North 15-17

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greyhackle said:
We tried both, did best trolling. They are smaller fish around bullfrog, unless you camp it’s not worth going clear up north. Unless your boat goes 40 mph. Mine cruises at 25. It’s 11/2 hours one way with no stops in my little tuna cruiser
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10-4 on that. we will go camp but I too out at 30...so yeah going for a morning cruise. we should get to lodge about 10pm or so. We plan on trolling a bunch and got some spoons too. we may come back south to BF Sat if it's too slow up there.
 
Try starting at The Horn and troll on the right side going uptake on the bend. There were a tremendous amount of stripers that were hanging out there everytime we stopped there this fall. Try different speeds until you find the sweet spot speedwise, the fish will let you know. We did our best at 3.3-3.5 mph. Good luck. Save some shad. Larry
 
bigfish1 said:
Try starting at The Horn and troll on the right side going uptake on the bend. There were a tremendous amount of stripers that were hanging out there everytime we stopped there this fall. Try different speeds until you find the sweet spot speedwise, the fish will let you know. We did our best at 3.3-3.5 mph. Good luck. Save some shad. Larry
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Will do bud thanks for the pointers!
 
Flipper said:
The wife and I were camped in the small cut on the horn just around the corner from you in the small houseboat. We were targeting crappies and walleye. We fished from red canyon all the way up to the back of White. Took three days to find the walleye of any abundance. We had been running right past them. They were on the north bank a mile up from the horn and up around to across from four mile. Not the numbers of fish we usually get in November, but we did end up with 35 walleyes for the trip. Never did find the crappie, but did catch 5 while trolling for walleye. Had 50 stripers caught trolling for walleye, and a few sm bass. Catfishing behind the houseboat where I clean fish was the most consistent fishing. I caught around 20 from 1 pound or so up to 2 1/2 about as fast as you could get the line in the water the fourth night we were there. The trip to White was interesting. Not hard to get in there if you are careful and watch where you are going. Never caught anything but stripers, but they were good ones. Caught 6 or 7 and they were 23 to 24", fat and fought like freight trains. I guess were at least 6 pounds. Biggest ones I had caught in a while.
The stop lights on the last leg of the trip (Utah 276) were funny. We hit the first one around 11:30 P M just right out of the turn onto 276. I stopped and waited for it to turn green. After a couple minutes, I rolled through it on to the other side, it was red as well. Reminded me of the old Blazing Saddles movie were the outlaws and hoodlums were going to raid rock ridge and stopped out in the middle of the Desert for a toll booth. The next three, I just slowed down and checked for oncoming traffic. Never did see a green light on any of them? Never meet another car going either way all the way down to the lake on 276.
Water temp when we left on Sunday was 60 in GHB and 58 up by four mile. The water clarity was 4 to 5 feet in GHB up to four mile. From there it got a little murkier the further north you went. You had to go within a half a mile of Trachyte to get to muddy to fish.
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I do wish we could have met up. It’s always nice to put boats and faces to the names. I went back down last Tues and just got home today. I got some more crappie and walleye. Some of the walleye came from your description via info from @greyhackle on Wednesday when he ran up to 4 mile. More detail on the cell service at the horn: 2 bars Verizon, the reception spot is not big. Across from the point of the horn, looking east, are two gravel flat rock slides on an otherwise smooth curved wall. About a 100 feet off the wall in front of the slides is the best. (Individual results may vary) During one check in I lost the call while my boat drifted down lake. Going back to my waypoint I noticed the reception came back on when I could see the whole south end of Mt Holmes looking up lake to the west. Thanks, Flipper, for the fishing info. I thought I was done for the year but might have to go back during the next good weather slot.
 
Glad you caught some. I never could locate the walleye in any easy places to fish. We would hang up twice for every fish we caught. Lost half a dozen lures or so. Never could find a school of crappie either. We have not been able to find the crappie at this water level. Anything over 3595 and I'm usually good on the crappie. If you see us again. stop by and say hi. We are usually parked in our little houseboat in a cut out of the wind somewhere north of Ticaboo twice each fall around Halloween to Thanksgiving.
I did see a guy casting into the banks one morning. I asked him if he was bass fishing, and he said no that he was targeting walleyes. The reason I asked is that the bass seem to shut off or slow way down once the water drops below 60 degrees. I watched him catch two fish in 10 minutes, was not close enough to see what they were. I wanted to know more about how he was catching walleyes by casting. He was not overly talkative. I have caught my share of walleyes in the last fifteen years since Wayne took the limit off of them. Thank you, Wayne!!! 90 % of them have been trolling. I would love to learn more about casting for walleyes. I have caught doubles off a point by trolling over it, turn around go over it gain and catch two more. I would then pull up off the point within casting distance and cast the same lures for fifteen minutes and nothing. Throw out the same lures behind the boat and troll over the point again and catch one?
 
