Lake Powell fishing report | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Lake Powell Fish Report May 22 2012Lake Elevation: 3636Water Temperature 70-75 FBy: Wayne Gustaveson of Wayne's Words We did a tour of the recent hot spots and found fish holding in the same spots as last week. Not much change has occurred. That means fishing remains really good for these species: juvenile striped bass, walleye and smallmouth bass. Ripe male stripers that were caught well two weeks ago have disappeared. I am sorry to report that bait fishing for stripers in the main channel is not productive. That may improve after stripers spawn in the next two weeks.Small stripers and walleye are still holding in the brush line where bottom depth is 15-25 feet. Trolling a shallow running crankbait such as pointer, X-rap, Shad rap, or rattletrap etc. over the tree tops results in steady hookups for both species. When stripers hit trolled baits, everyone in the boat should start casting toward the hooked fish as the striper school is very aggressive and will provide instant hookups as they come within casting range of the boat. When a walleye is encountered, stop the boat and cast to the spot where the walleye came from with tubes, grubs, bucktail jigs, swimbaits and deep diving crankbaits. Walleye are delicious to eat. Usually more than one fish can be caught from the same exact spot if you can find it again. Pay close attention to bottom depth and boat location so the boat can be repositioned in the same spot after the first fish is unhooked, pictures taken, and fish placed on ice.Smallmouth are caught trolling in the same 15-25 foot tree top location but they can be caught much more ef-fish-ently by casting to rocky shoals, points and drop-offs with plastic tubes, grubs, senkos and crankbaits. Larger smallmouth are found in 20-25 feet of water on the edge of a brushy flat. Look for a rock pile or an escape route with deep water nearby to target bass congregation areas.Largemouth bass are still hiding in the thick brush at the shallow end of the canyon or cove. The same brush-whacking techniques that have worked all spring will still result in a respectable size bass. They are not as aggressive now that they are in post spawn mode but they are still catchable.Sorry to report that I have not been able to consistently find adult stripers. I suspect that spawning is now in full bloom. This event occurs at night so it could be easily missed. Usually spawned out males and females will show up shortly after the spawn concludes. To date I have not personally encountered or checked any spent females. But I have not been where they are since no adult stripers have been caught lately. All stripers caught today were immature fish including some young females approaching 3 pounds.There have been some big stripers hooked this past week in Padre Bay. One was hooked on a jerk bait near Cookie Jar but dropped over a rock ledge before cutting the line. Another was hooked trolling in the shade of the ridge separating Padre from Last Chance. The big one spooled the angler before the drag was tightened and the fish broke off. There are some really nice trophies out there but they must be caught in twilight, after dark or in the shade. Big stripers must be caught at night until the spawn is complete.

Photo caption: Brian Myers from Colorado took some friends fishing in Good Hope Bay. They found fishing to be great for smallmouth bass. Stripers are spawning this week and only being caught at night. That will change as boils are predicted to begin in June.