| May 24, 2006 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3600 Water Temp: 71 -75 F |
Fishing for stripers in southern Lake Powell has been great all Spring. This past week the air temperature was hot and that warmed the lake water to the low 70’s. It is hard to believe, but the rapid increase in water temperature made fishing BETTER. Visitors coming for the Memorial Day Weekend will have the opportunity to catch as many stripers as the boat can hold. Catches of 100 fish per boat are common. 
RODNEY CHUGG, Salt Lake City, holds some of the larger striped bass caught last Saturday. Total stripers for 3 anglers that day was 136 while fishing anchovy bait in the main channel. WHERE: The main channel from the Dam to Warm Creek holds an immeasurable number of striped bass drawn there by the cool water and deep current. Stripers can rest comfortably in cool water and quickly rise 10 feet to feed. Best fishing spots are main channel coves, shelves and rocky points or outcroppings that may shelter crayfish, which is the prime food source. Check corners where the lake makes a 90 degree turn, mouths of canyons, coves and outcroppings anywhere from the dam to Warm Creek. Consistent spots include the Power Plant intake, Buoy 9, first cove upstream from Buoy 9, and points behind the double islands in Navajo. If you don’t have a boat use the public fishing docks at Wahweap and Antelope Point for good success. WHEN:Virtually any place along the main channel is good during morning and evening twilight but some spots work all day long. Mid morning is the only slack time and that coincides with lots of boat traffic cruising through the channel causing rough water. Fish early and come back later in the afternoon when boat traffic is less. Go into bays during mid morning and fish calmer water. 
HOW: Use frozen anchovies on a bait hook with or without weight or on a ¼ ounce jig head. Cut the bait into a 1 or 2 inch chunk and put on the hook, Use the remaining anchovy as chum by cutting into small pieces and broadcasting around the boat. That keeps fish close by as they continue to eat and search for food. WHY: Stripers are at a population peak. Shad forge is scarce in the southern lake. There is not enough forage to feed the vast numbers of 4-5 pound stripers. Keep all stripers caught to help balance the populations. Put fish on ice in a cooler instead of on a stringer in the water. Stripers DO NOT maintain good eating quality when allowed to get warm before cleaning. Fishing in the Northern lake and fishing for other species is good, but completely overshadowed by the feeding frenzy in the south. Bass, walleye, crappie and catfish are readily caught on lures and bait in the mouths of canyons and coves lakewide. The only place that is not good is the very back of coves where rapidly rising lake water is flooding new ground which has not yet been occupied by fish. Use anchovies in Bullfrog Bay, at Moki Wall and Canyon, Lake Canyon, Hansen Creek, and Buoy 99A. Stripers caught uplake will be in better condition than those at Wahweap. The San Juan Arm is excellent fishing for all species. Runoff has not muddied the water below Cha Canyon. From Bullfrog/Halls it is best to go south to fish as the muddy runoff water extends all the way to Bullfrog. Runoff will peak this week so expect cloudy water uplake until July. All launch ramps are open and operating with the exception of Hite which is still closed. If coming to Lake Powell for Memorial Day, do not forget the fishing equipment. You will be very pleased with the results. |
| May 17, 2006 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3597 Water Temp: 68-75 F |
| Good fishing continues as hungry sport fish compete for limited forage. Last year’s forage is at the low point for the year and newly spawned fish are not yet large enough to provide food for adult fish. The result is fast fishing for stripers, walleye, and smallmouth bass. Stripers continue to travel the deep canyon walls from Glen Canyon Dam to Bullfrog and all spots in between. They are readily caught on anchovy bait fished at 30-50 feet near the wall and on cliff points and talus rock piles. Chum to get the school started and then harvest all fish caught as the population is overabundant and must be downsized to keep the fisheries healthy. Some of the hotspots include Navajo, Last Chance, Oak and Reflection, Jacks Arch, Escalante, Moki, Hansen Creek and Red Canyon. 
There are less 4 and 5-pound stripers being caught each day but it is difficult to tell because juvenile striped bass have begun feeding on plankton in very large schools in 10-20 feet of water. Theses stripers prefer a larger food item so a cast or trolled lure gets whacked a number of times as it traverses the large school. Juvenile stripers are in prime condition and provide a better meal than the thin 4-pound fish. When a school of juveniles is located they can be caught quickly on small lures such as white grubs, small spoons (Kastmaster or Wally lure) or small crankbaits. Stationary schools of juveniles are located in Wahweap Bay (Castle Rock Cut), Navajo Canyon (points behind the double islands), and Padre Bay (buoy 21A). Find the schools by shallow, slow trolling a spoon or jig with small grub attached. When a fish is caught immediately cast ½ ounce spoons in the area (much like fishing boils) to keep the school active while the first fish is landed. I took 15 stripers in 15 consecutive casts using this method in Wahweap Bay. Hungry stripers too big to eat plankton are searching for crayfish on all rocky shoreline near deep water. Fishing a plastic tube or grub on the edges of the main channel is a sure thing for stripers and walleye. Stripers are readily caught trolling the edge of the channel with deep diving crank baits. Walleye are caught using the same trolling methods near shore where a bit of mud is stirred up by wind or boat wakes. Use Hot-n-Tot and Wally Divers to target walleye or Deep Thundersticks or Deep Husky Jerks to target stripers. When a fish is caught trolling it’s a good idea to cast plastic tubes and grubs to see if a school of stripers or group of walleye is in the vicinity. If this isn’t enough then smallmouth bass are hot on most vertical rocky structure. Bounce a tube or grub along bottom or drag them from reef to reef to catch bass up to 3 pounds. 
