Lake Powell Fish Report - July 20, 2011
Lake Elevation: 3660
Water Temperature 78-83 F
By: Wayne Gustaveson 
Fishing is improving - slowly and steadily. We survived the full moon period where catching was slow to nonexistent. Now we are heading into much better conditions with lake level stabilizing, water temperature leveling off and shad growing larger. The variables combine to make it easy to predict good fishing times ahead. Here is what to expect.
Slurping boil video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBHbGUavH44
The headline news in summer is surface feeding by striped bass. If not the only game in town it is certainly the biggest draw. In the southern lake the first surface dimples appear at approximately 6 AM (MST) as about 5 stripers chase slow swimming shad. The little slurping boil is noticeable but not often repeated. The boat can be positioned near the fading surface rings but no fish pop up to take the lures. But with time, striper group size increases to more than 10, slurps get a bit bigger, and the school resurfaces allowing a good cast over the feeding fish. The key is to cast just as stripers resurface for the second time. Then a lure placed in front of the first fish will be eaten perhaps a third of the time. If this sounds a bit picky - it is. Our best lure in these conditions was a Kastmaster spoon with a chartreuse stripe.
The best time to fish boils this week is between 7-8 AM. Fish are more likely to hit the lure during this magic hour. Later in the day slurps are seen more often but fish are entirely focused on small shad and not as likely to hit a variety of lures. These are "ghost boils" meaning you can see the boil but not often catch fish. While this sounds like very tough fishing it is very encouraging to me, in that, fishing is improving every day. Perhaps as early as next week slurping fish will be very catchable.
Better news is that the first boils have been seen at White Canyon in the Hite area. Water is clearing some allowing shad and stripers to see each other. When the boils at Hite start up the rest of the lake will pale in comparison. That may be the end of July but more likely sometime in August.
Stripers are eating very well even though the surface slurps are small. Their guts are stuffed with small shad .
This week the hot spot remains the channel from the mouth of San Juan to Escalante. There are still lots of boils seen in this remote section of canyon. These are not "ghosts" but aggressive stripers chasing larger shad in reasonably clear water.
Bass fishing is decent with smallmouth hovering around main channel structure including rock piles and terraces. Small fish are in shallow water now but larger bass are still down 15-30 feet. There is a decent bite going for largemouth in the deeper cuts leading to the tree lined end of the cove. Surface lures and white Zoom flukes are productive as bass are in the tree tops waiting for shad or sunfish to swim by.
Fillets are prime again now that stripers and shad are back on the same wavelength.
Catfish are being caught in big numbers now as they are in their most active period following spawning. Sunfish are very active in the brush near shore. They are best caught on live worms and small hooks. The best bait for shallow water right now is a live worm. Many different species of fish can be caught on worms.
Anchovies work at times but most stripers are now looking up to see shad and ignoring bait.
