04-24-2012, 07:03 PM
It really was nice being down there without wind. We've done this same trip in years past and usually the Stripers are caught nearly everywhere, whether jigging or trolling.
We spent a LOT of time searching for Stripers. We used sonar as well as the old "troll till you find them" technique. We BELIEVE that we found a couple of schools, which we trolled thru multiple times, and even stopped and jigged, but never had so much as a bump. During one of these encounters we had visuals and upon closer inspection found it was a school of Gizzard Shad, not Stripers. We spoke with lots of other fisherman, and we did not encounter any success for Stripers around the immediate Bullfrog area. We did hear a report from one guy who found some in Lake Canyon, but we did not go down that far.
And, as far as the reason for the lack of Stripers?...I don't personally think there is a lack of Stripers, but I do believe that they just aren't schooling up looking for food like they do in "lean" years. It's a known fact that there is an over abundance of food this year in that lake (shad), and the stripers are staying put, with full bellies. We cancelled our annual dam trip to Lake Powell (usually first of April) for this very reason. (Thanks to Wayne Gustaveson, who does the forecast...and is correct! every year). Just too much food in the lake and the Stripers are content to stay in the backs of the canyons all by their lonesomes.
The good news, is that Wayne is also predicting better than average boils later in the summer. We participated in the boil fishing last September and it was awesome, so if it's even better this year...giddyup!
Randy
[signature]
We spent a LOT of time searching for Stripers. We used sonar as well as the old "troll till you find them" technique. We BELIEVE that we found a couple of schools, which we trolled thru multiple times, and even stopped and jigged, but never had so much as a bump. During one of these encounters we had visuals and upon closer inspection found it was a school of Gizzard Shad, not Stripers. We spoke with lots of other fisherman, and we did not encounter any success for Stripers around the immediate Bullfrog area. We did hear a report from one guy who found some in Lake Canyon, but we did not go down that far.
And, as far as the reason for the lack of Stripers?...I don't personally think there is a lack of Stripers, but I do believe that they just aren't schooling up looking for food like they do in "lean" years. It's a known fact that there is an over abundance of food this year in that lake (shad), and the stripers are staying put, with full bellies. We cancelled our annual dam trip to Lake Powell (usually first of April) for this very reason. (Thanks to Wayne Gustaveson, who does the forecast...and is correct! every year). Just too much food in the lake and the Stripers are content to stay in the backs of the canyons all by their lonesomes.
The good news, is that Wayne is also predicting better than average boils later in the summer. We participated in the boil fishing last September and it was awesome, so if it's even better this year...giddyup!
Randy
[signature]
I used to N.ot have E.nough T.ime O.ff to go fishing. Then I retired. Now I have less time than I had before. Sheesh.