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ANGLERS CORNER |
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Have you made a recent fishing
trip to Lake Powell?
If you have, please let us know how you did. Send your fishing report to
Wayne Gustaveson (wayne@wayneswords.com)
via E-mail. Please include who you are and where you're from, dates fished,
location, tackle used, species and number of fish caught and any other
information you would like to pass on to other anglers. |
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Fish Report Guidelines
No pictures are needed but they add to the
reports. My goal is to post a basic report that will make it easier for someone
else to catch fish in your spot. Please send the basics with each report -
where you caught fish, what techniques, lures, depth, and what special
strategy worked. Our goal here is to save shad by encouraging harvest of striped
bass. If we do that then all fisheries benefit from the effort.
Keep the reports coming. Try to limit
pictures to no more than 5. I need to have them in jpg format to keep up with
the volume received. I use these pictures for news media releases so
high resolution photos are needed of the best photos. A fuzzy photo can be low
res and I will still use it for the web but not print media. Be aware that your
photo may be used in other locations.
If possible send, first and last name, and
hometown. The media likes unusual pictures of kids (include age) and gals. Be
creative when taking photos. (see the kid and catfish picture below.) Change
poses and backgrounds. Use the flash in full sun to make the face show up under
the hat.
Keep the reports coming. Thanks to all
who have contributed because it makes it easier for a new arrival to start
fishing with confidence needed to catch fish on this huge lake.
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If you have a general question try
posting on WAYNESWORDS
FORUMS.
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June 29, 2009 - Juan Garcia - Hite |
 I
went fishing last week for a few days with my fishing buddy Neil and his son
Colby. We decided to head up to Hite and avoid some of the crowds. The
stripers were boiling pretty consistent in Farley but were very shy. We had
to approach them cautiously to even get a chance to cast. One pod of
stripers came up all the way back into Farleys early one morning and we
fished them for about 2-3 minutes. We used white super flukes, grubs, silver
rattle traps. Early morning and late evenings produced the best striper
fishing. We spent the mid-days fishing from Farley's to Good Hope in the
tamarisks for bass and a few crappies. We caught bass on spinner baits,
flukes, and on top water spooks and Zoom toads. Colby caught a 2-7 large
mouth on a toad and pretty much fished it all day. He also caught some
stripers with it. Here's a picture of one the bass he caught using the toad.
Neil and Colby Banner
After a couple of days at Hite, we packed up and went down to Bullfrog. We
got into some stripers in Halls Bay and Moki but the best action was close
to shore from the ferry boat ramp to just past Stanton campground and they
stayed boiling longer than the ones at Hite. The stripers were not very
organized and moving in big pods like you usually see. Although we did get
into some of those big pods, most of them were is small groups. We caught
them mostly on rattle traps and white tube jigs. Even when the boils quit,
we still were able to catch fish by casting around where they were last seen
and letting the lures drift a little deeper before retrieving.
The fish at bullfrog were also fatter and a bit larger than the ones at
Hite.
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June 28, 2009 - JR Roederer |
 JR,
14 years old from Flagstaff, caught this 16" 2.5# Large mouth in a shallow
wash behind Cookie Jar. Total of three fish caught on gray jigs this day
6/20/09. This fish was so full of fight he decided to let him go to swim
another day. |
June 28, 2009 - Kyran Keisling - This Side of
That - Guide Service |
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Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've been really busy
chasing boils these days. I wanted to send you a pic of this really nice
Walleye that my clients Albert Ferguson and Robin caught this morning in
Wahweap Bay. We chased striper slurps from 5:00 am to about 8:00 and caught
a bunch, throwing 1/4 ounce blue and silver Kastmasters on 6lb test. The
keys to the striper were approaching quietly, making long accurate casts to
the LEADING!!! edge of the slurp (hence the Kastmaster and light line), and
quickly reeling the lure through the strike zone (1 to 3 feet deep).
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The action has been best once the sun hits the water, up
until you see the first of the jet ski, rental boat circus at about 8:30 am.
When they churn up the water and put the boils down I have been trolling
deep diving crank baits at the 20 to 30 foot depth, over the weed beds that
used to be on the shoreline at low water. I have been paying very close
attention to the graph and have found that when the baits are bumping the
tops of the bushes (plan on losing a lure or two) that success goes up. I
have been hooking Smallmouth, Largemouth, Walleye and Striper on a regular
basis and the average size has been high. The action is sporadic but I
haven't caught many fish on the bottom with jigs, so it has been my best bet
when the water gets choppy. We caught this Walleye with a Bluegill Imitation
crank. Also, I noticed on my last few trips that the smallmouth have been
mini-boiling off of the 20 to 30 foot depth areas So... Next time I'm going
to troll a shallow crank (and keep a spook on hand for those unexpected
splashes) and see what happens.
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June 25, 2009 - McNabb Fishing Guide Service |
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Fishing has been anything but great the last few days but I
sure
had a lot of fun watching Stephen, a seven year old, really get into
fishing. We went out late afternoon on the 23rd and did okay. We caught five
decent fish including this 2.6 pound largemouth Stephen brought in.
Stephen and his dad Warren are from
Aspen, CO. |
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We were fishing a huge rock pile about 15 - 20 feet down
with 4" green and white senkos on a small hook. We were fishing slow taking
our time and letting the bait sit on the bottom. The bite was unnoticeable
until we slowly raised our poles. Patient fishing paid off.
The next day, late morning, we fished the same rock pile and only pulled
a few small smallies out. Then we went into the back of Kane Wash and
started using a crank bait and caught 6 more fish. Stephen caught 4 of them
which included a walleye, 2 largemouth and a smallie. He was really getting
into casting and bringing in the fish, all by himself. He didn't want to
quit!
The fishing was okay but the company was great!
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June 23, 2009 - Shaun and Brenda Sandoval - Larkspur CO -
Moki Boils |
June 21, 2009 - Mason Williams, Parker, Colorado -
Between Escalante and San
Juan |
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My family and I just returned from a great week of fishing June 14 - 21. The
striper weren't boiling very frequently during the first half of the week so
we stuck to trolling the shores in about 25 feet of water using shallow
diving crank baits. This produced 3 - 4 fish per hour, usually walleye and
striper.
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When the weather cleared up the striper began boiling predictably from 5:30
until 7:30 and then again at night from 7 until dark. Fishing the boils was
a blast and produced way more fish in much less time than trolling. We found
that when you approach a boil if you can figure out which way the boil is
moving and then pull up along side it, that helped keep the fish within
casting range.
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The stripers were all healthy and all in the 2 - 4 pound range, which seemed
up to me from last year. The fish caught in boils weren't picky at all and
hit almost anything cast into the boil. All together we caught around 40
stripers.
Family record largemouth caught on shad rap.
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Big thanks to Wayne for this website. It is very helpful! |
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Family record largemouth caught on shad rap. |
June 21, 2009 - Rich Vosepka, Salt Lake City-
Farley shore fishing |
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I fished Farley Canyon on June 18 and 19. Frequent small
boils were all over the bay -- sometimes quite close to shore. The boils
were most frequent early in the morning, before the sun was above the canyon
rim, but there were at least a few boils throughout the day. I got six, all
in the three-pound range, all on a 1/2 oz. shad-colored RattlTrap. I was
fishing from the bank, rather than from a boat, so it made an interesting
challenge -- running along the steep rocky bank trying to get within casting
range of the boils before they subsided and without busting my head open on
the rocks.
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I also got a 20-inch walleye and a bluegill of almost a
pound. Also on the RattlTrap. The bluegill was likely defending its nest.
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June 21, 2009 - Bryan Kelley - Oak to San Juan
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We hit lake around 11:30 wed am headed to Oak canyon and
our favorite camp spot. Well that was under water as expected headed over to
Reflection and found nice sport for 4 days. Headed to San Juan for few hours
and saw no boils that late but did find some smallies willing to eat grubs
in white and green and brown.
That evening highest winds that I ever seen at Powell 40-50 in canyon
gusting higher.
