06-06-2006, 05:46 PM
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[black]Fished Lake Powell from Memorial Day (May 29th) to June 3rd. Fished from Bullfrog to just south of buoy 63. I caught a little of everything (SMB, LMB, stripers, walleye, catfish, bullhead, carp, crappie, green sunfish and bluegill) I mostly caught SMB and stripers. [/black]
[black]We saw slurps everywhere we spent even a little time fishing. 99% of the slurps we saw had only yearling stripers (7”-11”). Most of the slurps we saw were in the evening. We saw a few slurps in the morning and afternoon but they weren’t as widespread as the evening slurps. We had no trouble catching the yearlings on any small lure we tried. I liked burning a small silver spinner at the head of these slurps. My brother liked casting a small piece of night crawler on a hook with a split shot above it. A 1.5" white tube jig tipped with a small piece of night crawler was also productive. Night crawlers stayed on the hook better than a small piece of anchovy. We found a couple of slurps that had something larger than yearling stripers in Escalante, more specifically around the mouth of Indian Creek Canyon. None of the stripers in these boils appeared to be larger than 18”. We saw many yearlings slurping in Bullfrog Bay (Hobie Cat Beach, houseboat buoy fields and anywhere else in BF bay we looked). There were a good number of slurps in the back of Iceberg Canyon. There were a fair number of slurps in the Rincon area, Escalante (we only fished first 3-4 miles of Escalante), Cottonwood and many places in the main channel from Bullfrog to buoy 63. [/black]
[black]We caught stripers on anchovies anywhere in the main channel that we found a concentration of fish on the depth finder. Places that we caught at least 20 adult stripers on anchovies within a couple hours include:
#1 - West wall of main channel 50-150 yards down lake from mouth of Lost Eden Canyon (buoy 92/93)
#2 - Mouth of Browns and Long Canyons, 50-100 yards from main channel inside of Browns Canyon’s NE wall was best for us (about buoy 74)
#3 - East channel wall 200-500 yards down lake of Cottonwood Canyon (about buoy 65)
The three places listed above were fished from 8am to noon. [/black]
[black]I fished with 1/4 oz jig heads with glow white and red eyes, my brother fished with jig heads and unweighted hook, my dad mostly fished with sinkers about 18” above the hook. We fished with half an anchovy to 1” pieces of an anchovy. My brother and dad liked to put a piece of night crawler on the hook after putting the anchovy on. They believed the night crawler helped keep the anchovy on the hook and helped produce a few extra bites. None of our baiting/rigging methods significantly out produce the other methods. We did a moderate amount of anchovy chumming (about 1 bag every 2 hours fished). Chumming seemed to help but didn’t always seem necessary. We caught adult stripers anywhere from the surface to about 70 feet down. Several times we tried soaking anchovies in 90-120 feet down where we graphed fish but weren’t able to get any bites. After the chum was out we would generally catch adult stripers from 10-40 feet below the surface with around 30 feet being the most consistent depth. Before the chum was out we picked up more fish in the 40-60 foot range. [/black]
[black]Almost all of the adult stripers we caught appeared to be healthy but most had not had a recent meal. All of the stripers we caught put up a good fight for their size. None of the stripers we caught were the extremely skinny stripers like ones we have caught in the past. About half of the adult stripers stomachs that we checked had no food in them. The other half had chummed anchovies and/or crawfish or smaller fish. None of the stripers we checked had recently eaten shad. All of the adult stripers that we checked still had sperm or eggs. Several of the males spilled sperm and one of the females spilled a few eggs. We caught a good number of 4-5lb (23”-26”) stripers. Our largest striper was 30” long and 7lbs 8oz. [/black]
[black]We found SMB everywhere we fish. We only caught 1 LMB for about every 50-100 SMB we caught. I think we would have caught more LMB if we fished different areas. Most of the SMB we caught were 8”-14” but we did catch a few smaller and larger SMB. I’m a top water junky, so I spent most of my mornings and evenings throwing a top water baits. I also caught a few adult stripers and many yearlings on top water baits. It was very exciting watching a 5lb striper or larger SMB smash a top water bait. Generally I could catch 2 or 3 SMB on grubs for every one I caught on top water baits. Tipping a grub with a piece of night crawler would produce more strikes. Most of the time the SMB fishing was fast enough that it was a waste of time to tip the grub with a night crawler or add other scent.[/black]
[black]We did some night fishing but for us night fishing was no better if not slower than fishing during the day. I did catch four fat 10”-12” bullheads under the green light by the mouth of Indian Creek Canyon. I’ve only seen one other bullhead caught at Lake Powell so the bullheads were a nice bonus. I caught stripers under the green light the three nights I tried night fishing but we found better striper fishing during the morning and evening. The green light never brought in a large number of shad. A couple nights I saw more than a couple hundred very small shad (less than 1”) under the light as well as some minnows around 1” (??SMB, crappie, bluegill??). We never graphed a large number of shad or fish below the green light. If we had selected a better location than the back of the houseboat we may have had better luck night fishing. Fishing with a glo white jig head seemed to help me catch more fish while night fishing but I wouldn’t say they were significantly better than a plain jig head or hook. [/black]
[black]Channel Cats were common everywhere we fished. All of the catfish we caught were 10”-20” long. We didn’t catch as many bluegill, green sunfish, crappie and walleye as I thought we would. I did see several schools of decent sized (8”) bluegill in the back of Iceberg Canyon. [/black]
[black]I’ll post a few pictures later this week. I would be happy to answer any questions if any of you would like more details. [/black]
