Lake Powell Fish Report

By: Wayne Gustaveson April 11, 2007
Lake Elevation: 3599 Water Temperature: 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.

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.

Lake Powell Fishing Report

April 4, 2007
By Wayne Gustaveson
Lake Elevation: 3599
Water Temp: 56 66 F


Warming is now more gradual and timely than the warm spell
encountered in March. Each morning the temperature climbs another
notch toward the magical 60 degree mark that ushers in the glory of
spring fishing at Lake Powell. If the thermometer reads 58 in the
morning bass will be biting by afternoon. If the morning reading is
64 then bass will spawn. As I write this the temperature reading is
57. I am going fishing anyway.

While waiting for bass to start the spring feeding frenzy, fish can
be readily caught with soft plastic tubes and grubs fished slowly
along the bottom. Largemouth from 3 7 pounds are still active and
waiting. Fishing for big green bass during March was more productive
than during any similar period during this decade. That great fishing
will be supplemented by a similar occurrence of big bronze smallmouth
later this month. This peak in big bass production results from the
big forage years from 2002 to 2005. Enjoy the reward of that
production by spending some time on each fishing trip pursuing bass.

While bass fishing is better in the afternoon and evening when water
reaches its warmest point, stripers are hitting in fits and spurts
all day long. There is consistent catching at the historic spots
along the main channel. At any time of day there will be active
stripers biting in one of the following locations.

The dam has striper schools moving in and out and along both canyon
walls. Patience will be rewarded with a school of moving fish coming
under your boat. They are not bashful about eating once they get in range.

If your arrival at the dam is in between schools then try Buoy 1 at
the intersection of Wahweap Creek and Main channel. From there the
next stop is the mouth of Antelope canyon and the first corner inside
the canyon. From there, move uplake past Antelope marina to the Power
Plant Intake area where moving current attracts stripers. The intake
is under the chain link fence on the canyon rim on the right hand
side of the channel when headed upstream.

Buoy 9, a bit further upstream marks a good rockslide and a cove that
are very good striper holding spots. At any location lots of chumming
with finely cut anchovies followed by a chunk of bait on a jig head,
Carolina rig, or with no weight at all will entice hungry stripers
into your boat.

My favorite fishing strategy this week is to fish the backs of the
canyons for whatever I can catch. Use a tube, grub or jerk bait to
fish the shore and rock structure for whatever bites. Bass, stripers,
walleye, crappie and sunfish will be encountered along the way. I
have small baits for panfish and big baits for stripers and bass all
hooked up and ready on a variety of rods. When a pod of active fish
is detected just pick up the correct rod and catch fish. It is
exciting fishing.

I prefer Rock Creek and Last Chance for fast fishing in the spring.