Based on the stellar weekend weather forecast, we decided on Thursday evening to head to Lake Powell at 6AM on Friday morning. We threw gear together, cruised to Bullfrog, grabbed a room in Ticaboo, and immediately headed to the launch. The north or executive launch was down to one lane, but a quick and easy launch with a fishing boat. There were a lot of changes in/around the marina(s), including NPS dozing a land bridge to potentially develop a new launch ramp off the island in front of the Bullfrog main launch, and a new-to-me wakeless area in the main channel at Hall’s Marina.
We started the trip in the back of Moki, where we caught 7 species, dominated by nice bluegills. I caught most of my fish on a VMC spinshot/jig dropper rig with 1-inch Gulp minnows in chartreuse. Cats were very active too, but we also caught stripers, bass, crappies, walleye and sunfish. Needless to say, we filleted into the dark….
The next morning, we worked our way uplake to Good Hope, catching a variety of fish wherever we stopped. We caught fish on dropshot 4-inch worms, jig/crawlers and jerk baits. We trolled cranks in the main channel around 7-mile Canyon for about an hour and picked up a handful of stripers. Right before calling it a day, my buddy checked his traditional striper spot just upstream of the restroom in Good Hope and located a good school of yearling stripers. We hammered 20+ on jigging spoons before they shut-off, including a few doubles and a triple which made netting more entertaining. Stripers were suspended up to 25 ft in 50-60 ft of water.
Water temps were 65-67° and it was crazy to see the reservoir so low. Places I used to fish are a long way from water, but we were reminded there’s still a lot of reservoir and it’s a rad fishery. The decon took an hour (?), but the Stan’s burger saved the day on the way home.
Hope it helps, Ryno
We started the trip in the back of Moki, where we caught 7 species, dominated by nice bluegills. I caught most of my fish on a VMC spinshot/jig dropper rig with 1-inch Gulp minnows in chartreuse. Cats were very active too, but we also caught stripers, bass, crappies, walleye and sunfish. Needless to say, we filleted into the dark….
The next morning, we worked our way uplake to Good Hope, catching a variety of fish wherever we stopped. We caught fish on dropshot 4-inch worms, jig/crawlers and jerk baits. We trolled cranks in the main channel around 7-mile Canyon for about an hour and picked up a handful of stripers. Right before calling it a day, my buddy checked his traditional striper spot just upstream of the restroom in Good Hope and located a good school of yearling stripers. We hammered 20+ on jigging spoons before they shut-off, including a few doubles and a triple which made netting more entertaining. Stripers were suspended up to 25 ft in 50-60 ft of water.
Water temps were 65-67° and it was crazy to see the reservoir so low. Places I used to fish are a long way from water, but we were reminded there’s still a lot of reservoir and it’s a rad fishery. The decon took an hour (?), but the Stan’s burger saved the day on the way home.
Hope it helps, Ryno