G
Flipper said:
Glad you caught some. I never could locate the walleye in any easy places to fish. We would hang up twice for every fish we caught. Lost half a dozen lures or so. Never could find a school of crappie either. We have not been able to find the crappie at this water level. Anything over 3595 and I'm usually good on the crappie. If you see us again. stop by and say hi. We are usually parked in our little houseboat in a cut out of the wind somewhere north of Ticaboo twice each fall around Halloween to Thanksgiving.
I did see a guy casting into the banks one morning. I asked him if he was bass fishing, and he said no that he was targeting walleyes. The reason I asked is that the bass seem to shut off or slow way down once the water drops below 60 degrees. I watched him catch two fish in 10 minutes, was not close enough to see what they were. I wanted to know more about how he was catching walleyes by casting. He was not overly talkative. I have caught my share of walleyes in the last fifteen years since Wayne took the limit off of them. Thank you, Wayne!!! 90 % of them have been trolling. I would love to learn more about casting for walleyes. I have caught doubles off a point by trolling over it, turn around go over it gain and catch two more. I would then pull up off the point within casting distance and cast the same lures for fifteen minutes and nothing. Throw out the same lures behind the boat and troll over the point again and catch one?
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pm me please. For some reason it said I couldn’t send a direct message to you this morning.
 
Lineman22 said:
Me and a few of the buddies are making the trip down finally on Saturday thru Sunday. Planning to be in the 2/4 mile area about 10am on Saturday. Don’t let the blue/grey surf boat scare you we are just fishing from what we got available this trip! Good luck
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Good seeing you cleaning house. I feel sorry for anyone going to 2 mile next weekend. It looked like you cleared them all out;) It doesn’t get much better than that.
 
We just got back to the house. Great meeting you guys. The hump just up from 2 mile was the spot this morning. 18’ of water was Where they seemed to be stacked up and every time we rolled over it the chaos started. We did have to keep the captain in the front of the boat so he couldn’t see the blood bath on his fancy swim deck😜. Filled up 6 bags of fillets!
 
bigfish1 said:
Try starting at The Horn and troll on the right side going uptake on the bend. There were a tremendous amount of stripers that were hanging out there everytime we stopped there this fall. Try different speeds until you find the sweet spot speedwise, the fish will let you know. We did our best at 3.3-3.5 mph. Good luck. Save some shad. Larry
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WOW man you nailed it they were there and we got into them for a day and an half of striper action! I will post trip on new thread. But man you put us right on them! Thank you!
 
Lineman22 said:
We just got back to the house. Great meeting you guys. The hump just up from 2 mile was the spot this morning. 18’ of water was Where they seemed to be stacked up and every time we rolled over it the chaos started. We did have to keep the captain in the front of the boat so he couldn’t see the blood bath on his fancy swim deck😜. Filled up 6 bags of fillets!
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I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but right before you arrived on Sunday morning that hump you were trolling over had a large boil that only lasted for 10 minutes. We hunted around to see if it had moved off to a shoreline but never found it again. The wind didn’t help as it got too choppy so see any surface disturbance. We made a few passes back and forth and caught fish on every pass too. My BIL was impressed that you caught so many fish from your surf boat. His wife would skin him alive if she saw a fish scale in the play boat;) ;) ;)
 
Flipper said:
The wife and I were camped in the small cut on the horn just around the corner from you in the small houseboat. We were targeting crappies and walleye. We fished from red canyon all the way up to the back of White. Took three days to find the walleye of any abundance. We had been running right past them. They were on the north bank a mile up from the horn and up around to across from four mile. Not the numbers of fish we usually get in November, but we did end up with 35 walleyes for the trip. Never did find the crappie, but did catch 5 while trolling for walleye. Had 50 stripers caught trolling for walleye, and a few sm bass. Catfishing behind the houseboat where I clean fish was the most consistent fishing. I caught around 20 from 1 pound or so up to 2 1/2 about as fast as you could get the line in the water the fourth night we were there. The trip to White was interesting. Not hard to get in there if you are careful and watch where you are going. Never caught anything but stripers, but they were good ones. Caught 6 or 7 and they were 23 to 24", fat and fought like freight trains. I guess were at least 6 pounds. Biggest ones I had caught in a while.
The stop lights on the last leg of the trip (Utah 276) were funny. We hit the first one around 11:30 P M just right out of the turn onto 276. I stopped and waited for it to turn green. After a couple minutes, I rolled through it on to the other side, it was red as well. Reminded me of the old Blazing Saddles movie were the outlaws and hoodlums were going to raid rock ridge and stopped out in the middle of the Desert for a toll booth. The next three, I just slowed down and checked for oncoming traffic. Never did see a green light on any of them? Never meet another car going either way all the way down to the lake on 276.
Water temp when we left on Sunday was 60 in GHB and 58 up by four mile. The water clarity was 4 to 5 feet in GHB up to four mile. From there it got a little murkier the further north you went. You had to go within a half a mile of Trachyte to get to muddy to fish.
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Flipper
Just wondering if you will share what you were doing to catch the walleye this time of year. You said trolling, but was wondering if plugs or worm harness, bottom bouncer or what worked best. Did you try casting jig with worm or plastic? What depth do you target in November? Just asking for all your secrets that you are willing to share. I probably can't catch them anyway.
 
