We Caught A Lot Of Fish At Lake Powell

I just returned from a very enjoyable long weekend trip to Lake Powell. Our primary interest was fishing and we were not disappointed - we caught a lot of fish.

The weather was most beautiful - cool and calm in the morning and then hot and breezy in the afternoon. The lake's water was still cold - too cold to enjoy swimming or water sports. We know that for a fact because we all waded in, but only stayed in for a couple of minutes before our legs stated to go numb. It was chilly.

We launched at Bullfrog and camped on the beach in a nice cove just off the main channel, up near Hansen Creek. From there we explored and fished several canyons.

We targeted smallmouth bass and found them virtually everywhere broken rock comes down into the water. We fished plastic jigs, working them down into the rocks where the bottom was about 10 feet deep, and caught several nice fish, along with many, many small ones.

We spent a little time fishing for other species and caught one walleye. Striped bass fishing has been hot on the lower lake. We graphed many fish that appeared to be suspended stripers but they did not show any interest in the lures we offered.

All in all it was a great trip, with perfect weather and cooperative fish.

The water sport season usually gets going strong on Memorial Day weekend. By that time the water has warmed enough to make it pleasant to ski, wake board, swim and ride tubes.

Memorial Day weekend is one of the biggest weekends on the lake. All marinas will be busy then and camping areas close to the marinas will be crowded. But if you boat away from the easy access points you can find great conditions without crowds.

Powell is one of my favorite places on earth and I'm anxious to get back down there.

- Dave Webb