Ripped my tarp in half that I use for shelter.
Thursday am 445 Mouth of San Juan buoy 57 slurps large group two from two or
three boils headed up river found another group around Cha Canyon north side
followed them for 25 min by staying parallel to moving boil. Using the Strom
Swimming Shad to cast over the boil and run thru the boil under surface was
good for one or two each time we could get setup as they came up to surface.
Thursday evening biggest rain storm I have ever been in on Powell. Made
sleeping in boat a little tough. Water Falls were really cool .
Friday am Clear and same patterns for slurps in mouth and also near Cha.
Smallies today are slow maybe rain did change their patterns. Friday night
clear and fresh Striper for dinner great times.
Sat. same San Juan slurps flat as glass in channel for 55 min was best fun
chasing the slurps around over cast and rainy again so headed to DR and Home
around 11:00 am. |
June 21, 2009 - Kip Bennett |
June 17, 2009 - Patrick Milburn - Striper Boils
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BOILS BOILS BOILS Stripers 2 to 4
pounds in good shape
We chased boils mornings and evenings for three days from first light to as
late as 11:00 AM and in the evening from 6:30PM till dark was best, there
were boils earlier in the evening as well but the Lake would flatten out and
the conditions were ideal at this time.
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We camped in the Iceberg area just off the main
channel and fished as far up as Zahn bay in the San Juan arm, there were
boils from Iceberg to the San Juan arm. In the main channel from Buoy 65 to
80 were great for us. When the lake was flat we got really good at picking
up the "sexy water" (the ripples that are out of place) of the Stripers
herding the shad before the actual boil and many times we could get in
casting range before the boil erupted. They were chasing the larval shad as
you mentioned. Most boils were only up for a minute or two. A few lasted for
several minutes.
Cal Evans |
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The standard routine for us was get into range we would both
hook up and the boil would sound. By the time we landed them, they might
have resurfaced out of range and we would start the procedure over again. If
they did not come up, it was only a matter of finding the next boil a few
hundred yards away and we would repeat the process until they quit or we had
more than we wanted to clean. We mostly used medium sized top water lures
because it is so much fun to see them chase and hit it. They would hit most
anything from pearl grubs to shad colored crankbaits as long as it was well
placed just in front of the moving fish. It was key to not cast too far in
front as they would often change direction before they reached your lure and
if you were 1 foot behind you might as well be 100 feet behind, so reel in
fast and recast!!
Pat Milburn |
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Smallmouth and some Largemouth were very cooperative most
everywhere we fished. We caught a couple walleye some nice bluegill as well.
Grubs and tubes in most every color you could imagine worked well, the best
strike zone was 10 feet to as deep as 30 feet. We had luck with long casts
and working it slowly to cover the depth ranges and dropping straight down
and bumping the bottom.
Can't wait until the next trip!!!!
Interesting note... Several of the Stripers still had eggs and milt, a few
of the smallmouth had eggs that looked like they were being reabsorbed.
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June 14, 2009 - Shane Spravzoff - Southern Lake |
June 14, 2009 - ThomasJ San Juan Boils |
I just got back from a 3-day fishing / camping trip at the
mouth of the San Juan. Came down on Wednesday night and launched out of
Bullfrog on Thursday morning. After some searching we found a campsite on
main channel at marker 57. Killed an 18 inch rattler on the advise of my
wife that if I didn't, we were going home.
Thursday afternoon we ran into the San Juan to do some further research on
different types of line and the effect they have on fish caught. Results
again show that Spro jigs fished on fluorocarbon will out fish heavy mono
5:1 It got to the point where I reeled in the other poles and fished the
fluorocarbon exclusively. No boils but ended with a dozen or so.
Friday morning I went out early. Back inside the San Juan. Now I know you
like to gas and run looking for boils but this was one of those mornings
where I turned off the boat and fan cast a spook jr to swirls. Me, the San
Juan, hot thermos of coffee, flat water, the sun barely coming out and the
sound of splashing stripers. Not much better. Wait, it DOES gets better!
After 30 minutes or so the boil erupted and chased it for an hour or so.
Very cooperative and if I slid the boat in next to them quietly I could get
2 out of each before it went down only to come back up just out of casting
range.
After breakfast we ran for a ride to Dangling Rope for ice. Really didnt
need it but it was an excuse to go for a ride. Just on the other side of
Reflection another boil blew up and we chased it up and down main channel
for 30 minutes or so. On our way back to camp for a late lunch another boil
took off. This one was right in front of our camp at marker 57. For the next
3 hours we chased this thing all up and down main channel. I know it had to
look funny! Me out on the bow of the boat gripping pole in one hand and
pointing like a Labrador, barkin out "There they are!!" to the wife who was
the willing driver in this whole circus. Again 2 fish per was the norm.
We went in for an early dinner and back out to wait for them to to come
back. Only a small boil here and there.
Saturday I slept in but we went for a ride up to Neskahi after breakfast to
take a look. Water just barely off color in Neskahi and no one around. The
whole ride up the San Juan was spent searching for any top water activity.
We even made stops and glassed the open bays with binoculars looking for
splashes but fish would not show themselves. I have a business trip to go to
this week and the decision was made to head back to SLC. We loaded the boat
and was on our way out about 2 PM. Gee about the same time from the previous
day that the boils took off. Coincidence?? Maybe but there they were, just
up from our campsite. So with a loaded boat we chased the boil for an hour
or so until we realized fishing out of a loaded boat with not much room to
move, let alone put flopping fish was not going to work. We passed several
boils between San Juan and Escalante and saw one just past Escalante. Loaded
up, left boat at Offshore because I think this thing is just going to take
off and I am coming back in a week or so. Quite ride home to SLC without
towing a boat.
Lessons learned this trip: 1st, rising water make beaches disappear.
Campsites are getting harder and harder to find. 2nd, morning and late boils
are not always the case. Mid day boils can be just as if not more violent
and productive. 3rd, don't bother with anchovies this year. This was the 4th
trip this year that I have bought bait but never even opened or touched the
bait box.
Things I still wonder about that maybe you could help with. When the boils
went down, occasionally they would not just sound and disappear but with one
big fell swoop and a violent splash the entire boil would show their tails
and disappear all at once. This would happen in a split second and I
question how do they know to all do this at once?? Anyway, if I was going
this week, I would be at marker 57. |
June 12, 2009 - Mike Larsen - Salt Lake City -
Bullfrog/Halls Creek - Bass |
Amy Gainsford and Mike Larsen |
I took a group of six young friends down to the lake who had
never fished Lake Powell. In fact, for several of our guests this was their
first trip to the lake. We spent June 11-13 on the lake and fished primarily
in the Bullfrog/Halls Creek area due to windy conditions most of the trip.
We did make a run down to Slick Rock and Iceberg Canyons (which we paid for
on the rough ride back north) and picked up fish in those areas as well. We
caught fish pretty steadily whenever we could find a notch or corner out of
the wind. Large mouth were plentiful and really went after anything we threw
on top water. Small mouth also were active and healthy, and were caught both
on top water and deeper in rough conditions. Green gitzits worked well along
sharply dropping slick rock areas in 12-18 feet of water, producing some
nice small mouth bass. |
Rachael Cardon |
Fortunately, the fish were all responding on cue as time
after time I would show my young guests where to throw and it would produce
that wonderful explosion of water, fish and lure as a large mouth attacked
from its hiding place in the backs of coves. Great fishing! Healthy fish! I
appreciated the fish cooperating. Exciting to watch these folks catch their
first ever bass.
I should note that Patrick Svedin, our photographer, was so busy catching
fish and taking photos we failed to capture him and some of his nice fish
with the camera, but trust me, he caught some, truly he did. I am not lying.
