Lake Powell

Lake elevation: 3,633 feet

Water temperatures: 62–64°F

A fantastic fishing season is drawing to a close. It has been a banner year for all species. Habitat, food and forage, and fish numbers have peaked at near-optimum conditions. The great fishing will continue into the winter months, but this October 28, 2009 report will be my last for awhile. Now is the time of year when I go to work sampling fish on the lake. I will be on the water during the week and I will not near a computer. Reports will happen sporadically when something newsworthy happens.

The shad are still in the shallows with bass and stripers standing guard in close proximity right now. But the winter storm that is bearing down on us will drop water temperature into the 50s. That means that winter fishing patterns will soon be in place. Top water fishing is almost over for the year. You should keep a surface lure hooked up during November, just in case, but the real catching will be done at depth.

This morning, we fished Warm Creek. The shad schools were swimming happily in the shallows with little regard for any threat. We hooked a couple of small bass, but the action was slow. We left the shallow water later in the morning and began graphing for stripers. There were none in the creek channel down to 25 feet or 45 feet. We did not see a fish school until we reached mid-channel and mid-bay where the bottom depth registered 60 feet. After we marked the spot with a float, we deployed spoons and the stripers cooperated. During the first flurry we quickly put four fish in the boat. Then we returned to the marker and caught more. Every time we lost the school we circled the marker until the school was located. We caught fish any time we dropped our spoons while fish were on the graph.

This will be the striper pattern for the next two months. Find a school on the graph in deep water then quickly get the school excited by dropping spoons, stumping jumpers or swimming baits. Try to keep a hooked fish in the water column for as long as possible to keep the school from drifting away. Schoolies tend to follow a fish that is feeding or hooked. Likewise, if a fish comes unhooked and swims away, it often takes the whole school. If that happens, return to the marker and start the search over. After spending three unproductive hours fishing too shallow, we caught 30, 2- to 4-pound stripers in two hours.

You will find the most wintertime success by fishing deliberately in deep water for specific targets. You can catch striped bass, walleye and catfish with this method.

Unfortunately bass fishing will slow with each degree of additional cooling. Fishing will be fair in November, but will grind to a halt in December and January. Catfish success declines with cooling.

Surprisingly, crappie fishing will improve and November is perhaps the best month of the year. Crappie school in the densest brush shelters in the canyon. For the best results, try fishing vertically in heavy cover with small curly tail grubs.

Walleye are good winter fish too. Anglers can usually catch walleye in the northern lake near Hite. Overall, stripers, walleye and crappie will be the best fish to target for the rest of the year.

Details

• Location: Southern and southeastern Utah
• Directions: Access from various locations in Utah and Arizona
• Type: Blue Ribbon
• Size: 160,000 acres
• Elevation: 3,700 feet at full pool
• Hours: No restrictions
• Likely catch: Smallmouth Bass, Striped Bass, Walleye, Largemouth Bass, Crappie, Channel Catfish
• Possible catch: Bluegill, Common Carp,Green Sunfish,Black Crappie, Largemouth Bass
• Regulations: Striped bass (no limit), Largemouth bass (5), Smallmouth bass (20), Black crappie (10), Sunfish (50), Walleye (10), Channel catfish and Bullhead (25), Northern Pike (6), else see proclamation.
• Site amenities: Full service marinas and launch ramps are at Wahweap, Bullfrog, Hall's Crossing, and Hite. A midlake marina, accessible only by boat, is at Dangling Rope. Primitive access is possible at various sites
• Handicap access: Handicap access is at all the full service marinas.
• Site description: Lake Powell is the second largest reservoir in the United States, but first in beauty. This "Crown Jewel of the Colorado" is 160,000 acres at full-pool (3,700 ft elevation) and boasts over 1,900 miles of shorline.

  Utah's premier warm water reservoir was impounded behind Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 and completed its initial filling in 1980. At full capacity, Lake Powell holds 27 million acre feet of water. The red rock formations and desert landscape surrounding the lake are unsurpassed for natural beauty. The Colorado river flows into the reservoir at Hite, with the San Juan and Escalante rivers flowing in at midlake. The main stem of the reservoir is 180 miles long. Water temperatures average 64° F in the spring, 77° F in summer, 61° in F fall and 49° F in the winter. Air temperatures can exceed 100° F during late July and early August. Rainfall averages a mere 6 inches with 10 percent humidity — truly a desert setting!

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