Edward Gerdemann
Well-Known Member
Sometimes quick trips are better than carefully planned ones. I'd have to say that's what happened to me last week. I've been swamped with lots of things to do here in Phoenix, and I was in need of some relief. Lake Powell is a good place to find it, and that was once again the case last Wednesday.
I launched at Stateline about 5:10 a.m., motored through the cut and started fishing the double islands in Warm Creek around 5:30. I first tried weightless Senkos in fairly shallow water, but after not getting a hit in 20 minutes or so of fishing I switched to the old reliable drop shot with a Yamamoto Shad Shaped Worm. I missed a strike on my second cast, and on my fourth I had a chunky smallmouth fighting me to the boat. I got my second two casts later. I moved around the island to a large point that juts out on the east end where on and near it I caught eight more in about 15 minutes. I fished around one more cut catching three more before deciding to move. It was 7:00 a.m. when I ran down to where Warm Creek hits the main channel to fish the ledges, reefs and points up the east shoreline. I've had a lot of early summer success here in the past, and Wednesday was no exception. I caught five nice smallmouths on my first seven casts, including a 3-pounder, and continued to catch fish all up that shoreline.
The last place I fished was a mud point that was three to five-feet deep on top pitching off to 18-20 feet on the sides and off the end. I love mud points because they attract crayfish which love to burrow in the mud. I've found both largemouths and smallmouths will congregate near them because of the readily available food source. I caught several nice smallmouths off that point, however by then it was 10:30 and getting quite hot while I was getting very dehydrated despite drinking 60-ounces of water. I decided to call it a morning having caught 33 smallies - as good of five hours of fishing as one could have in this part of the world.
All smallmouths I caught were fat and healthy. As mentioned earlier, my biggest was three pounds and I caught several more in the two to 2 1/2-pound range. As is usually the case on Powell, I caught quite a few between 3/4 to 1 1/2-pounds plus a few dinks. I did not catch anything but smallmouths. In the early hours I found most of the fish in 10 to 15 feet of water mostly off the points or under submerged ledges. After 8:30 most of my hits came between 17 and 22 feet with a few deeper. The bass hit just as well as they did earlier. They were just deeper. All but a few hits came on the initial drop, although some of the nicer bass I caught, including the biggest one, came on a very slow drag. I caught all my fish on the Shad Shaped Worm (watermelon and white laminate) fished up off the bottom, however most the fish I caught had been feeding heavily on crayfish. I suspect that grubs and tubes hopped and scooted along the bottom would have been very effective.
Right now smallmouth fishing is about as good as it gets on Powell and anglers should take advantage of it - even if only on a quick trip.
I launched at Stateline about 5:10 a.m., motored through the cut and started fishing the double islands in Warm Creek around 5:30. I first tried weightless Senkos in fairly shallow water, but after not getting a hit in 20 minutes or so of fishing I switched to the old reliable drop shot with a Yamamoto Shad Shaped Worm. I missed a strike on my second cast, and on my fourth I had a chunky smallmouth fighting me to the boat. I got my second two casts later. I moved around the island to a large point that juts out on the east end where on and near it I caught eight more in about 15 minutes. I fished around one more cut catching three more before deciding to move. It was 7:00 a.m. when I ran down to where Warm Creek hits the main channel to fish the ledges, reefs and points up the east shoreline. I've had a lot of early summer success here in the past, and Wednesday was no exception. I caught five nice smallmouths on my first seven casts, including a 3-pounder, and continued to catch fish all up that shoreline.
The last place I fished was a mud point that was three to five-feet deep on top pitching off to 18-20 feet on the sides and off the end. I love mud points because they attract crayfish which love to burrow in the mud. I've found both largemouths and smallmouths will congregate near them because of the readily available food source. I caught several nice smallmouths off that point, however by then it was 10:30 and getting quite hot while I was getting very dehydrated despite drinking 60-ounces of water. I decided to call it a morning having caught 33 smallies - as good of five hours of fishing as one could have in this part of the world.
All smallmouths I caught were fat and healthy. As mentioned earlier, my biggest was three pounds and I caught several more in the two to 2 1/2-pound range. As is usually the case on Powell, I caught quite a few between 3/4 to 1 1/2-pounds plus a few dinks. I did not catch anything but smallmouths. In the early hours I found most of the fish in 10 to 15 feet of water mostly off the points or under submerged ledges. After 8:30 most of my hits came between 17 and 22 feet with a few deeper. The bass hit just as well as they did earlier. They were just deeper. All but a few hits came on the initial drop, although some of the nicer bass I caught, including the biggest one, came on a very slow drag. I caught all my fish on the Shad Shaped Worm (watermelon and white laminate) fished up off the bottom, however most the fish I caught had been feeding heavily on crayfish. I suspect that grubs and tubes hopped and scooted along the bottom would have been very effective.
Right now smallmouth fishing is about as good as it gets on Powell and anglers should take advantage of it - even if only on a quick trip.
