Lake Powell 4-7 thru 4-9

[theangler]

[left]I headed out to Lake Powell to tag along on Rich (BearLakeMack) and a friend and coworker of his Ron's striper trip. My first time fishing Powell, what an awesome trip!!![/left]

I left Colorado on Thursday and ran into many problems getting to Powell, first MapQuest was wrong, then I bought a McNealy map and it was wrong (it is missing a great shortcut freeway the 98 west also, which I used on the way home). If all that wasn't enough Wolf Creek Pass was closed so I had to double back and drop down into New Mexico. To make a long story long it turned a 9 hour drive into 13+ hours.

The way the trip started I was expecting a Typhoon when i got to page Arizona and the Wahweep Campground to meet up with Rich and Ron. Not the case! The weather was unbelievable, the fishing, companionship, and conditions were awesome! It was an amazing trip and you can't ask for two better guys to fish with!

First Day:
We got a bit of a late start because of the time I got in (1:30am) it wasn't possible to hook up that night. So we hooked up in the morning and hit the water. Rich and Ron got there the day before and got on the fish at the dam so we left Wahweep Marina and headed to the Dam. We started out tying off to the Styrofoam barricade and fished inside the barricade and towards the mouth of the lagoon that leads to the dam. We were throwing a variety of colored Mister Twister 3" jigs with a piece of anchovy. After about 20 casts the spot proved to be a bit slow so we moved out about 200 yards and started working the area to the wall. Ron hooked up immediately on the first cast on an Orange jig, so we I switched to Orange and I think Rich stayed with green (both colors were working). We put a decent amount of fish in the boat before lunch. Mostly caught close to the wall in anywhere between 15 and 25 feet of water.


After lunch the dam was crowded and had slowed down a bit so we headed to Buoy 1. Buoy 1 produced fish between the buoy and the shore using the same bait.


Thank you Ron and Rich for the AWESOME FISH TACO'S we had for dinner that night!


Second Day:
Fishing was closed out in the morning. No one seemed to be catching fish and we only boated 2 fish between fishing the dam and buoy one. We tried trolling J.P Rigs at 20 and 27 feet, mixing up our spots, a couple of different jigs, and nothing seemed to be working. Ron did land a nice smallmouth.


After lunch we moved off Buoy 1 and in to the cove and it was on. We found them sitting on a ledge deep around 30 to 60 feet with the same set up.


We put 43 fish on the boat, released a bunch.


Although we didn't land any big striper the 1 to 6 pounders were on fire! Rich and Ron make a mean fish taco and again, you can't find two better guys to fish with. Thanks again guys!

For more pictures from the trip check out
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[DonInDenver]

Nice report, Mike!! I love Lake Powell in April and May!! I'm planning to go around May 12th or so.

By the way, word is that Aurora Res. is turning on for walleyes and smallmouth! Soft plastics and jerk baits. The good Spring fishing has arrived!
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[theangler]

Hello Don,
That was my first time at Powell but it was a great time. I've driven by it so many times on vacations and it was great to finally fish it.

Good luck on May 12th!!

Thank you for the heads up on Aurora Res.! I am going to have to give that a go!
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[DonInDenver]

Actually, they are asking fishermen to kill every striper they catch. There are currently way too many stripers in that lake for the available forage, especially in the southern end where these guys were fishing.

From Wayne Gustaveson's Fishing Report of May 17, 2006:
"Stripers continue to travel the deep canyon walls from Glen Canyon Dam to Bullfrog and all spots in between. They are readily caught on anchovy bait fished at 30-50 feet near the wall and on cliff points and talus rock piles. Chum to get the school started and then harvest all fish caught as the population is overabundant and must be downsized to keep the fisheries healthy."

Maybe you should learn the facts before you take shots at folks. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about
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