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Well I'm bored with winter and can't help but think to the warmer months and this is one thing that's been on my mind lately. As I was growing up lake powell was on a severe bust/boom cycle with the stripers and consequently everything else. Some of it was due to fluctuating water levels like any lake but most was that the stripers would gorge themselves on shad until there were no more and then die off. The shad would sieze the moment and rebound with the stripers following. Since they instituted the no limit rule on them though I haven't seen a hard core bust. I don't get down there as much as I'd like but I think I'm seeing more diverse generation sets ie 12", 16" and 22" instead of one generation totally dominating everything.
My question is if we're headed into another bust or have things change enough that we won't see that as much? Also how big are the bigguns going to be this year?
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Lake Powell is a very large body of water. The size and depth of the lake contribute to the difficulty in really managing the fishery. Add to the equation the always wildly fluctuating water levels and you'll soon see why the problem is a moving target.
Wayne Gustaveson of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has been the lead biologist working at Lake Powell for his entire 30 plus year career. He is the man with the answers for any Lake Powell fishing question.
Wayne maintains a non-profit website so he can share his knowledge and experience at Lake Powell with those of us who love fishing the lake. Wayne is the man to answer your questions and he always welcomes your type of question.
I don't think the moderators will allow a link to Wayne's website, so just do a Goggle search for "Wayneswords" and you'll get where you need to go.
Mike
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Gizzard shad are now firmly established in the entire reservoir. In the early years you were talking about, only threadfin shad existed in lake Powell.
So when you factor in rising water levels, increased nursery habitat ( flooded brush ) and the addition of the gizzard shad, Powell will be good for a long time.
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Powell is unfortunately well on it's way to a bust year for stripers with them having eaten themselves out of house and home. I was there three weeks ago and 1 of every 5 were very skinny and unhealthy. Most had empty stomachs, except for some crawdads, and a few who had found some stray shad still around.
Check Waynes site for more accurate predictions, as he has posted much more detailed information, after all, he is the master.
The remaining species will hopefully continue to thrive with the lake levels lowering temporarily with releases before the runoff helping to regenerate some nutrients. It will be interesting to see what happens. Nonetheless, the striper bite is pretty hot because they're starving. Anchovies or spoons are the ticket, 40-50+ in the boat per day is normal if you can get a school rumbling!
They're deeper and slower right now, so adjust accordingly. I'll be back down the 1st weekend of March, so let me know if you would like an update!
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Oh yeah, and a fellow just pulled a 15 lb striper out of bullfrog bay trolling a Rapala Crankbait... So the bigger ones are obviously still lurking about!
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I know about Wayneswords and I was looking over his site for a prediction of this years fishing and couldn't find it. As I was in the process of signing up so I could ask that question I figured I could find just as good an answer here. Wayne was saying that the fish you catch jigging are a more healthy class of fish and the ones caught bait fishing are the weaker skinnier ones and I can actually recognize that from my own experiences there. The healthy ones are still in there but they're not always in the same place as the skinny ones.
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[quote fish_or_die]I know about Wayneswords and I was looking over his site for a prediction of this years fishing and couldn't find it. As I was in the process of signing up so I could ask that question I figured I could find just as good an answer here. Wayne was saying that the fish you catch jigging are a more healthy class of fish and the ones caught bait fishing are the weaker skinnier ones and I can actually recognize that from my own experiences there. The healthy ones are still in there but they're not always in the same place as the skinny ones.[/quote]
Actually, it's less about bait and more about location and school size. My suggestion is to pick up some wally lures, which are shad imitating lures, as well as some anchovies and go get crazy...
The fish taste fantastic and it only helps the shad population and the fishery as a whole.
Im at the lower part of the lake about once a month, so if you need some good holes, check waynes or shoot me a note and i'll help you where i can!
] Unfortunately I won't be able to make it down there until June this year.[:/]