Lake Powell 2020

Fishing Time: Thursday to Sunday (September 17-20)

Weather:  Mostly Sunny, breezy at times, T-90s

Moon Phase: New Moon

Location:  Lake Powell

Mudline: No mudline, found slightly stained water in Red Canyon

Best Baits: mid-diving crankbaits, curly tail grub, topwater baits

Who Went:  Sean Mitchell, Bobber John, Dunc

With Covid-19 ruining most things fun in the year 2020 we had to cancel our spring Lake Powell trip this year.  Lake Powell was closed in March and April due to the coronavirus.  I’ve never been to Lake Powell in the Fall.  I’ve done the summer boating/ski trips, but all my fishing trips have been in the spring time, with one exception being the dead of winter.  I was excited to see what fishing at Lake Powell would be like during fall conditions and the colors were on full display on the drive down.

We rented a little trailer in Ticaboo and skipped the camping this trip.  It’s amazing how much less gear you need when you leave the camping supplies at home.  However, nothing beats Spring camping at Lake Powell.

Thursday (Sept 17) – We arrived at our trailer around noon, unpacked, rigged up our rods, and went straight to the lake.  

We kept the fishing close with only a half day of sun left and motored across Bullfrog Bay to a shoreline near Halls Creek Marina.  We caught two nice smallies on the first two casts!  I like fall fishing already.  The action stayed consistent, but the size decreased with only a few good bass in the mix.  The curly tail grub on an 1/8^th oz jig head in assorted colors was the bait of the day.

Friday (Sept 18) – We ran north up to the Good Hope Bay.  We started fishing in Ticaboo Canyon with calm winds and bass a plenty.  

Again, it was tough to find fish with size, but the topwater action for little smallmouth and largemouth kept our interest.  We must have landed 20 a piece, with some exploding out of the water to hit our topwater baits.  

In the back of Ticaboo I switched to a crankbait and finally landed a fish with shoulders. 

By the time we made it out of Ticaboo Canyon the wind paid us a visit and we tried to hide in Red Canyon.  

Conditions became worse as we worked the shorelines in Red, so we turned to trolling.  We found the smallest school of stripers I have ever seen in the back of Red Canyon and Sean was able to check this species off his list.  

We couldn’t find a striper over 6-inches, and Bobber landed the smallest one I've ever seen.  The lure is almost as big as the fish.  

We moved up lake to the Horn in search of some bigger fish.  The wind was miserable, and we left without a bite.  We motored into Scorup Canyon (a.k.a. Ultra Canyon) to hide from the wind and try our luck for crappie.  We found quite a few willing smallmouth, but never did land a crappie.  The wind wasn’t letting up, so we headed back to the Bullfrog area and hit some shorelines that produced the day before.  The catch rate picked up, but the wind took a toll on our sanity.  We tucked our tails early and retreated to the fish cleaning station.  We filleted a good amount of fish and made a delicious fish dinner that night.

Saturday (Sept 19) – We started the morning in Bullfrog Bay where we were having the most success.  Topwater was the ticket and my new Whopper Plopper was on fire!  

We all put a bunch of fish in the boat, but it was Sean that had the chance for his personal best.  He was throwing a small crankbait and laid into a 3-4 pound largemouth.  He did everything right, but the bass made his way to the surface and spit his lure back towards the boat.  Sean was bummed, but we encouraged him to keep casting for another chance.

That evening we moved into the back of Halls Creek Bay.  There were a lot of water skiers zipping around and that was a bit annoying, but we found some back bays that looked amazing.  Unfortunately, looking amazing and fishing amazing are two different things.  We caught a couple, but not what we expected with how good it looked.  

Before dark we made our way back to the shoreline that kept producing and put some more good fish in the boat.  

Sunday (Sept 20) – Our last day and back to our honey hole.  The topwater was still producing, but I decided to try a crankbait and found some nicer fish.  Sean followed suit and got his second chance!  He made a great cast alongside a shallow island and smacked a great bass.  Sean fought it well and landed his personal best 4-pound largemouth bass.  

It was a beauty and I’m glad he got the chance to redeem himself.  We caught a few more good fish that morning , including a random channel catfish, before calling it quits and heading north back to Salt Lake City. 

Conclusion:

I was impressed with fall fishing at Lake Powell.  We caught way more fish than I expected.  The water was warm and made it nice to jump in and swim when you were hot.  Not a fun option in the spring when water is the upper 50s.  The size of the bass seemed to be smaller than what we usually catch in the spring, but we caught enough larger fish to keep it interesting and Sean landed a PB.  The weather was better than most spring trips, but that also brought out more of the ski boats to contend with, which is a bit annoying.  It made for some choppy water in the main channels, but the warm sun felt good at times.  We caught a lot of largemouth bass, although the size was typically small with only a few larger ones. The smallmouth fishing was bonkers, but the crappie were no where to be found and neither were the walleye.  We found the stripers, but the size was pitiful. 

Topwater was the highlight of the trip.  To be honest I had no idea it was so effective in the fall.  You could have used it all day long and been successful.  I was landing 2-3 fish in the mornings on topwater at the docks waiting for Bobber to park the truck after launching the boat.  Fall makes for a fun trip and I definitely look forward to doing it again.