June 29, 2006
By Wayne Gustaveson
Lake Elevation: 3610
Water Temp: 77-83 F
Lake Powell is warm and stable. Lake elevation peaked at 3610.88 MSL. Summer heat has slowed fishing success.  A conversation with an angler this week puts this in perspective.  He said fishing was much slower on his last trip – He only caught 25 bass and stripers.  Slower fishing at Powell is still pretty good.

  

Stripers are moving deeper with expanding warm surface water. It is more difficult to find and start a school feeding.  It may take 15-30 minutes for a deep resting school to respond to a shower of anchovy chum.  But the schools do respond and fishing is still good with bait in the main channel from Wahweap to Padre Bay. The best spots are at the dam buoy line, Navajo Canyon points, and the mouth of Warm Creek. Many of these stripers are plankton feeding yearlings but a significant number of 3-4 pound fish are mixed in.

Midlake bait fishing is best on Moki Wall and at the mouth of Halls Creek in the main channel.

With runoff subsiding and water clearing, fishing is getting much better in the northern lake.  Big runoff brought a huge nutrient load into the lake that is now being mobilized into algae. Expect clearer water with a significant algae bloom in many bays and coves.  Floating algae should not hamper fishing success.  Fishing from Bullfrog north during July should be the best the lake has to offer.  

 

 

Yearling stripers are slurping voraciously near Buoy 113-114. In most other lake locations only an occasional slurp is seen.  Boils won’t happen until July and then most of the surface feeding will be in the northern lake and in the San Juan arm. Remember to use small surface lures and silver spoons to catch slurping stripers.  The lure must be presented to the first feeding fish in the forward direction of travel to get a hook up.  Casting into the middle of the slurp will cause the fish to spook. Yearlings have the competitive advantage over adult stripers and should be harvested to allow shad to live longer and grow larger. 

Go Slurp Fishing and help save some shad!

Bass are in the brush.  Put on a surface lure and don’t take it off until October. You can retie occasionally but always have a surface lure ready to cast. Morning and evening are best but topwater bass and stripers can be caught at any time of day. Put a plastic grub on another rod and alternate fishing the surface and the bottom to find feeding bass.  Intermediate sized Super Spook Jrs and Kinami walking baits have the best size and profile for surface casting while shad are small. 

My favorite Jumpin minnow surface lure.

Night fishing under green or white lights is excellent.  Many 1-4 pound stripers have been caught on the north end of Castle Rock where bottom depth is 60 feet.  Find a school of stripers during the day and go back at night to do some very serious fish harvesting.

Have a wonderful and safe July 4th Holiday.