August 26, 2022 - Uplake Boiling!

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wayne gustaveson

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August 26, 2022
Water Temperature 79-83F
Lake Elevation 3532

Southern Lake Powell is still busy with the summer crowds recreating with wakeboard boats. Padre Bay has a ton of houseboats and wake boats. To find good fishing spots, head uplake past Gregory Butte. Fishing success improves dramatically in calmer water.

The best fish reports this week came from the northern lake. Stripers were boiling from the Rincon to Good Hope Bay. Stripers tend to move around searching for shad schools. Shad that survive the boiling experience run and hide to avoid the next striper attack. That means there is no guarantee that stripers will feed on the surface in the same spot or at the same time, day after day. You may have to search to find boiling fish but once you find them the effort is worthwhile.

This week boiling stripers were found in Bullfrog Bay, Rincon, Iceberg, Cha Canyon, Good Hope Bay, and random spots in between. The best time to find an active boil was during low light morning and evening. One great report came from Bullfrog Bay beginning at 6 PM and continuing until dark with 70 stripers caught. Another report from the Rincon to Iceberg had fish dimpling on top. Many fish were caught, but not as many fish as the schools feeding like crazy in Bullfrog. There were striper schools chasing shad right toward the shore then jumping out of the water onto the beach to catch one more shad.

There was a massive boil in Cha Bay mid-day that lasted over 3 hours. Over 100 stripers were caught on half-ounce Kastmasters, Zara Spooks, and Whopper Ploppers. Bigger stripers hit topwater lures while the smaller stripers were tuned in to the ½ ounce Kastmasters. These fish were all healthy and strong.

Another report from Bullfrog/Halls indicated very few fish were caught from the afternoon to evening. Fishing was great the previous day and then not much was happening. They were about to give up and head in to shore when the lake exploded with fantastic boils. The trolling motor was spot locked for a half hour and stripers were caught on every cast. That really saved the day. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time to catch surface feeding fish. Do not give up too soon now that stripers are actively working the surface from Wahweap to Good Hope.

Both smallmouths and largemouth bass will chase surface lures and spoons as stripers chase shad along the shore. There were reports of 3-pound largemouth and 2-pound smallmouth bass being caught by anglers fishing near shore while casting to surfacing striped bass. Watch for shore birds while looking for surfacing fish. Grebes and blue herons are likely to notice stripers working shad along the shore. They patiently wait for shad to be pushed into shallow water by surface feeding bass and stripers. You can find resting striper schools closely under water where fish-eating birds are resting and waiting for the next striper school to pop up and chase shad toward shore.





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Leonard Hardy with a boiling striper DOUBLE from the northern lake.
 
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