05-08-2019, 04:00 PM
Executive Summary:
My buddy Dave took me fishing at Lake Powell May 2-4. We fished a bit in Bullfrog and Halls then headed up to Good Hope. For the trip we caught 21 walleyes, 21 stripers, 22 channel cats, half a dozen bullheads, 3 or 4 smallmouth, 1 largemouth, 1 sunfish and 1 gizzard shad. We got fish on steel shad, shad colored grubs, crawler harnesses, spin jigs, weightless whole crawlers, striper cut bait and Ned rigs. The best walleye producer was definitely the Ned rigs and the striper cut bait was best for cats and stripers. Water temps were 62 to 65 in the main bay at Good Hope and up to 70 in the backs of some canyons. The water was silted from about 5 miles above Moqui to Ticaboo (as far up as we went), but we never saw any real mud line. I would estimate visibility at Good Hope to be 1 to 2 feet. Most of the walleye were in 15 to 20 feet and most of the stripers and cats 3 to 15 FOW.
Full Story:
Day 1: We launched out of Bullfrog about 10:30 AM. Water temp was just over 60. We spent the first afternoon in the back of Halls where the water got to almost 70 in the stained water. We then started up lake and camped in the back of Moqui.
By bedtime we had caught 3 random stripers, one coming out of the marina on a steel shad, one the main channel on a shad colored single tail grub and one in Moqui on a chunk of striper meat. 3 channel cats in the back of Moqui, also on cut striper. In Halls we also go a 3 pound largemouth while looking for crappie.
Day 2: We got 2 or 3 more channels about daylight on striper meat and then pulled the anchors and headed for Good Hope in search of walleye. We were somewhat concerned when the water was turning dark and the temperature dropping by the time we were about 5 miles above Moqui. We were relieved that we hadn’t hit serious mud by the time we reached the lower end of Good Hope.
The water temp was just over 60 and the water clarity reminded me of Utah Lake. I would guess visibility was 1 to 2 feet
We started out dragging the steel shad and several other shad imitations at about 2 mph. We marked decent numbers of suspended between 10 and 25 feet down and in the first hour or so Dave had two hits on the steel shad, but neither one stuck. We turned back and trolled to the potty dock. Sometimes you just have to do that, but we got no more action all the way back.
After the break we trolled the same area as the earlier hits had come. We still marked fish, but they wanted nothing to do with us. After half an hour or so I suggested we try some slower presentations and we put on a bottom bouncer with a crawler, a thin fin, a flicker shad and a shad imitating single tail. Twenty minutes later I hooked a walleye on the crawler. We visually marked the spot on the shoreline and turned around to see if we could fine tune the location. Just as we got to where we thought the baits would have been on the first hookup, the single tail got hit. I set the spot lock and we went to work.
From 12:30 to about 4:30 we picked up 4 more walleyes, 3 or 4 catfish, 3 stripers and a sunfish. All the fish took some form of jig, mostly crawfish colors, tipped with crawler. The depth varied from about 10 to just over 20 FOW. When we were convinced the fish had shut down, we headed over to the other side of the bay and found a spot to camp, cleaned the fish we had kept and had some dinner.
About 6 we headed back to where the fish had been biting and stayed until dark, but managed only a couple catfish and a small striper. A little after dark we bagged it and headed for camp. We lost a bit of time since yours truly forgot to mark camp on the GPS, but managed to be back by about 9:30 or so. Dave was exhausted and let me go out on the back of the boat and fish by myself. At 10:30 I put two lines in the water in 5 to 15 feet. Both were baited with chucks of the small striper we had just caught. One with a FLAIT and one with just a slip sinker and the hook.
About five minutes later, I hooked a fish on the slip sinker rod and was halfway done with it when the other rod got hit. Dave saw me with a rod in each hand with a fish on it and came to help. It turned out to one decent catfish and a striper. Between then and midnight I got 8 catfish, 6 stripers and 3 bullheads. I finally quit so I would have some energy for the next day.
Day 2: I got up a little before Dave and went back to the back of the boat. 30 minutes produced a couple more stripers and 3 or 4 more cats and then they shut down.
We were back on the water before 7 and headed to the place we had left the walleye the day before. We found that spot easily, but the only fish that showed up were a couple of cats and a couple of smallies.
There had been a few suspended fish on the finder on the way over to that spot, so we put the trolling gear back in the water and went hunting. After 30 minutes we got two walleyes out of a good school suspended at about 15 feet in 70 FOW, one on a grub and one on a crawler rig. However, when we came back for more they were gone.
