Lake Powell Report
May 9-11, 2007
One of my best friends and very good angler, Rich Stanton drove 7 hours from Tucson to make the long journey up lake to the San Juan arm for a 3 day trip. I haven’t been to the Juan for a few years. I looked back on archived reports on WaynesWords.com and most every report from mid-May was very good. Our trip was another in that category. The further we went up the river the warmer the water temp got. The main lake temp was 64 and our camp in Piute Creek was 72 degrees. The water color had changed to a nice milky green and we later found the truly muddy water and heavy debris to be only about 8 miles up the river, or about half way up the west side of the Great Bend.
Day 1
In Piute, we found a great concentration of crappie and large bluegills in a 200 square foot pocket sheltered in front by big boulders. Neither Rich nor I took our crappie gear on this trip, but I had 2” pearl and clear grubs and 1/16 oz. heads to rig them on. This was all we needed to catch lots of panfish. We found this pattern held up everywhere in the off color water in the San Juan. This spot was only about 100 yards from camp and we fished it several times over the 3 days. Bass fishing was very good in Piute as well. Rich and I fished a variety of jigs along the broken shoreline. Most fish came from water shallower than 15 feet. Darker colors like watermelon, pumpkin and smoke sparkle were the best producers.
Day 2
Rich and I fished from Piute up to east of Neskahi wash. We had steady action with jigs, topwater, lipless cranks, senkos and jerkbaits. Rich stuck a beautiful 3lb. smallie on a weightless senko in the back of Neskahi. Shade was the key for both LMB and SMB in the morning; all the better fish came from the shady pockets. We didn’t keep count of how many fish came to the boat, but is was quite a lot. After returning to camp to have lunch in the shade, we headed further up the river. We found that flooded car-sized boulders held tons of fish that would eat jigs and dropshot worms with gusto. Stripers also lurked here and took swimming grubs whenever we saw then in within casting range.
Day 3
More huge boulder fishing for LMB and SMB and lots of crappie from sheltered pockets. We drove up into the heavy debris along the west side of the Great Bend as far as I dared. Whole trees floated everywhere and the water was chocolate. There is very little but vertical wall in this area of the river. I only managed to catch one big crappie with a rattle trap out of the mud. Just as we left the muddiest water we started to fish isolated shady talus slopes. These produced the largest LMB of the trip. Rich and I both caught several fish in the 3-4 pound range on chartreuse tubes and zipper worms. When we returned to our favorite stretch of large boulders I was fishing my 2” grub in search of smallies and hooked into what I figured was a 3 or 4 pound striper. After several minutes, the fish came shallow enough to see it was the biggest walleye I have ever hooked. It scaled at 5 pounds even.
Rich and I had a blast for these 3 days and plan to make this trip again next year.
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Reports from my fishing trips with family and friends
Lees Ferry Report
August 3-25, 2007
August 3-25, 2007
The Ferry continues to impress. The rainbows are in beautiful shape and average 14" with several up to 18" seen every day by our guide staff. I had a spin fishing day on the 17th and the fish took ¼ oz. black and gold Panther Martin spinners very well as well as marabou jigs. 2 fish of 18"+ took the spinner up by the dam. Fly fishing is still good while wading and drifting. Deep nymphing and swinging wooly buggers are both working well. The cicada bite is pretty much over.
Lees Ferry Report
September 1-7 2007
River flows have dropped to a much lower level compared to summer levels. This provides better access to large areas of cobble bars and sight fishing opportunities. Many fish are quite shallow and catchable if proper stealth is employed. Dry / dropper techniques will prevail for the next few weeks. On the 1st and 2nd, 2 anglers who caught several fish shallow on beadhead midge and shrimp patterns. I had a spin fishing trip on the 5th. Panther martin spinners and Rapalas accounted for the majority of the fish. The fish averaged about 14" and are in great shape.
Lake Powell Report
September 2007
September 2007
The peak of the topwater season is upon us. The bays and channel will have fish on the surface most every day until 8 or 9 AM. After the surface action is over, stripers can be taken on vertically jigged spoons, anchovies or trolling. Bass fishing for large and smallmouth will progressively get better as the water gradually cools.
Lake Powell Report
March 2008
I've been hearing many reports from friends and other guides about improving fishing on Lake Powell.
This is prime time for largemouth. My neighbor and his son have caught several quality fish up to 3.5 lbs. The stripers will be getting happier as the weather stabilizes and warms. The smallies and walleyes have been biting crankbaits well this winter for a postal buddy of mine. This weekend will be picture-perfect. I can't wait to get out myself.
Lees Ferry Report
March 22, 2008
March 22, 2008
Not as crowded as I thought it would be with the beautiful stable weather on a Saturday.
