Southern Lake 4th of July Madness 7/4-7/6

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fishingfoolBG

fishingfoolBG

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As someone mentioned before you tend to plan the next Powell trip even before you leave the Lake. Well after my trip in June I had to get back out there before fall hunting starts up. Made the 7 hour drive after work from New Mexico, maybe got a few hours of sleep in the Page Walmart parking lot, didn't stop us from launching at Wahweap at 5am, nice having the ramp to yourself on 4th of July.

We didn't even reach the cut before we were on the first slurp of the trip. My buddy was able to bring in the first striper of the trip. We then made our way over to the Haystack area and the top water bite was on. We threw whopper ploppers, standard poppers and swimbaits back into the flooded brush. The smallies couldn't resist the top water lures and we were able to catch some rouge stripers on those lures, these fish were not actively slurping but chasing bait in shallow water. They sure smacked these top water lures with a vengeance. Once the sun hit the water the top water bite slowed and we went looking for slurps, didn't take long until we were chasing slurps around Warm Creek Bay and catching a couple out of each slurp, 2-3' swimbaits worked for us. That afternoon we made our way over to Labyrinth and Gunsight where I was successful in June, had a hard time finding the stripers over there on this trip. Wake boats were everywhere (disregarding the no wake in labyrinth despite the large presence of LO in the area) and as someone mentioned people seem to loose common sense, respect and courtesy when they get behind the wheel of a boat or any machine for that matter. We ended up fishing for bass along rock and points, nothing big but plenty of action on ned rigs. We made the run back to warm creek bay to try and repeat the action we had that morning. It was good but not as good as the morning bite, same lures were thrown with similar results, those rouge stripers were out again smackin top water lures.

Friday morning we made a run over to Navajo Canyon to try to get into some stripers on bait, hit the well known points, Didn't take long before the school showed up and we had about 20 stripers in the cooler. We had many doubles and a tripe hookup. They were a lot deeper this time, we fished in 50' of water. We only threw back a few fish that weren't healthy, I noticed the health of the stripers we were catching had improved since my June trip. We defiantly experienced the madness in Navajo as well, I know my boat is small (but fast) for Powell (17' Procraft 120 HP) and I can handle those wakes most of the time but when it's every couple minutes it becomes to dangerous. I had at least a dozen wakes crash over the bow of the boat before I had enough, all from people not slowly down and giving everyone enough space. We headed for the back of Navajo to get out of the wakes and ended up chasing slurps with decent results.

Saturday morning we found ourselves back in warm creek bay chasing the top water bite, we were able to get on fish but not as fast as we did the previous days. We did some exploring that afternoon to areas I haven't been too, we saw a half dozen slurps around Lone Rock and in Wahweap Bay. We trolled for most of the afternoon and picked up some stripers using rattle traps and red eye sexy shad.

I haven't had a bad day of fishing yet on Powell, even though for us the numbers were down from my June Trip we were able to fill the cooler with around 30 healthy stripers. I'd consider that a successful trip not having a fish finder on board. Boat traffic and wake definitely made it more difficult to fish but didn't stop us from having a blast. Hope to get back in the Fall, plan on exploring the Northern end for boils. It's my 3rd time fishing Powell and I'm still left with the same feeling from my first trip there.
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Good for you! I love to read the glowing reports on the best lake in the world -- REALLY.
Yesterday we got the debrief from my son and his family who had four wonderful days on the water. Nine express cruisers together, six piloted by "kids" that grew up on Powell with our kids. Anchored in Frienship where we called our summer home for decades. Their fishing is only off anchored or rafted up boats but they boated enough stripers for ordrouves (sp?) for dinner. The circle of life.
 
fishingfoolBG said:
Sure did, all 3 nights. My buddy decided the boat was a better option. I did wake up to a desert toad jumping across my tarp. We had a tent in case a storm rolled in, clear skies all 3 nights, Just don’t think about the desert critters and you’ll be fine...
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Dad slept on the ground near BF one night late 80’sish. Said you could see the tracks from some rattle snakes that had curled up besides them during the night. No thanks
 
We usually take the cots for the beach camping in summer, just to keep us elevated off the ground. Too many critters -- and WAY to many mice. But cots don't keep the coyotes from licking your head in the middle of the night. Yikes!

packing out on the Escalante desert, we sleep straight on the ground. It creeps me out.
 
I’ve spent many nights sleeping under the stars from 11k to 3k in CO and NM, I guess bears and mt. lions don’t creep me out since a tent isn’t going to stop them. Rattlers and spiders are definitely in the back of my mind while sleeping under the stars but I wonder how many snakes bites have occurred on Powell compared to other accidents on the lake? I feel there are many other factors to be concerned about on Powell, i.e weather, intoxicated people, careless boaters and just driving to the lake pose a higher risk.
 
Ya i was the one that opted out of the shore camping and slept on the boat. This is my first post here! This was my first time fishing powell and like fishingfool said, will soon be back. This was my biggest smallie of the trip. That morning topwater action is 🔥 right now. Thanks for the memories BG and I look forward to the many powell nights to come..

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HookedNM said:
Ya i was the one that opted out of the shore camping and slept on the boat. This is my first post here! This was my first time fishing powell and like fishingfool said, will soon be back. This was my biggest smallie of the trip. That morning topwater action is 🔥 right now. Thanks for the memories BG and I look forward to the many powell nights to come..

