Brent R
Active Member
Hi Wayne and All:
My family and I had another great trip to Lake Powell from May 27 to June 4. On the first day we pushed from Antelope Point all the way to the San Juan Arm. We have gone there for over 30 years and love the remoteness and the beauty of the area. The fishing is always good there too. The fishing was great this year as well. During the first part of the week we did not see too much surface action. We trolled and graphed along several canyon walls that produced for us in prior years and they did not let us down this year. Your tips on reading our fish finders really helped. We found three areas of big schools and the fish were mostly prevalent about 50 to 100 feet. The fish were in these areas all week. We would typically troll through the areas we saw the schools on the graphs to see if anything would hit. We would usually pick off a couple while trolling and they seemed to like my cousin, Justin’s, red rattle trap the best. He would hook up on almost every pass and the rest of us would hook, but with less frequency. We trolled other colors of rattle traps, spoons, different crankbaits, as well as a white fly now and again. We hooked up with all the lures, but the red rattle trap gave the most consistent results. After trolling through the schools a bit, we would return and jig off the bottom and threw anchovies a few times. We caught some nice fish doing this and it was great fun. We would often hook up and then a number of fish would chase the fish up we caught. They would chase it all the way to the boat. We did a few double hookups by reeling up next to whoever caught a fish.
We caught a number of Walleye while trolling and I caught one real nice one on a rattle trap while trolling (picture attached). I threw him back so he/she can continue to get bigger. In fact, we threw all the Walleye back.
Toward the end of the week the noticed the fish were schooling up vigorously and chasing shad. We chased the boils and did fairly well, but the stripers were a bit finicky compared to prior years and what we typically experience later in the year. Small spoons worked much better than the larger ones. We found that a ¾ oz. chrome Kastmaster worked the best on the boils.
Finally, I had an interesting experience. I have had a chrome colored rattle trap and trolled it for years on the lake and had never caught a single fish with it. I had pretty much given up on it and it usually just sits in my tackle box. Since the stripers were hitting my cousin’s rattle trap so much I decided to give it a try this year. I trolled with it for less than five minutes and then all of a sudden my pole went WHAM and the drag spun like crazy. At first I thought I must have had a big hog on there, but it was weird as I reeled it in. It would fight for a second and then would switch to feeling like I had hooked a branch or big group of weeds. I wasn’t sure what I had. As I reeled it in I noticed I had caught two stripers, one was hooked on the front hook and the other on the back hook. They were working against each other as I reeled it in so it did not feel like a normal fish. Picture attached.
We truly love Lake Powell and will have our second trip of the season in September. Thanks for a great website Wayne. My cousins and I sit in our offices and pull up your site on a regular basis to see what people are catching and it really helps us get through the bad days and the boring meetings.
Sincerely,
Brent W. Reden
California
My family and I had another great trip to Lake Powell from May 27 to June 4. On the first day we pushed from Antelope Point all the way to the San Juan Arm. We have gone there for over 30 years and love the remoteness and the beauty of the area. The fishing is always good there too. The fishing was great this year as well. During the first part of the week we did not see too much surface action. We trolled and graphed along several canyon walls that produced for us in prior years and they did not let us down this year. Your tips on reading our fish finders really helped. We found three areas of big schools and the fish were mostly prevalent about 50 to 100 feet. The fish were in these areas all week. We would typically troll through the areas we saw the schools on the graphs to see if anything would hit. We would usually pick off a couple while trolling and they seemed to like my cousin, Justin’s, red rattle trap the best. He would hook up on almost every pass and the rest of us would hook, but with less frequency. We trolled other colors of rattle traps, spoons, different crankbaits, as well as a white fly now and again. We hooked up with all the lures, but the red rattle trap gave the most consistent results. After trolling through the schools a bit, we would return and jig off the bottom and threw anchovies a few times. We caught some nice fish doing this and it was great fun. We would often hook up and then a number of fish would chase the fish up we caught. They would chase it all the way to the boat. We did a few double hookups by reeling up next to whoever caught a fish.
We caught a number of Walleye while trolling and I caught one real nice one on a rattle trap while trolling (picture attached). I threw him back so he/she can continue to get bigger. In fact, we threw all the Walleye back.
Toward the end of the week the noticed the fish were schooling up vigorously and chasing shad. We chased the boils and did fairly well, but the stripers were a bit finicky compared to prior years and what we typically experience later in the year. Small spoons worked much better than the larger ones. We found that a ¾ oz. chrome Kastmaster worked the best on the boils.
Finally, I had an interesting experience. I have had a chrome colored rattle trap and trolled it for years on the lake and had never caught a single fish with it. I had pretty much given up on it and it usually just sits in my tackle box. Since the stripers were hitting my cousin’s rattle trap so much I decided to give it a try this year. I trolled with it for less than five minutes and then all of a sudden my pole went WHAM and the drag spun like crazy. At first I thought I must have had a big hog on there, but it was weird as I reeled it in. It would fight for a second and then would switch to feeling like I had hooked a branch or big group of weeds. I wasn’t sure what I had. As I reeled it in I noticed I had caught two stripers, one was hooked on the front hook and the other on the back hook. They were working against each other as I reeled it in so it did not feel like a normal fish. Picture attached.
We truly love Lake Powell and will have our second trip of the season in September. Thanks for a great website Wayne. My cousins and I sit in our offices and pull up your site on a regular basis to see what people are catching and it really helps us get through the bad days and the boring meetings.
Sincerely,
Brent W. Reden
California