The spring spawn is on in a big way. The high water 2 weeks ago loosened the gravel up and the fish went right back to spawning. I spin fished today with 3 clients and most of the fish we caught were on gravel bottom. The sandy areas only produced a few fish. The lower river is still a little off-color but the bottom can still be seen at 20 feet. Drifting big egg flies was the ticket. Many colors worked, but shrimp pink was the best by far. Between the 4 of us fishing I figure we landed about 50-60 fish with 6 17-19 inches. Most of the fish are in beautiful shape. Some are lean from spawning, but that's normal. The males are in full color with scarlet cheeks and stripes.
What Color!
19.5" Rainbow in spawning colors.
P.O. Box 4661
Page, AZ 86040
Lees Ferry Report
June/ July 2008
The cicada season is upon Lees Ferry. Every summer the big insects hatch out and the trout love to munch them. I've made a few trips this month to fly fish this hatch with great success. While guiding on the Ferry the past 11 years, this has always been my favorite time of year.
South Fork Colorado
July 22-27 2008
I made my yearly pilgrimage to South Fork July 22-27 to fly fish the Rio Grande and surrounding waters for trout. I stayed with my bud and former Lees Ferry guide Tyson Warren and his wife Elaine. Tyson guides for Wolf Creek Anglers. Ty took the 24th off to float the Rio Grande with me and his step son Brad. Brad used to guide the Ferry also and worked for Wolf Creek until he bought a restaurant in South Fork last summer. We floated through town and did very well pulling streamers and nymphing with dry/ dropper rigs or indicators.
On the 25th, I waded a section of the Rio several miles upriver of town with great success. Of the 8 fish I landed in this section, one was 19.5" and another was 20.5", both rainbows. The others were colorful browns to 16".
Ty introduced me to a local school teacher and part-time guide Tom Tichy. Tom and another Wolf Creek guide, Devon and I fished a marathon 10 hour float from above the old mining town of Creede to Wagon Wheel Gap. We had a blast fishing mostly streamers due to the off-color water from the previous nights rain in the area. We traded the rowing chores every 3 hooked fish, what's called "baseball". We traded many, many times that day. Browns to 17" and rainbows to 19" occupied our rods frequently.
Hooked up
Nice fish eats one of my cutsom tied flies
My bud Brad
19.5" rainbow
Lake Powell Report
August 30, 2008
I hit the lake at 5:30 am with my buddy Chad and his Triton boat in search of boiling stripers this morning. Following other reports, we ran into Padre Bay and then back to Kane Wash. We saw no fish on the surface on the way due to the breeze causing a little chop. When we arrived in Kane, the water was much smoother and scattered stripers were busting shad on top. We both tied into very strong fighting 2.5 pound stripers in short order. Chad was fishing a popper while I fished a Lucky Craft Sammy topwater. I also had the 8 weight fly rod rigged with a popper. The fish didn't stay on top for more than a few minutes at a time, but it was time enough to position the boat to get a few casts to each pod of boiling stripers.
Hard fighting striper on the fly
Lees Ferry Report
August 17, 2008
Fished the Ferry yesterday and it was very good. Healthy, feisty fish on a variety of techniques. I didn't keep count, but I would guess about 20 fish. I waded all day and mostly used I my one wt. fly rod with a dry and dropper. A few fish came on the dries, but most took the sz 20 black and silver beadheaded midge or a small brown San Juan worm. No pressure...There were only 4 trailers on the parking lot. Gotta love it, and only 50 minutes away.
Average spunky rainbow
The Arsenal
Quality 18 incher taken on the center pin rig
Lake Powell Report
Sept. 26, 27 2008
I just returned from one and a half days fishing with long time friends and fellow Tucsonans who have a timeshare houseboat on Powell. They spent the bulk of their week camped in Oak Bay. They found good fishing for stripers and excellent smallmouth and largemouth fishing in the area. On Friday afternoon, they moved the houseboat down to Padre Bay in anticipation of returning to Wahweap Marina on Sunday. I motored out at 3PM and meet them in Padre Creek on Friday. We soon had 2 boats running up to Last Chance Bay to hopefully confirm good fishing reports from that area. We found very good smallmouth fishing in coves with gravel and broken rock banks and lots of brush. We took fish on topwaters, Rattle Trap-type crankbaits, spinnerbaits and soft plastics. By buddy Wendell, landed best fish of the evening on a spinnerbait, a brute of a smallmouth weighing in at 4 pounds 1 ounce.
The following morning Wendell and I ran up to Dove Cove and found a small pocket loaded with shad and healthy sized smallies. We took many on topwater, dropshot plastics, and small grubs. After taking a break for lunch and some spotty fishing in Kane Creek, we made another run with 3 boats and 7 anglers back to Last Chance. The back of the cove that produced the 4 pound smallie was excellent for stripers and smallies on topwaters, swimbaits and jigging spoons. There were loads of shad in the cove and the stripers would occasionally come to the top and hit them in pods of 2 or 3. Our best methods were just to keep fishing over gradual points in the back of the cove and the stripers would come through about every 5 minutes and blast our topwater lures. I caught several on spoons when I could see the fish hugging the bottom on the fish finder. My bud Mike and his son Daniel also had a blast fishing topwaters and swimbaits in the area too.
