Dan Keller
UT DWR Fish Biologist
We started our spring monitoring on 4/11 at Wahweap Bay working our way up to Bullfrog. April weather behaves like a yo-yo, swinging up and down, however, in my mind this April the swings have been more extreme. Water temps ranged from 49 to 64 degrees during our trip, this was over a wide area, including main channel sites and the back of canyons. On 4/13 myself and another biologist were fortunate to go fishing with two members of the Utah Blue Ribbon Fisheries Advisory Council. Thanks Rex and Terry for spending some time on the lake with us and volunteering your time serving on the Blue Ribbon Council. This council works hard to improve and promote Blue Ribbon fisheries across the State of Utah (Including Lake Powell). If you’re interested in learning more about Blue Ribbon Fisheries check out the webpage here: Blue Ribbon Fisheries
I mentioned the April “yo-yo effect” we are all too familiar with to relate how important the weather is to fishing success this time of year. Paying close attention to the weather forecast, looking for consecutive warm sunny days and timing your trip at the tail end of the warming trend can be as important as anything else. The two days we had scheduled to fish with our Blue-Ribbon representatives (April 12-13) looked warm enough and water temps looked great, however we had high winds in the forecast. We planned on fishing for stripers in the main channel along the usual cliff walls and canyon openings north of Bullfrog. We spent some time in these areas, however the wind was too much for us to deal with for very long and we didn’t locate stripers. To escape the wind, we ended up fishing in the back of Knowles Canyon. We found some success catching largemouth, smallmouth, and a few crappie by fishing around trees. Some smallmouth bass had moved up shallow, but we found only a few casting into shore.
On 4/13 we only had a few hours to fish, we decided to check out Lake Canyon, Lost Eden and Halls. Again, we had more success fishing for largemouth around trees or tumble weeds than we did targeting smallmouth in rocky habitat. I have been getting reports of good smallmouth fishing at the south end of the lake, I think the north end will pick up over the next few weeks. Our best largemouth producer was a underspin jig with a 5” white paddle tail, or a willow blade spinner bait rigged with a paddle tail (I will be stocking up on those because it wasn’t me doing the catching! ) A green tube jig also working for bass and the few crappie caught.
Despite having to deal with sporadic weather, April is a fantastic time to fish Lake Powell, if you must deal with the wind there is always a canyon nearby to find refuge and enjoy the scenery.
I mentioned the April “yo-yo effect” we are all too familiar with to relate how important the weather is to fishing success this time of year. Paying close attention to the weather forecast, looking for consecutive warm sunny days and timing your trip at the tail end of the warming trend can be as important as anything else. The two days we had scheduled to fish with our Blue-Ribbon representatives (April 12-13) looked warm enough and water temps looked great, however we had high winds in the forecast. We planned on fishing for stripers in the main channel along the usual cliff walls and canyon openings north of Bullfrog. We spent some time in these areas, however the wind was too much for us to deal with for very long and we didn’t locate stripers. To escape the wind, we ended up fishing in the back of Knowles Canyon. We found some success catching largemouth, smallmouth, and a few crappie by fishing around trees. Some smallmouth bass had moved up shallow, but we found only a few casting into shore.
On 4/13 we only had a few hours to fish, we decided to check out Lake Canyon, Lost Eden and Halls. Again, we had more success fishing for largemouth around trees or tumble weeds than we did targeting smallmouth in rocky habitat. I have been getting reports of good smallmouth fishing at the south end of the lake, I think the north end will pick up over the next few weeks. Our best largemouth producer was a underspin jig with a 5” white paddle tail, or a willow blade spinner bait rigged with a paddle tail (I will be stocking up on those because it wasn’t me doing the catching! ) A green tube jig also working for bass and the few crappie caught.
Despite having to deal with sporadic weather, April is a fantastic time to fish Lake Powell, if you must deal with the wind there is always a canyon nearby to find refuge and enjoy the scenery.
