Bullfrog April 17-19

[Stuart Hepworth]

With my two boys and dad, we headed to Bullfrog to camp and fish on Wednesday the 17th. After arriving Wednesday morning, we headed out to Bullfrog bay and began trolling in the stained water not far from the ramp. However, after a 1/2 hour or so with no luck we moved on to Halls Creek and began maneuvering through the minefield of no longer submerged islands at the mouth of the bay. Once we were in the open, we began trolling again looking for willing fish but didn't find much until we hooked up with a nice crappie by some trees that were sticking out of the water. So, we continued trolling around the same couple of trees for awhile and ended up hooking up three more times but only landing one more nice crappie. So, we changed from our crankbaits to some plastics and began tossing plastics around the trees in hopes of finding more crappie. But, my dad caught one more fish--a striper--and that was it for Halls Creek. So, we headed back to camp for a quick dinner before running back down to the lake in hopes of catching a channel cat with my boy who was really hoping to land a cat this trip. So, just a dark, we fished from shore with some bait for about an hour or so but only managed one skinny striper.

The next morning, we got up early and made the trek up to Good Hope and began fishing in Red Canyon in the stained water. After a couple hours of trolling crankbaits, we had managed a few walleye and a couple stripers but the fishing wasn't fast by any means. So, we began searching for more willing fish. We tried Ticaboo and Popcorn as well, but the fishing was not fast by any means trolling thought we did manage to catch a total of about 20 fish by the end of the day. The catch was about half walleye and half stripers...fortunately, the fish were all healthy and they made a good Easter dinner of fish tacos.

Because we needed to leave fairly early on Friday, we decided to stay closer to Bullfrog again and started the morning by fishing in the back of Lake Canyon again hoping to find a catfish for my boy. Unfortunately, though, we found none and caught only one nice striper in the back of Lake Canyon before again heading for the trees in Halls. After trying some trolling and even tossing plastics in bullfrog for an hour or so, though, we began regretting not running back to Good Hope as the fishing was really slow in Halls and we ended up not boating any more fish. Since we made the same mistake last year, we are now convinced that we are better off making the run north rather than staying close if we really want to catch fish...or, we can try bait fishing for skinny stripers. Personally, I don't like the bait fishing too much and would rather run to Good Hope and catch fewer fish that are healthy.

Overall, the kids had a ball and even though the fishing was never fast, the kids were thrilled with the fish they did catch and we had a great trip.

 

[Dorado]

Sounds like you had a good time. It is funny how what would be a very good day anywhere else, can feel disappointing at Lake Powell!!

How far does the mudline extend down GHB? Going up on Thursday-Monday to camp....

 

[Stuart Hepworth]

The mudline gets visible once you hit about Red Canyon. The water gets murky near the restrooms. There was a visible mudline in the main channel separate from Red Canyon and Blue Notch.

 

[Lost Anchor]

I was there Thursday thru Saturday. I would call the water color at the bathroom north stained. The mud line is at Two mile canyon and the end of the lake before Trachyte.

We caught ten fish in the main channel over two days. The water was 55-58 in the main channel. In Red canyon we caught over 40 fish in the afternoons. Catching five types of fish. The water in Red Canyon started out at 63* and topped out at 66* Friday. We spot fished walleyes along the cliff faces. They where sitting up on shelves and we would cast a jig with a worm at them. They would follow it down and hit it at the bottom.

All the walleyes caught in Red had spawned. The ones in the main channel still had eggs.

 

[POk3s]

My first go at lake Powell was also last weekend. Mid day Friday through mid day Sunday. Got blown off Saturday about 3. My plan was to troll and find fish (stripers) and camp over them. That never really materialized. I trolled main lake and canyons...all depths anywhere from surface to 60 feet down using downriggers. Nothing except some smallmouth that were on a random slick rock slope in Lake canyon. They were willing to hit jigs and cranks after than but nothing of any size.

Found stripers unwilling to hit cranks at the mouth of moqui canyon. So myself and my girlfriend bait fished for them and caught a few, and missed a few. Also landed one walleye throwing cranks in Hansen creek.

I need to say thanks to a couple older gentlemen in a dark lund. Grey or black I can’t remember. They were very willing to tell this rookie where they were finding fish, and their thought process. It was very much appreciated. Don’t know if they’re on this site or not but thank you!

Already planning my return trip for redemption!