Lake Powell
Bluegill, Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Striped Bass, Rainbow Trout, Walleye
By Wayne Gustaveson
(Sep 6) Lake elevation: 3602 ft., water temp: 77–83°
The busy Labor Day weekend is over and the lake is now much quieter. Weather gets better every day with warm days and cool nights. September is the best month in the fall to fish. Fish are hungry and more cooperative than they have been in the heat of the summer.
Adult striped bass are still holding in deep water in most of the lake. Where shad are scarce, stripers make periodic trips to rocky structure searching for hiding crayfish. Main channel rocky points are prime spots. Stripers swim along the steep cliff wall and probe rock outcroppings in search of food. After the search for forage, stripers drop back to the closest cold water to rest. These natural resting spots near feeding zones are striper hotspots for bait fishers. There are so many of these main channel spots holding schools of stripers that finding fish is not a concern. Try two different points and it's likely that stripers will be found on one, if not both spots.
The most effective bait fishing technique is to use a circle hook (size 2–4) with no weight. Just let the hooked anchovy chunk descend on slack line at the same rate of speed as the chum. The set up is irresistible to hungry stripers. The only time extra weight is needed would be to quickly get the bait past the shallow little fish so the bigger ones could have a bite. Number of small stripers increase from south (Wahweap) to north (Hite). Adult stripers are more common in the south.
The best place to fish is where shad are still common. The upper San Juan (Neskahi) and Colorado inflow area at Trachyte and White Canyon still have striper boils and very healthy fish. It takes more effort to reach these spots, far from any marina, but the fishing is of the highest quality. The rating for the rest of the lake is a step down to excellent fishing. Cast topwater walking baits to boiling stripers. The most effective technique is to vertically jig a shad imitating spoon to get down to larger healthy fish holding under the smaller boiling fish.
Both large and smallmouth bass are keying on shallow flats where rooted aquatic weeds offer cover and protection to sunfish. Sunfish live in the weeds and game fish hover on the edges waiting for a bluegill to stray close enough to be eaten. Over the majority of the lake, fish weedy flats to find bass. In shad-rich areas bass are chasing shad and boiling just as they have done in the past three years. Bass will eat a crayfish when the opportunity arises so fishing rocky structure with green or brown plastic grubs consistently pays off.
Catfishing with smelly bait is good on sandy beaches each evening.
The fishing experience at Lake Powell is simply amazing.
Info supplied by Uath DWR.......
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