We went uplake from Wahweap on March 27, 2024 to check out the fishing. Water temperature was in the mid 50’s and the weather was nice after a long spell of cloudy, cold and windy days. We fished the side canyons between Rock Creek and Last Chance. I really like to catch stripers, so we went to the backs of canyons and trolled in 20-50 feet of water. I had a great report from 4 days ago (before the cold and cloudy weather) and tried the locations that were reported to me from previous uplake trips. To my surprise we could not get a bite trolling in 20 to 50 feet of water.
We then went into small side canyons and coves and hoping to find agreeable fish near shore. It did not take long to start catching bass by casting to the backs of brushy coves. The biggest surprise was that largemouth bass were the most agreeable fish. These fish responded to small casting lures normally used to catch stripers. We then changed our tactics to fishing along the shoreline only in brushy coves.
The results were amazing! Most of the largemouth caught were 7 to 10 inches in length. But, the catch rate was beyond belief. We caught at least 40 largemouth (it seemed like 80 but we did not count all the fish caught). The fish were active in brushy coves near shore. The best lures were small (2-3 inch) shallow running lures that looked like shad. These bass could not leave them alone. There were 3 of us in the boat and one of us caught a bass on almost every cast in a new brushy cove. Standard catch rate was about 5 bass in each brushy cove. Then we moved on to the next cove and had similar results.
Occasionally, we would catch a big largemouth which really added to the fun. We eventually caught 8 stripers and 5 smallmouth bass while casting for bass. It was a very unusual fishing trip which will be hard to duplicate, but it was a wonderful day of fishing at Lake Powell.
Dick Buck with the largest bass of the day.
We then went into small side canyons and coves and hoping to find agreeable fish near shore. It did not take long to start catching bass by casting to the backs of brushy coves. The biggest surprise was that largemouth bass were the most agreeable fish. These fish responded to small casting lures normally used to catch stripers. We then changed our tactics to fishing along the shoreline only in brushy coves.
The results were amazing! Most of the largemouth caught were 7 to 10 inches in length. But, the catch rate was beyond belief. We caught at least 40 largemouth (it seemed like 80 but we did not count all the fish caught). The fish were active in brushy coves near shore. The best lures were small (2-3 inch) shallow running lures that looked like shad. These bass could not leave them alone. There were 3 of us in the boat and one of us caught a bass on almost every cast in a new brushy cove. Standard catch rate was about 5 bass in each brushy cove. Then we moved on to the next cove and had similar results.
Occasionally, we would catch a big largemouth which really added to the fun. We eventually caught 8 stripers and 5 smallmouth bass while casting for bass. It was a very unusual fishing trip which will be hard to duplicate, but it was a wonderful day of fishing at Lake Powell.
Dick Buck with the largest bass of the day.