GHB

[KYKevin]

I had to move a few rocks,if you were in a bigger vihicle you would have had to drag a big one out of the road.But all washes were passable

And how was fishing? With a name like Fishhawk, you had to be fishing 'right'

 

[FISHHAWK]

And how was fishing? With a name like Fishhawk, you had to be fishing 'right'

Its hard to fish out of a SXS If I would only of had the tracker, Water clarity was 12-14 inches next to shore.

 

[KYKevin]

Its hard to fish out of a SXS If I would only of had the tracker, Water clarity was 12-14 inches next to shore.

I hear you, bank fishing a guy might end up over his knees in mud. But it would be hard to go that far with out a pole.

 

[Dorado]

Looking at the Sentinel image from yesterday, the plume of mud is starting to reach 7 Mile Canyon (just slightly). Seems to be moving downstream pretty rapidly...

 

[Crappie Cole]

So by April 22 "when ill be there " it should be full chocolate milk? Might have to plan to go a bit sooner. I've never fished GHB when its been full mud is it that bad?

 

[svivian]

So by April 22 "when ill be there " it should be full chocolate milk? Might have to plan to go a bit sooner. I've never fished GHB when its been full mud is it that bad?

My Best trips are middle of May catching walleye in mud..... Just fish something shiny and loud.

 

[Dorado]

My Best trips are middle of May catching walleye in mud..... Just fish something shiny and loud.

There is stained and there is muddy. IMHO fishing is best in stained water, even muddy water as long as you have around a foot of visibility (maybe a little less). Last year on May14, we tried GHB when it was chocolate milk, and didn’t catch anything. My general rule is if you can see your propeller, you are good to go!

That being said, a couple years ago we slayed stripers in water so muddy you couldn’t see a chartreuse crank bait just barely under the water! But the stripers were so thick you couldn’t see the bottom on the fish finder.

 

[Coho975]

So by April 22 "when ill be there " it should be full chocolate milk? Might have to plan to go a bit sooner. I've never fished GHB when its been full mud is it that bad?

I would almost bet on it. I like fishing stained water, but last May it was ZERO visibility past Knowles, and walleye fishing was pretty tough for us. Were kicking around going mid April this year.

 

[JFRCalifornia]

Here’s a clean image of the north end, from the Horn to GHB… taken 3-20-23…

 

[svivian]

There is stained and there is muddy. IMHO fishing is best in stained water, even muddy water as long as you have around a foot of visibility (maybe a little less). Last year on May14, we tried GHB when it was chocolate milk, and didn’t catch anything. My general rule is if you can see your propeller, you are good to go!

That being said, a couple years ago we slayed stripers in water so muddy you couldn’t see a chartreuse crank bait just barely under the water! But the stripers were so thick you couldn’t see the bottom on the fish finder.

I've caught fish down to 4"-6" of visibility, the correct term is probably stained. I refer to it as mud because I like to fish the "mud line" and people are quicker to pick up on that. Two years ago around the horn we caught over 50 walleye trolling the gravel in those conditions. I think success is highly dependent on where the fish are congregating. But once you find them you can hammer them.

Fishfinder makes a huge difference, no one should be afraid to fish some dirty water is my point.

Edit: here was my report of that exact trip Bullfrog to the Horn 5/15 - 5/16

 

[Dorado]

I've caught fish down to 4"-6" of visibility, the correct term is probably stained. I refer to it as mud because I like to fish the "mud line" and people are quicker to pick up on that. Two years ago around the horn we caught over 50 walleye trolling the gravel in those conditions. I think success is highly dependent on where the fish are congregating. But once you find them you can hammer them.

Fishfinder makes a huge difference, no one should be afraid to fish some dirty water is my point.

Edit: here was my report of that exact trip Bullfrog to the Horn 5/15 - 5/16

Absolutely. I think we were up there a week or 2 before you in 2021, that was a great walleye year up there. We fished a couple miles upstream of The Horn right below where the river was dumping in. It was churning mud and debris, and we were catching 5 lb stripers on every cast. Couldn’t believe they could actually find your lure, but as you said that is where they were stacked. I never would have fished muddy water like that, except for reports from Wayne’s words. It was funny, we would see people come up, turn around and leave without fishing, and we literally could not keep them off our lines. We fished like that for hours, with nobody else in sight. A Great Lake Powell memory!

 

[Wet1]

Awesome pic, thank you very much for posting. Not going to take much time at all for all of good hope to be blown out it looks like.

 

[Mildog]

Great info! Looking at pics from old post water looks stained to very stained but obviously fishable. I love stained but haven’t done well in really muddy conditions for SMB or walleye but kill them in stained water.
Many years ago ( early 80’s ) we fished super
Muddy water up around hite all the time for largemouth bass, when they were the primary fish! Rattling crank baits , spinner baits and chartreuse spider jigs, the water conditions were super muddy and we used to kill them.

 

[RandyAustinFishing]

Muddy water is what guys back east are comfortable with, clear water scares em to death.

 

[RandyAustinFishing]

I will take muddy water over dry riverbed anyday.

 

[KYKevin]

Muddy water is what guys back east are comfortable with, clear water scares em to death.

When I first started fishing the San Juan arm, over 20 years ago, and I have no clue what the elevation of the lake was then, but much closer to full I'm sure. I was sight fishing monster Crappie and big Large mouths on every rock, or bush that you would see, a lot more spread out then, and water was crystal clear, it was some great fishing. After the Small mouth were established, 2 lb ers were a pain in the butt, when you were after 2 1/2 lb Crappies. I would love to see those days again. Farley's, Whites, Two and four mile canyons, North wash, Trachyte, Wow haven't heard those in a while. But clear water or dirty never bothered me. Like Mildog, I fished that muddy stuff when the houseboats were still at Hite, and chased boils my first time in muddy water in 97. And caught pie plate size Crappie, LM, and really nice Bluegills in it many times. But if you fish clearer water for years, it is much harder to go back to the muddy.
Can't wait for 60+ water, I will be going back to the San Juan, I'm sure its going to be muddy this year, so I will fish other parts of the Juan then what I used to fish. Places I all ways past up before, but all ways wanted to try.

 

[Mildog]

Launched off the dirt road in San Juan arm and chased big crappies and like Kykevin mentioned site fishing big slabs in every bush or tree filled pocket you could find. It was clear water and you would watch the jig just disappear in the mouth of those slabs. I thinking last time we did that was more like 40 plus years ago 79 into early 80’s. I remember once my buddy and I had a wire fish basket so full we couldn’t lift it into his 14 foot boat we thought we would flip it over. Can’t remember if it was no limit or 50 crappie, something like that! We finally went to shore and both got out and rolled it into the boat. We filleted fish till Midnight by gas lantern. We always used them all and never let them go to waste.
Those were incredible times. We thought it would last forever! Too young to know better!

 

[WaterMan]

Here’s a clean image of the north end, from the Horn to GHB… taken 3-20-23…

View attachment 21521

Arizona lakes mud, might be GHB this year.