First trip plan

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Jlabe121

Jlabe121

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How’s it going everyone? I’m Jake I’m from Salt lake. I’m new to the site and have never fished Powell before, I have some time to come down this year anytime from the last half of March to the 2nd week in April. This is the best fishing form I have ever seen and tons of great info. I have done countless hours of reading and videos getting the itch bad. I have a boat with 120hp and a trolling motor and down riggers . I need to schedule my trip soon as possible what week would you guys pick from March 15th to April 15th? Is it better fishing out of Wahweap or Bullfrog? Any recommendations on clean/well priced places to stay? Or is there better places to launch out of? How much fuel should I bring? My boat hold 10 gallons. Any particular canyons to focus on? If you guys could only have 5 lures/ baits what would you bring? Thanks for any information
 
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Both Bullfrog and Wahweap have advantages. BF is closer to SLC. Good fishing spots are closer to the marina.
Wahweap might have better striper fishing this spring, that is still to be determined. The best time to come is when there are 3 days of calm, warming weather. A big storm in the spring shuts down the action. You can get good weather advice 2 weeks out so make that a priority.

Here are some good lures.

Rattle traps (Lucky Craft LV 300, Ratlin' Rap, and many others)

rat-bob-thumb.jpg


JERKBAITS

Lucky Craft XD 100 Pointers

pt78-102bgmn.jpg


Slab Spoons

1582310573282.png
These are just some pictures that were easy to get. Pay more attention to the description/name rather than the picture.

If I had to pick one spot on the lake I would choose Good Hope Bay (Halls Creek is a close second) That is an hour run uplake from BF. Take more gas. Good luck on your decision. There will be others that chime in and add more detail.

PS: A good way to understand what to expect is to review the past few years of fish reports for March and April. That will give you a better idea of what to expect. Here is the reference:

Wayne's Fishing Reports

Wayne's updates on the status of the fishery.
wayneswords.net wayneswords.net
 
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Howdy Jake, We've only fished from Halls north to GHB, so take my info accordingly. Couple questions that might yield you some more specific advice.
-Are you targeting any specific species
-Do you prefer trolling, casting, jigging
-Is your trolling motor a gas kicker (guessing so with the DR's), or an electric (spotlock?)
-Have you had your boat long enough to know its range, and are you comfortable enough with its reliability to be 25-35 miles from your launch
-Sounds like your looking for a room, I think Defiance house and Ticaboo on the BF side are your options.
-Campgrounds at BF are pretty nice (~$26 a night), lots of primitive camping at Stanton Creek.

Personally I would lean towards the April dates, we tend to do better when the water is a little warmer. If you're on a tackle budget, jigs / plastics and some crawlers might be the best bang for your buck. Probably not the best choice though if stripers are the target. Good luck!
 
Coho975 said:
Howdy Jake, We've only fished from Halls north to GHB, so take my info accordingly. Couple questions that might yield you some more specific advice.
-Are you targeting any specific species
-Do you prefer trolling, casting, jigging
-Is your trolling motor a gas kicker (guessing so with the DR's), or an electric (spotlock?)
-Have you had your boat long enough to know its range, and are you comfortable enough with its reliability to be 25-35 miles from your launch
-Sounds like your looking for a room, I think Defiance house and Ticaboo on the BF side are your options.
-Campgrounds at BF are pretty nice (~$26 a night), lots of primitive camping at Stanton Creek.

Personally I would lean towards the April dates, we tend to do better when the water is a little warmer. If you're on a tackle budget, jigs / plastics and some crawlers might be the best bang for your buck. Probably not the best choice though if stripers are the target. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I actually have a electric troller with spot lock I have wired a converter to it so I can run as long as I need to with a portable gen. I would love to catch strippers and crappie maybe even walleye. My boat has been very reliable we mostly go to strawberry res I don’t think I have ever used a half a tank of fuel... I will look into the range and plan accordingly. As far as technique goes I love whatever boats fish and I guess that’s my question what is the best fish to go after at this time I’m guessing stripers anything else would just be a bonus. From the research I have done trolling is the best way to locate them. What are good lures to troll with? Once located do most people bait fish with anchovy’s tipped on a spoon? Thanks for the info
 
wayne gustaveson said:
Both Bullfrog and Wahweap have advantages. BF is closer to SLC. Good fishing spots are closer to the marina.
Wahweap might have better striper fishing this spring, that is still to be determined. The best time to come is when there are 3 days of calm, warming weather. A big storm in the spring shuts down the action. You can get good weather advice 2 weeks out so make that a priority.