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Justin Osmund
and another nice top water catch |
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Steve Thurman
picked this prize up with a green gitzit. |
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Kim Bake and
friend. |
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The Crew--Mike & Teresa Larsen, Kim Bake, Amy Gaisford, Rachael Cardon,
Justin Osmond, Patrick Svedin and Steve Thurman
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June 7, 2009 - Wayne and Brian Fish, Nephi Ut, Todd Topham, Santaquin
UT - San Juan |
Todd Topham |
We spent three days, June 2 - 4, on the San Juan and had a
great time. For the most part the weather was cooperative as were the fish.
We caught lots of SMB, a few LMB and lots of sunfish using chartreuse grubs
and tubes as well as blue double-tailed hula grubs. Most of the bass were a
pound or less. The best bass of the trip was a solid two pounder taken on a
1/4 ounce lead head with a worm fished in about 20 feet of water.
The big news was the striper activity. The winds really calmed down on
Wednesday afternoon and while heading back to our camp in a cove around Bob
Hope Rock, about 1/2 mile from the mouth, we came across a small boil. With
a quick cast of a spoon we were able to land one two-pounder then they were
gone. The next morning was completely windless and the water was like glass.
We started out trolling a couple of deep diving Shad-raps on lead lines with
5 colors out. As we rounded the bend at Eagle Rock we started to encounter
boil after boil. We tried a variety of spoons, top water plugs,
Rattle-traps, etc but the fish were very spooky and we could never either
get close enough or throw something they were interested in enough to take.
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We abandoned pursuing boils and started trolling. This time
we switched to Hyper-Striper 3/4 ounce bucktails in white and chartreuse
trolled using an umbrella rig (3 jigs at a time on 24" leaders) and running
5 colors deep on the lead lines at about 3 mph. We trolled between the bend
at Eagle Rock and Trail Canyon. We caught 11 in about 2 hours. The most
amazing things was that we had a double and then a triple. The fish
were in the two - three pound class and although they looked healthy, they
were not fat. The only food I found in any of them was a few small crawfish
in one's belly. Most were males with a couple of females with eggs.
Due to some motor concerns were returned to Bullfrog on Friday and ran
through some of the worst conditions I have ever encountered on Lake Powell.
My 20 foot Lund generally runs well in rough water and you rarely get wet.
We were reduced to plowing through the waves and got a pretty good bath to
boot. |
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We stayed at Bullfrog Friday night and decided to fish until noon on
Saturday. Although the weather was better, the bass were not very
cooperative. We decided to try trolling around Dome rock using the bucktails
but also a gold and black deep-diving shad rap. We picked up one striper on
the shad rap that was long lined on mono-filament off Dome rock with no
other hits. We decide to troll from Dome rock back to the marina along the
shore which has flooded brush. We tried to stay in 15-25 feet of water and
picked up another striper and a three pound walleye again trolling at about
3 mph. The weather looked like it was getting ready to start blowing again
so we packed it in and headed for home. |
June 5, 2009 - Craig Lindgren -
Bullfrog
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June 4, 2009 - Tom Macosky - Navajo Canyon |
 Tom,
Karen, and Austin from Phoenix, Arizona, recently spent a week at Lake
Powell (5/23-5/30) and thoroughly enjoyed the fishing and camping
experience.
Pictured is 10 year old Austin Macosky with his 3 lb. striper he landed in
Navajo Canyon.
Austin Macosky |
June 3. 2009 - Glenn Wall - Iceberg canyon |
June 2, 2009 - Rodney Chugg - Warm Creek
stripers |
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Nice to visit with you on Friday! As we told you we fished the Warm
Creek Wall on Friday. Aaron Anderson, Garrett and I caught 35
stripers, with the largest one around 5.5 pounds. They were all healthy and
fun to catch. We also caught 12 catfish.
Rodney Chugg and Aaron Anderson |
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Saturday we fished the same spot and did not catch any
stripers. Aaron’s daughter Ariel joined us on Saturday and out fished us all
catching several smallies and catfish. It was fun fishing even though the
weather chased us off the lake each afternoon with the thunderstorms.
Rodney Chugg |
June 1, 2009 - Kbass - Halls Fishing Report |
Got down to the lake Thursday 28th. We were planning on
going down to the Rincon but weather reports convinced us to stay closer to
Bullfrog. Set up camp in Halls Creek Bay.
Fished rock piles and gravel banks using curly tail jigs and 8 inch plastic
worms with 3/8 oz lead. Caught several small mouth. The pattern is to get
deep and bounce the jig slowly. Every place we fished we caught fish ranging
from 8-16 inches.
The second day we decided to boat down to the Rincon. So right at the "crack
of six" we headed south. We stopped at gravel/rock pile points and caught
fish. I quit counting the caught fish. Didn't try for stripers. Colors that
worked: watermelon flake, cinnamon with black flake, chartreuse.
Went back to camp (wind started). No late fishing that day.
Sat. AM started catching fish in Halls again. Went to the marina store at
noon started fishing rocks between the store and fuel dock- did well. It was
getting hot so we trolled the wall south of Hall's Marina (in the shade). We
were using deep divers silver and black deep Deep Thundersticks. My BIL had
an immediate hookup- 3 lb striper. We trolled back through- same thing.
Another striper. We really got into them around the corner south of Halls
about a mile. On the east side is a shelf of 20-30 ft. We caught 4 more
stripers, a walleye, but lost several fish. Went back to camp with
threatening skies.
We noticed the biggest small mouth (3-3.5 lbs) of the trip was full of eggs
(prespawn) and spitting out crayfish. The stripers were "ripe" males 3-4
lbs. Looks like there is still some spawning yet to take place. Water temps
went from 68 to 78 degrees. The "magic" depth is 12-25 feet of water.
Several fishermen we talked to were not getting that with the lake rising
the fish were deep. We told several what and how we were fishing so
hopefully they could be more successful. Left Sunday. Had a great time. |
May 31, 2009 - Mike & Anne Bevelhimer (GPSPOWELL) -
San Juan |
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We just returned from 10 days up the San Juan. The
fishing was typical of late May. SMB were to be had at any time on curly
tails in the rocks and during early morning trolling for stripers. We were
using Rattletraps at 20' with downriggers and the morning SMB would
often take the lures while I was clipping them into the riggers. Trolling
was slow but steady for stripers, SMB, & Walleye. What wasn't typical was
the weather and the uniformity of the stripers. We only caught two males the
entire trip. All the rest were females. The shortest fish was 21" and the
longest was 23". All were healthy and fat and over 3 1/2 lbs. (I'm guessing
here as my scale had a dead battery). There were clouds of 1" shad in
abundance and stripers feeding on them up against the walls at the surface.
Most of the females were post-spawn but a few were still with green eggs and
a few with yellow eggs.
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The weather produced the best waterfalls we've ever seen at Lake Powell.
I'll attach one of the pictures here for you. The waterfalls and flash
floods brought large amounts of flotsam into the lake and trolling became
too frustrating due to fouled lines so we finished up the trip on the SMB.
The stained water from the inflow was down to midway between Piute and the
Little Bend.
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May 28, 2009 - Mike McNabb |
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Well we got in a half day of fishing on Thursday and did
alright considering the lake level coming up. We fished around Gun Sight and
Kane Creek and inside Padre Bay. We used the same old reliable dark colored
double tail hula grub to catch these fish. The fish were in water 8 to 15
deep and the water was mostly strained. The water temp was 72degrees.
Kaleb |
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We didn't seem to do well in the really cloudy water. Kaleb
is holding a nice largemouth and a nice walleye and Samuel has a nice
smallmouth. I think they out fished their grandpa Rodger, but that's the way
he wanted it to go, of course!
Kaleb |
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We had a great time, the weather was beautiful and great
company! I wished I had half of the energy the boys have!!
Samuel |
May 28, 2009 - Brian Lewis - Rock
Creek Bass |
 Jeremy
Voeltz
4 pound 9 ounce largemouth taken in Rock Creek. |
May 28, 2009 - Mark & Sue Rudie - Bullfrog |
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Wednesday - Sunday, May 20-24
Just thought we'd give you a detailed report from our trip to Bullfrog last
week. The rain was with us the whole trip and really cut down on our fishing
times. We only had about a day and a half combined of full time fishing.
