|
 |
 |
|
Wildlife Photography and Writings of Harry Morse |
|
|
You the fish and Lake Powell
|
 The
sculptured canyons and blue waters
of Lake Powell offer excellent
fishing, dramatic views and solitary
wilderness camping. Now is the ideal
time to go and hit crappie spawning
along with excellent small and
largemouth bass fishing.
Best of all, springtime anglers
avoid the summer heat, the
houseboats group and the crowds.
Four of us spent the last week in
April exploring and fishing the
shallow bays and deep canyons of
Lake Powell. The crappie were
spawning and the bass and bluegill
were getting ready to spawn.
Fishing on Powell was excellent.
Boating is the way to fish and camp
on Powell. Without a boat, shoreline
anglers are limited to where roads
intersect the mammoth lake, touching
a fraction of fishing and camping
spots along the lake.
Several car camps do have limited
water and toilet facilities near the
two main marinas. Starting in May,
houseboats can be rented at the
marinas. Some anglers rent
houseboats and tow fishing boats
along side.
Otherwise, it is wilderness camping.
We set up our fishing camp 15 miles
and endless twists and turns up
river from the launch ramp.
The plan was simple. Find spawning
crappie and keep our eyes open for
largemouth bass setting up spawning
beds in shallow, sandy areas, and
fish rocky faces of points for
smallmouths and troll the mouths of
the bays for stripers.
Our 20-foot jetboat was packed to
the gills going in. Four anglers
require a lot of gear for a five-day
stay, including ultralight spinning
rods for crappie, light-weight
spinning rods for bass and midweight
rods for stripers.
 John
Patterson hooked the first crappie.
When the silver, 12-inch crappie
broke the surface, I grabbed the
net. On my next cast, one bit my
red-and-white crappie jig. Then a
double hook-up produced two more big
crappie. One dark, black male
crappie that measured 13 inches and
weighed more than a pound.
After catching a dozen of the big
crappie, we moved to another cove
and found more. We released all
crappie smaller than 10 inches and
added six more to the stringer.
The limit on crappie is 10 per day,
largemouth bass is five and
smallmouth bass is 20. There is no
limit on striped bass.
We switched to smallmouth bass
fishing. They were spread out and
picky. Using plastic jigs, we hooked
bass suspended off the rocky points.
Patterson stuck with his inch long
plastic minnow imitations and
consistently caught more fish than
the rest of us.
The smallmouth bass averaged 11
inches. Everyone caught at least one
longer than 15 inches during the
week. We released 20 to 30
smallmouths from 6 inches to 15
inches each day between the four of
us.
We found small schools of striped
bass at the mouths of side canyons
in 20 to 40 feet of water. Our depth
finder showed far more fish than we
caught. Most of fish averaged 5
pounds.
The scenery is magnificent. Towering
sandstone cliffs hem twisting coves
casting shadows across the water.
Their walls hold colors, texture and
patterns painting a vivid portrayal
of the harshness of the desert
weather.
Running out of gas, getting stranded
or having a medical emergency can be
a nasty experience on Powell.
National Park Rangers do boat
patrols on the reservoir, but during
our five days on the water we did
not see one. We only heard or saw a
half-dozen or fewer boats a day.
We took a satellite phone, plenty of
medical supplies and let others know
exactly where we camped and fished.
Fishing remains excellent through
May. Camping is great year around if
you go prepared for the heat and the
cold. Just go, be prepared and enjoy
the solitude.
|
|
|
|
|
|
