Late October Lake Powell fishing

[OhioDave]

I was thinking about making my first trip ever to Lake Powell near Bullfrog in late October or early November. Can anyone shed some light on how the fishing might be during this time period? I will be fishing out of a kayak. Thanks in advance for any advice.
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[TopH2O]

If the weather is normal, you should find pleasant temperatures and generally dry conditions. Keep in mind that the weather could go downhill quickly.

The fishing is normally very good during the period you plan to be down there. I have been going down every year in early November to help with the DWR's gill netting program to collect trend data on the fishery. When we're not actually working with the sampling, the fishing has been very good for stripers, smallmouth, largemouth and the ever-present walleye. We have also found good numbers of crappie in some of the side canyons of the Red Canyon/Good Hope Bay areas.

If you are going to be near Bullfrog you could camp in the Stanton Creek primitive camping area and have good access to the lake for your kayak. You could also consider driving in to the upper end of Hansen Creek. That access is just a short distance past OffShore Marina as you head toward Bullfrog. It is a dirt road but it is normally driveable as long as you have some decent clearance with your vehicle.

Late fall is usually a good time for striper boils so be prepared with some topwater tackle. Look for the splashing and bird activity. When the stripers go down try vertical jigging with a spoon type lure.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

Mike
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[OhioDave]

I just moved to Utah from Ohio where I mostly targeted Crappie! Would love to get into a mess of them on Powell! Thank you for the quick reply and info!
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[fsh4fun05]

A fall trip to Powell has been on my bucket list for a long time. Work or hunting has always got in the way. Maybe this year will be the year, it's been epic so far. On the kayak keep it simple. Yamamoto grubs, a topwater, crappie jigs and some rattletraps. In June all I threw was a trap in the yak and picked up all species.
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[ducksfresh]

Is Hite a good way to access Good Hope Bay in a boat. It looks like it's closer than bullfrog. In both water distance and driving down there?
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[PBH]

Hite is the BEST way to access Good Hope. The problem is that water levels currently are only allowing for the launching of very small boats -- and they are pretty risky right now.

Best bet is to follow Millburn and myself from Bullfrog to Good Hope -- and beyond!


In early November surface temps will cool to about 60 degrees. This is when surface action for larger stripers really goes crazy. There isn't a better time of year to be fishing on Powell.


TopH20 -- we going to be spending the night together when the apocalypse hits this year? I can't think of a better place to be when the results are announced!
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[TT600]

Weather is iffy that time of year. Best to have a three week window where you can go at any time. If you are tough you may be able to arrange a dropoff 20+ miles out and paddle back with your gear. I see people doing this all the time in Oct.
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[bassrods]

I have been fishing Powell for years..The time I like best is from the middle of Sept. to the middle of may..
If you know where to look you can find boils on some years as late as Dec. and as early as April..

But when others are ice fishing I like to hit Powell, many days we get from 50 to over 100 fish per day in water from 100' up to 20'..The biggest Striper at just over 35lb and over 20 Waleyes per day if we fish for them..

Just before you get ready to go let me know and I will let you know what was working for us and where..
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[MisterCompletely]

Ah, Lake Powell in October. For sure the best time. But also treacherous and down-right dangerous if the wind comes up, even for good-sized boats. If you're not familiar with WaynesWords.com you'll certainly want to read that forum and learn a ton about fishing the lake etc. BTW Powell probably has the biggest crappie in Utah, at least the biggest I've seen, so if you can find 'em you won't be disappointed. But there are so many species there, if you don't have luck with one species, just target another one.
The lake is pretty much full of stripers and you can generally catch plenty of them on spoons, anchovies, etc.
I'm envious, I haven't been down since February and I need to plan a trip for the fall myself.
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[OhioDave]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. Hopefully I'll talk at least one other kayak fisherman to go along with me as I'm a little nervous about doing this trip alone. I have been reading a lot on Waynesword. Great website! Thanks again!
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[Therapist]

OhioDave, be sure to check out Waynes Words ( www.wayneswords.com ). Wayne is the DWR Biologist on Powell and his website has the latest info on what is happening. It also has archives on past years that can provide good info also .

[PBH]

Lake Powell in October, a picture review:







68 degree water




October is hard to beat on Powell!
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