Even with the rain, we were able to catch some fish and had a lot of fun. We
even got to the point of fishing out the side of our cover on our boat while
trolling. Now THAT made it interesting...especially when the fish would run
to the other side of the boat while trying to bring 'em in!
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Wednesday late afternoon we launched and had just enough
time to try the back of Bullfrog Bay past the haystack rock. Nothing on the
west side and we managed 2 stripers on the east side in 25' of water. We
trolled Walleye Assassins in black and silver w/green tails almost the whole
time we fished. We trolled with lead line 5 - 6 colors out with a 6' - 10#
fluorocarbon leader. It got dark so we headed to a camp spot.
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Thursday morning we were able to get in a few hours of
fishing and headed to the east side of Bullfrog Bay and trolled in 25' of
water again. We picked up a striper or two and a walleye, then a really nice
smallie. Then the bite quit. I moved into 15' of water and we shortened up
to only 2 - 3 colors out and started nailing them. We got smallies,
largemouth, walleye, and stripers. Great fun wondering what you'd bring up
each time we hooked up. I even netted a striper and smallie at the same
time! (see pic). The great thing about those Assassins was that anything
would hit them. Early afternoon, here came the rain and it never stopped. It
rained all through the night and next day. Finally, Friday afternoon we got
a break for a couple hours and headed to Lake Canyon. Well, we never made it
because of the rain showers ahead of us, so I turned around and started
trolling in the main channel along the shore and walls. Just south of buoy
92 on the west side at the wall in the main channel, Sue hooked up while
taking a picture of a waterfall. We never left that wall trolling back and
forth and picked up at least two fish per pass getting stripers and an
occasional walleye with 6 colors out. Fish were on the graph at 20 - 50'
deep. We only managed one striper inside the canyons that we trolled.
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Rain stopped us again and Friday we woke up to more rain. We tried Halls
Creek Bay on the east side for a few hours after the rain with no fish
showing on the graph and called it a day. Saturday was the same with more
heavy rain until the afternoon and headed back to the wall at buoy 92. The
stripers and walleye were still there, but the bite slowed to only one fish
per pass.
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Sunday morning was sunshine!!! We had to leave early so headed back to that
wall and caught about half a dozen more nice stripers and a walleye. The
stripers all averaged between 19 - 20", 2 1/2- 3 pounds and healthy. The
walleye were small but fun, and the smallies were all good size 2 - 3
pounders. The largemouth went over 3 pounds. I tried a little casting with a
white spinner bait w/colorado blades and caught one nice largemouth that got
off and had numerous hits. We also got about 6 catfish on anchovies while
sitting around waiting for the rain to stop. |
 |
Totals were only about 30 fish...not many....but it's better
than nothing! Hey, you can't have a hundred fish every time, right? All in
all, the rain made it very challenging but we saw some beautiful waterfalls
and still had a great time. We don't get to Powell very often anymore with
our job, so we cherish the times we get to enjoy the greatest lake in the
west. Thanks Wayne for all you do for our fishery and God bless.
Mark & Sue |
May 26, 2009 - Kip Bennett, Shawn Johnson and Papa -
Navajo Canyon |
 |
Kip Bennett, Shawn Johnson, and Papa
Memorial Day fishing trip with Papa. We headed out at 5AM towards Navajo
Canyon where Kip knew some good stripers and crappie would probably be. On
the way all three of us threw our lines in the water while going through the
wakeless zone of Antelope Point. Kip had a smallmouth hit his crankbait, but
nothing of any real size.
Shawn Johnson
|
 |
We got back into Navajo and found some little coves to try
for some early morning SM and LM. Kip hit a nice largemouth and we had a few
smallmouth come in the boat. Then we headed to a cove further back where
some crappie had been seen in recent weeks stopping to chum a few anchovies
along the way in a spot that we'd later come back to.
Kip Bennett |
 |
Kip and Papa each caught some nice 2lb crappie on Gulp
Minnows.
Papa |
 |
Then, we headed back to where we had chummed and set up our
poles with 1/4 oz jig heads and anchovies and let our line go down to the
bottom which was 45-50 foot deep. We saw them on the graph and soon Kip got
the first one. What a fight! Forgot how fun striper fishing can be! After
that, they were all over on the graph. |
 |
Shawn and Kip continued to catch 15-20 nice stripers ranging
from 2-4 lbs each and Papa got into the action as well with a nice 4lber!
After 10am though the bite died off and it got really hot so we left the
area and hit one more spot on the way back and got a nice crappie to bite.
We released all the LM and SM and kept enough striper and crappie for a good
dinner.
Side note: Wasn't sure what kind of shad this was but it was inside one
of the stripers. Also, a lot of the stripers still had eggs.
Wayne's note:
Its a gizzard shad
evidenced by the rounded snout. Mouth is under the snout so it can eat on
the bottom like a carp. |
May 26, 2009 - ThomasJ - San Juan Stripers
|
Just got back from 3 days of rain, camping, and fishing at
the mouth of the San Juan. I was not sure if I am going to get back to work
to post on the bb in time for your weekly report so I wanted to give you a
quick report. Left SLC on Thursday night and launched during a break in the
rain on Friday am. Camped in main channel just up from the San Juan.
1st, Rain, Rain and more rain. Took down my new Springbar and stayed dry.
Fished from underneath the bimini top. Mine is enclosed so we were able to
go out and see the waterfalls.
On Friday we trolled with deep Thundersticks with just a little bit of
success. On Friday night, just before dark the Gods smiled and it quit
raining and the water went flat as glass. Now for the real news. Get
ready......Stripers were boiling middle of San Juan channel, just up from
Jacks Arch!! Not huge boils, not slurps, but 5-6 fish would come up and
splash. The "boil" would be just long enough that a well placed Zara spook
jar produced an instant hook up. I caught several before it got too dark to
see.
Saturday, rain.....Back to trolling the Thundersticks. Same, limited
success. Got out an old pole that I use for anchovy fishing and tied on a
white, 1 oz Spro jig. The same ones you sold me on a couple of years ago!
Still in their packages at the bottom of the tackle box. Long lined the jig
and instant hook up!! Out come the chartreuse Spro jigs, they worked also!!
Filled the cooler in a couple of hours. Went back to camp cleaned fish, had
dinner and went back to look for the topwater bite. Got blown off the lake
by a cloud burst that was the storms last hurrah.
Sunday, trip to Dangling Rope for supplies. Rainbow Bridge and back to San
Juan. Spro jigs long lined on mono again filled the cooler. Just enough wind
last night to keep the top water bite from happening again.
Uneventful trip home today.
Lessons learned this trip. 1st, Can catch fish in the rain. 2nd, Don't be
afraid to dig to the bottom of the tackle box. I was so hung up on trolling
Thundersticks I almost missed a great opportunity. 3rd, and I already knew
this one, keep a rod ready with a top water bait. 4th, stripers can and WILL
boil at any given time. 5th, spend the extra and get a Springbar. 6th, wife
is still a trooper.
Looking forward to boils this summer!! |
May 22, 2009 - Bob Howard |
 |
My two grandsons Weston Anderson, & Isaac Gallegos and
I fished Friendship Cove the first day using Yamamoto 3" grubs and caught SM
& LM but no stripers. We caught a few nice SM in 2 lb range and LM up to 3
1/4 lb.
Weston Anderson |
 |
Fishing was slower than usual, there were lots of boats
fishing when we got there & we were fishing in 2nd hand water all day.
Isaac Gallegos |
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Next day we headed to Last Chance & had much better fishing,
but still no stripers. SM & LM were running a little bigger. Weston switched
over to a 4" double tale grub & was catching twice as many as Isaac & I.
|
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Third day we went back to Last Chance & ran into Wayne and
he put us on some stripers in the back of LC & we started trolling &
catching stripers 2 & 3 at a time till we had to quit & head for the Rally.
