bladed baits, which were the Bushwhacker when I was kid. My dad and uncle were into the LM fishing, but my dad loved to fish them into the night with his favorite lure, the Gitterbug. I can still hear that thing plopping across those strip pits, and those bass smashing it😊
 
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KYKevin said:
Thanks for the great report Randy.
Making me want to go back 😊
I have caught a lot of large mouths on the Assassins over the years fishing for Striper, but mostly in the fall. When I get serious about Large mouth fishing, usually in the fall, I all ways get out the Bushwhacker's, or double bladed baits, which were the Bushwhacker when I was kid. My dad and uncle were into the LM fishing, but my dad loved to fish them into the night with his favorite lure, the Gitterbug. I can still hear that thing plopping across those strip pits, and those bass smashing it😊
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Yep, double blade white with a bit of chartreuse. Gold colorado blade and a chrome Indiana blade 1/2 oz. My favorite.
 
Good stuff Randy. Growing up we never really fished Powell in the dead of summer either. The heat of the summer isn’t my favorite and isn’t quite all around as good as fall or spring trips but they still beat fishing just about anywhere else still. The summer is a lot more boom and bust type stuff. The fishing can be unbelievable for periods of time and then at others you wonder if there is fish in the lake still. Keep at it and adapting to the summer patterns. Just learn how to jump in the lake every hour and you’ll survive ha.
 
RandyAustinFishing said:
Having never fished Powell in August I had a bit of a learning curve. KYKEVINS recent report on Halls was a starting point. I would fish Halls area in the morning while I waited for the wife to get moving found a few striper and smallies but I am a bass guy so my main target was largemouth. Found none in Halls but a few eager stripers each day. No boils.
We would then head down lake to Rincon or Escalante. Lots of smallies, size was best in Escalante but again no largemouth and a few hard fighting stripers. Again no boils.
On Sunday the 27th we went north up to Good Hope, Red and Blue Notch and Ticaboo. Finally a decent Largemouth in Ticaboo, again lots of smallies with better quality. No boils. It was HOT so swimming was the ticket for the day. Came down lake and finished in Moqui found smallies and striper. Brought 1 striper back and fileted it up cooked in Italian dressing like someone posted in the recipes. I am not much of a fish eater but that was tasty, Bleeding and putting the fish on ice I think is the key.
The 28th I went back to Halls and found schools of striper, not boiling but easy to catch nice eater size. Went back in picked up the wife and headed back to Moqui caught lots of smallies and a few decent striper no boils but if you find the school they will eat. I remembered Kevins post of the assassin paddle tail, I didn't have any but I trimmed down a pearl swimbait body that I had and dyed the tail chartruese on a 3/8 jig head and that was the ticket. Caught more nice striper and took a fatty back for dinner. YUM!
We had originally planned to stay til the 31st but with the heat, missing our dogs, and some pressing business we decided to go home on the 29th. This morning I was
fishing in Bullfrog at first light pitched a spinnerbait up next to some live willows along a rock wall and BAM my largemouth a nice 4lber. Looked over at the next cove and there was my boil. Put the trolling motor on high to get within casting distance and they would crush a whopper plopper. I caught 12 all over 5lbs super hard fighting fish. What a great morning, sure wanted to change my plans but when I went get back to the hotel my wife she was already packed and ready to go.
Overall a great trip for August, just gotta take a dip every now and then to battle the heat. I would probably do morning, then nap mid day then back out for the evening session if I went back in August.
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Thanks for a great report Randy!! Sure hope this pattern holds up for a while.
 
Dungee said:
Good stuff Randy. Growing up we never really fished Powell in the dead of summer either. The heat of the summer isn’t my favorite and isn’t quite all around as good as fall or spring trips but they still beat fishing just about anywhere else still. The summer is a lot more boom and bust type stuff. The fishing can be unbelievable for periods of time and then at others you wonder if there is fish in the lake still. Keep at it and adapting to the summer patterns. Just learn how to jump in the lake every hour and you’ll survive ha.
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I use to think I had to fish from daylight to dark, now I enjoy getting in the lake and cooling off. After cleaning fish😁
But August is usually the best boil fishing for me, and I go at least once in August every year. But this year was not a great boil year, and some times you have to adjust to what the lake is giving you. Bass are usually deeper, and like any fish are not as easy to catch deep vs shallow. Or I should say you can't catch them as fast deep vs shallow, because they still bite when deep.
But when I go in August, I all ways expect a 100 fish trip, but usually in boils, or I wouldn't fight the heat. This years rain and hale helped that a bunch though😊
 
I was on the lake with two others from 08/24 to 08/29. Launched the HB for the first time this year. It was great to be back on the water. We saw zero boils over the five days. There were very few isolated striper splashes, which was odd, but you go with what's given (i.e., no top-water action).

We primarily fished from Lake Canyon to the cove upriver from Moqui. A few SMB (one nice SMB caught right off the point where that evening the boat accident occurred - Saw the remnants of the accident at 7:00 the next morning - the boat was crushed, and there were signs of personal injury with debris floating everywhere- scary stuff).

The striper hot spots for us were the point at the entry to Halls, the big wall when first coming into Halls, and the first cove on the right. 95% of the stripers were caught on medium-weight Kastmasters (silver colored) dropped to 40-50 ' ( based on the school depth) and speed reeled. Generally, the bite was on the retrieval, with a few caught as the spoon was dropping. Even caught a few catfish on the Kastmasters.

Worked the rocks for SMB and LMB with very limited success.

We caught as many stripers as we wanted. Generally, from 7-10 in the morning and 6-8 at night.

Enjoy -- Hope to be back in a few weeks.
 
Richard said:
I was on the lake with two others from 08/24 to 08/29. Launched the HB for the first time this year. It was great to be back on the water. We saw zero boils over the five days. There were very few isolated striper splashes, which was odd, but you go with what's given (i.e., no top-water action).

We primarily fished from Lake Canyon to the cove upriver from Moqui. A few SMB (one nice SMB caught right off the point where that evening the boat accident occurred - Saw the remnants of the accident at 7:00 the next morning - the boat was crushed, and there were signs of personal injury with debris floating everywhere- scary stuff).

The striper hot spots for us were the point at the entry to Halls, the big wall when first coming into Halls, and the first cove on the right. 95% of the stripers were caught on medium-weight Kastmasters (silver colored) dropped to 40-50 ' ( based on the school depth) and speed reeled. Generally, the bite was on the retrieval, with a few caught as the spoon was dropping. Even caught a few catfish on the Kastmasters.

Worked the rocks for SMB and LMB with very limited success.

We caught as many stripers as we wanted. Generally, from 7-10 in the morning and 6-8 at night.

Enjoy -- Hope to be back in a few weeks.
Click to expand...
Yes, I saw the remnants of the boat crash as well on the first day. I did not investigate and had not heard anything but it looked pretty gnarly!
There were a few boats checking it out when we went by on our way to Halls. Looked like the salvage crew was on their way.
 
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