The next hour or two we saw more suspended fish, but they weren’t interested. Since the bite at yesterday’s spot had started around noon, and there were two boats working the area, we kept trolling until about 11:30 and then went back.
Things were a bit slow at first but we never went more than 30 minutes w/o a fish of some kind. At about noon the first walleye came to play. Then Dave broke out the Ned rigs he had bought. It only took him a few minutes to figure them out and I heard “fish on, it’s a walleye” and then “fish on, it’s another walleye” and then ““fish on. Darn it, it’s another walleye” repeated many times. I was still getting hits but not many hook ups, so I kept changing jig sizes and colors and got one here and there. Dave offered me one of his Ned rigs several times and I guess my sun baked brain was being bit irrational, because finally he took my ultralight rod right out of my hand and said: “I’m tying one of these on so we can do the experiment to see if it really the rig.” I did eventually catch some on the Ned rig as well.
Gradually the fish slowed down and we had to fish with live crawlers and a bit
deeper. By 4 P.M. we knew it had shut down completely, so we headed for camp to fillet the fish and get dinner. We ended up with 14 walleyes in the cooler and one at 9 inches that was well short of our self-imposed length limit.
We came to understand what Wayne meant when he said Ned rigs are catching walleye if they are fished “S L O W L Y” along the bottom. That may have been an understatement on his part.
The last hoorah was to be night fishing behind the boat like I had done the day before. The evening started off with a bang. Dave hooked a heavy fish on a chunk of striper and after a couple of lunges it started to run and the line broke. “Felt like a big striper,” Dave reported and tied on another hook. The next fish he hooked again felt heavy but this time, after several long runs and a lot of tugging, it came to the net. It was a channel cat the weighed 10 pounds! About 9 pounds more than the average cat we had seen before. It was probably the heaviest channel I have ever seen for its length and certainly the best fish of the trip. After a couple of pictures, we released her. It turned out to be a great way to end the trip. Right after that the wind came up and the fish just quit. We got another average cat or two, but it was nothing like the night before for numbers or variety.
Lake Powell had treated us well. The weather was almost perfect, the scenery was unmatched and we got a lot of walleye. At least it seemed like a lot for a couple of guys who haven’t eaten any for about ten years. I just hope it isn’t 10 years before I get down there again!
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My buddy Dave took me fishing at Lake Powell May 2-4. We fished a bit in Bullfrog and Halls then headed up to Good Hope. For the trip we caught 21 walleyes, 21 stripers, 22 channel cats, half a dozen bullheads, 3 or 4 smallmouth, 1 largemouth, 1 sunfish and 1 gizzard shad. We got fish on steel shad, shad colored grubs, crawler harnesses, spin jigs, weightless whole crawlers, striper cut bait and Ned rigs. The best walleye producer was definitely the Ned rigs and the striper cut bait was best for cats and stripers. Water temps were 62 to 65 in the main bay at Good Hope and up to 70 in the backs of some canyons. The water was silted from about 5 miles above Moqui to Ticaboo (as far up as we went), but we never saw any real mud line. I would estimate visibility at Good Hope to be 1 to 2 feet. Most of the walleye were in 15 to 20 feet and most of the stripers and cats 3 to 15 FOW.
Full Story:
Day 1: We launched out of Bullfrog about 10:30 AM. Water temp was just over 60. We spent the first afternoon in the back of Halls where the water got to almost 70 in the stained water. We then started up lake and camped in the back of Moqui.
By bedtime we had caught 3 random stripers, one coming out of the marina on a steel shad, one the main channel on a shad colored single tail grub and one in Moqui on a chunk of striper meat. 3 channel cats in the back of Moqui, also on cut striper. In Halls we also go a 3 pound largemouth while looking for crappie.
Day 2: We got 2 or 3 more channels about daylight on striper meat and then pulled the anchors and headed for Good Hope in search of walleye. We were somewhat concerned when the water was turning dark and the temperature dropping by the time we were about 5 miles above Moqui. We were relieved that we hadn’t hit serious mud by the time we reached the lower end of Good Hope.
The water temp was just over 60 and the water clarity reminded me of Utah Lake. I would guess visibility was 1 to 2 feet
We started out dragging the steel shad and several other shad imitations at about 2 mph. We marked decent numbers of suspended between 10 and 25 feet down and in the first hour or so Dave had two hits on the steel shad, but neither one stuck. We turned back and trolled to the potty dock. Sometimes you just have to do that, but we got no more action all the way back.
