| May 30, 2007 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3609 Water Temp: 68-74 F |
Dave Gundy and family from Boise, ID Dave Gundy's report sums up striper fishing in the channel. "We had excellent striper fishing right off the back of the houseboat in every spot we stopped between Bullfrog and Dangling Rope." That seems amazing but from Rock Creek to Bullfrog there are enough stripers to make that statement true. The key habitat is the brushy flat edge of a cut, cove or channel where water depth falls quickly from 20 to 40 feet. Graph that 40 foot contour line looking for resting striper schools on the bottom. When the striper haystack is seen - STOP, CHUM AND CAST. If the school of stripers sees the chum descending they will come off the bottom to feed. The typical depth of feeding fish is the edge of visibility. When the descending bait disappears from sight, stop it and wait for the hit. Stripers are looking for food and are very aggressive. The logical thing to do is cast anchovy pieces to the rising fish. That works great. But these schooling fish will hit many other lures including plastic grubs and tubes, spoons, hair jigs, even flies. When the school lights up throw everything in the tackle box and let them pick out their favorite. Channel hotspots include: the dam, Antelope Canyon, Navajo Canyon, main channel between Rock Creek mouth and Dungeon Canyon, Jacks Arch, Escalante, Long Canyon, Dome Rock in Bullfrog Bay, Moki wall and canyon. These are just a few of the many places that are "great fishing" (defined as a potential 100 fish spots). Slurp boils have been seen in San Juan's Neskahi Bay and a very few in Bullfrog Bay. Good Hope and beyond will boil just as soon as the water clears enough for stripers to see shad. It won't take long. 
Slurps are slow moving striper schools surface feeding on larval shad. Feeding often looks like a wind riffle or a wake. On closer examination the riffle has a silver lining. The surface commotion is small but stripers to 5-pounds are found feeding on shad larvae. The trick is to find a lure that casts far enough to hit the slurp before it sounds, but is small enough to mimic a one-inch larval shad. Perhaps the best bait is silver Kastmaster or other small spoon. Let it sink a foot and then retrieve quickly and erratically to excite schooling stripers. If a big fish is in the slurp a topwater lure will draw him out. Be sure to cast just beyond the lead fish for a quick hook up. Tossing the lure into the main body of feeding fish will spook them and make them sound. Bass are still biting on the terminal end of each reef or long rocky point. Smallmouth bass from tiny to 3-pounds are hitting plastic tubes, grubs and senkos. They can be readily located by trolling a shad rap or Wally diver along the 10 to 15 foot breaking edge of main channel reefs. Find a pod of fish by trolling a shad rap, then stop and cast plastic baits to catch a bunch. Want Fish? We got 'Em. |
| May 23, 2007 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3606 Water Temp: 66-73 F |
It's good to see the lake rise beyond the predicted level for the year. There is still more water to come. Every additional foot of elevation beyond this point is a bonus. Big runoff (60,000 acre feet per day) has a definite impact on fishing. There is muddy, cold water in the river from Good Hope to Hite. That channel will be better fishing in June but should be avoided for the next two weeks. The canyons adjacent to the river channel are still excellent fishing. The flood last October brought much driftwood that is now being floated from its resting place on shore. Expect floating debris in many places that have been clear water in years past. The backs of many canyons are littered with drift wood. Rising water floods new ground that looks like excellent fish habitat. It will be, once occupied by fish, but do not fish the shallow water this week. Fish the shoreline and open water reefs that were wet two weeks ago. Fish 12 feet and deeper for best results. Many good looking fishing spots will be void of fish but just keep moving and looking until a school of stripers or group of bass is located. Fish will all be together in a favored spot. Just remember where the brushy coves were before the spring flood and target those sites even though they may be way out in open water. Seven feet of lake elevation change has a dramatic impact on shoreline appearance. Use the graph to find depressions or cuts in the flat lake bottom. Cuts 12-20 feet deep are the prime habitat for all fish. Look at the canyon mouths, along the main channel and on primary and secondary points in main canyons. I have only talked about where so far, because fishing is really good in these prime habitats and not so good where driftwood and cold muddy water have blocked access to fish . Bass are found in the featured habitat with bonus walleye, green sunfish and blue gill caught while fishing green or smoke colored plastic lures for bass. Stripers are being caught along the canyon walls using anchovy bait with lots of chumming in these locations: Southern lake: Dam, Antelope canyon, Power plant intake (buoy 7 to 9), Navajo Canyon (2 points beyond double islands and in the muddy water in the back of the canyon), Warm Creek Wall, Rock Creek (east shoreline opposite the floating restroom), the best spot is the east wall upstream from Oak Canyon and the San Juan and mouth of Escalante. Northern lake: Lake Canyon, Bullfrog Bay (Dome Rock near houseboats field), Moki Canyon, and side canyons uplake toward Hite. |
| May 16, 2007 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3604 Water Temp: 67-74 F |
This reef in the middle of Grotto Canyon was good for 6 bass in 6 casts mid day. (More could have been caught but the wind drifted the boat out of range) It's a sure thing to toss a single tail plastic grub (smoke, green or pumpkin) on a quarter ounce jig head to waiting bass. Just let the grub hit the reef and drag it a few feet at a time. Smallmouth bass will be all over it like a puppy chewing a bone. Bass spawning is all but over. There may be a few bass still guarding nests but the rising lake covered the nests beyond visibility. Just fish the open reef structure now and perhaps a guarding male can be caught. If not, there are so many bass hitting that spawning is no longer significant. Other fish species have made the switch to the 25 foot bottom contour on outside primary points leading into deep water. Stripers, walleye, and largemouth bass are consistently found on irregular bottom contours marked by "yellow water reefs" mixed with "deep blue water". Look for the flat shoreline with lots of reefs and extended points to find a mixed bag of fish. Points often have a "saddle" just off shore with another reef much further out in the bay. This is the best habitat to fish this week. To effectively fish reefs, employ a combination of casting or trolling the reef edges (with shallow runners like jerk baits or Wally divers), to spooning deep on the reef edge, or dragging a plastic grub or tube at 20 feet. Bass, stripers and walleye will all hit the same lures when the hot spot is located. 
