Lake Powell in the Winter

[pacscrumhalf]

Does anyone ever get down to Lake Powell during the winter? I've never been during the winter and was looking for any tips or suggestions. I'm thinking about heading down with the boat over Christmas Break.

Thanks!
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[Tin-Can]

Never been to Powell, even in the summer. But your BFT user name caught my attention. Said to myself, I bet that guy is a Rugby fan (with scrum in the handle) []

So did you pick up the Rugby habit while in the UK at some time ? Or are you from the UK ?

I spent 6 years in UK during my active duty time in the USAF. Don't care for Soccer (football), and can't stay awake to watch a full game of Cricket. But watched quite a bit of Rugby on BBC while I was there. [fishin]
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[Cowboypirate]

This is a bit of a lame answer, but if you spend two hrs on Wayne's Words website, you will find all kinds of Intel on winter runs to Powell. There is a group that gets a kick out of spooning stripers at night in the winter off the docks. They have a number off posts if you look back over the years.

However, I have no personal experience to offer. Let us know how it goes
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[Therapist]

As the Pirate said, spend time on Wayne's words to get a basic idea. A group of friend and I used to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's down there. We went about 6 years straight. Several things to remember. If you go to Bullfrog, be prepared for VERY limited services. Gas station, stores, docks don't open till 9AM and they close right at 5PM, so any shopping you need to do or gassing the boat has to be done 9-5. There will be very few people on the water, so be sure your equipment is in good shape. You breakdown somewhere, you may be there for several days until you can get a tow. A marine radio is almost a must this time of year. Cell service is spotty due to the canyon walls. Carry emergency equipment incase you have to stay on the water overnight, or two !!.

As to fishing, it is usually great. You have to locate the schools, whether you are looking for SMB, Crappie, Walleye, or Stripers. This is trophy striper time !! The big ones can pretty much roam anywhere because water temps are down and they don't have to stay deep. In the past, trolling with DEEP diving lures was the ticket, but another trick would be to find a school of shad and vertical jig with a big flutter spoon. These are 4-6" spoons that "flutter" on the fall. They imitate a dying shad and should be a good bet. Check online vendors like Bass Pro, Tackleware House, etc for them. You will need a good med hvy to hvy baitcasting outfit to work them.

Schooling stripers can be jigged with spoons or caught with bait. SMB & LMB will hit the usual baits. Walleye can be caught with bouncer/crawler rigs, spoons, or jigs. Start in 15-20 ft of water during the day, or shallower in the morning or evening. Fish crappie around the docks and brush/trees 15-20 ft.

Enjoy the lake, the scenery, and the tranquility of the lake. As I said, you will almost be alone out there !! Great sunrises and sunsets, so take a camera !!!

[muirco]

What deep diving lures and colors did you like to troll? I have never gone but have slowly been stocking up with equipment to head down there one of these winters.
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[Therapist]

If you can find em, Hellbenders. Big, metal lipped plug. Your deep diving Rapala's , Rouges, etc. Downrigger's allow you to get regular lures downn, but if you don't have em, you can use leadcore. On the bigger 800, 900 series Hellbender, we used to remove the front hook and attach 30 inches of 30lb mono. On the end of the mono we would put a 1oz live rubber jig w/ a 6" curl tail grub. That rig could hit 40-50 ft on 75-100ft of 20lb mono. Troll fast, 2-3mph. We used our big motor and just idled along.

Just checked Google. Seems that Heddon produces the Hellbender now and you can get em at BPS/Cabelas. Shad colors are best. If you troll for trout, you may already have the needed tackle. We used 71/2 ft. Eagle Claw rods, hvy trolling, Penn 209 reels, and 20lb Trilene XT line. Most guys had lead core on the reels, so we would take the lead core off( save and put back on the reel later) and spool with a whole filler spool, 250yds, of line. You can adjust this by using braid which will help get deeper due to small diameter.

If you want to use leadcore, back it with 100-150 yds of 20lb mono. that way you have some extra line if you hit a big one. You will be letting out 7-10 colors of your lead core. We trolled the main channel mostly, along the walls and rock slides.

Good luck !!

[Cowboypirate]

This link is to an article from Wayne's Words: shows a couple of the favorite deep diving lures. They still work great today. Since the article was written a number of manufactures have added deep diving options. Deep is of course relevant. No stick bait, free running, will punch down like lead core, weighted jig variation or down riggers. So a number of option to explore the depths.

https://wayneswords.net/threads/lake-pow...list.1605/
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[RockyRaab]

I have been invited for a couple of winter "houseboat parties" at Bullfrog. During the day, we used regular boats to find schools of stripers and then using jigged spoons fished vertically. Trolling was productive only for walleye, which could also be caught casting swim bait jigs, underspins, and blade baits to rocky shelves.

At night, we dropped larger jigs tipped with cut anchovy right off the houseboat stern or from the docks (which they do not technically allow, but there are no marina people there to check, so...) White and glow tubes also worked at night.

Be prepared for cold. Full heavy coveralls were the rule at night, much like ice fishing.
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[pacscrumhalf]

Thanks for the info. I registered on Waynesworld and heard back from quite a few people. I plan on heading down to the docks at Wahweap the weekend after Christmas. I'll let you all know how it goes.
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[MasterDaad]

Since moving to Georgia I fish a lake somewhat similar to Lake Powell -- a dammed river with Stripers, Walleye, and other bass.

While most of the locals use live bait (legal here) one of the best trolling tactics in the winter are umbrella rigs.

I use a 5 lure umbrella rig with great success. I believe they may need modification for Utah (as I recall you can only have 3 hooks per line... so some of the shad would need to hookless).

However using the little 5 wire rig, most fish hit the middle trailer swim bait anyway.

If I get a chance for a winter trip down to Powell again, I'd definitely add umbrella rigs to my arsenal... even it if's just to find or help activate fish for jigging later.
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