Lake Powell
2010-10-13
GoodLake elevation: 3,634 feet
Water temperatures: 70–74°F
Lake Powell rose a foot during the recent rain storms. Water temperature is a pleasant 72°F, with warmer than usual days the return of. With all that good news there might as well be more: Fishing gets better by the day.
[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif]Pieter from San Diego, CA gaffs a striper spooned off the bottom in Halls Creek Bay. Striper fishing peaked in the perfect, late summer weather.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif]Photo courtesy of Wayne Gustaveson[/FONT]Striped bass are ready, willing and eager to bite frozen cut bait in the main lake. Shad are scarce from Good Hope Bay downstream, leaving a huge population of striped bass without much to eat. Stripers react to low forage by going deeper to conserve energy until food arrives. The magic depth right now is 50 to 70 feet. You can easily find striper schools by driving to the back of almost every canyon while watching the bottom depth.
If you see a school of fish between 50 and 70 feet it's usually stripers. Mark the school, toss chum all around the boat, and drop a baited hook to the bottom. Catch the first fish and watch the rest of the school rise off the bottom as you reel the hooked fish to the surface. A large school may come to the top and search under the boat, at about 10 to 15 feet, trying to be first to find fresh chum when it hits the water. Or the school may go right back to the bottom. Either way, you can catch fish again by placing the bait at the appropriate depth (as seen on your fish finder). Huge catches are possible. A 100-fish trip is well within the expectations of many anglers.
Many of the last month's hotspots will provide steady, but not spectacular, action — including the Dam, Navajo Canyon, Haystack in Warm Creek, Warm Creek Wall and Labyrinth Wall. New schools have been located in the floating restroom cove in Padre Bay, and in main Rock Creek near the small rock island in the back (where bottom depth reaches 60 feet). The Rock Creek spot provides the most lucrative striper catch in the lower lake.
Night fishing at Bullfrog and Halls is superb under green lights. Use the same pattern of looking for schools near 60 feet in the submerged creek channel leading to the back of the canyon. Bait fishing is better than trolling or jigging. You can catch fish using many different techniques when stripers rise to the top, looking for more chum.
Abundant shad are still providing excellent forage for stripers and bass from Good Hope Bay upstream. Boils are sporadic, with periods of inactivity when stripers go the bottom to digest their meals. Spoons, surface lures and trolling are more effective than bait in the Hite area.
Bass fishing is improving, and lower water temperature will bring better fishing. Bass are very active at 65 degrees, which the lake will likely reach in the next two weeks. Bass are on rocky points in the main channel. They have moved a bit shallower, but it is still best to fish for the larger fish at 25 feet.
2010-10-13
GoodLake elevation: 3,634 feet
Water temperatures: 70–74°F
Lake Powell rose a foot during the recent rain storms. Water temperature is a pleasant 72°F, with warmer than usual days the return of. With all that good news there might as well be more: Fishing gets better by the day.
If you see a school of fish between 50 and 70 feet it's usually stripers. Mark the school, toss chum all around the boat, and drop a baited hook to the bottom. Catch the first fish and watch the rest of the school rise off the bottom as you reel the hooked fish to the surface. A large school may come to the top and search under the boat, at about 10 to 15 feet, trying to be first to find fresh chum when it hits the water. Or the school may go right back to the bottom. Either way, you can catch fish again by placing the bait at the appropriate depth (as seen on your fish finder). Huge catches are possible. A 100-fish trip is well within the expectations of many anglers.
Many of the last month's hotspots will provide steady, but not spectacular, action — including the Dam, Navajo Canyon, Haystack in Warm Creek, Warm Creek Wall and Labyrinth Wall. New schools have been located in the floating restroom cove in Padre Bay, and in main Rock Creek near the small rock island in the back (where bottom depth reaches 60 feet). The Rock Creek spot provides the most lucrative striper catch in the lower lake.
Night fishing at Bullfrog and Halls is superb under green lights. Use the same pattern of looking for schools near 60 feet in the submerged creek channel leading to the back of the canyon. Bait fishing is better than trolling or jigging. You can catch fish using many different techniques when stripers rise to the top, looking for more chum.
Abundant shad are still providing excellent forage for stripers and bass from Good Hope Bay upstream. Boils are sporadic, with periods of inactivity when stripers go the bottom to digest their meals. Spoons, surface lures and trolling are more effective than bait in the Hite area.
Bass fishing is improving, and lower water temperature will bring better fishing. Bass are very active at 65 degrees, which the lake will likely reach in the next two weeks. Bass are on rocky points in the main channel. They have moved a bit shallower, but it is still best to fish for the larger fish at 25 feet.