Edward Gerdemann
Well-Known Member
Warm water temperatures still gripped Lake Powell last week, and that, plus the monsoon storms, played a major role in the fishing for Rich Ludwig and I. With water temperatures still in the high 70s the southern lake smallmouths were just not on their fall feeding frenzy, and those actively feeding were the smaller fish. While we caught decent numbers of fish for the time we had on the lake, we just didn't find any of the bigger ones. Still, a couple days on Lake Powell beats sitting in Phoenix all the time.
Tuesday we fished the mouth of Gunsight and one of my favorite coves up in Last Chance Bay. Things looked a lot different in both places with the water as low as it is, however there were plenty of broken rock substrate, gravel islands and submerged reefs and ledges to hold fish. We found most of the active fish 12-15 feet deep, however we did catch a few between 20 and 30 feet. We observed a small striper boil in Last Change and Rich managed to catch a couple of those scaley creatures. We also caught a couple largemouth and a couple nice bluegill. Our total fish count for the day was about 30. Ominous dark clouds and distant thunder and lightning ran us off the lake before 1:00 PM.
Wednesday, with afternoon storms predicted, we decided to stay in Wahweap Bay to get off quickly if necessary and to maximize the fishing time we had. It was a few degrees cooler as well. We fished the ledges, reefs and shoreline down near the No Wake zone, and, if anything, found the fish a bit more active. Like Tuesday, the most active fish were still in the 12-15 foot range, however we did catch quite a few more in deeper water. The average size, while a bit bigger than up lake, was still not great. Rich caught one that was about a pound and a half, but much of our catch were those 11-13 inch "eaters." There was nothing wrong with that as those fish are great eating and fight very hard despite their size. We found the Wahweap fish had significantly more girth than their up lake cousins, which I attribute to diet. Those up lake fish were primarily eating shad while the Wahweap fish had been munching crayfish. We caught approximately 35, all smallmouth, before 11:30 AM when those big black clouds started rolling in and the wind started blowing.
I caught all my fish drop shotting my usual Yamamoto Shad Shaped Worm in the Smallmouth Magic color. Rich caught quite a few drop shotting, but he also caught some on Ned rigs. A number of presentations/lures would catch fish, and I don't believe color really mattered much as is usually the case on Lake Powell. The hits were very light, just a little added weight on the end of the line or perhaps the slightest tap. There were no really big time takes. The hits were about 50-50 between the initial fall or on a very slow drag with a lot of dead sticking in between. These bass were not chasing.
Hopefully the weather will cool down more and that water temperature will drop in the coming weeks bringing more bigger bass out to eat. There appeared to be a definite migration of shad into the coves in Last Chance, and it won't take long for game fish of all kinds to follow. I hope to get up a couple more times in October. It's been a sparse fishing year for me with my wife's medical issues, but I'm hoping to end it in a big bang next month.
Tuesday we fished the mouth of Gunsight and one of my favorite coves up in Last Chance Bay. Things looked a lot different in both places with the water as low as it is, however there were plenty of broken rock substrate, gravel islands and submerged reefs and ledges to hold fish. We found most of the active fish 12-15 feet deep, however we did catch a few between 20 and 30 feet. We observed a small striper boil in Last Change and Rich managed to catch a couple of those scaley creatures. We also caught a couple largemouth and a couple nice bluegill. Our total fish count for the day was about 30. Ominous dark clouds and distant thunder and lightning ran us off the lake before 1:00 PM.
Wednesday, with afternoon storms predicted, we decided to stay in Wahweap Bay to get off quickly if necessary and to maximize the fishing time we had. It was a few degrees cooler as well. We fished the ledges, reefs and shoreline down near the No Wake zone, and, if anything, found the fish a bit more active. Like Tuesday, the most active fish were still in the 12-15 foot range, however we did catch quite a few more in deeper water. The average size, while a bit bigger than up lake, was still not great. Rich caught one that was about a pound and a half, but much of our catch were those 11-13 inch "eaters." There was nothing wrong with that as those fish are great eating and fight very hard despite their size. We found the Wahweap fish had significantly more girth than their up lake cousins, which I attribute to diet. Those up lake fish were primarily eating shad while the Wahweap fish had been munching crayfish. We caught approximately 35, all smallmouth, before 11:30 AM when those big black clouds started rolling in and the wind started blowing.
I caught all my fish drop shotting my usual Yamamoto Shad Shaped Worm in the Smallmouth Magic color. Rich caught quite a few drop shotting, but he also caught some on Ned rigs. A number of presentations/lures would catch fish, and I don't believe color really mattered much as is usually the case on Lake Powell. The hits were very light, just a little added weight on the end of the line or perhaps the slightest tap. There were no really big time takes. The hits were about 50-50 between the initial fall or on a very slow drag with a lot of dead sticking in between. These bass were not chasing.
Hopefully the weather will cool down more and that water temperature will drop in the coming weeks bringing more bigger bass out to eat. There appeared to be a definite migration of shad into the coves in Last Chance, and it won't take long for game fish of all kinds to follow. I hope to get up a couple more times in October. It's been a sparse fishing year for me with my wife's medical issues, but I'm hoping to end it in a big bang next month.