Fishing continues to be incredibly good despite full moon, rising water, runoff stain, rapid warming and many other variables that tend to slow things down. It hasn’t happened yet. There is still time for an excellent spring fishing trip. Jacob Berry drags plastic behind the boat while his Dad does the serious fishing from the front end. He caught this largemouth in Last Chance. Jacob caught a 10-pound striper at Oak Canyon this past weekend dragging his little grub. |
| May 10, 2006 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3595 Water Temp: 60-70 F |
Striped bass are still readily caught on anchovy bait in the main channel from Wahweap to Navajo. Bait fishing action is improving and expanding uplake. Stripers were caught on bait in Navajo, at the mouth of San Juan (Jacks Arch), Escalante, Iceberg, Slick Rock, Buoy 99A and mouth of Hansen Creek. Stripers are numerous and hungry. Take some anchovies fishing with you. Chum anchovies and fish at the mouth of any major canyon where it intersects with the main channel to find resting stripers. Stripers will rise to the chum and be found in one of every three places tried. Average catch is 25 4-pound stripers per day – more in the main channel near the dam. Keep all stripers caught as the population is at a peak in number and must be reduced. Walleye, stripers and bass have moved into the rocks along the main channel to feed on crayfish. Long rocky shorelines where wind and boat wakes consistently stir up muddy water are hotspots for crawdad chomping. Find a small muddy cove along the rocky shoreline. Toss a green plastic grub 
Find walleye in the rocks along the channel on all sides of Padre Butte in Padre Bay, Gregory Butte, West Canyon to Rock Creek, Oak Canyon, San Juan to Escalante, and Rincon. Bass are on rocky points in coves and canyons. The very back of each canyon is not as good as the primary and secondary points half way back leading to the canyon terminus. Key on tumbleweed coves for a visual target but fish the cut (migration route) leading to the tumbleweeds to catch the bass. 
Crappie and bluegill will still be in the tumbleweeds near the terminal end of the canyon. They are more numerous in the northern half of the lake with San Juan and Escalante being the best spots. Fishing continues to be awesome. This is as good as it gets at Lake Powell. |
| May 4, 2006 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3592 Water Temp: 60-70 F |
| Fishing prospects are great with high numbers of fish hungrily waiting in shallow water. The same stretch of shoreline may yield striped bass, large and smallmouth bass, crappie, walleye, bluegill and catfish. Warming lake conditions put all game fish in the same general location. Look to the back of almost any canyon around brushy coves with murky water to find the hot spot. Striped bass are attracted to main channel current which draws prespawning schools to main channel points. But food is in the back of the canyon where shad spawn and sunfish hide in the brush. Stripers cruise from the back of the canyon to the main channel and then back again. Look along their travel route. They will be shallow in the brush at first light. At mid day they will be holding on the breaking edge of the main channel at the mouth of the canyon before returning to the back of the canyon in the evening. Fish anchovy bait along the walls and troll or cast shad lures in the murky water and flats at the back of the canyon. 
Trophy stripers are most vulnerable to anglers from now till mid June while water temperature is moderate and big stripers can still live in the 60-70 degree surface layers. A 34.5 pound female was caught by Michelle Gonzalez this week in Last Chance. Last years biggest fish (38 pounds) was caught June 16, 2005 by Dan Porter while trolling in Rock Creek. If targeting big fish I would recommend the main channel and canyon mouths from Padre Bay to the mouth of the San Juan. Bass have spawned once and will spawn again during the next two weeks. Continue to search the edges of spawning flats near the deep water access route to find both shallow males and deep females in close proximity to each other. The most productive bait is the soft plastic grub or tube in watermelon pepper, green pumpkin or black sparkle, but your favorite bass lure will work. Always use a confidence bait that has worked for you in the past. That way the only variables are depth and habitat – not lure choice. The breaking edge of open water shoals and reefs is the most productive spot. The shoreline is being flooded and changing too fast to be a reliable indicator of fish presence and habitat. Fish shallow structure in open water for best results. Walleyefishing is peaking. Troll shallow flats at the backs of canyons with wallydivers, hot-n-tots, worm harnesses or lipless vibrators. Make the lure drag bottom at 10-15 feet. Silt stirred by the lure crawling along the bottom will excite a hiding walleye into action. Fish early and late during subdued light or fish under the shade of muddy water to find hiding walleye. Crappie have one more spawn to complete and will still be holding tight to brush and trees. Use small plastic grubs or tubes fished vertically in tumbleweeds stacked in cuts to find crappie up to 2-pounds. Retrieve the jig as slowly as possible to entice crappie. Another approach is to suspend a tiny jig 3 feet under a bobber and let it dangle just above brush to draw crappie out of their lair. Bluegill will be caught in the brush with crappie. Catfish will surprise when it is least expected by hitting any lure that resemble a shad dinner. |