It is really hard to leave when the stripers are still biting.
|
 |
Not as many fish this time but much better quality, which is
the way we like to see it.
Thanks Wayne for putting us on the fish and for making this the best Lake
ever
Bob Howard |
May 19, 2009 - ~Joel and Lili Belmont |
 |
We were on the lake from May 5th to 13th. Went from Bullfrog to Wahweap the
first day, then worked our way back up, as we have never been past DR
before.
Overall the smallmouth fishing was the best, though I continually targeted
stripers, which unfortunately seemed to have their minds on spawning. I only
caught 2 stripers on the whole trip, one on chovies at dusk, one on a
crankbait just before dusk. At least they were strong, fat fish.
The photo with the shad circling... this was in the back of middle rock
creek. I got bored with poor night fishing, left the light on for half the
night, and awoke to find them (kind of expected it to happen, and hoped it
would bring in some stripers... which it didn't!) The school had to be in
the hundreds. |
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I was able to mark schools in the back of middle rock creek,
twitchell, and reflection, but could not arouse them after dark, regardless
of using a green light in a prime spot close to them, and using copious
amounts of chum. Occasionally one or two would zip in and out just as
quickly, as was also the case in the small inlet just south and outside of
the mouth of Labyrinth. Caught a nice catfish there. If you would like to
see exactly where we night fished: http://tinyurl.com/powell09 (The marker
locations are exact, though google maps took the photo when the lake level
was much lower).
The yellow bullhead... I seem to always finesse these out of the woodwork.
This is my 3rd LP yellow bullhead. Released, as with the others. |
 |
Reflection had a lot of fat bluegill in the back, though I
always feel better about returning them since they are not a dominant
species. Interestingly, the Gizzard Shad were spawning in the back of
Reflection when we were there. Are they encouraged for harvest? Are they
table worthy? Can they be used for bait or are they a gamefish? Or it is
best just to leave them alone? They are about the only fish I've seen in the
lake that are as fast and agile as stripers, though it's hard to get them to
strike at anything.
|
 |
The catfish and carp were an interesting occurrence about
halfway back in Face Canyon (where the night image was made as well). My
wife Lili made a pasta that we didn't end up caring for, and she added it to
the food buffet in the lake. Something about the tomato sauce, peas, or
pineapple drove these fish mad! They liked the scent in the water, though
interestingly enough they didn't eat it.
|
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The scorpion was a reminder to wear good shoes at night on
shore and look where I walk. !!
|
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There are two prominent points half way back in Twitchell
that are covered in SMB and readily took brownish hula grubs, lipless shad
colored cranks, and even topwater (chug bugs and buzz baits). It seemed that
anywhere there were slightly submerged rock points on the lake, they were
covered with fish. The few nice LMB I saw, I couldn't interest them in
anything... they would stay in an area, but just cruise the shoreline.
Water temps varied from 66 to 75 degrees. |
May 19, 2009 - Jim Riddle |
 |
My dad and I made the trip from Orem to Wahweap last
Thursday and fished Friday and Saturday.
Friday: We started out heading straight to Gunsight Canyon. We found lots of
stickups and submerged brush. We concentrated on one little inlet near the
mouth of the canyon. We caught several small small mouths. We had several
hits on spinnerbaits when we fished them right through or around the brush.
We were having a hard time hooking them up. Finally I got a big hit from a
large mouth that then immediately wrapped me around a stick. After a little
maneuvering, I was able to get around him and got him in the boat—my first
large mouth bass at Lake Powell. I caught him on a 3/8 oz Strike King
Premier Plus Spinnerbait in Sexy Shad color.
We then headed around the bend to Padre Canyon and fished rocky shoreline.
We had a hard time figuring out what they wanted, but finally I threw out a
5 inch Gulp Shaky Worm in green on a ¼ oz Spot Remover shaky head jig. After
that I would get a bite, or a nibble, or a hook up on nearly every cast. I
fished it almost vertically just a few yards out from the boat in 8-15 feet
of water. I also had some success on a 3.5 inch yamamoto tube in smoke on a
1/16 oz weighted 3/0 Owner twistlock hook, and a 4 inch Senko on a 3/0 wide
gap worm hook fished weightless.
Later we headed up lake near Grotto canyon and I fished a spot that two
years ago (the last time we visited) was an exposed island but is now about
10 feet underwater. The fish were still there and it is here we probably had
the most success in the shortest time. Shaky worms were the ticket, although
I also caught fish on a ¼ Booyah jig with a Yum Craw Papi trailer. |
 |
Saturday: We had heard that fishermen were having some
limited success fishing for stripers by the dam. We tied up to the buoy
line, threw out chunks of anchovies and dropped our line. We stayed for
probably 2 hours without a single bite. Another group was right next to us
and had stayed even longer, they also had no success. We then tried trolling
up the canyon walls on deep diving plugs—again, no luck. We then headed up
Antelope Canyon to a big crack in the wall where we had had success in years
past. No luck at all for stripers, but I did catch some very small small
mouth on a slow sinking tube.
At that point we gave up on striper fishing. Too bad, I think my dad would
have had more fun bait fishing for stripers, but it just didn’t seem to be
happening. So, we headed up Warm Canyon, found some shallow reefs and had
similar success on shaky worms, smaller spinnerbaits and weightless Senkos.
We caught pretty small small mouths. After several hours in Warm Canyon with
pretty spotty success, we made one more run up the lake. The main channel
was pretty rough due to increase boat traffic so we stopped halfway to
Gunsight and fished a shallow area off the main channel where we saw some
exposed brush. Tried several different lures, but didn’t catch a think until
I moved to the shaky worms, then I caught a few more smallies. As we fished
a familiar looking aluminum john boat with a hand rail across the front came
motoring by. We waved. I think it was Wayne, but couldn’t be sure. |
 |
We then made our way back up to Gunsight and tried fishing
across from the area we fished the day before where there was a more rocky
shoreline and less brush. We caught several small smallies and one pretty
small largemouth. Then we headed back across and fished the brushy inlet we
fished the day before. After a couple of small mouth I realized I was fresh
out of the 5 inch Gulp Shaky worms so I tried a similar size and colored
Roboworm. No sooner had I rigged it up did I start seeing greenish shapes
slowly cruising the brush beneath us. I dropped it down, gave it a few
shakes and WHAM! Got my best Largemouth of the trip (certainly not a trophy,
but for me it was pretty good). Dropped the roboworm down again and BOOM
another similar sized bass that took the bait, jumped, and threw the hook.
After that, we got a couple of more bites, but no hookups. Had followers on
a spinnerbait and on an X-Rap, but no takers.
I don’t know how many fish we caught—not as many as a lot of people have
reported and certainly no big ones to speak of, but I had a great time. It
was a little hot for my dad’s taste and he got a little tired and cranky,
but hopefully he had a good time too. I had a blast and can’t wait to come
down again—hopefully when we can get some stripers.
|
May 19, 2009 - Ed Gerdemann |
 I
always enjoy talking fishing with Cap'n Chuck Duggins as he can take simple
concepts and put them into colorful terms. When discussing the most
important aspect of fishing he has said, "If the fish are in the bathtub,
don't fish in the toilet."Cap'n Chuck Duggins
To put it in simple terms, location is the single most important thing in
fishing. This is not to say that presentation, lure selection and color
aren't important, but all that is useless unless you put the lure in front
of the fish. This concept played out importantly in our trip to Last Chance
Bay last Friday in search of smallmouth bass and anything else that might
bite. This was a big day for me. First, I enjoy sharing the boat with Cap'n
Chuck. Second, this was my first fishing trip of the year and the first with
my surgically repaired right shoulder. As always, I'm anxious to see how the
boat and my tackle perform on that first trip, but discovering how my
shoulder would hold up was of extreme importance to me.
On Thursday afternoon I dropped by Wayne's office to say hi and perhaps get
a tip. Wayne told me to look for steep banks of broken white colored rocks.
