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Lake Powell


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Rating - Good   

Friday, Mar 01 2024
Striped Bass (Stripers)During our netting at Good Hope Bay (Red Canyon) we found above average numbers of striped bass. Unfortunately, for us the fishing during our downtime was slow. When checking stomach contents, stripers were full of shad and we witnessed many shad schools simmering on the surface, however no striper schools showed up to turn the simmer to a boil. We figured due to the plentiful numbers of shad, stripers can quickly feed and get their fill in short order, they are not desperate and dont have to work very hard to find shad, this can make fishing tough. If youre lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time you will have very fast fishing for stripers that are in peak condition. I would rather catch 10 really healthy striped bass that fight hard and provide an excellent fillet than 100 fish in poor condition, like many things its a trade off right now, catch rates are likely down for most, but the fish are in great condition. Its encouraging to see the recent reports of fast striper fishing on the North end of the lake. Many thanks to all of you providing those very useful reports.While striped bass are well distributed lake-wide, the gill net survey has historically collected the most fish from the up-lake sampling site at Good Hope Bay. The mean total catch from 1981 to 2019 was 179 fish from Good Hope Bay compared with 114 from Wahweap, followed by 60 at the San Juan, and 43 at the Rincon. The graph below illustrates how striped bass numbers over the past 3 years (2021-2023) compares to historical means. The grey bars display the long-term mean catch of striped bass caught at each site between 1981 and 2019. The red circles indicate the mean catch over the past 3 years. The mean number of striped bass over the past 3 years is greater than the long term mean at all but one location (Rincon).Smallmouth Bass prefer rocky habitat which is why they do so well at Lake Powell. Bass are caught less often than stripers because they move less and tend to stay on one stretch of shoreline instead of cruising the shoreline as stripers do. For this reason, it is not wise to compare catch rate of different species, but rather year to year catch rate of the same species. In my reading of previous reports, I have learned it has been difficult to detect statistically significant trends in smallmouth bass numbers due to the variability of bass caught over the past 10 years. However, looking at smallmouth bass data from the past 3 years does show some interesting trends, most notable is the consistent increase of numbers in 2023 at all 4 locations. Again, this is not surprising given the good runoff we had in 2023, however its always nice to see consistency across monitoring sites. I also found it interesting that the greatest catch rates have come from Rincon over the past 3 years, this is a departure from the norm.Based on my experience and reports I have received from anglers fishing is improving at the Rincon. This could be a result of the lower lake levels facilitating nutrients moving further down lake and creating higher primary productivity, this is something we will look more into when we analyze our zooplankton and water quality data. Sometimes sampling does not directly relate to sport fishing results, however, it has been my experience that smallmouth bass catch rates are down from what is normal while the overall size of smallmouth bass caught has improved. It appears our netting data tracks well with what anglers are experiencing across the lake. All the bass we caught in our nets (or fishing) were in prime condition with older age classes being well represented. During our 10 days on the lake our best fishing was not for stripers, but smallmouth bass. We got into a really good bite by trolling along the shoreline in Cha Bay with Norman Double Deep crankbaits, we didnt try to tick the diver off the bottom like you would for walleye but rather tried to stay 5 to 10 feet off the bottom (less snags). We found smallmouth bass would come up from the bottom and strike the bait from underneath, we figured this was the case as many of the fish were caught on the front treble hook. As others have noted a fast troll, about 4 mph was the ticket. We estimated we caught between 40 and 50 smallmouth bass trolling, many were in the 2-2.5 pound range. Similar results are possible trolling a crankbait along a rocky shoreline lake wide.

Friday, Mar 01 2024




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Lake Powell

RECEIVE FISHING REPORT UPDATES!


Rating - Good

Striped Bass (Stripers)During our netting at Good Hope Bay (Red Canyon) we found above average numbers of striped bass. Unfortunately, for us the fishing during our downtime was slow. When checking stomach contents, stripers were full of shad and we witnessed many shad schools simmering on the surface, however no striper schools showed up to turn the simmer to a boil. We figured due to the plentiful numbers of shad, stripers can quickly feed and get their fill in short order, they are not desperate and dont have to work very hard to find shad, this can make fishing tough. If youre lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time you will have very fast fishing for stripers that are in peak condition. I would rather catch 10 really healthy striped bass that fight hard and provide an excellent fillet than 100 fish in poor condition, like many things its a trade off right now, catch rates are likely down for most, but the fish are in great condition. Its encouraging to see the recent reports of fast striper fishing on the North end of the lake. Many thanks to all of you providing those very useful reports.While striped bass are well distributed lake-wide, the gill net survey has historically collected the most fish from the up-lake sampling site at Good Hope Bay. The mean total catch from 1981 to 2019 was 179 fish from Good Hope Bay compared with 114 from Wahweap, followed by 60 at the San Juan, and 43 at the Rincon. The graph below illustrates how striped bass numbers over the past 3 years (2021-2023) compares to historical means. The grey bars display the long-term mean catch of striped bass caught at each site between 1981 and 2019. The red circles indicate the mean catch over the past 3 years. The mean number of striped bass over the past 3 years is greater than the long term mean at all but one location (Rincon).Smallmouth Bass prefer rocky habitat which is why they do so well at Lake Powell. Bass are caught less often than stripers because they move less and tend to stay on one stretch of shoreline instead of cruising the shoreline as stripers do. For this reason, it is not wise to compare catch rate of different species, but rather year to year catch rate of the same species. In my reading of previous reports, I have learned it has been difficult to detect statistically significant trends in smallmouth bass numbers due to the variability of bass caught over the past 10 years. However, looking at smallmouth bass data from the past 3 years does show some interesting trends, most notable is the consistent increase of numbers in 2023 at all 4 locations. Again, this is not surprising given the good runoff we had in 2023, however its always nice to see consistency across monitoring sites. I also found it interesting that the greatest catch rates have come from Rincon over the past 3 years, this is a departure from the norm.Based on my experience and reports I have received from anglers fishing is improving at the Rincon. This could be a result of the lower lake levels facilitating nutrients moving further down lake and creating higher primary productivity, this is something we will look more into when we analyze our zooplankton and water quality data. Sometimes sampling does not directly relate to sport fishing results, however, it has been my experience that smallmouth bass catch rates are down from what is normal while the overall size of smallmouth bass caught has improved. It appears our netting data tracks well with what anglers are experiencing across the lake. All the bass we caught in our nets (or fishing) were in prime condition with older age classes being well represented. During our 10 days on the lake our best fishing was not for stripers, but smallmouth bass. We got into a really good bite by trolling along the shoreline in Cha Bay with Norman Double Deep crankbaits, we didnt try to tick the diver off the bottom like you would for walleye but rather tried to stay 5 to 10 feet off the bottom (less snags). We found smallmouth bass would come up from the bottom and strike the bait from underneath, we figured this was the case as many of the fish were caught on the front treble hook. As others have noted a fast troll, about 4 mph was the ticket. We estimated we caught between 40 and 50 smallmouth bass trolling, many were in the 2-2.5 pound range. Similar results are possible trolling a crankbait along a rocky shoreline lake wide.


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