Fishing Forum

Hello,

I recently got back from a week long trip at Powell (fish tax is included), and it got me wondering...

I've been going down to Powell literally since I was in the womb, which at this point amounts to 20 years worth of trips, and at least a decade of those I was very "into" fishing while I was down there. Of all those trips, I have never ONCE actually seen a Northern Pike down there, caught by me or someone else. I know until fairly recently the state record (I can't remember if it was catch and release or not) Northern was caught at Powell, and it blew my mind to know they were even in there. There's old pictures of people with Pike and even Tiger Musky!

My question is: Where in the heck are these fish being caught down there!? Like I've said I've never personally, or personally know someone, who's even seen an Esox, but apparently they're in there. Granted my experience is limited solely to the lake between Wahweap and Bullfrog, so there's a lot of lake I've never seen, but I feel I should've at least run into a pike accidentally by now. Any tips for targeting them down there?
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Hey ditchpickle, I caught my first and only Northern in February 1985. I was approximately 1 mile above the Dirty Devil bridge when I caught the rather small 3 lb pike. That same trip my Brother caught 2. One was 13 lbs and the other was around 6 as I recall. They were both caught where the old houseboat field was at Hite. Unfortunately neither one of those places exist anymore with the lake level where it is today. I been fishing Powell since 1974 and haven't caught one since. My brother has caught a couple more since that day but I wasnt with him so not sure where they were caught.
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one a different note I had always heard of trout being caught at powell but had never seen one. FishSlayer caught a Tiger Trout there a couple of years ago. the picture is on here some where.

Search Waynes Words. If irecall correctly someone caught a pike 2 or 3 years ago south of the Rincon
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My father caught a pike just a couple years ago near Hite. Though they could be virtually anywhere in the lake, Hite is the most likely area because they enter the lake via the Colorado River. They are there but not in abundance.

Interestingly, my father also caught a lake trout near the dam a few years ago bait fishing for stripers.
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You could catch nearly anything in Powell. The numerous tributary systems provide a pathway for a lot of different fish to enter Powell. Rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, cutthroat.....

The Yampa river is loaded with northern pike. This is the most likely source for pike in Powell.

Tiger musky are also upstream of Powell and could potentially make their way downstream. Trout are abundant in any number of streams entering Powell. Years ago, the stream under Rainbow Bridge was known as a spawning area for rainbow trout. Warm Creek was also a good place to find rainbows. I'm sure you could find a handful of brown trout in the Escalante today.
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Back in the mid 90's, a my friend caught one, we were in a small cove by the bridge that runs over the dirty devil river.
I'm not sure how much it weighed, but it was just over 30".
Some how it figured out how to open the hook on the stringer and got off about 1/4 mile from were it was caught.
The next year i caught one about 50 feet from where the first one got away.
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Northern pike got into Lake Powell via Boreham (Midview) reservoir on the Ute Reservation. Years ago I was told of a dispute between the Ute Tribe and non-Ute water users, and the tribe, in spite, drained the reservoir which they planted pike into. The pike went into the Duchesne River, then the Green, and then into the Colorado. We started catching pike in the Hite area back probably 30 or 40 years ago. I think they are more concentrated in the northern reaches of Lake Powell.
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