Greetings from Lake Balboa, CA:
I fished, kayaked, swam. jet skied, speed & house boated Lake Powell with family and friends Oct 3-5 2017. Here are some random thoughts that may be of interest, at least in part, to others:
1. There is a lot of desert between Southern California and Lake Powell.
2. Lake Powell has an excellent local classic rock radio station in KXAZ Radio Jack FM 93.3. It comes in crystal clear and with a nice playlist.
3. Android maps via GPS audibly welcomed our entry into California and Arizona but not into Utah or Nevada.
4. Stay #LasVegasStrong.
5. It seems counter intuitive but all you need are Utah licenses to fish anywhere on Lake Powell. I called Arizona fish and game to confirm.
6. House boating is a lot of fun when you party up with folks that know the finer points of it. Going in completely cold would have been a bit daunting.
7. Solid silver Kastmasters are an excellent lure for smallmouth bass. You can cover a lot of area by varying your depth and retrieval speeds/methods. A rise and fall action seemed to work best. I did catch and hook some nice stripers as well.
8. Slow trolling through Wahweap Bay weed beds and channels on a jet ski was fun and productive. The shad schools, striper boils, emerald water and desert landscape made for images that I'll never forget. Truly stunning experience. I inadvertently trolled just ahead of a moderate boil where I caught a really nice striper.
9. I didn't hook up enough fish to wow an avid fisherman by any stretch. I kept four around the 1.5 pound range to make for some nice fillets. Even the smaller ones that I threw back fought like crazy and made for enough action to keep things interesting.
10. There's always the one that got away. I was slow trolling a Kastmaster through the channels in (what I think was) Navajo canyon on a kayak. My focus was on fishing the shear sunlit walls. At about 20' I hooked up a nice striper. What a fight. The fish surfaced once, then twice, and on the third breach went fully airborne shaking its head which threw the lure. That experience was worth the price of admission. Note to self: try and wear them out a bit more when you hook a really nice one.
11. I converted some non-fish eaters in our party to fish lovers with a tried and true presentation. Take the fillets and cut them into smaller bits, dip in beaten egg, dredge in seasoned flour, and quickly fry in hot olive oil.
12. Glad I read "The Lake Powell smallmouth bass story" before I dropped a line in the water.
I fished, kayaked, swam. jet skied, speed & house boated Lake Powell with family and friends Oct 3-5 2017. Here are some random thoughts that may be of interest, at least in part, to others:
1. There is a lot of desert between Southern California and Lake Powell.
2. Lake Powell has an excellent local classic rock radio station in KXAZ Radio Jack FM 93.3. It comes in crystal clear and with a nice playlist.
3. Android maps via GPS audibly welcomed our entry into California and Arizona but not into Utah or Nevada.
4. Stay #LasVegasStrong.
5. It seems counter intuitive but all you need are Utah licenses to fish anywhere on Lake Powell. I called Arizona fish and game to confirm.
6. House boating is a lot of fun when you party up with folks that know the finer points of it. Going in completely cold would have been a bit daunting.
7. Solid silver Kastmasters are an excellent lure for smallmouth bass. You can cover a lot of area by varying your depth and retrieval speeds/methods. A rise and fall action seemed to work best. I did catch and hook some nice stripers as well.
8. Slow trolling through Wahweap Bay weed beds and channels on a jet ski was fun and productive. The shad schools, striper boils, emerald water and desert landscape made for images that I'll never forget. Truly stunning experience. I inadvertently trolled just ahead of a moderate boil where I caught a really nice striper.
9. I didn't hook up enough fish to wow an avid fisherman by any stretch. I kept four around the 1.5 pound range to make for some nice fillets. Even the smaller ones that I threw back fought like crazy and made for enough action to keep things interesting.
10. There's always the one that got away. I was slow trolling a Kastmaster through the channels in (what I think was) Navajo canyon on a kayak. My focus was on fishing the shear sunlit walls. At about 20' I hooked up a nice striper. What a fight. The fish surfaced once, then twice, and on the third breach went fully airborne shaking its head which threw the lure. That experience was worth the price of admission. Note to self: try and wear them out a bit more when you hook a really nice one.
11. I converted some non-fish eaters in our party to fish lovers with a tried and true presentation. Take the fillets and cut them into smaller bits, dip in beaten egg, dredge in seasoned flour, and quickly fry in hot olive oil.
12. Glad I read "The Lake Powell smallmouth bass story" before I dropped a line in the water.