Here are some good lures.

Rattle traps (Lucky Craft LV 300, Ratlin' Rap, and many others)

rat-bob-thumb.jpg


JERKBAITS

Lucky Craft XD 100 Pointers

pt78-102bgmn.jpg


Slab Spoons

View attachment 6956
These are just some pictures that were easy to get. Pay more attention to the description/name rather than the picture.

If I had to pick one spot on the lake I would choose Good Hope Bay (Halls Creek is a close second) That is an hour run uplake from BF. Take more gas. Good luck on your decision. There will be others that chime in and add more detail.

PS: A good way to understand what to expect is to review the past few years of fish reports for March and April. That will give you a better idea of what to expect. Here is the reference:

Wayne's Fishing Reports

Wayne's updates on the status of the fishery.
wayneswords.net wayneswords.net
Click to expand...
 
Jlabe121 said:
Thanks for the reply. I actually have a electric troller with spot lock I have wired a converter to it so I can run as long as I need to with a portable gen. I would love to catch strippers and crappie maybe even walleye. My boat has been very reliable we mostly go to strawberry res I don’t think I have ever used a half a tank of fuel... I will look into the range and plan accordingly. As far as technique goes I love whatever boats fish and I guess that’s my question what is the best fish to go after at this time I’m guessing stripers anything else would just be a bonus. From the research I have done trolling is the best way to locate them. What are good lures to troll with? Once located do most people bait fish with anchovy’s tipped on a spoon? Thanks for the info
Click to expand...

Good trolling lures are named here: Striper lures

Unfortunately with the last website update the lure pictures were eliminated. Take a look and the names should help as you look them up at Tackle Warehouse, Cabelas or Sportsman's warehouse.

Right now in cold water a spoon with an anchovy attached is a good technique. When the fish are more active (March April) then the spoon imitates a swimming shad and some bait on the hook just gets in the way (IMHO).
 
10 gallons of fuel doesn’t get most boats very far on Lake Powell.

You know your boat and it’s range better than I do, but personally I’d bring at least ten gallons of fuel. Maybe more.

For reference, my old Lund with a little 60 HP 4 stroke would run around 12 gallons from Bullfrog up to GHB and back.

My Malibu (450 HP) could be 30 or more depending on what we are doing.

You won’t burn as much as my Malibu but with twice the HP, you will burn significantly more than my Lund.

And it’s REALLY bad news to run out of fuel at Powell, especially in the off season.

As far as when to go, that is a tough call in the Spring when you have to schedule ahead. As Wayne said, a cold front will shut everything down. I guess if I were in your position, I’d go as late in April as I could.
 
To answer your question about lures, check out this string from a month ago. There are some great answers there.

If you can only take 5 bass lures to Powell in the spring... (May)

What would they be? What color? This year will only be our second annual Lake Powell fishing trip. Will launch from Wahweap FWIW. Last year, most of our success was on 3" tubes for smallies in watermelon/shad colors, but I'm not sure many people would put that in their top 5.
wayneswords.net wayneswords.net
 
What are the best ways to find crappie on the lake in spring time? Is it best to look for brush and structure or are they typically in a certain depth?
 
Jlabe121 said:
What are the best ways to find crappie on the lake in spring time? Is it best to look for brush and structure or are they typically in a certain depth?
Click to expand...
When brush is underwater then look in brushy coves. If there is no brush then look at a certain depth (12-25 feet) towards the back of the canyon. Crappie are not abundant although we did have a great spawn in 2019 and good survival of young fish. If the lake rises again and those young crappie find good shelter then we might have a decent crappie fishery again. (I hope so) Right now they are one of the hardest speceis to find and catch.
 
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