Lake Powell 2021

Fishing Time: Wednesday through Saturday (14-18)

Weather:  Mostly sunny, constant breeze or high winds, T- high 60s

Moon Phase:  New Moon

Water Level:  3564 ft amsl

Water Temp:  morning – mid 50s, afternoon – high 50s

Mudline:  first mudline (mud to green stain) – midway between Scorup and Red canyon, second mudline (green stain to clear) – Good Hope Bay.  Scorup remained green stain even though muddy at entrance

Best Baits:  1. Mid diving crankbait (3-5 ft) 2. Spinnerbait 3. Curly tail grub on 1/8 oz jighead 4. Jig/Trailer

Camp Site: Ticaboo Canyon

Who Went:  Rick Everson, Josh Newton, John Schuler, Joe Schuler, Toni Martinez, Dunc

Wednesday (Day 1):

Arrived at Bullfrog main ramp only to find it closed due to low water.  Moved over to the houseboat ramp and launched from there. 

Arrived at Ticaboo Canyon around 11:00 am and set up camp for the next 4 days.  The wind was blowing, but this was our warmest day of the trip.  

Ticaboo Canyon was more stained than we usually like, but we tried it anyway since it was close to camp.  We quickly started catching fish in 1-2 ft of water on spinnerbaits and assorted plastics.  

The size of fish was amazing and within a couple hours we had 5 fish in the live well that would contend in most Lake Powell Bass Tournaments.  The spinnerbait in the windy conditions with bass tight to the boulder shoreline was by far the best bait of the day.

We kept a bunch of fish for the fryer and called it quits before dark to give us time to fillet and prep for dinner.  Bobber John and his crew found success as well and added their fish to the mix for filleting.  The wind never let up the entire day or night.

Thursday (Day 2):

We woke up to more wind and it dampened the spirits, but we pressed on and continued to slay nice bass and walleye from Ticaboo Canyon.  We made the run over to Red Canyon, but the wind was too much with no cover, so we retreated back to Ticaboo Canyon.  We tried casting and trolling the back of the canyon and found a few walleye and crappie to give some variety, but it was mostly more largemouth and smallmouth along the shorelines.  The difference from the day before is we found the fish a little deeper from 3-5 feet.  A mid diving crankbait was the secret to putting the bait in the right zone and we had another banner day. 

Bobber John and his crew ventured toward the main channel and found more walleye than bass.  This made for more table fare and the bags of fillets were starting to fill the cooler.  The wind continued all day and night.

On arrival back to camp we noticed one tent that didn't make it through the strong winds.  One guess who's tent didn't survive...

But hey, it's nothing a few randomly found steel poles and duct tape can't fix!

Friday (Day 3):

Woke up again to windy conditions, but this time the wind was cold.  We decided to make this day into a bass tournament… Bobbers boat vs mine.  

The fishing was a bit tough for my boat and especially for me.  I caught one smallmouth the entire day.  Newt notified Bobber over the radio that I caught one fish and for the next 3 hours we kept hearing Bobber on the radio… I can’t believe it.  Your lying.  Not possible.  It was funny over the radio, but the fact I really only caught one fish wasn’t funny at all!  Rick and Newt still caught a bunch of smallmouth and crappie on the curly tail grub, but we couldn’t find a rhythm.  

On Bobbers boat they went across the channel to a new unknown canyon and got into them.  They caught some bass, tons of walleye, and then trolled and caught stripers.  They easily took the tourney beating our 4 best smallmouth and random channel catfish that Rick caught on a curly tail grub.  Wind continued to blow through the night.

Saturday (Day 4):

Wind was still there and swirling like crazy.  It would calm down for a few seconds before the wind wall would hit from a different direction.  By afternoon the main channel was white caps and the winds were strong.  We toughed through it and were still able to find the bass, walleye, and crappie in good numbers. 

There were a couple small coves right off the main channel near Red Canyon and we dove in them for reprieve from the wind.  They ended up producing some nice largemouth bass including the bass of the trip with this one just under 5 pounds. 

We made a run through the white caps uplake to Scorup and surprisingly, the high walls gave us a break from the wind.  Bobber beat us there and they were already having success for smallmouth, largemouth, and crappie.  We joined in on the fun and landed a bunch of our own. 

After beating up Scorup, we trolled the horn for Stripers.  Bobbers boat caught a few and we added a couple walleyes before the wind became to much and we all headed back to camp.

That night the wind finally started calming down.  Rick and I took advantage and threw some topwater from shore.  We had a few missed hits and then I finally connected.  My drag immediately started ripping and I thought I caught a monster largemouth, only to be disappointed by a fat healthy striper.

Sunday (Day 5):

Woke up to calm weather.  Of course, the day we leave.  We also had a fun surprise.  The S.S. Bobber had sunk!  

Bobber has a known leak in his boat and uses his bilge constantly to keep the water out.  The night before he beached it at a bad angle allowing more water to come in and the entire back end of the boat was under water.  It took us all morning to bail/pump the water out and get it floating again.  By the time we finished, and camp was packed, we were beat.  Once on the road we encountered another fun surprise.  My truck overheated.  Turns out there was no coolant in my radiator.  Long story short I had a leak in my upper radiator hose, we filled the radiator with water, and limped home.  It was a long day.

Conclusion:

The lake level was lower than we have ever seen it.  There were underwater hazards everywhere.  The finger canyons off the main channel were extremely short due to lack of water.  Red Canyon was pitifully shallow and the many good bass coves we usually fish looked awful.  Ticaboo Canyon was also shallow.  We looked at areas 30 to 40 feet above us recalling boulders where we used to pull bass from.  We lost half of Ticaboo Canyon to what is now dry beach.  It was very sad to see.

The wind was an issue.  This spring has been nothing but dry weather and lots of wind.  We toughed it out, but man it wore on us by the end.  It also kept the water temps down in the 50’s and the bass were not in the shallows or spawning.  Luckily, they didn’t go to deep, and the 3-5 ft range was the ticket most of the trip.  

With the extremely low water levels, wind, and cold-water temps you would think it was the worst trip ever, but it was actually just the opposite.  The fishing was amazing!  We caught a ton of fish and it was hard to catch a small one.  Every species had good size.  Dialing in the crankbait in the 3-10 ft zone was the key to most the success.  The grub worked through the same zones, but the crankbait was by far the best producer.  The variety was the best we have ever had with exception of the crappie.  We found quite a few random crappies, but never did find an area that consistently produced.  The walleye fishing was the best it’s ever been, and we seemed to catch them everywhere.  We found the striper schools in the main channel, and a couple random stripers in the back of Ticaboo Canyon.  The Largemouth and Smallmouth bass were in every canyon and the main channel.  Some years we have a hard time finding the largemouth in numbers, but this year was a perfect mix between smallmouth and largemouth.

The biggest and best surprise was the quality of the fish.  Every largemouth seemed to break the 2-pound mark with many over 3.  The size and quantity of walleye was incredible and made for some amazing fillets and camp fire dinners.  We ended up taking home 3 zip lock bags full of walleye fillets.  Sad to see the lake dropping as low as it is, but for now, the fishing continues to stay great.