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[black]Fished Lake Powell from Memorial Day (May 29th) to June 3rd. Fished from Bullfrog to just south of buoy 63. I caught a little of everything (SMB, LMB, stripers, walleye, catfish, bullhead, carp, crappie, green sunfish and bluegill) I mostly caught SMB and stripers. [/black]
[black]We saw slurps everywhere we spent even a little time fishing. 99% of the slurps we saw had only yearling stripers (7”-11”). Most of the slurps we saw were in the evening. We saw a few slurps in the morning and afternoon but they weren’t as widespread as the evening slurps. We had no trouble catching the yearlings on any small lure we tried. I liked burning a small silver spinner at the head of these slurps. My brother liked casting a small piece of night crawler on a hook with a split shot above it. A 1.5" white tube jig tipped with a small piece of night crawler was also productive. Night crawlers stayed on the hook better than a small piece of anchovy. We found a couple of slurps that had something larger than yearling stripers in Escalante, more specifically around the mouth of Indian Creek Canyon. None of the stripers in these boils appeared to be larger than 18”. We saw many yearlings slurping in Bullfrog Bay (Hobie Cat Beach, houseboat buoy fields and anywhere else in BF bay we looked). There were a good number of slurps in the back of Iceberg Canyon. There were a fair number of slurps in the Rincon area, Escalante (we only fished first 3-4 miles of Escalante), Cottonwood and many places in the main channel from Bullfrog to buoy 63. [/black]
[black]We caught stripers on anchovies anywhere in the main channel that we found a concentration of fish on the depth finder. Places that we caught at least 20 adult stripers on anchovies within a couple hours include:
#1 - West wall of main channel 50-150 yards down lake from mouth of Lost Eden Canyon (buoy 92/93)
#2 - Mouth of Browns and Long Canyons, 50-100 yards from main channel inside of Browns Canyon’s NE wall was best for us (about buoy 74)
#3 - East channel wall 200-500 yards down lake of Cottonwood Canyon (about buoy 65)
The three places listed above were fished from 8am to noon. [/black]
[black]I fished with 1/4 oz jig heads with glow white and red eyes, my brother fished with jig heads and unweighted hook, my dad mostly fished with sinkers about 18” above the hook. We fished with half an anchovy to 1” pieces of an anchovy. My brother and dad liked to put a piece of night crawler on the hook after putting the anchovy on. They believed the night crawler helped keep the anchovy on the hook and helped produce a few extra bites. None of our baiting/rigging methods significantly out produce the other methods. We did a moderate amount of anchovy chumming (about 1 bag every 2 hours fished). Chumming seemed to help but didn’t always seem necessary. We caught adult stripers anywhere from the surface to about 70 feet down. Several times we tried soaking anchovies in 90-120 feet down where we graphed fish but weren’t able to get any bites. After the chum was out we would generally catch adult stripers from 10-40 feet below the surface with around 30 feet being the most consistent depth. Before the chum was out we picked up more fish in the 40-60 foot range. [/black]
[black]Almost all of the adult stripers we caught appeared to be healthy but most had not had a recent meal. All of the stripers we caught put up a good fight for their size. None of the stripers we caught were the extremely skinny stripers like ones we have caught in the past. About half of the adult stripers stomachs that we checked had no food in them. The other half had chummed anchovies and/or crawfish or smaller fish. None of the stripers we checked had recently eaten shad. All of the adult stripers that we checked still had sperm or eggs. Several of the males spilled sperm and one of the females spilled a few eggs. We caught a good number of 4-5lb (23”-26”) stripers. Our largest striper was 30” long and 7lbs 8oz. [/black]
[black]We found SMB everywhere we fish. We only caught 1 LMB for about every 50-100 SMB we caught. I think we would have caught more LMB if we fished different areas. Most of the SMB we caught were 8”-14” but we did catch a few smaller and larger SMB. I’m a top water junky, so I spent most of my mornings and evenings throwing a top water baits. I also caught a few adult stripers and many yearlings on top water baits. It was very exciting watching a 5lb striper or larger SMB smash a top water bait. Generally I could catch 2 or 3 SMB on grubs for every one I caught on top water baits. Tipping a grub with a piece of night crawler would produce more strikes. Most of the time the SMB fishing was fast enough that it was a waste of time to tip the grub with a night crawler or add other scent.[/black]
[black]We did some night fishing but for us night fishing was no better if not slower than fishing during the day. I did catch four fat 10”-12” bullheads under the green light by the mouth of Indian Creek Canyon. I’ve only seen one other bullhead caught at Lake Powell so the bullheads were a nice bonus. I caught stripers under the green light the three nights I tried night fishing but we found better striper fishing during the morning and evening. The green light never brought in a large number of shad. A couple nights I saw more than a couple hundred very small shad (less than 1”) under the light as well as some minnows around 1” (??SMB, crappie, bluegill??). We never graphed a large number of shad or fish below the green light. If we had selected a better location than the back of the houseboat we may have had better luck night fishing. Fishing with a glo white jig head seemed to help me catch more fish while night fishing but I wouldn’t say they were significantly better than a plain jig head or hook. [/black]
[black]Channel Cats were common everywhere we fished. All of the catfish we caught were 10”-20” long. We didn’t catch as many bluegill, green sunfish, crappie and walleye as I thought we would. I did see several schools of decent sized (8”) bluegill in the back of Iceberg Canyon. [/black]
[black]I’ll post a few pictures later this week. I would be happy to answer any questions if any of you would like more details. [/black]
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] Great detailed report Brian. I am looking forward to my trip down there in September.