Lake Powell Fish Report – March 30, 2016
Lake Elevation: 3592
Water Temperature: 52-56 F
By: Wayne Gustaveson Wayne's Words
The last fishing report trip was very informative. It was overcast and just hours before a big wind storm arrived. Many boats were already at the dam so our first stop was in the main channel near the corner just before arriving at Antelope Canyon. Most main channel striper bait fishing spots are hit-and-miss. The schools tend to move often. We were fortunate to see this play out on our fish finder.
We stopped and chummed with anchovies, waited 10 minutes and then caught 6 fish as fast as we could rebait the hooks and get them back in the water. A glance at the graph indicated a huge school right under the boat swimming at 20-30 feet where bottom depth was over 300 feet. Then the school moved on and we quit catching fish. At any main channel location where striper schools have been reported it is possible to draw the school back to your boat by heavy chumming or by moving and trying to find the school on the graph. Fishing success was good for those I saw that day at the fish cleaning station with most filleting over 25 stripers.
Our next stop was in Navajo Canyon while searching for stripers that would respond to trolled baits. The wind picked up so we were not able to go to the back of the canyon. We deployed our deep diving lures near the 2nd point after the double islands. We targeted shallow areas along the edge of the steep canyon. Rock falls and talus slopes make a bench that is often 20-45 feet deep. Stripers really like to hold on the shallow breaking edge of these drop offs. We found a willing school of juvenile stripers holding at 35-45 feet on a rock fall. These fish would hit trolled lures and spoons dropped into the holding school. We caught more small stripers trolling than the larger fish caught on bait. I prefer to target the smaller fish that hit lures/spoons while most others would be happier to find the larger fish in the channel looking for bait.
We successfully duplicated the trolling technique in Warm Creek and Wahweap on the breaking edge of shallow 20-25 foot benches that quickly fell to deeper water. Back at the fish cleaning station we learned that the smaller stripers were stuffed with plankton. It appears there has been a resurgence of plankton abundance lately that has attracted stripers to the upper 25 feet of the water column. Plankton forage makes stripers available to shallow trolling techniques and applies to the entire lake.
Water temperature is holding at the low 50s in the mornings. Bass, crappie and walleye will be more active on calm days when warming allows the afternoon temperatures to climb towards 60F. Look for these species in murky or green water that is warmer than clear water.
Some walleye and crappie are now being caught but most anglers fishing the shallow shoreline with plastic baits are catching some dandy largemouth bass along with decent smallmouth bass. Fishing for these shorebound and brush loving species will improve dramatically when water temperature climbs into the 60s.
Right now, chasing stripers in deep and/or shallow water results in a larger catch of fish at the end of the day.
Lake Elevation: 3592
Water Temperature: 52-56 F
By: Wayne Gustaveson Wayne's Words
The last fishing report trip was very informative. It was overcast and just hours before a big wind storm arrived. Many boats were already at the dam so our first stop was in the main channel near the corner just before arriving at Antelope Canyon. Most main channel striper bait fishing spots are hit-and-miss. The schools tend to move often. We were fortunate to see this play out on our fish finder.
We stopped and chummed with anchovies, waited 10 minutes and then caught 6 fish as fast as we could rebait the hooks and get them back in the water. A glance at the graph indicated a huge school right under the boat swimming at 20-30 feet where bottom depth was over 300 feet. Then the school moved on and we quit catching fish. At any main channel location where striper schools have been reported it is possible to draw the school back to your boat by heavy chumming or by moving and trying to find the school on the graph. Fishing success was good for those I saw that day at the fish cleaning station with most filleting over 25 stripers.
Our next stop was in Navajo Canyon while searching for stripers that would respond to trolled baits. The wind picked up so we were not able to go to the back of the canyon. We deployed our deep diving lures near the 2nd point after the double islands. We targeted shallow areas along the edge of the steep canyon. Rock falls and talus slopes make a bench that is often 20-45 feet deep. Stripers really like to hold on the shallow breaking edge of these drop offs. We found a willing school of juvenile stripers holding at 35-45 feet on a rock fall. These fish would hit trolled lures and spoons dropped into the holding school. We caught more small stripers trolling than the larger fish caught on bait. I prefer to target the smaller fish that hit lures/spoons while most others would be happier to find the larger fish in the channel looking for bait.
We successfully duplicated the trolling technique in Warm Creek and Wahweap on the breaking edge of shallow 20-25 foot benches that quickly fell to deeper water. Back at the fish cleaning station we learned that the smaller stripers were stuffed with plankton. It appears there has been a resurgence of plankton abundance lately that has attracted stripers to the upper 25 feet of the water column. Plankton forage makes stripers available to shallow trolling techniques and applies to the entire lake.
Water temperature is holding at the low 50s in the mornings. Bass, crappie and walleye will be more active on calm days when warming allows the afternoon temperatures to climb towards 60F. Look for these species in murky or green water that is warmer than clear water.
Some walleye and crappie are now being caught but most anglers fishing the shallow shoreline with plastic baits are catching some dandy largemouth bass along with decent smallmouth bass. Fishing for these shorebound and brush loving species will improve dramatically when water temperature climbs into the 60s.
Right now, chasing stripers in deep and/or shallow water results in a larger catch of fish at the end of the day.