Lake Powell Advice

[thefishinguy]

I know most people on here live in northern utah and fish up there but is there anyone who knows how to fish lake powell especially this late in the year? I am going down there this weekend and have never fished it. I will just be trying for any bass I can catch. Sometimes I will be fishing from a boat and sometimes from shore. I don't know where on the lake I'll be but any advice is appreciated.
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[Bassin_Blitz]

http://www.wayneswords.com/index.php?opt...&Itemid=29
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[ditchpickle98]

Smallmouth are pretty easy to catch down there, especially this time of year where they'll be active all day.

My best techniques have been wacky rigged 3 and 4 inch senkos in watermelon and pumpkin colors (these work well in the Bull frog area, up in canyons where the bass are suspended on rocky cover that is adjacent to sheer cliff walls), as well as ned-rig and tube jigs (these work better where there is a defined bottom that you can fish, it is very hard to fish a ned-rig on an exposed cliff face). Other favorites are the classic 4 and 5 inch hula grubs in chartreuse/cinnamon/watermelon/pumpkin. Specifically, you want to target places where there is fallen rock leading into the water, with spots where the fish can quickly transition from deep to shallow cover and back again. Shad colored crankbaits (I like the Strike King 3XD and 5XD in gizzard shad) are good ways to cover lots of water, and you can troll a 5XD and still get deep enough to catch the lazy striper schools. You'll catch more smallies if you troll close to cliff walls, and more stipers if you troll further away (20-50ft) from the walls.

Topwaters are also great, and it should still be warm enough for the next few weeks for them to be really effective. A chrome whopper plopper 75 caught me a fish on back to back to back casts one morning. According to Wayne's Words, there should still be some scattered surface activity from Stripers, so be on the lookout for those. Casting a spook within 10 feet of a boil and giving it big exaggerated slashing motions is some of the most exhilirating fishing you can find in the state (imo). The fish are super fat this year, and I think my average striper was about 2 or 3lbs. Last time I was down I didn't hook into anything bigger than 5 though.

Largemouth are a bit more scattered, and not nearly as abundant as smallies, but they can be caught in the same areas, and they'll also be up a bit shallower in brush and wood. I haven't figured out a good way to specifically target the greenfish down there, and usually only catch a couple strays that think they're stripers (I've caught largemouth in 80ft of open water, probably grouping up with the schooling Striper swimming under my yak).

Small mouth will be everywhere, so it doesn't really matter if you end up in Wahweap or Hite, the above techniques will work.
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