April 11, 2007
By Wayne Gustaveson
Lake Elevation: 3599
Water Temp: 53-66
F
The
main event is right around the corner. Large and smallmouth bass will begin
spawning with the next warming trend. The long range weather forecast is for
sunny and warm by the weekend (April 14-15). My best guess for spawning then
is April 17-20. Did I mention that this is the best year in recent memory
for big bass? You may want to mark down these dates in RED on the calendar.
Fishing is going to be even better than it is now. While waiting for the bass spawn, the prespawn pattern is not bad. Warming draws all fish to the shallow edge of the channel where sunlight is warming the sand and rock. ALL FISH are using the same warm water spot. There will be a mixed bag of bass, stripers, crappie and walleye all sharing the warmth. Find a sunny exposure with shallow water next to a deep travel route. There must be a few tumbleweeds, tamarisk or aquatic weeds to provide the comforting shelter fish crave. Find a brushy warm spot and the fishing is beyond belief.
Daniel Wray with his personal best largemouth caught from shore near Bullfrog main ramp.
Stripers are still numerous and very hungry. Cast to weeds/brush with jerk
baits, spinner baits, tubes, grubs or weightless senkos. Cover lots of
ground because fish are bunched in small isolated areas. Fishing sandy
points in mostly slick rock canyons is very productive Locate striper
schools to find the other species. Catching one fish will likely lead to
grappling with many more willing fish. Sort through stripers on almost every
cast to find an occasional big bass, walleye, or crappie.
The other option is to fish bait in the channels of main canyons for
stripers. Anchovy fishing is good lakewide with the many stripers that still
remain. They were not all caught last year and most survived the winter.
Expect spring fishing to be almost as good as 2006. Stripers have been
regularly caught at the dam, Antelope Canyon, Power Plant Intake, Padre bay
canyons, Rock Creek, and the mouth of Dungeon canyon. It is still important
to keep as many stripers as possible to reduce their numbers and bring
predator and prey populations back in balance
Near Bullfrog, try Lake and Moki Canyons, Halls and Bullfrog Bays. In the
upper lake Good Hope to Trachyte Canyon is probably the best fishing on the
lake. The upper San Juan is always special.
Next week will be as good as it gets in the spring, if the weather warms as
forecast. I hope you can make it.
Ron Colby gave 87 stripers a ride home from Rock Creek