Lake Powell Anglers

April 22, 2007

Dick, his wife Bobby from Pagosa Springs, CO and their adult daughter, Kim from Portland, OR striper fished a half-day on Lake Powell this morning. The dam was hot once again early with most fish in the 21/2 lb/ 25” range. A few fish to 31/2 pounds were taken. After the action slowed, we moved up lake a few miles and fished along the main channel. We found a tremendous school of mixed age classes. Yearlings and fish up to 4 pounds filled the fishfinder’s screen. Anchovies were not needed. Using a 5” grub on a ¼ oz. jighead and vertical jigging a ¼ oz. Kastmaster worked wonders. If this area consistently holds fish, I might have a new favorite spot. One drawback though, it’s close to the travel lanes and wakes will be very tough as boat traffic picks up when the lake gets busier. We kept 36 and sunk at least 10 more.

April 20 & 21, 2007

Art and his Son-in law Scott came up from Tucson to fish Lake Powell for 2 days. Despite morning temps in the low 40’s. the striper fishing was very good at some of the spots we fished. The first morning, we were able to get one of the prime spots at the barrier at the dam. Here the fishing was hot and heavy. I lost track of how many double hook-ups Art and Scott had. The fish were taking my reliable combo of a ¼ oz. jig w/ a chartreuse grub tipped with a chunk of anchovy. Most of the fish were holding 20 feet or shallower. On Saturday, we started on the east wall of the dam since the western side was already crowded. We hit a few fish here, but the action wasn't that great. However, the first bend in the main channel was excellent for a couple of hours. Many were healthy 3 pounders along with lots of yearling size. At times, the sonar was thick with fish echoes. After the fish moved off, the action just plain stopped. We fished the intake with 5 other boats and nobody was having any success to speak of, just a few scattered fish. Later we ventured back to the bend, and caught a few more, but the big school wasn’t there. Another tough day at the office.

April 17, 2007

Charlie from the home of Ranger boats, Flippin Arkansas, fished the Ferry with me today. The morning was a little slow but we made up for that later by catching many quality fish on eggs, orange scuds and a variety of midge patterns. The average fish today was 15 inches with several in the 16 to 17 inch range,

Late March-mid-April, 2007

Lees Ferry Report

Fly fishing continues to be great most days. In addition to sight fishing for spawning fish, the riffles are fishing very well with midges, worms and scuds.

The fish are looking very healthy this spring and are a little larger than in the past few years. This bodes well for the long-term future of the fishery.

April 6, 2007

Jeff and 2 friends from the Prescott area fished with me for a full day trip on Lake Powell. We started at the dam after leaving Wahweap at 8 A.M..The first 5 barriers already had boats tied up and every angler was casting over the barriers towards the dam and getting stripers on most every cast. I opted to fish along the western wall about 50 yards from the barrier line. We thought we were going to be on fish big-time when the first cast with a jig and ‘chovie produced a 3 pounder. Soon after, another fish came to the same rig, but then the action ceased. We gave it about 30 minutes more and with no more fish on our side of the barrier being taken, I decided to take the show on the road. Off we went into the mouth of Antelope canyon. I stopped about 200 yards inside and chummed heavily. In about 10 minutes we had a nice flurry of stripers eating our anchovies. This continued on and off for the next 45 minutes or so. After this action died we fished the mouth of the canyon with no success. After lunch we motored a short distance to the intake. Here, the fish were very happy! For 2 hours of more, we slapped the stripers silly. Lots of doubles, triples and quads. Everyone had a blast and tired arms.

March 24, 2007

If you're a regular reader of my fishing reports and wondering when I was going to post a report from a guide trip on Lake Powell...here it is finally. The first day guiding on the lake for 2007 was with a returning client from last year. Phil brought his buddy and fellow Delta employee. These guys were a pleasure to fish with. Stripers were the target today. Well, the fish were more than happy to join in the fun. We started at the dam and immediately it was on! Fish after fish ate anchovies either on Carolina rigs or on a jig with a grub and a small piece of 'chovy added.

At 11:00 after filling one and half coolers with stripers, we thought it would be nice to see some new water. So we left to fish the intake and the small cove just past buoy 9. These 2 spots only yielded a few fish each. I decided to try the Warm Creek wall since the other 2 spots didn't produce well. Nobody was home here, at least on the 2 spots we fished along the wall. So, after a while we opted to go back to the Dam. Good plan. The fish were still there and biting as well as they were when we left. The other boats that were fishing along with us were slamming the fish as well. The west wall was the place to be. We tied to the 3rd barrier but other boats were just drifting and casting their anchovies and letting them pendulum back under the boat. That was exactly what we were doing. The fish seemed to be 30 feet or shallower. I didn't see many fish on the finder that were deeper than 40 feet. Overall, the best method was a 1/4oz jig and grub with a piece of 'chovy added. We used both chartreuse and shad color grubs on 10 pound mono.