The stripers are fat and very strong. Next spring will be epic... book your trip today!!
What a brute... nice job Wendell
Typical fat striper on a topwater lure
Lees Ferry Report
October 18, 2008
I took my wife and daughters to Lees Ferry today to fish for rainbow trout. We only fished about 4 hours but landed at least 20 fish on spinning gear. My 2 girls, ages almost 3 and 7, had a blast cranking in the leaping trout. I set up the rods with egg pattern flies and bounced them on the bottom in depths of 3 to 20 feet.
Lailah and Lauren enjoy the first fish of the day
Mom looks on as Lailah fights another one
Fishing the Rio Grande near Creede, CO
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South Fork Colorado
July 9-14, 2006
Spent this week in South Fork Colorado on vacation. What does a fishing guide do on vacation? Why, go fishing of course.
One of my best buds and fellow guide at Lees Ferry Anglers, Brad Shallenberger is guiding this summer for Wolf Creek Anglers Fly Shop in South Fork. The small town of South Fork is on Hwy.160 about 2 hours east of Durango. While Page was roasting, I was enjoying the 70 degree highs and afternoon showers. When can I return???
To be brief, Brad and I floated the Rio Grande twice and caught lots of brown trout and a few rainbows. The Monsoon is in full swing in southwest Colorado and the water was somewhat high and slightly stained making for excellent streamer fishing. We took turns fishing while the other rowed his Hyde drift boat. The browns were tight against the bank where the banks provided a break against the fast current. Brad and I turned over 30 fish on my first day on the Grande. By turned, I mean we had fish chasing, briefly hooked or striking the fly without getting hooked. Landed fish numbered around 10. I also fly fished several small creeks on both sides of the Continental Divide. One creek yielded a "grand slam", with rainbow, cutthroat, brown, and brook trout from the same small water. Dry fly fishing on the small streams was very good with several hatches coming off every day.
Lake Powell
April 15, 2006
Intending to seek out bedding fish, I launched my Ranger at 5:00pm from Wahweap and fished until dusk. I only fished one cove close to the ramp, but it sure was productive. There was a steady breeze of less than 10 mph from the west. Where I fished, the wind combined with off color water and the low sun angle made it a tough to see bass on beds, in fact I saw none. However, all was not lost; I had a great 3 hours.
I started half way back into the cove where the stickups first became visible and threw a 3/8 white Terminator spinnerbait with a small Colorado and willow combo (tandem). For the first 15 minutes, while I worked back into the cove, the blade produced nothing. As I got A little closer to the back of the cove the largemouth began their attack. I landed 5 green fish up to 3 lbs. All came while casting among the thin Tamarisk branches. As I rounded a shale point, the stickups disapeared and I could see where a shelf broke from 3 to 7 feet. I used a single tail watermelon Hula on a 1/4 oz head on this ledge and stuck 3 12"-14" smallies. After I rounded the point, the steep shale edge continued and had a nice population of Tamarisk again. I went back to the spinnerbait for a while but came up empty.
I thought the bass might be spawning on the second "stairstep" shelf where the Tammies were found in 4-6 feet of water. I chose a 1/4 oz pumpkin skirted weedless jig with a matching 4" single tail grub trailer. With the boat in 8 feet, I flipped and pitched this combo among the branches along this 70 yard bank and immediately began catching 4 quality 2lb.+ smallies. When the steep shale bank gave way to gradually sloping sandy soil again, the tumbleweeds had blown in and I flipped 2-2lb.+ largemouth from here.
The last and best fish of the evening came from a sparse line of Tammie branches on the south side of the cove, obviously growing on a previous stable lake level line; again in the 6 foot range. Just as the sun was setting a tremendous strike almost took the rod from my hands. This was a 3.5 lb. smallie.
Total count for 3 hours: 13 fish landed, 1 lost, less than 3 miles traveled and only 4 minutes on the big motor. It's nice to live here in beautiful Page!
Water temp. 59-64, air temp. 65, partly cloudy
Lake Powell
April 1, 2006
Water temp. 51-54 water clarity muddy to clear, windy, partly cloudy
Today, my buddy, neighbor and fellow guide Mike McNabb and I fished Wahweap Bay in the afternoon. Despite the wind, we had a pretty decent couple of hours.We fished on the northern shore in narrow canyons to escape the full force of the wind. Mike and I caught 7 largemouth and 2 smallies on spinnerbaits and dark Hula grubs. The 2 heaviest green fish weighed in at 3lb. 12 oz.and 2 lb. 8 oz. The 3 pounder and 1 more largemouth ate the Hula grub for Mike, The rest of the largemouth took spinnerbaits; either a 3/8 oz white & chart. w/ double Colorado or a 3/8 oz. white w/ tandem blades. Lost a heavy smallie on the grub when it jumped, it was about 3 pounds.
