By
Water Temp: 66-73 F 
Brian Clement and
friends with night fishing catch of stripers out of Wahweap.
It's good to see the lake rise beyond the predicted level for the year. There
is still more water to come. Every additional foot of elevation beyond this
point is a bonus. Big runoff (60,000 acre feet per day) has a definite impact
on fishing. There is muddy, cold water in the river from Good Hope to Hite.
That channel will be better fishing in June but should be avoided for the next
two weeks. The canyons adjacent to the river channel are still excellent
fishing.
The flood last October brought much driftwood that is now being floated from
its resting place on shore. Expect floating debris in many places that have
been clear water in years past. The backs of many canyons are littered with
drift wood.
Rising water floods new ground that looks like excellent fish habitat. It will
be, once occupied by fish, but do not fish the shallow water this week. Fish
the shoreline and open water reefs that were wet two weeks ago. Fish 12 feet and deeper for best results. Many good looking
fishing spots will be void of fish but just keep moving and looking until a
school of stripers or group of bass is located. Fish will all be together in a
favored spot. Just remember where the brushy coves were before the spring flood
and target those sites even though they may be way out in open water.
Seven feet of lake elevation change has a dramatic impact on shoreline
appearance. Use the graph to find depressions or cuts in the flat lake bottom.
Cuts 12-20 feet deep are the prime habitat for all fish. Look at the canyon
mouths, along the main channel and on primary and secondary points in main canyons.
I have only talked about where so far, because fishing is really good in these
prime habitats and not so good where driftwood and cold muddy water have
blocked access to fish
.
Bass are found in the featured habitat with bonus walleye, green sunfish and
blue gill caught while fishing green or smoke colored plastic lures for bass.
Stripers are being caught along the canyon walls using anchovy bait with lots
of chumming in these locations:
Southern lake: Dam, Antelope canyon, Power plant intake (buoy 7 to 9), Navajo
Canyon (2 points beyond double islands and in the muddy water in the back of
the canyon), Warm Creek Wall, Rock Creek (east shoreline opposite the floating
restroom), the best spot is the east wall upstream from Oak Canyon and the San
Juan and mouth of Escalante.
Northern lake: