Fishing Time: April 25-27 (Friday-Sunday)
Weather: Sunny, breezy or windy the entire trip, temps started in high 70s on Friday dropping to low 60s by Sunday
Moon Phase: New Moon
Location: Lake Powell (Good Hope Bay)
Water Temp: Morning - 61-64 degrees, Afternoon - 65-67 degrees
Mudlines #1 Clear water turning to Green Stain was
a few hundred yards south of the Good Hope bathroom and went up to Popcorn
Canyon
Mudline #2 Stain turning to mud started from
Popcorn Canyon north. The back ends of
Ticaboo and Red Canyon were still stained and fishable.
Best Baits: Nothing stands out as the best bait
this trip, but the grub put the most fish in the boat as usual. We also caught fish on spinnerbaits, mid to deep
diving crankbaits, jig and trailer, and small kietech swimbaits. The big bass of the trip was caught on a sunfish
colored crankbait.
Who Went: Casey Davies, Devin Duncan, Dayton
Duncan, Dunc
Life seems to
be changing and all my friends that usually come to Lake Powell couldn’t make
it. So, I invited Casey and my boys to round out my 2025 Lake Powell crew. It turned out to be an incredible trip with the most multi species caught I can ever remember. We caught a bunch of walleye, tons of
largemouth, quite a few crappie, and as always a bunch of smallmouth. Even the stripers wanted in on the action and
we probably caught 10 or more, mostly fishing for other species. Add in a few bluegill, catfish, and one giant
carp to make it a Lake Powell Grand Slam.
Friday: We made it up lake mid-morning with all our camping gear to Good Hope Bay. We took note of the mudline and realized that north of Ticaboo Canyon was blown out with muddy water. We turned back south and found a nice secluded camp in Good Hope Bay that would protect us from the incoming south winds forecasted for the weekend.
At first, I was a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be fishing all my usual areas up in Red Canyon and Ticaboo Canyon but looking back on the trip I’m glad we fished in new areas and learned more about the lake.
We got on the water late in the afternoon, and this was the warmest and least windy day of our trip. The boys thought they needed to cool off in the 60 degree water before we started fishing.
Before we left camp, Dayton took a spinnerbait and cast off the back of the boat and caught a nice crappie on the first cast of our trip. Welcome to Lake Powell!
Devin also caught a
giant carp on a curly tailed grub about 5 minutes into fishing. It took him for a ride and we were all hoping
it was a state record largemouth.
After carp launch, we fished the other small bays near camp putting a few multi species of fish in the boat before moving on to the canyon with the floating toilet south of Good Hope Bay and officially named it, Shitter Canyon. I have never fished this canyon and don’t know the official name, but it looked great, similar to Ticaboo Canyon. We caught some smallmouth, crappie, and a couple largemouth to start off the trip.
Most the fish we caught went
into the livewell the first day and we spent the evening filleting fish to eat
the rest of the trip.
Saturday: It was forecasted this would be our worst day for wind, but surprisingly it wasn’t too bad. Of course Dayton started our morning off landing his PB Largemouth off the back of the boat before we left camp for the day.
We fished in some cuts off Good Hope Bay that were somewhat wind protected and spent most of the day there catching a variety of fish.
The walleye and largemouth were on the feed. Mixed in with a few crappie and a bunch of smallmouth. It made for a perfect Powell day. We caught some good-sized walleye, so we kept them to add to our dinner fillets. Later in the evening we fished near camp and Dev was throwing a white speckled grub and hooked into a monster largemouth. Unfortunately, before I could get a net on him, he surfaced, shook his head, and spit the hook. We joked that in 10 years from now it will turn into the 10-pound bass that got away. I felt bad for Dev because it definitely would have been his PB bass. Luckily, the winds seemed to calm down in the late evenings and our protected cove helped to keep our evenings at camp enjoyable.
Sunday: Forecast was more wind and this time it didn’t disappoint. The worst day of our trip. We knew it would be when Dayton didn't catch a fish off the back of the boat to start our day. The temps dropped 10 degrees overnight, and the wind made it feel even colder. It was a swirling wind that made it impossible to hide from. We tried hard to avoid it. We fished Ticaboo Canyon, Red Canyon, Shitter Canyon, and the same bays on Good Hope Bay that produced the day before, but never could escape the swirling cold winds. We still managed to catch fish, but it was frustrating at times getting blown around from every direction.
At one point we decided to troll for stripers at the mouth of Red Canyon. We found a small school and Casey put quite a few in the boat with his chartreuse colored jerk bait. I lucked into one as well.
We also found some crappies piled up on a rocky point with submerged brush in Ticaboo Canyon. We anchored on them for a bit and put 5-6 of them in the boat.
Dayton caught a monster crappie on a swimbait in Red Canyon. We also saw something I've never seen at Lake Powell before, two river otters!
In the afternoon we went back to Shitter Canyon and right off the rip Casey and Devin
doubled up with two nice largemouth bass, but that’s about all the canyon was willing to give up.
In the evening it calmed down a little, so we went back to the cuts and bays in Good Hope Bay and the fish started biting again.
I lucked into my Lake Powell PB largemouth.
I threw a sunfish patterned crankbait 6 inches from the bank and it
immediately smashed it. The chunky bass
scaled in at 5.2 pounds. I wish one of
my boys would have caught it to be honest, but it was a fun experience for them
to be with me when I broke my Powell PB.
Conclusion: Despite the wind, this was one of the
best multi-species trips I can remember.
We caught a bunch of walleye, found the crappie, caught more largemouth
than I can ever remember, and the smallmouth were in abundance as usual. Add in
the token giant carp, catfish, and a few bluegill to round out our Lake Powell
grand slam, and this will go down as one of my best trips.
After 15 years of fishing Lake Powell I was thinking about how far south we had to fish on this trip. The first 3 years we fished down there we camped in Farley and White Canyon and launched from Hite Marina. For about 10 years we fished Ticaboo and Red Canyon area and had to start launching at Bullfrog. This year we were pushed even further south as Lake Powell water levels continue to recede. It makes me sad!
As miserable as
the wind was on this trip, I do believe it made the fishing better, apart from the cold wind
on Sunday. Windblown points and
protected coves produced most of our fish.
We also picked a great camp to protect the wind, which gave us peace of
mind while out fishing. I think this
trip made my boys fall in love with Lake Powell. They now say it’s their favorite trip of the
year, and that makes me a happy Dad!
