Late Report - 13.5 pound Striper

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wayne gustaveson

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Last Week - I sent out my emailed fish reports with the information on Clint McCormick and family fishing on the Warm Creek side of the Castle Rock Cut. As I posted the new fish report today I didn't find that report on the website. I probably just missed it but here it is again just in case:

Clint McCormick was fishing with his family and found slow but very interesting fishing results. They were trolling on the Warm Creek side of the Castle Rock Cut with this small diving crank bait.
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They caught 3 fish. A smallmouth bass, a brown trout and a 13.5 pound striper. That was quite a day of fishing.

Here is Dylan McCormick holding the brown trout. There are not many trout caught in Lake Powell so this was a very unusual catch.

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Then came the big fish. Clint McCormick caught a 13.5 pound Striper on the same lure in the same spot. What a Day!

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Way to go Clint and Crew!
 
That brown trout looks like a brown trout. The other brown trout caught at the lake and posted here have been much more silver
 
Healthy looking brown too. The last trout I saw caught was off of the face of the dam in the early 1980's, it was a decent size rainbow. Fat looking striper also.
 
I would love to see more trout in the Lake, do we make the assumption this trout migrated south or do we think it born and raised in the South Lake? Isn't the water a bit warm for that??
 
Wayne can correct me on this if he needs to, but from what I understand, prior to the introduction of striped bass, rainbow trout were a major part of the fishery. In fact, they were regularly stocked and did fairly well. They were able to survive summer months with the exceptionally warm temps by going deep to the intakes where oxygen filled the water column.

I would imagine that this practice of stocking rainbow trout has been discontinued for a number of reasons including the fact that it would be a very expensive stocking program, especially when many of the stocked trout would become food for striped bass and because in most years Lake Powell is already filled with hungry mouths. Adding more fish to the equation would only exacerbate this problem and the number of trout returning to the creel would be too low to rationalize the cost.

One of the great things about Lake Powell is that LMB, SMB, striped bass, catfish, crappie, bluegill, and walleye among other game fish all naturally reproduce and stocking is not necessary.
 
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Wayne can correct me on this if he needs to, but from what I understand, prior to the introduction of striped bass, rainbow trout were a major part of the fishery. In fact, they were regularly stocked and did fairly well. They were able to survive summer months with the exceptionally warm temps by going deep to the intakes where oxygen filled the water column.

I would imagine that this practice of stocking rainbow trout has been discontinued for a number of reasons including the fact that would be a very expensive stocking program especially when many of the stocked trout would become food for striped bass and because in most years Lake Powell is already filled with hungry mouths. Adding more fish to the equation would only exacerbate this problem and the number of trout returning to the creel would be too low to rationalize the cost.

One of the great things about Lake Powell is that LMB, SMB, striped bass, catfish, crappie, bluegill, and walleye among other game fish all naturally reproduce and stocking is not necessary.

Thanks Stuart for the accurate description of trout in warm water. My only addition is that trout were not reproducing well when I got here in 1975. There was too much predation from bass, walleye and crappie for a viable population to exist without stocking. They did not successfully reproduce in the rivers because the stream bottom was muddy and not conducive to trout survival. Then striped bass were included which increased the chance of predation exponentially. Trout belong in cold water which is abundant in the western states.

My guess is this small brown trout was a downstream migrant that followed the cold water into Lake Powell. Once the water warms there is not much plankton or forage in deep water where trout have to live to be comfortable.
 
Castaic Lake near Los Angeles is a fairly good striped bass lake AND they also stock catchable size rainbows for the shore fishing crowd. When ever the DFG stocking truck shows up many fishermen are waiting to toss soft bait rainbow trout lures after the stocking as lots of striped bass show up to eat a lot of the rainbows.
In reality it is an expensive striper feeding program. :)
 
Same thing used to happen at Mead and Mojave. There's(or was) a trout hatchery just below Hoover Dam on Mojave. The boat used to distribute trout was a dinner bell for stripers. Don't know if that's still the case but many big stripers caught near the hatchery a good number of years ago. Chuck
 
Willow Beach below Hoover dam on Lake Mead Had (has?) a trout hatchery on the river shore line. I've caught many a trout there fishing from shore and trolling in a boat Haven't been there in 14 years though. Caught a 5+ pounder just below the hatchery from shore once.
 
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