08-05-2012, 02:50 PM
Just returned from Lake Powell from a family trip that included some fishing.
My personal catch list:
Small Mouth Bass (2)
Large Mouth Bass (3)
Striped Bass (7)
Walleye (1)
Catfish (mostly Channel) -- (15-ish)
Common Carp -- (10-ish)
The only number I was not happy with given the limited fishing I did is the Striper number (I was hoping for about twice that many). We found accessible boils just two mornings. Four of my seven were caught in 35 minutes -- plus one more I lost at the boat with a broken line.
But I was really glad my father and I did the early morning Striper runs Thurs-Saturday. Friday morning we got into a huge boil about a mile from the Bullfrog Marina and we were laughing ourselves silly for 45 minutes as fish were splashing all around the boat.
We need to work on our unhooking and storing techniques as we wasted way too much time landing, unhooking, and coolering the stripers we caught.
Between the two of us, we landed seven fish in the 45 minutes we had to fish. We both lost two more at the boat. And we both had two others on for long fights before breaking lines.
We also need to bump up our fishing line strength for this kind of abuse. We lost all four Kastmasters from line snapping (two in fish, and two from over-aggressive casts).
But that 45 minutes remains the funnest 45 minutes I have ever spent fishing.
It's a full on adrenaline rush for the entire time.
Perhaps the most rewarding catch for me personally, though, is the Walleye. I really wanted to catch one and we didn't have much time to target them and I have zero experience with them.
But thanks to some tips from waynesworld.com, in a 1 hr evening window we managed to find some deep fish (80') I suspected were Walleye and bring one up a Kastmaster jigged off the bottom.
One part of the trip that was wholly unsuccessful (and where I was hoping to get another few stripers) was night fishing. We happened to be down during week of the full moon and our camp site was chosen for daytime activities, not night fishing.
My only night time catch was a Large Mouth Bass -- well, besides a bunch of Catfish which I don't count down at Lake Powell.
Probably the funniest story though was one early morning I was helping a young nephew (about 10) try to catch a carp on a piece of bread crust in about 3' of water right next to the houseboat.
I get him set and fishing, I move over to the other side of the boat to help another one of the kids rig up a bluegill line and his pole starts bending like crazy.
He yells and I run back over as the fish breaks the water and I can tell it is NOT a carp... not a Catfish.... he landed an 18" Large Mouth Bass!
One thing I definitely will NOT do on a family trip where fishing is more of a time killer between other activities than the main attraction is bring Anchovies. Not worth the smell and the mess.
I had a great time down there and added some really fun memories (and several new species) to my fishing experience.
[signature]
My personal catch list:
Small Mouth Bass (2)
Large Mouth Bass (3)
Striped Bass (7)
Walleye (1)
Catfish (mostly Channel) -- (15-ish)
Common Carp -- (10-ish)
The only number I was not happy with given the limited fishing I did is the Striper number (I was hoping for about twice that many). We found accessible boils just two mornings. Four of my seven were caught in 35 minutes -- plus one more I lost at the boat with a broken line.
But I was really glad my father and I did the early morning Striper runs Thurs-Saturday. Friday morning we got into a huge boil about a mile from the Bullfrog Marina and we were laughing ourselves silly for 45 minutes as fish were splashing all around the boat.
We need to work on our unhooking and storing techniques as we wasted way too much time landing, unhooking, and coolering the stripers we caught.
Between the two of us, we landed seven fish in the 45 minutes we had to fish. We both lost two more at the boat. And we both had two others on for long fights before breaking lines.
We also need to bump up our fishing line strength for this kind of abuse. We lost all four Kastmasters from line snapping (two in fish, and two from over-aggressive casts).
But that 45 minutes remains the funnest 45 minutes I have ever spent fishing.
It's a full on adrenaline rush for the entire time.
Perhaps the most rewarding catch for me personally, though, is the Walleye. I really wanted to catch one and we didn't have much time to target them and I have zero experience with them.
But thanks to some tips from waynesworld.com, in a 1 hr evening window we managed to find some deep fish (80') I suspected were Walleye and bring one up a Kastmaster jigged off the bottom.
One part of the trip that was wholly unsuccessful (and where I was hoping to get another few stripers) was night fishing. We happened to be down during week of the full moon and our camp site was chosen for daytime activities, not night fishing.
My only night time catch was a Large Mouth Bass -- well, besides a bunch of Catfish which I don't count down at Lake Powell.
Probably the funniest story though was one early morning I was helping a young nephew (about 10) try to catch a carp on a piece of bread crust in about 3' of water right next to the houseboat.
I get him set and fishing, I move over to the other side of the boat to help another one of the kids rig up a bluegill line and his pole starts bending like crazy.
He yells and I run back over as the fish breaks the water and I can tell it is NOT a carp... not a Catfish.... he landed an 18" Large Mouth Bass!
One thing I definitely will NOT do on a family trip where fishing is more of a time killer between other activities than the main attraction is bring Anchovies. Not worth the smell and the mess.
I had a great time down there and added some really fun memories (and several new species) to my fishing experience.
[signature]