PFD said:
I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but right before you arrived on Sunday morning that hump you were trolling over had a large boil that only lasted for 10 minutes. We hunted around to see if it had moved off to a shoreline but never found it again. The wind didn’t help as it got too choppy so see any surface disturbance. We made a few passes back and forth and caught fish on every pass too. My BIL was impressed that you caught so many fish from your surf boat. His wife would skin him alive if she saw a fish scale in the play boat;) ;) ;)
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It was pretty amazing how well the surf boat trolled but it does have some legit electronics so maintaining speed was pretty simple. 3.8 mph was the dinner bell speed for us. And that jig I showed you caught 80% more than anything else we tried. Once we narrowed down the favorite lure and speed then the surf deck started to maintain a bit of a bloody deck!😜. Green was the best color when the shade was on us. Once the sun came out the blue seemed to do well also. We had a few bites we missed the fish on so we experimented with a stinger hook and started to catch a few more. Didn’t seem to affect the action at all but if the fish wore out the tail action the bite would stop on that rod. I’ll get a pic of the lure on here in a bit. Same lure setup my dad perfected during the 40 years he fished Powell.
 
Lineman22 said:
It was pretty amazing how well the surf boat trolled but it does have some legit electronics so maintaining speed was pretty simple. 3.8 mph was the dinner bell speed for us. And that jig I showed you caught 80% more than anything else we tried. Once we narrowed down the favorite lure and speed then the surf deck started to maintain a bit of a bloody deck!😜. Green was the best color when the shade was on us. Once the sun came out the blue seemed to do well also. We had a few bites we missed the fish on so we experimented with a stinger hook and started to catch a few more. Didn’t seem to affect the action at all but if the fish wore out the tail action the bite would stop on that rod. I’ll get a pic of the lure on here in a bit. Same lure setup my dad perfected during the 40 years he fished Powell.
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You had the best results from a surf boat I've ever seen. That gives new meaning to "The Perfect Pass" electronics/throttle;)
 
Not Yet You Bet said:
Flipper
Just wondering if you will share what you were doing to catch the walleye this time of year. You said trolling, but was wondering if plugs or worm harness, bottom bouncer or what worked best. Did you try casting jig with worm or plastic? What depth do you target in November? Just asking for all your secrets that you are willing to share. I probably can't catch them anyway.
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Trolling crankbaits 2.4 - 2.6 MPH. Mostly flicker shads. Mostly purple colors. The white or pearl with the light blue and chartreuse trim works good as well. I usually like to pick a bait that actually looks like something real. The wife like the colorful ones. We put a flicker shad #9 on the inside against the bank, or something that that will get 10 to 12 feet deep about 100 -120 back. On the center rod I like a short fat deep diver like a Strike King XD 15. This one I put out no more than 40 feet. Right at the back of the prop wash. On the outside I like a #11 Flicker minnow or other longer deep diving bait something that will go 20 feet, set it out 120 - 140 feet out. If you are constantly banging the bottom or hanging up, reel in a little or move out a little deeper. If you're not hitting the bottom, let out more line or move closer to the bank. Keep the center pole at 40 feet back, don't worry about it hitting the bottom or not. I have found that for some reason the fish will hit this one right behind thew boat. A friend of mine had a theory that the big fish learned that when a boat comes by the prop wash would tumble and disorientate the bait fish and made them easy pickins? Staggering these distances, you can make fairly tight turns and that will not catch each other. When I am fishing a short stretch of shoreline, when I turn around, I reel in the pole on the inside of the turn and swap sides of the boat with it, I wait till I straighten out before castin it back out. The other outside pole that is still in the water, I pick up and move it to the other side before casting the other back in. I set the steering wheel on the boat straight and I steer with the trolling motor watch the fish finder screen to stay at the preferred depth. I split the screen on the fish finder, one side I keep the Lake map with the water contours that predict the depth. the other side I have the regular screen that shows what is actually there. I am not trying to spot fish but looking for bottom structure and depth. I would rather catch fish with the pole in my hand, that being said I have never had much luck catching walleyes by casting. Trolling lets you cover a lot of water in a hurry looking for concentrated fish, and your bait stays in the water at the depth the fish are.
We found a few fish where I mentioned above in 10 to 15 feet of water. If you're not hitting the bottom occasionally, you're not going to catch as many fish. We hung up at least 200 times over the five days. 90 % of these will pop out once you are over or behind them. The others, you will need a good lure retriever like a lure hound to get the rest of them out. There were other people fishing this same area catching fish as well. Some bottom bouncing in and out of the boulders and some simply casting like you were bass fishing. It was not as good as usual for us. I expect to catch 20 walleye per day and 2 limits of crappie for the trip this time of year fishing the same area. I have had a hard time finding numbers of walleyes and crappie at these water levels.
My grand dad, who was a die-hard fisherman always said 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish. The issue is finding that 10% water. With Lake Powell the water level is rarely the same year to year, and you have to go out and find them. Going into White this last trip I pointed out to the wife that there were cows grazing on the humps in Striper city where we caught 166 walleyes in 6 days 8 years back.
 
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