10-03-2022, 12:18 AM
I had the pleasure of spending the week last week with my good friends at Lake Powell, Bullfrog. First, the weather was sublime, slight breezes, some overcast, mostly sunny, mid to upper 80's, best weather I have ever had at Powell. Met some guys from Rocky Mt. anglers in the houseboat next to ours. They were beating up on the Stripers in the evening, small boils, but mostly spooning them from 20-40 ft. Great bunch of guys !! Nice to meet them.
Our fishing was not that great !! My buddy has some physical difficulties, that limit his ability to spend long days on the water. I would fish by my self from about 8AM till noon, by then he was ready to go and we would go out from about 1 till dark. Monday morning I tried several small coves in the front of Bullfrog. Found large numbers of shad in 15-25 fow, but nobody wanted to play. I am learning the Ned rig, so I was fishing that quite a bit, also a drop shot, and the good spider jig. One suicide SMB. In the after noon, we started on those two spots, no takers. Very slow overall.
Tuesday morning I fished two small coves in the back of Bullfrog, again using the Ned rig, Dropshot, and Spider jig. Nothing. In the afternoon we ran to Moki. Fished some shaded walls there, caught several SMB on drop shot and I caught a Walleye on the Ned rig using a white sparkle senko cut down to 3.5 inches. We ran back to the spot our next door neighbors were fishing and fished around them, caught 1 striper, then called it a day.
Wednesday Morning, I tried to troll for Walleye using a slow death rig w/night crawlers. Caught 4 small stripers is all. In the afternoon, we ran to Crystal Springs Canyon. Again we fished the rock slides on the slick walls. Buddy and his wife were catching SMB on drop shot using a Berkley power shad w/blue sparkle back. I continued to try the Ned rig, some drop shot, spider jig, and some cranking. Nothing to write home about, but fun. We stopped at the striper spot on the way back in, no takers.
Thursday morning I tried the tire breakwaters for Crappie. I was 1 pole jigging with a 3/16th head and various plastics, mostly Bobby Garland Baby shad, in various colors. Nada !! I did watch them pull several houseboats out on the new ramp,. They used a big Diesel rig as the primary tow, but had a pickup in front of that, hitched with a kinetic rope to the front of the Diesel to give an assist up the ramp. It was a hard pull !! In the afternoon, we went to Stanton Creek. Found a nursery school of 6" LMB in the back, caught a bunch on drop shot. We moved around in the back and I nailed about a 2lb channel on a crankbait. As we were moving we got hung up on a rock with the trolling motor. In getting off we damaged the motor, breaking the lift mech on the Ultera. We could not get the motor stowed, so we had to limp back to the slip with it down. We were treated to a light show, north of Bullfrog, but little wind and no rain on us.
Friday we were able to get the troller removed with the help of a guy from Payson. That was the end of our week. We got loaded and returned home.
One other interesting thing was the floating debris in the lake. With all the rain and flash flooding, there was a skim of ground up wood floating on the water. It was sparse in some areas and thick in others. I have never seen it like that. Just ground up wood, like it had gone through planner making fine sawdust.
While the fishing was not that great, several thing stood out. First the help of others when we had problems. The gentleman from Payson, can't remember his name ( my old age showing) really helped us out with the troller. Otherwise we would have had to drive home with it tied up, not cool. Also the guys next door from Rocky Mtn. anglers. Really nice, gave us info on the stripers and were great to talk to in the evening and on the water. Thanks to all !! It was a great week, to bad it ended with the way it did !! One good thing, the shad numbers are incredible. I have not seen schools like this in years. All over the lake, pretty much every where we went. Big schools between 15 and 30 FOW. Bodes well for next year, if there is water !!
Our fishing was not that great !! My buddy has some physical difficulties, that limit his ability to spend long days on the water. I would fish by my self from about 8AM till noon, by then he was ready to go and we would go out from about 1 till dark. Monday morning I tried several small coves in the front of Bullfrog. Found large numbers of shad in 15-25 fow, but nobody wanted to play. I am learning the Ned rig, so I was fishing that quite a bit, also a drop shot, and the good spider jig. One suicide SMB. In the after noon, we started on those two spots, no takers. Very slow overall.
Tuesday morning I fished two small coves in the back of Bullfrog, again using the Ned rig, Dropshot, and Spider jig. Nothing. In the afternoon we ran to Moki. Fished some shaded walls there, caught several SMB on drop shot and I caught a Walleye on the Ned rig using a white sparkle senko cut down to 3.5 inches. We ran back to the spot our next door neighbors were fishing and fished around them, caught 1 striper, then called it a day.
Wednesday Morning, I tried to troll for Walleye using a slow death rig w/night crawlers. Caught 4 small stripers is all. In the afternoon, we ran to Crystal Springs Canyon. Again we fished the rock slides on the slick walls. Buddy and his wife were catching SMB on drop shot using a Berkley power shad w/blue sparkle back. I continued to try the Ned rig, some drop shot, spider jig, and some cranking. Nothing to write home about, but fun. We stopped at the striper spot on the way back in, no takers.
Thursday morning I tried the tire breakwaters for Crappie. I was 1 pole jigging with a 3/16th head and various plastics, mostly Bobby Garland Baby shad, in various colors. Nada !! I did watch them pull several houseboats out on the new ramp,. They used a big Diesel rig as the primary tow, but had a pickup in front of that, hitched with a kinetic rope to the front of the Diesel to give an assist up the ramp. It was a hard pull !! In the afternoon, we went to Stanton Creek. Found a nursery school of 6" LMB in the back, caught a bunch on drop shot. We moved around in the back and I nailed about a 2lb channel on a crankbait. As we were moving we got hung up on a rock with the trolling motor. In getting off we damaged the motor, breaking the lift mech on the Ultera. We could not get the motor stowed, so we had to limp back to the slip with it down. We were treated to a light show, north of Bullfrog, but little wind and no rain on us.
Friday we were able to get the troller removed with the help of a guy from Payson. That was the end of our week. We got loaded and returned home.
One other interesting thing was the floating debris in the lake. With all the rain and flash flooding, there was a skim of ground up wood floating on the water. It was sparse in some areas and thick in others. I have never seen it like that. Just ground up wood, like it had gone through planner making fine sawdust.
While the fishing was not that great, several thing stood out. First the help of others when we had problems. The gentleman from Payson, can't remember his name ( my old age showing) really helped us out with the troller. Otherwise we would have had to drive home with it tied up, not cool. Also the guys next door from Rocky Mtn. anglers. Really nice, gave us info on the stripers and were great to talk to in the evening and on the water. Thanks to all !! It was a great week, to bad it ended with the way it did !! One good thing, the shad numbers are incredible. I have not seen schools like this in years. All over the lake, pretty much every where we went. Big schools between 15 and 30 FOW. Bodes well for next year, if there is water !!
![[Image: 78-C6-E488-D9-D4-47-EC-A783-52-D07-BFF510-B.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/gLWqCPC5/78-C6-E488-D9-D4-47-EC-A783-52-D07-BFF510-B.jpg)