I caught nothing but fat stripers today using the end of reef technique. The reaction bait (spoon or crank bait) was appealing to stripers that feed on sunfish and crayfish. These fish have left the schools to forage on their own. They have fared better than the schooling stripers that do not get fed every day. Schooling stripers are still being handily caught on bait in the main channel between the dam and the back of Navajo Canyon. At Bullfrog/Halls bait fishing is good from Lake Canyon to Hansen Creek. Spring fishing is now at a peak. It will remain good for the remainder of May and then slow down in June. Morning and evening fishing is best with fish shallow along the shore. Fishing slows mid day with the sun straight overhead when fish move deeper. Concentrate on the deep edges of open water reefs to catch fish all day long. |
| May 9, 2007 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3602 Water Temp: 60-70 F |
Bass have been struggling with cold fronts Bass spawning has been sporadic but there will be another spawning surge over the next 10 days where multiple spawning smallmouth bass will bring off one more nest of black fry. Rising lake levels will move the shoreline away from the existing nests. Sight-fishing for spawning fish is not as good in May but catching spawning fish will great. Just fish deeper and further away from shore where the nests were made in April at lower lake levels. This week nests will be at least 2-feet deeper than when first constructed. Lowell Marthe Good Hope walleye Warming water temperatures activate fish. Walleye have finished spawning (walleye) and get very hungry when their cold-blooded body finally warms up. They respond by eating early and often. The next 3 weeks will be the best time to catch hungry walleye. Fish in low light periods - early and late. Take advantage of boat wakes and windy afternoons to find murky water where walleye shade up to feed. Mudlines along rocky points, muddy coves, and mud covered brush are prime walleye spots during May. Stripers are literally everywhere. They are in the backs of canyons, in mid channel and in deep water. Warming will make them seem even more abundant as the younger plankton-eaters will be caught more often. Troll, cast, or graph and bait fish - your preference. Keep all stripers. The smaller fish are better table fare and the bigger fish are fun to catch. Both sizes are equally caught on bait or lures. Stripers in the back of the canyons and coves are not boiling but they are "looking up" so they will hit a topwater lure early and late. It is possible to create your own boil from dawn to 8 AM. Known striper schools in the southern lake are found at the Dam, Buoy 1, Antelope Canyon (mouth and mid canyon), Navajo Canyon (double islands and back of canyon), Padre Bay canyons (back of canyons), main channel at mouth of Friendship Cove, Rock Creek (directly across channel [east] from the floating restroom, and Oak Canyon. 
Uplake the runoff is increasing and visibility dropping. Stripers were caught handily trolling from Buoy 118-119. All of the side canyons produce good fishing for all species and have clearer water than the main channel. If you haven't guessed it yet, fishing is darn good right now. Steffen and Skyler Koury with Navajo Canyon Stripers |
| May 2, 2007 By Wayne Gustaveson Lake Elevation: 3600 Water Temp: 62-68 F |
Jeffery Miller with "big mouth - bass" Striped bass are the most commonly caught fish. Many schools have congregated in the main channel and are very susceptible to anchovy bait fished from 15 to 40 feet deep. Graph the walls, chum the spot when a school is scanned and then present a third of an anchovy on a weightless hook or weighted jighead. Schools may feature the 4-pound adults or one- pound, plankton eating, young stripers. Both are very aggressive while in casting range. If the school moves they may be relocated by graphing or by trolling in the vicinity with a lipless vibrator lure. It is just as likely to catch stripers while plugging the shoreline for bass. That is my favorite way to fish now. Use crankbaits and plastic grubs and tubes to fish the shallow edges where water is warmer. Just react to each fish species as they are encountered. A school of stripers will often follow a hooked fish to the boat. Then all anglers can cast to the trailing fish and catch many in short order. If bass are hooked then cast to the brush or structure where the first was caught to find more. Bass travel in groups and are usually caught in bunches. Bluegill and crappie will be clustered around a brushy area. Use smaller plastic baits (safety pin spinners) to probe the branches and recesses of thick brush to find panfish. Finally, walleye are hungry and getting more active during the day with increasing water temperatures. They hit crankbaits and plastic. The chance of catching walleye is greater if a piece of live worm is attached to the plastic offering. Again fish specifically for walleye when one is hooked. Trolling is a very effective tool used to locate fish. Troll a Wallydiver, rattletrap, jerk bait or other shallow running bait in 10-20 feet of water next to brush or shore. Hook a fish then concentrate on that spot until f 
Boat activity is increasing with warmer weather. Boat wakes hitting the shoreline make a mudline in normally clear water. Boat use peaks midmorning and mid afternoon. Look for floating mud at the busiest boating times. Predator fish line up under the shade of floating mud where low light conditions are conducive to feeding opportunities. Troll or cast to the small mudlines to find active fish. May is the best time of year to catch a wide variety of fish. Use your favorite lure or technique. You will catch fish and have a great time. Brandon Fife with his first striper. |