KYKevin
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
They should pay closer attention, and get them fresh
Freezer fish are good, but fresh is all ways better.
Walleyes at Lake Powell
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Freezer fish are good, but fresh is all ways better.
Walleye Jon
Member
I see the walleyes in theses photos as healthy year classes of fish . I can remember catching walleyes in the early 90 s at the south end of the lake more like 12”-15” with a mix of a few bigger ones. Warm creek to Gregory butte late 90s early 2000 fish were running small around west canyon good numbers but still small . But it look like the small ones stay more south you catch them up to late June . There was always a shad crash that starve fish out . But that’s when they look unhealthy.
Catching and keeping large amounts of fish just because it’s available now doesn’t mean waste them in the freezer getting freezer burn and then trying to give them away because you wouldn’t eat them . Lake Powell is my lake like it it is yours it makes fisherman think that they are the best fisherman around with what she produces for us to eat and share with friends. 2023 will be no different to catch walleye just look up where you used to fish all they have done is moved down and over a little have a safe trip
Catching and keeping large amounts of fish just because it’s available now doesn’t mean waste them in the freezer getting freezer burn and then trying to give them away because you wouldn’t eat them . Lake Powell is my lake like it it is yours it makes fisherman think that they are the best fisherman around with what she produces for us to eat and share with friends. 2023 will be no different to catch walleye just look up where you used to fish all they have done is moved down and over a little have a safe trip
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KYKevin
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
I think at one time, the record was out of Utah lake. But it changed hands a few times. It is 15 lb 9 oz now out of Provo river. Does the Provo go into Utah lake? I'm not sure.
Gem Morris
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Yes - Provo River drains into Utah Lake
KYKevin
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Utah lake will be full this year I'm guessing. I use to cat fish it years ago. It was the best cat fishing I ever done with a rod and reel.
The current Keep state record was caught in the mouth of Provo River right where it dumps in to Deer Creek barely above Charleston Bridge in Midway.
The current C&R record Walleye was caught last year in a tributary of Utah Lake towards the south east end somewhere.
My guess (hope) is that all lakes and reservoirs in Utah except three will fill this year.
Stuart Hepworth
Well-Known Member
Chances are Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge, the Great Salt Lake, and Yuba Reservoir will not fill. I still wonder about some others as well because of how low they started. But, here's to hoping they all fill...!
My three are your first three.
I just HAVE to believe Yuba will fill…
Coho975
Well-Known Member
I'm holding out hope for FG as well. None of these graphs or projections are accounting for all the snow we have in the lower elevations. I haven't seen snow like this down low in SW WY in 25 years.
4LOJO
Escalante-Class Member
Drove by today on the painted rocks side you can see water haven't seen that for a while. I think it will fill this year won't be like 83 but Marysvale and the canyon to I-70 I bet sees flooding be a good year to ride the rapids.
Mildog
Well-Known Member
Yes, but Im pretty sure record was caught in Provo river above Deer Creek res., the river flows out and into Utah lake. Walleye were illegally introduced into Deer creek many years ago and there are still Some in there. Don’t go fish for them there it’s never any good and they taste bad!!
Caught my first walleye in 1980 at Hite. My father and I had no clue what it was but he had said it may be a walleye. It would be another 10 years before I caught another walleye in another state and certainly confirmed the fish I caught in 1980 was a walleye I'm guessing in the 6-7 lbs range. I recall trolling in the middle of the lake with a large rapala and feeding line to straighten the line on the reel when the log hit. Not much of a fight I must admit. Unfortunately we didn't have a fish stringer so we used a ski rope. The rope was sucked up into the intake of the jet boat and so was the fish. There went the largest fish of my life as a 16 year old. Moved back to the southwest and started hitting the crappie and walleye hard and getting to know their particulars. Having had 80 walleye days is a lot of work when you spend many hours each day filleting. Throwing a jig targeting crappie and walleye with the occasional striper, largemouth, and smallmouth is hard to beat. We were unable to fish last year because of lake water levels but anticipating a strong year this year. I've read Lake Powell should come up 20 feet this spring and I hope the idiots that control the water level are little smarter in managing Lake Powell water. I hate to be negative and certainly selfish, but in days where a severe drought exists dropping the water levels 70 feet in one year is nuts. Having fished Lake Powell since 1978 I have had so many phenomenal memories with my father and friends. I understand the lake produces power and irrigation but there has got to be a happy medium somewhere. Lake Powell is such a great resource to be protected. I pray this is the beginning of the end of a long drought and for many more years of unforgettable memories for all at Lake Powell.
Mildog
Well-Known Member
Last year was low but fishing was great, didn’t stop lots of fellow anglers. You missed out. 20 feet ? The lake will
Come up far more than that even on the most conservative estimates. It will rise more than that in the first 4 weeks of real runoff season, I’m guessing, and with the snowpack we currently have and more still on the way it should be a long runoff and I’m guessing overall many times more than 20 feet rise
I see info that leads to 3 times that.
I think more!! Keep
The water coming!
But that’s anybody’s guess,
See high water contest for more guesses!!
CHRIS MCBETH
Well-Known Member
We troll back and forth over sloped outcroppings that are about 8-10' deep.
I use deep crank baits that bounce off the bottom as we drag them across, about 3.2mph (that's as slow as our boat will go).
We've had pretty good luck, including some very nice fish just outside the Castle Rock cut in April of 2020 during the pandemic when nobody else was there.
That one of my wife was printed in the Page news paper, and Wayne referenced it in his weekly fish report due to the size of that fish in relation to the size of my wife LOL
I use deep crank baits that bounce off the bottom as we drag them across, about 3.2mph (that's as slow as our boat will go).
We've had pretty good luck, including some very nice fish just outside the Castle Rock cut in April of 2020 during the pandemic when nobody else was there.
That one of my wife was printed in the Page news paper, and Wayne referenced it in his weekly fish report due to the size of that fish in relation to the size of my wife LOL
Mildog, just quoting what I read but that was several weeks ago on the lake levels rising 20ft. A sixty foot rise or more in the lake would be wonderful. I fish the north end of the lake in the spring and Halls Crossing and Bullfrog were closed. I know there is a ramp open now at Bullfrog but it did not open until later I believe in May. I spend my summers in SE Alaska on my boat and bring home several hundred pounds of fish. Really no need to catch anymore fish at Lake Powell is the only reason I missed out.
PBH
Well-Known Member
Yuba still has a long way to go. I'm hopeful, but it's currently sitting at only 24%, and Piute is only at 42%. I'm pretty sure we'll get Piute full, but I think Yuba will top out around 80%.
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