First time to powell/bullfrog

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bassNblast

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Hi,

Headed to powell/bullfrog for the first time April 23rd-April 25th, I will be combing over the archives on here and soaking up the awesome info you all have provided. We will be tent camping. I have seen that people will launch a boat and then head to stanton creek and have the vehicle meet them over there. For a first timer, this makes me a bit nervous, someone new to the lake driving the boat over to somewhere they've never been etc.. I was wondering if there is decent camping by the marina and just launch the boat each morning from there? We will be in a 17 ft crestliner with a 115 hp honda and a 9.9 kicker motor. I have a healthy respect for wind/waves and have fished the gorge and bear lake. Any advice for a first time lake poweller and advice for a "break in" trip to powell would be much appreciated. I think I am good on all the basic plenty of ice/taking care of fish and what not. Just wondering if a novice is better to stick around bullfrog marina. Thanks for any advice and tips.
 
Stanton is a great place to dirt camp suggest a couple of hand held radio's to find each other after boat launch. There is a really nice camp ground in Bullfrog just east of the service station if you want to retrieve each day. This will give you a little better price on gas each day. We will be there the 24th thru the 28th Weather looks fantastic so far. depends on the run off mud line but we are going to fish north towards the horn if it's not to muddy 36 miles to the north towards Hite
 
Bass,
Couple of things that might help you. There is a ton of good fishing between BF and Hansen creek, you wont have to go far till you're comfortable. There is good cell service at BF, you will be able to get a current weather report each day. The campground at BF is nice, not much solitude but all the amenities, I think its $10 a night more than Stanton. There is a recent post, (March 27th) called Caution, Low Water, read through that one and study the pictures Pegasus posted. Hopefully you have some mapping software to navigate, I would definitely stay in the channel right now while running. Good luck!
 
Thank you for the replies. We have a fishfinder with gps/mapping and I always bring my hand held garmin. Good thinking on the radios. I will bring them. Do you have to reserve around bullfrog or is it first come first serve? I'd imagine it shouldn't be too busy during the week. Right now, we are going to try and target walleye. I've read on here, 15 - 20 feet on depth, slowly trolling crawlers harnesses and targeting those outcropping edges/transition areas and to stay away from that thick mudline. We will also troll some deeper diving cranks 15-20 ft down for stripers until we find them and potentially jig spoons and cast. I am a decent bass fisherman and will also do all of the usual bass stuff in the shallower water, I hear it's a pretty fun smally/largie fishery. My dad really wants some walleye tho, he likes to eat them, I'm not big on them, I like catching and releasing but will keep some stripers to help thin them I guess.
 
bassNblast said:
Thank you for the replies. We have a fishfinder with gps/mapping and I always bring my hand held garmin. Good thinking on the radios. I will bring them. Do you have to reserve around bullfrog or is it first come first serve? I'd imagine it shouldn't be too busy during the week. Right now, we are going to try and target walleye. I've read on here, 15 - 20 feet on depth, slowly trolling crawlers harnesses and targeting those outcropping edges/transition areas and to stay away from that thick mudline. We will also troll some deeper diving cranks 15-20 ft down for stripers until we find them and potentially jig spoons and cast. I am a decent bass fisherman and will also do all of the usual bass stuff in the shallower water, I hear it's a pretty fun smally/largie fishery. My dad really wants some walleye tho, he likes to eat them, I'm not big on them, I like catching and releasing but will keep some stripers to help thin them I guess.
Click to expand...

You need to be really careful as you fish for those species that are not your favorite. You are in danger of catching some nice stripers and fat walleye and becoming totally addicted to the other kind of fish that live on the darkside. :)
 
Sounds like you're dialing it in , watch for shallow water as it pops up where you least expect it and have a great time. Look forward to hearing a report, we're heading to halls the 27th and would like to hear what's working and where.
 
Something else to consider while you are there is to pay attention to your fuel range so you can gauge the distance you can travel on a tank of fuel, it's a big and beautiful place. I can almost guarantee that you will be planning your next trip before you leave the lake and a man needs to know his limitations. My first boat was a 16.8ft bass boat with an 18 gal. Tank. Now I run a 21.8ft with 46 gal and I wish it carried 60 gal. You will understand that better after you've been there. Catch a bunch.
 
Camp on the beach in Bullfrog Bay park your car at the hobie cat . you can drive your boat over to the Hobie cat and get stuff and drive around Bullfrog to pick up stuff. Cant camp at Hobie Cat though only house boats can .
 
Is there a good map posted on here with labels? I have seen a couple online but are having difficulty knowing exactly these spots you are talking about. Again, thank you for the information. I just hope the weather holds out.
 
We get into copyright infringement issues if we post content that we don't own - which includes maps and other similar images. I have posted this map in the past and it's an okay guide. Most things are labelled. I feel that we're safe posting it because it was created from our tax dollars and is freely available for download on several .gov websites.

Follow this link -

Flights Over LP-March 15 and 17 2019, water level 3570.8, and March 31 2019 water level 3569.39

I was fortunate enough to fly over LP this past weekend while the water is likely at or near its low point for this year so I thought I'd take and share some photos - maybe it will help you'all plan near term trips. The first photos are from 3/15 and the light isn't great as it was late in the...
wayneswords.net wayneswords.net
 
Thank you for the maps. I'm starting to get excited. One final question, for stripers this time of year trolling deep diving cranks, is around 2.5 mph a decent speed to start with?? or do I need to speed it up? I plan on 1 mph with bottom bouncers for walleye.
 
bassNblast said:
Thank you for the maps. I'm starting to get excited. One final question, for stripers this time of year trolling deep diving cranks, is around 2.5 mph a decent speed to start with?? or do I need to speed it up? I plan on 1 mph with bottom bouncers for walleye.
Click to expand...
I average 3.5 mph as trolling speed for stripers. Slower in colder water (47-53F). Faster in warmer water (65-80F).
 
I was down this last week and trolled Bullfrog and Halls , didnt get a bite in 2 two days . Went to the entrance of Lake Canyon and bait fished with anchovies and caught abot 50 fish in two days. Lake canyon is 10 miles down from Bullfrog. Striped Bass where mainly snakes and not in good shape. But fought hard.
 
BartsPlace said:
We get into copyright infringement issues if we post content that we don't own - which includes maps and other similar images. I have posted this map in the past and it's an okay guide. Most things are labelled. I feel that we're safe posting it because it was created from our tax dollars and is freely available for download on several .gov websites.

Follow this link -

Flights Over LP-March 15 and 17 2019, water level 3570.8, and March 31 2019 water level 3569.39

I was fortunate enough to fly over LP this past weekend while the water is likely at or near its low point for this year so I thought I'd take and share some photos - maybe it will help you'all plan near term trips. The first photos are from 3/15 and the light isn't great as it was late in the...
wayneswords.net wayneswords.net
Click to expand...
A great reference, I took a snap shot of this and can now look at it anytime on my phone. Thanks for posting.
 
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