Lake Powell Fish Report – September 21, 2017
Lake Elevation: 3629
Water Temperature: 76-79 F
By: Wayne Gustaveson http://www.wayneswords.com
Lake Powell fishing results are always amazing. While working on the lake this week my goal was to get to Good Hope Bay to repeat the fantastic boils experienced on my previous trip. Wind complicated fishing results all week. My first stop was the San Juan where a few striper boils were expected. We did not expect the magnum boils that developed along the north wall of Neskahi Bay on the morning of September 19. Active stripers were leaping high out of the water and hitting our surface lures consistently. If they went down for a few minutes we just dropped spoons and caught more until they returned to the top. We had to leave them boiling to head uplake for the Good Hope Bay experience.
More wind greeted us at Good Hope Bay but only one short small boil was found. The next morning we ran all the way to White Canyon and did not see anything but a few single stripers hitting the surface. Very few boils were seen from September 16 to 20.
My plan for the rest of the 2017 fishing season is take 3 rods. Attach a surface lure to one, a spoon on the next and finally a plastic shad shaped worm on the 3rd rod. With this combination fish can be caught in any location of any canyon on Lake Powell. Stripers will hit surface lures and spoons depending on their depth/location while smallmouth bass will crush the plastic bait.
My goal for the rest of the year will be to always look for surface action, but it is fine to catch bass and stripers while scanning for a boil. Here is what to expect over the length of the lake:
Southern Lake: Spoons will be the most effective striper lure from Wahweap to Rainbow. Stripers are moving toward the backs of canyons. Rock Creek has the best recent reports from the backs of the 3 canyons. Bass are hitting well on the breaking edge of brushy points where the depth quickly falls from 12-25 feet.
San Juan: Expect striper boils in Cha, Wilson Creek and Neskahi Bay and uplake to the Great Bend. Spoons will work consistently in most canyons from the mouth of the side canyon to about half way back. Bass fishing in the San Juan is unsurpassed lakewide.
Escalante: Striper boils and spooning will be best from 50 Mile Canyon to Cow Canyon. Smallmouth fishing is very predictable on every rock slide in the main canyon.
Bullfrog: Spooning is the best striper technique. Start at Dome Rock in Bullfrog Bay and travel as far as Iceberg and Slick Rock downstream or Moki to Hansen Creek upstream. Rincon is awesome for bass fishing.Good Hope Bay to
Good Hope Bat to Hite: Boils will start up again but the start date is not known. Until then use spoons to catch lots of stripers. Trachyte Canyon to White is my best guess but the water color is murky. It may be better to spoon in clear water from Good Hope downstream. I wish I could pin this down better but I did not find a consistent pattern while there for one day this week. I did see my best boil in Popcorn Canyon across from Ticaboo.
Have fun fishing now that Summer is over and Autumn has arrived. There will be some monster boils occurring at random days and time lakewide, but more stripers will be caught from deep schools graphed on the bottom while waiting for the lake to boil.