After the break we trolled the same area as the earlier hits had come. We still marked fish, but they wanted nothing to do with us. After half an hour or so I suggested we try some slower presentations and we put on a bottom bouncer with a crawler, a thin fin, a flicker shad and a shad imitating single tail. Twenty minutes later I hooked a walleye on the crawler. We visually marked the spot on the shoreline and turned around to see if we could fine tune the location. Just as we got to where we thought the baits would have been on the first hookup, the single tail got hit. I set the spot lock and we went to work.
From 12:30 to about 4:30 we picked up 4 more walleyes, 3 or 4 catfish, 3 stripers and a sunfish. All the fish took some form of jig, mostly crawfish colors, tipped with crawler. The depth varied from about 10 to just over 20 FOW. When we were convinced the fish had shut down, we headed over to the other side of the bay and found a spot to camp, cleaned the fish we had kept and had some dinner.
About 6 we headed back to where the fish had been biting and stayed until dark, but managed only a couple catfish and a small striper. A little after dark we bagged it and headed for camp. We lost a bit of time since yours truly forgot to mark camp on the GPS, but managed to be back by about 9:30 or so. Dave was exhausted and let me go out on the back of the boat and fish by myself. At 10:30 I put two lines in the water in 5 to 15 feet. Both were baited with chucks of the small striper we had just caught. One with a FLAIT and one with just a slip sinker and the hook.
About five minutes later, I hooked a fish on the slip sinker rod and was halfway done with it when the other rod got hit. Dave saw me with a rod in each hand with a fish on it and came to help. It turned out to one decent catfish and a striper. Between then and midnight I got 8 catfish, 6 stripers and 3 bullheads. I finally quit so I would have some energy for the next day.
Day 2: I got up a little before Dave and went back to the back of the boat. 30 minutes produced a couple more stripers and 3 or 4 more cats and then they shut down.
We were back on the water before 7 and headed to the place we had left the walleye the day before. We found that spot easily, but the only fish that showed up were a couple of cats and a couple of smallies.
There had been a few suspended fish on the finder on the way over to that spot, so we put the trolling gear back in the water and went hunting. After 30 minutes we got two walleyes out of a good school suspended at about 15 feet in 70 FOW, one on a grub and one on a crawler rig. However, when we came back for more they were gone.
The next hour or two we saw more suspended fish, but they weren’t interested. Since the bite at yesterday’s spot had started around noon, and there were two boats working the area, we kept trolling until about 11:30 and then went back.
Things were a bit slow at first but we never went more than 30 minutes w/o a fish of some kind. At about noon the first walleye came to play. Then Dave broke out the Ned rigs he had bought. It only took him a few minutes to figure them out and I heard “fish on, it’s a walleye” and then “fish on, it’s another walleye” and then ““fish on. Darn it, it’s another walleye” repeated many times. I was still getting hits but not many hook ups, so I kept changing jig sizes and colors and got one here and there. Dave offered me one of his Ned rigs several times and I guess my sun baked brain was being bit irrational, because finally he took my ultralight rod right out of my hand and said: “I’m tying one of these on so we can do the experiment to see if it really the rig.” I did eventually catch some on the Ned rig as well.
Gradually the fish slowed down and we had to fish with live crawlers and a bit
deeper. By 4 P.M. we knew it had shut down completely, so we headed for camp to fillet the fish and get dinner. We ended up with 14 walleyes in the cooler and one at 9 inches that was well short of our self-imposed length limit.
We came to understand what Wayne meant when he said Ned rigs are catching walleye if they are fished “S L O W L Y” along the bottom. That may have been an understatement on his part.
The last hoorah was to be night fishing behind the boat like I had done the day before. The evening started off with a bang. Dave hooked a heavy fish on a chunk of striper and after a couple of lunges it started to run and the line broke. “Felt like a big striper,” Dave reported and tied on another hook. The next fish he hooked again felt heavy but this time, after several long runs and a lot of tugging, it came to the net. It was a channel cat the weighed 10 pounds! About 9 pounds more than the average cat we had seen before. It was probably the heaviest channel I have ever seen for its length and certainly the best fish of the trip. After a couple of pictures, we released her. It turned out to be a great way to end the trip. Right after that the wind came up and the fish just quit. We got another average cat or two, but it was nothing like the night before for numbers or variety.
Lake Powell had treated us well. The weather was almost perfect, the scenery was unmatched and we got a lot of walleye. At least it seemed like a lot for a couple of guys who haven’t eaten any for about ten years. I just hope it isn’t 10 years before I get down there again!
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