When he said that a light bulb went off in my head as I knew the exact spot
I wanted to try. It was a small cove about halfway up Last Chance Bay on the
right side heading north. It had been a good spot for me last fall; and,
after speaking with Wayne, I was certain it would be a good spot now. After
about an hour ride uplake, Chuck and I idled into the cove. Chuck's first
words were how he understood why I wanted to come up and fish this spot. It
had a 45-degree angle bank of broken white rock with a ledge of sunken brush
on one side and a slick rock wall on the other. It also had a quick escape
to deep water.
We stayed for nearly two hours there taking 15 to 20 fish. All fell to
Yamamoto's Shade Shaped Worm in the 901 color (watermelon/white laminate). I
was using a drop shot setup (sinker on the end of the line below the hook)
while Chuck used a split shot rig (weight above the hook). It really didn't
seem to matter as both presentations proved equally effective. The key was
getting the bait in front of the fish.
We left that area and proceeded to the next cove up on the right. This was a
much longer cove which had broken white rock banks; however they were not as
steep and deep water was a bit further away. We did not do well here
managing only a couple of fish over the next hour or so. The wind had come
up making boat handling difficult. I believe that played a part, but I also
believe there just weren't as many fish in that area. We moved up to another
spot which had a combination of shallow broken rock banks and steeper slick
rock areas. We did a bit better here, catching the only two largemouth of
the day as well as the biggest smallmouth; however it was apparent this was
not the right place, either.
Before quitting for the day we stopped at a spot I had bypassed earlier. I
decided to fish it as the structure was similar to the first spot -
45-degree broken white rock bank with deep (30+ feet) water nearby.
Immediately we were into fish. Over the next hour or so we took another 10
to 15 smallmouths before calling it a day.
What I failed to do earlier in the day is recognize all the elements of the
first spot. I figured it was the broken white rock bank that held the fish.
I really didn't take into account the steepness of the bank nor the
importance of deep water close by. Because of this, we spent the middle of
the day fishing unproductive water. Had I recognized all the factors
involved in the first area and concentrated on finding similar spots, I'm
sure we would have caught more than we did. I believe just about any
presentation that put a lure in front of the bass would have been
successful. Although we used Shad Shaped Worms fished on drop shot and split
shot rigs, I am certain that Senkos, jigs, Texas-rigged or shaky head worms
or even spinnerbaits and crankbaits would have worked. The reason I say this
is we were trying to imitate shad or some other bait fish, however the fish
we filleted had definitely been feeding on crayfish. It was clear to both
Chuck and me that these fish would have hit just about anything put in front
of them that suggested food. Most of the fish were caught were eight to 12
feet deep. We caught some as shallow as four feet and a couple at around 18.
I believe many of them were spawning; however I also believe we caught both
pre- and post-spawn fish.
I can understand why the fish preferred the steep bank. With the rapidly
rising lake, a steep bank allows them to move up without having to move far.
I can understand the need for deep water close by - to escape from potential
predators. I'm not certain why white colored rock was more attractive than
red or tan. Perhaps it has something to do with location of forage. I'm not
sure the reason, but white rock definitely held more fish.
We finished day having kept 26 smallmouths, mostly 11 to 13-inch fish, and a
2 1/2-pound walleye that made a fine dinner for me Friday night. We released
10 to 12 more smallmouths as well as the two largemouths. Our biggest
smallmouth was a bit under two pounds (also released). All in all, we were
very satisfied with our day as far as fishing was concerned.
It was quite apparent that my shoulder, while getting stronger, has a ways
to go before being back to full strength. Although I used only spinning
tackle, the shoulder was quite fatigued by the end of the day. Also, I
didn't drink enough water and got too dehydrated - a likely cause of the leg
cramps I had later that evening. Because of the cramping and tired shoulder,
I elected not to fish Saturday. I used that time to do so more cleaning
around the trailer, doing laundry and cleaning the boat - which, by the way,
ran perfectly.
I'm looking forward to more trips between now and late fall, and I'm hoping
to pay more attention to all the elements of the locations I'm fishing. I
want to be fishing in the tub and not the toilet, that's for sure! |
May 19, 2009 - Tim Bagley - Halls Crossing -
Stripers |
| Today we found stripers along the recently submerged island
between the Bullfrog Ferry ramp and Hall's houseboat buoy field.
The fish are scattered from the bullfrog boat ramp all the way to the
last island just going under towards the Hall's buoy field. We trolled at
a depth of 15'-20' of water, with a few coming out in the deeper water. We
trolled Buck tails and shad raps at 3.5 mph. Together we caught around 30
total for the day. |
May 19, 2009 - Leo Heugly - Bullfrog Stripers |
Bullfrog Area--weather was great all week which surprised
me. Fishing early in the morning did not help--smb fishing was poor compared
with previous years--striper fishing was fair at times--only one area
provided fish--Lake Canyon right at the mouth on the north side--we tried
Moki area but did not catch a striper so returned to Lake Canyon--learned
the secret of catching stripers this year which I have not been
told by anyone that I read--brightly colored jig heads instead of the plain
type--luckily I had a few of them and used them my last day which was
Friday--I still only caught ten stripers that three or four hours but that
was the best fishing of the week and I was glad to get those--cat fish drove
me nuts for I caught that many of those critters. |
May 18, 2009 - Russ Muir - Bullfrog |
May 15, 2009 - Tim Kelley and Jeff Bierer - Rock
Creek |
 |
Wahweap to Rock Creek
May 5th to May 8th
Tim Kelley and Jeff Bierer
Took a one day break after the San Juan trip, then made a trip back
to Powell with my buddy Jeff Bierer to fish the lower end. We went over to
Warm Creek in the wind Tuesday afternoon, and got into SMB and Walleye.
Went to Padre on Wednesday and fished the rubble piles for SMB. No
disappointment as even the LMB were cooperative. Here is Jeff with a Smallie
he caught while walking the shoreline during a short break. We went over to
Cookie jar and trolled up a few stripers.
|
 |
Headed up to Rock Creek the next day and found some Stripers
in Dry Rock Creek, with Jeff scoring here on a deep silver and black husky
jerk. I was using a white and chrome deep diving Yozuri. We spent the
afternoon fishing for SMB, and catching a lot like the one I show in this
pic. It was great to be out with Jeff again. |
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Here is Jeff with one of the many Walleye we caught fishing
the tamarisks.
The wind came up every afternoon, and we had a couple of rough trips back to
Wahweap.
|
May 15, 2009 - Shane Spravzoff - Padre Bay |
 |
Good seeing you at the fish cleaning station again! We
traded the red ranger in for a white champion! We fished on the 12th and
13th up in Padre Bay. The wind was blowing hard in the afternoon on the
12th, but the new champion handled the rough water just fine. The wind
didn't seem to bother the fish either, the smallies were on the chew!
Yamamoto hula grubs fished off the broken chunk rock in 2-20ft. of water was
the ticket. |
 |
Ryan Church and I put a hurtin on em till it got dark. On
the 13th we fished in the back of Kane early in the morning and caught some
real quality fish on spinnerbaits. Lots of nice largemouth and smallmouth
falling for the blade (shad colored with silver willow leaf blades). The
fishing got tougher later in the morning and we called it quits around two.
The fishing was still excellent. Ryan caught one nice walleye that went
3.5lbs. or so. Time to get out there and take advantage of the great
fishing before it gets too hot!
|
May 13, 2009 - Ron Colby - Bass Tournament |
 Here's
the way I head this story. Sheridan Colby was fishing with his dad
Ron in the weekend bass tournament out of
Wahweap. It seems Sheridan got two monster backlashes in his level wind reel
during the day. When he got the first backlash cleared he took up the
slack and caught a big bass just short of 5 pounds.Next time he got the
backlash it was cleared a bit quicker and this time the bass was 3 pounds.
Just goes to show that we often fish too fast when big bass are present.
We need to give them time to look and make up their mind before moving the
bait.