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You are obviously much smarter than your cohorts (for choosing the boat for sleeping) 😁 welcome to ww's!
 
Great report. Sounds like fun trip... Yeah, I have seen too many snakes and scorpions to want to sleep on the beach.
 
I'd be careful tying off to the tree trunks sticking out o the water also, have seen several with multiple scorpions trying to escape the rising waters, especially in the backs of canyons that haven't had water in a while.
 
Sleeping on a cot out in the open- woke up one night with a skunk right at my nose!
Have seen way too many mice and rats on the ground after dark in Warm Creek to want to sleep down with them. And I mean hundreds of them in the flash light beam ! :)
Best LP place for me over they years? Either on top of the houseboat or now--- wait for it--------
in my own bed at home in Greenehaven!
 
A number of years ago I was sleeping on a sandy beach in Warm Creek. I heard the cans in the garbage sack rattle. When I put the light on the sack there was nothing. A few minutes later the same thing happened so I got up to relocate the sack to the boat. As I shined the spot light around I saw a pair of eyes so I started toward it to scare it away. It was a very small kit fox. As I chased him he circled and would not leave. As he circled I came upon the reason for his staying close. He had already stolen our sack of chocolate chip cookies. I split them with him and went back to camp. Chuck
 
fishingfoolBG said:
As someone mentioned before you tend to plan the next Powell trip even before you leave the Lake. Well after my trip in June I had to get back out there before fall hunting starts up. Made the 7 hour drive after work from New Mexico, maybe got a few hours of sleep in the Page Walmart parking lot, didn't stop us from launching at Wahweap at 5am, nice having the ramp to yourself on 4th of July.

We didn't even reach the cut before we were on the first slurp of the trip. My buddy was able to bring in the first striper of the trip. We then made our way over to the Haystack area and the top water bite was on. We threw whopper ploppers, standard poppers and swimbaits back into the flooded brush. The smallies couldn't resist the top water lures and we were able to catch some rouge stripers on those lures, these fish were not actively slurping but chasing bait in shallow water. They sure smacked these top water lures with a vengeance. Once the sun hit the water the top water bite slowed and we went looking for slurps, didn't take long until we were chasing slurps around Warm Creek Bay and catching a couple out of each slurp, 2-3' swimbaits worked for us. That afternoon we made our way over to Labyrinth and Gunsight where I was successful in June, had a hard time finding the stripers over there on this trip. Wake boats were everywhere (disregarding the no wake in labyrinth despite the large presence of LO in the area) and as someone mentioned people seem to loose common sense, respect and courtesy when they get behind the wheel of a boat or any machine for that matter. We ended up fishing for bass along rock and points, nothing big but plenty of action on ned rigs. We made the run back to warm creek bay to try and repeat the action we had that morning. It was good but not as good as the morning bite, same lures were thrown with similar results, those rouge stripers were out again smackin top water lures.

Friday morning we made a run over to Navajo Canyon to try to get into some stripers on bait, hit the well known points, Didn't take long before the school showed up and we had about 20 stripers in the cooler. We had many doubles and a tripe hookup. They were a lot deeper this time, we fished in 50' of water. We only threw back a few fish that weren't healthy, I noticed the health of the stripers we were catching had improved since my June trip. We defiantly experienced the madness in Navajo as well, I know my boat is small (but fast) for Powell (17' Procraft 120 HP) and I can handle those wakes most of the time but when it's every couple minutes it becomes to dangerous. I had at least a dozen wakes crash over the bow of the boat before I had enough, all from people not slowly down and giving everyone enough space. We headed for the back of Navajo to get out of the wakes and ended up chasing slurps with decent results.

Saturday morning we found ourselves back in warm creek bay chasing the top water bite, we were able to get on fish but not as fast as we did the previous days. We did some exploring that afternoon to areas I haven't been too, we saw a half dozen slurps around Lone Rock and in Wahweap Bay. We trolled for most of the afternoon and picked up some stripers using rattle traps and red eye sexy shad.

I haven't had a bad day of fishing yet on Powell, even though for us the numbers were down from my June Trip we were able to fill the cooler with around 30 healthy stripers. I'd consider that a successful trip not having a fish finder on board. Boat traffic and wake definitely made it more difficult to fish but didn't stop us from having a blast. Hope to get back in the Fall, plan on exploring the Northern end for boils. It's my 3rd time fishing Powell and I'm still left with the same feeling from my first trip there.
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It is the rattlers that we have seen hiking around the shoreline that keeps me from sleeping on the ground, a cot is a must for me!
 
Shake out your pants and shoes in the morning, and sleeping bag before bed. My buddy got scorpion bit on the knee one morn. He was lucky it was his left knee, and not his wee knee. My son went looking in the rocks for scorpions one night before sleeping on the beach. He found 10 in 5 minutes. He had to tell my grandson that they don't come out when the moon is out. I've had mice run across my chest a Havasu Lake, had to get up and stomp a few before I could get back to sleep. I'm old, and like a cot just for comfort. Stored my food under the cot, once, and found a skunk under my cot. He took what he wanted. I use waterproof dustproof mouseproof bins for my food now. I'll be there in two weeks in our shared ownership houseboat. As for waves, I have a 13' aluminum Gregor with a 20 hp Honda. It planes at about 15 mph, and at that speed, you just roll over the waves. Never shipped a wave. I've ridden a 17' Basstracker in some very rough water with no problems. Just have to go slow. Have a bailing bucket just in case.
 
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