We arrived at beautiful Lake Powell to start our semi-annual fishing trip on Friday, April 28th, the weather was perfect and the water was pristine. Our first boat ride out to the fishing spot at Last Chance Bay was 4:45 on Saturday morning where we starting throwing various colors of jerk baits. The same routine was followed for several days yielding an average of 35 Striped Bass per day with a weight of 1 – 6 lbs. On the second day of fishing, my husband Richard an avid fisherman, broke his pole and complained about his spare rod the whole next day. So I finally gave in and traded him poles leaving me with the spare rod (a junk rod that has been around for ages).
On Monday, May 1st during the morning hours, after catching over 20 fish, my husband hooked up with a 1 lb striped bass using a jerk bait. As he was retrieving the fish, we noticed a huge striper swimming next to him (approx 3 ft long.). The huge striper tried to engulf the hooked fish for over 3 minutes. The mouth of the huge striper was completely covering the hooked fish, but we were unable to lure him into biting any other bait that we threw. He then decided to swim off into deeper water.
The fishing trip gets even more interesting and exciting on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 fishing the east side canyons, south facing shoals in Last Chance Bay. I was fishing on the old junk rod, with 10 lb Stren LoVis Green fishing line, using a 4” XPS Excalibur Natural Shad jerk bait (which I use every year) when on my eighth cast of the morning at approx 5:30 a.m. I got a strike and set the hook. At first, I assumed that I had side hooked the fish by the way it was taking line, but then the rod loaded and I knew I had a good fish. It’s initial run pulled 60 yards of line when my husband told me to move to the front of the boat where we could chase the fish if we needed to. I slowly began to gain line back when I thought that I had lost the fish, one treble hook (# 6) gave loose, but to our pleasure, we still had the fish hooked up. Still reeling in slowly we saw a huge tail break the surface of the water. (we thought it may be the same fish we had seen on the previous day).
My children awoke at the excitement and my daughter grabbed the video camera. The fish swam by the port side of the boat were we were finally able to get a good look at it, and my husband noted that it appeared to be a 20 pound Striped Bass. After a few minutes of steady pull the fish rolled on his side where I was able to get it close enough to the boat for my husband to use the Rapala grippers to grab the fish with. When he heaved it on board, we all saw the fish’s girth and were shocked at the magnificent specimen that we had caught. We were all amazed that we were able to land the fish with only one treble (partially straightened), hooked to the lower part of his jaw. We had a preliminary reading on a digit scale that we had on board at 34 ½ lbs. We all assumed it was a female, but in fact it was a male. 
Cameras where flashing, video was rolling and we were already sending picture messages to our family members who where still trying to enjoy their morning rest. Everyone on the boat was still screaming with excitement and amazement when my husband tells my children and I that we should release the fish back into the lake. That he was too beautiful to keep. He was overruled and the fish made its way back in an ice chest stopping at Antelope point for information on who to contact and advise of the fish. They informed us that we should take the fish to Bashas for official weight and that folks would be waiting for us there. The cameras were flashing at Antelope point as they advised us to get it weighed immediately.
On the way back to Wahweap, we held the fish up to every boat that passed by to share the excitement of the catch. Upon arriving at Bashas, we were met by many local town folks who instructed us on where to go to get the fish weighed. Official weight was 34 ½ lbs, 40 ½ inches long with a girth of 27”. The biggest fish my family and I have ever caught and to that matter, ever seen in our lifetime. Every year we talk about catching the 20 lb fish of lifetime, this year we exceeded it. What a wonderful experience, one that will never be forgotten. We are looking so forward to returning in September to our favorite place in the world “Beautiful Lake Powell”. And by the way, during the entire trip of 7 days fishing, we caught 243 Striped Bass and 2 Small Mouth Bass.