What I know for sure is that Ron was lucky to have a good partner on his
boat that day. Sheridan Colby
allowed the team to take second place with over 15 pounds of fish.
Further, if Ron wants me to show him how to get a big birds nest in his
reel I could do that. I know for sure that neither one of us has the
patience to watch our bait holding still on the bottom for more than 15
seconds. Working on the backlash is the only answer.
Wayne |
May 12, 2009 - Rod Thompson - San Juan |
 |
Just fished Powell May 9th and 10th, up the San Juan arm, and got into some
Walleye action in the evening from 6PM till dark. We were trolling green
Wally Divers in 15 to 35 feet of water on light lines about 60 feet behind
the boat along the rocky shorelines.
Rod Thompson
Sandy, Ut
|
 |
The Smallmouth action was hot with Berkley swimbaits. I am
including a picture of a 7 Lb. Catfish I caught with an Anchovy from the
back of the boat at dusk. Thanks for all the tips on your website, they have
helped me a lot.
|
May 12, 2009 - Drew Cushing - Forgotten Canyon -
Crappie and Bass. |
 |
We put in at Hall's Creek and camped with several friends.
We ended up camping in Forgotten Canyon which was a spectacular place to
camp. We had fair weather, one day of rain, one day of rain and 2 perfect
days.
Drew Cushing -
Light Phase crappie |
 |
The crappie were plentiful and easy to catch at times.
We used white and yellow jigs most of the time for them and did quite well.
The crappie ranged from 12 to 15 inches and were really pretty.
Dark Phase crappie |
 |
The smallmouth males were on nests which was neat so see.
There were a number of very impressive largemouth lurking around but we
could not seem to find anything to entice them to bite.
Wade Cavender |
 |
We also got into a pretty fair striper bite one afternoon
along the south east rubble field in Good Hope Bay. The stripers were 2-3
pounds and in really great shape. Knowles
Canyon was by far the best bass fishing, but off course it's full of rocky
habitat and submerged vegetation. We also did well in Seven Mile, Smith's
Fork, and Forgotten. Basically everywhere we fished bass, we caught bass,
excluding the main channel. I tried quite a few rigs, but ended up back at
the basics: Yamamoto Hula grubs (double tailed, skirted) in both black with
silver flake and green with black flake on a 3/8oz football head and
Yamamoto Senkos in green with black flake on a 2/0-3/0 offset hook. I used
the grubs to fish deeper and while sight fishing beds and the Senkos near
brush or to follow-up a miss while jigging. Fish were in great shape, and
most ranged from 1-1.5lbs. Ryan Mosley report. |
May 11, 2009 - McNabb Fishing Guide Service |
 |
Here are some pictures from our trip to Gun Sight and Kane Wash. Barry and
Barry Bulow, father and son, had a lot of fun catching lots of smallies and
largemouth. We used spinner bait, smoke grubs, and Yamamoto crawdads. |
 |
We caught lots of fish from 1# to almost 3#'s. We stayed
busy catching them up until 2:30. We fished shallow water and found lots of
fish on beds still.
All catch and release. The best fishing was early morning, it got a little
warm for us humans by noon!
|
 |
Another great trip with great company!
Good Fishing!
Mike McNabb
|
May 9, 2009 - Dave Morrow (Fishbone) - Last
Chance |
 |
7 of us met up at Bass Pro Shop on April 30, headed for Lake
Powell. On the trip were newbie, Jerry Shumacher of Shadow Hills, Dave
Morrow of Calvin Ok, and Gordon Lehman of Anacortes Wa, (who have been
making this spring trip for almost 30 years) Glen Ward of Lancaster Ca,
Jason Duplantis of Lancaster Ca, John Boudreaux of Palmdale Ca, and Bill
Suddeth of Henderson Nv. Meeting us at the lake later would be Mack of St
George, and Neil and his son Will, of Cedar City. We actually found them
virtually out of gas.
Fishbone |
 |
We camped and fished in Last Chance. The fishing was pretty
much phenomenal. The weather cooperated for the most part, only getting
blown out a couple of times. With 4 boats fishing, I don't know the actual
numbers of fish caught, but our boat had between 160 and 180 fish for 3
guys. The fish were bigger than last year. With a couple of the LMB going
close to 4 lbs. In years past we have been catching maybe 10 to 1, LMB to
SMB. But this year it was closer to 3 to 1.We caught most of our fish in the
backs of coves with stick-ups, but some of the bigger SMB came from between
cracks in big boulders a little deeper.
|
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Our main lure was a smoke colored Gitzit. But when we ran
out of smoke, any color worked. We targeted the bass, but got side tracked
on Crappie, once in a while. All nice big fish. We only kept enough for a
big fish fry.
No injures or breakdowns on the trip, (except for old men) We had a great
time and always look forward to doing it again next year.
Jerry Shumacher
On a side note, we killed a rattlesnake in camp. Only one we've ever seen
down on the lake.
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| |
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May 9 , 2009 - McNabb Fishing Guide Service |
 |
Went out again on Saturday morning 5:15 am and got right on
the fish. We caught a 3.3 SM and 5 nice LM weighing in around 2.4 to 2.12
and another SM around 2+ #'s and a ton of other SM. We caught them on white
spinner baits, Yamamoto 3" watermelon crawdads and dark colored jigs, mostly
in the shallow water still and a few SM in deeper water. |
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LM were in the backs of coves and around stick ups. The
spinner bait was pulled through the sticks to catch some of the LM. We had a
great half day trip and caught lots of fish! I've taken Mike out before and
I just met Bryan, both very good fisherman. Great company and great
fishing!!
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May 7, 2009 - Kevin Campbell/ Lake Powell
Outfitters |
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Judy and Dean
from Idaho hired me 5/5 to take them striper fishing to celebrate Dean's
birthday. For this trip, we stayed close to home and fished Wahweap Bay. We
trolled a variety of shallow diving lures in water no deeper than 20 feet.
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Most of the fish came from the 10-12 foot range over the
tops of flooded brush. We landed 7 stripers and had another shake off at the
boat. The fish are nice and fat and yielded excellent fillets. The best
crankbait was a Rapala DT 6 in bluegill color trolled at 75-125 feet back on
12 lb mono. |
May 6, 2009 - Kevin Campbell/ Lake Powell
Outfitters |
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Returning clients Leroy and Deb from Stansburry UT fished
with me on May 3rd & 4th. Deb had the first fish of the trip on Sunday on a
white/ chart. Terminator spinnerbait in Warm Creek. The beauty weighed in at
2lbs 13oz. but it looks bigger than that. |
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We caught many fish in WC on Hulas, weightless Senkos,
spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. Later we fished Kane Wash for a while and had
a fun time sight fishing smaller bass and a couple of crappie. Leroy stuck
several with the fly rod on top water spiders and mouse patterns.
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Monday, we fished by Dominguez Butte and found the fish on the windward side
of steeper drop-offs very receptive to Hulas in 5-20 feet. The windblown
points or the lee side did not produce at all. Very specific pattern. Then
we hit good ole Last Chance. |
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After fishing along the shore with jigs and Senkos and
picking up several fish, I put Leroy and Deb on my crappie spot. It was on
big time. We hooked at least 30 and boated about 20. 2-4" grubs and small
Roadrunners accounted for the tasty fish.
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May 5, 2009 - David Leach |
We just got back from a great weekend of fishing except for Saturdays wind.
This is in reference to April 23 – 26, here is a picture of me
David Leach with 2 of the better
ones. We did catch some real nice smallies on Saturday, like 16 ½” but did
not get any pictures as we got blown off the lake. We were using just about
anything but crank baits were the best for us anyway, just go slow.
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May 5, 2009 - McNabb Fishing Guide Service |
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These are some pictures from a few weeks ago when we went up
to Last Chance.
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We spend 4 hours in one cove and caught around 100 SM and LM
bass. |
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We had a great time, great weather and great company with
the West brothers!
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May 3, 2009 - Jim Maack - New State Record
Crappie |
 There
was a new Utah and Lake Powell record crappie caught near the Escalante.
Jim Maack from Wisconsin was the lucky angler.
The fish hit a roadrunner crappie jig.
The fish measured 18.5 inches long, and 15 inches around.
This monster weighed 3 pounds and 5 ounces.
Congratulations Jim Maack |
May 5, 2009 - Hotwheels - San Juan
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San Juan Fishing Report
Just got back from fishing the San Juan from April 30th until Sunday
afternoon May 3rd.
This trip my fishing buddies were Rick
Hunton and his two sons Tim and
Brandon. This was there first time ever of being at Lake Powell.
I think they are hooked now for life on Lake Powell. :)
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The Striper fishing was ok, we had to troll deep down to 15
to 20ft
with deep diving cranks or put on enough lead to get a rattle trap
that deep. Most of the Striper's we caught were in the Great Bend of the San
Juan. Trolling Speed 3.7 MPH.
We boated 10 Striper's all were between 2 1/2 to over 4lbs. All the females
were full of green egg sacks and males were also full of
milk.
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The Small Mouth Bass and Large Mouth Bass fishing was very
very good.. Most of the fish we caught were SMB all very healthy and fun to
catch. SMB numbers were about 60 fish and LMB about 10, all LMB were
released. All the Crappie were caught on small jigs and Bass were on Gary
Yamamoto 4 inch curly tails, color did not seem to matter. Just needed to
get up next the shore line.
We did keep some of the SMB and Crappie for a fish fry. Thanks to Tim Kelly
and Chris Michels and friends for having us over and Sharing
their camp site and having us over for the Fish Fry. Tim Kelly sure knows
how make a great Sesame Seed and Cajun fish fry mix, oh was it good..
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This was also the best Crappie fishing I have ever had at
Lake Powell. The two boys Tim and Brandon had never caught , Crappie, Bass
or Striper's before. So this was a new experience for them and I believe
they enjoyed it better and catching Trout :)
Will have to ask them again to make sure :)
Hotwheels. |
May 4, 2009 - Tim Kelley - San Juan
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San Juan Report-Tim Kelley
April 29th to May 3rd
My B-I-L, Dave L. and I in my Lund, along with Chris Michaels & Dave G. in
Chris's Lund made it into Neskahi Wash about 2:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
We set up our tents in Bassman's fish camp and got ready to start out the
afternoon with some SMB fishing. Thomas Jay showed up and hopped on board
with me as my B-I-L decided to rest, and we went over to Bassman's ridge.
Chris and Dave G. followed and we spent the afternoon catching SMB all along
that ridge with a few Crappie also. It was a great way to start out the
trip. Hotwheels and his crew showed up on Thursday afternoon.
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Next morning Dave and I headed for my favorite multi-species
spot, and started catching smb, crappie, and walleye. I caught several smb
right off on topwater towards the channel side of the boat while my B-I-L
Dave was catching from the shoreline side. Here is one of several SMB that
fell to my walking stick that morning. The best grub was the
chartreuse Yammie on a half ounce jig head for shoreline fishing and popping
it off the bottom behind the boat like Dave was doing when he was on the
hunt for walleye. This is a picture of the big walleye he took while using
that technique. We worked around the point and into a brushy cove, and
switched to crappie jigs, and started catching slab crappie (I caught my 1st
L.P. black crappie this trip).
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None of the crappie we caught were small, and I only saw one
smaller one from Chris's boat. Most excellent crappie fishing.
When the crappie bite died down we went out towards the channel off of the
point that we had been fishing for smallies and found a striper trolling
pattern that caught us some nice fat stripers. Here are a couple of stripers
caught from many of the doubles we had. A lot of the time when one person
hooked a striper the other one would burn his lure in and get a hook up
doing that. We were using mad trappers
in chartreuse shad color, and blue and chrome rattletraps.
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We would go back to camp for a two hour break, and then head
back out mid afternoon for a great smb and crappie bite each day. Here is a
pic. of a big buck sun fish in the most vibrant colors I have ever seen, and
he gave me a fight that made me think he was a good smallie! I went ahead
and released him because of his beauty and big fighting heart!!
SMB fishing was so great that I think I could have thrown a jig over my
shoulder to my backside and caught a smallie. Every day was a reproduction
of the day before, and I decided to make it real sporting by fishing for
smallies on my ultra light crappie pole with 4 pound test line on it. I have
used this technique before and it can be a real blast. I caught this nice
fat smallie that came out of the water two feet in the air like a rocket
twice before a long fight ended in my net. Lighten up the drag when trying
this. |
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Once again a great trip to the Juan with good friends, and a
great fish fry using only crappie on Friday night.
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May 4, 2009 - Mike Milburn - Good Hope Bay |
I had a chance to fish a little last week while acting as the chief cook and
bottle washer on our annual get together.
Wednesday was a beautiful day weather wise with light winds in the morning
and blue skies. My partner for the day was
Kevin and we made a great team. We
started fishing in the main channel just below the south end of Good Hope
Bay. Water temps were in the 56-58 degree range in the morning and the
fishing started out a little slow. By noon the water had warmed a little and
the smallmouth came alive. We did best on greenish brown 3 1/2 inch tube
jigs with either a 1/8 or 1/4 jig head, depending on the wind. We caught
over 100 bass on Wednesday and all but three were smallies. I did get one
LMB about 3 pounds. Kevin caught a nice walleye fishing the same tube jig,
but allowing it to sink a little deeper. Another boat with us tried trolling
deep diving lures in the mouth of Red Canyon just south of the Castle Butte.
They got around 15 nice 3-4 pound healthy stripers. They also did well on
the brown bass, but they have more patience than I do and
they trolled most of the mid day.
On Thursday Kevin and I were joined by another angler and this was his
first time ever fishing. We had him casting well and catching smallies
within 15 minutes and I didn't even end up with a set of treble hooks in my
head! It did get a little breezy on Thursday afternoon and I tried a
crankbait because light jig presentation was very difficult. I got several
very nice SMB on the Rapala DT 6 in Bluegill color. I think the fishing is
poised to get better as the water warms further. I had to leave my boat at
Bullfrog. OMG! I'll have to go back and get it.....any day now. Take care my
friend. I have attached a photo of Kevin with a nice Walleye he contributed
to the annual fish fry on Thursday night.
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May 4, 2009 - Ryan Mosley - Bullfrog Bass |
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We launched at Bullfrog on Wednesday afternoon (4/29),
set-up camp in
Forgotten Canyon, and departed on Sunday morning (5/3). All-in-all, the
weather was fantastic. We had some storms with wind come through on
Saturday, which cooled the air/water temperature. We fished the canyons
from Crystal Springs all the way up to Seven Mile. Morning water temps
were typically around 58-59F, but warmed to the mid-60s by afternoon.
Fishing was fantastic for bass. We caught bass on classic structure
using Yamamoto twin tailed grubs, Hula grubs and Senkos in earth tones.
Some bass were already on nests, but most of the fish we caught/kept
were pre-spawn. Fishing was best by afternoon, when the water temps
warmed into the low 60s. Much better than two years ago, a lot of the
bass were well over a pound and we even caught a few in the 2-3 lb
range.
We found crappie and bluegills hovering around old vegetation in the
backs of each of the canyons we fished. We did best for crappies using
a chartreuse 2-inch Berkley Power grub, hanging about 2-4 ft under a
bobber. The crappies we caught/kept were still prespawn, but very
aggressive. Once again fishing was best in the afternoons after the
water warmed. The crappies were slabs, ranging from 10-13 inches. |
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Striper fishing was tough in that section of the lake. We
made some
attempts at trolling and jigging, with little success. Some of the
group boated all the way up to the lower end of Good Hope Bay and found
healthy stripers while trolling crankbaits in fire tiger colors.
We spotted gizzard shad just about everywhere we fished. It's
amazing to see the size of the schools and individual fish. We also saw
and caught lots of yearling largemouth bass while fishin | |