Lake Powell Report
April 8, 2008
April 8, 2008
I went out on Lake Powell for 6 hours on 4/6 with my daughter, Lailah. We fished exclusively in Navajo Canyon. We caught about 15 fish on 4" white Storm Swim Shad swim baits. 7 stripers, 6 largemouth and one smallmouth. The weather was just perfect with only the occasional breeze swirling through. Water temp peaked at 62. Dirty water and shad present were the keys.
1.5 pound largemouth falls for the swim bait.
This decent striper thumped the lure hard.
Roosevelt Lake Trip Report
March 29-30, 2008
I spent the weekend of March 29th & 30th at Roosevelt Lake east of Phoenix, AZ. My buddy Rich from Tucson and I landed 49 fish for the 2 days. All but 2 or 3 were caught either on spinnerbaits or Carolina rigged plastic lizards. The lake is less than 2 feet from full and is nothing less than a flooded mesquite forrest. Lake Powell is due to rise about 45 feet and will inundate lots of brush providing much needed cover for baitfish, young fish and ambush sites for gamefish.
Flooded mesquite and tamarisk trees in Pinto Creek.
Typical frisky largemouth on the carolina rig.
Lake Powell Report
February 24, 2008
February 24, 2008
My best bud and former Lees Ferry guide Chad Bayles and I took our 2 daughters down to the dam for about 2 hours today. We tied up just shy of noon and sent 4 'chovies cut in quarters down to get the chumming started.
On the very first drop, hook up! The girls landed 6 stripers in 2 hours and missed several more. All fish came between 15 and 40 feet. The method was to cast toward the dam about 20-40 feet out and let the rig pendulum back to vertical, let soak for about 5 minutes and repeat.
Half the fish took on the fall. Most fish came shortly after we chummed 2 'chovies worth of pieces.
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Lailah Campbell and Brenna Bayles with their day's haul.
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Lailah Campbell fights a striper hooked on the first drop of the day while Brenna's dad Chad Bayles cheers her on.
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Lees Ferry Report
December 17, 2008
I fished Lees Ferry with Chad Bayles, a former Ferry guide, the Page school district superintendent Jim Walker and his 22 year old son Kyle today. We left page at 7:45 and got on the water about 9. We opted to start at Dam Island and try for some size right off the bat. I was first to rig and fish while Chad rigged himself, Jim and Kyle. I nymphed the middle rifle and soon hit a healthy 16" rainbow on an egg pattern. As soon as Jim and Kyle were rigged, I left and let Chad explain dead drifting to Kyle and he hooked up on his first drift, but it didn't stay hooked for long. Jim fished the bottom edge of the island and had no luck. Chad and I explored the back channel with no success. I changed flies for Kyle and he promptly hit another at the end of a long dead drift on a gray BH midge behind a red worm. Another beautiful red 16"+buck. I fished 50 feet below Kyle in the deeper part of the run and landed one and farmed another.
At 10:00 the flow started to drop and the fish on Dam Island really don't do well on dropping water, so we went drifting. Jim spin fished a maribou jig, Kyle bottom bounced a big glo-bug rig and Chad and I nymphed deep with the fly rods. The first few bars were mostly a bust. Pumphouse, 14, Powerline, Honey Draw, Tire Bar and Ferry Swale only gave up maybe one fish each, but we only drifted them once. I'm sure they will be more productive if you gave it more time to fine tune the fly choices and leader lengths/ weights. We hit Duck Island drift twice and it worked much better. Everybody got bit here on both drifts. We bypassed 8,7 and 6 mile bars and hit the 4 mile drift 3 times. Even better. Back on the dock at 3:00.
Best flies for the day were Shrimp Pink, Steelhead Orange and Oregon Cheese sz 16 glo-bugs, tan San Juan worm, SZ 10 Shrimp Pink and Steelhead Orange glo-bug on the spinning rod. Jim stuck with his 1/4 oz black jig and hooked 6. I never tied a scud on and only foul hooked one on a midge. The fish ranged from 11"-17". We did see many spawning beds deep and a few shallow. A few more weeks and the fish will be in full spawn mode.
Not a bad day considering we were trying to fly and spin fish with 4 on the drift at the same time. I'll get down in my boat again soon alone or with only Chad and really give 'em hell.
Rainbow on the drift
Kyle's 17" Dam fish
Kevin Campbell and Brenna hooked up.