Fishing Powell: Where do eager anglers start?

Lake Powell - Knowing where to start fishing on a 140-mile long reservoir with more than 1,800 miles of shoreline that is 500 feet deep in some places can be daunting.
    But the sheer numbers of the 10 sport fish species in this massive impoundment on the Colorado River in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area make it easy.
    Where to begin? Just about anywhere is the answer. But, if you are selective in the fish you want to catch, there are some tricks.
    "It can be intimidating, especially to a traditional trout fisherman from Utah. Fishing Velveeta cheese on the bottom might turn up a catfish or two, but there plenty of other fish to fry at Powell," said Wayne Gustaveson, head biologist of the Lake Powell Project for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
    With so much water to cover and so many slickrock canyons to explore, it helps to have an idea of where to drop that first line. So Gustaveson created an online Lake Powell fishing resource page - www.wayneswords.com. Visitors, and there are plenty, find recent reports, useful seasonal techniques and, of course, bragging picture and post pages.
    It may sound a little fishy for a state employee - a biologist at that - to manage a fishing Web page, but anglers are about the only, and definitely the best, management tool when it comes to a fishery the size of Lake Powell.
    "We have plenty of predatory fish, but what drives the system is forage fish and we don't have as many of those," said Gustaveson, who has been a biologist at Powell for 33 years. "It isn't politically correct to introduce more forage fish, but what we can do is reduce the predators. We have 3 million visitors a year, and we can certainly send one fish home with each of them."
   
    Much forage, poor fishing » The complexity of life in a fishery as large as Powell is most easily understood by looking at it as a cycle. Fishing for the three bass varieties, particularly stripers, has been spotty at times in 2008. That's due largely to the fact that there is so much forage food available now.
    "We are in an overforage situation. The predatory fish are full of food and times are easy for them. The fishing gets tough when they have enough to eat," Gustaveson said.
    The biologist believes the tide may turn in 2009 as forage fish populations naturally decline. That means sport fish will be more hungry.
    By next summer, the average striped bass will be around 5 pounds. There are, of course, bigger striped bass in Powell. It seems like every late winter or early spring someone manages to land a 30-pounds-plus fish. Fish over 40 pounds are rarely caught these days, but they are still in the reservoir.
    The Utah state and Lake Powell record, a 48-pound 11-ounce specimen, was caught in 1991.
    Several that would have broken the record have since been found floating on the surface of the reservoir. In 2003, a 61 1/2 -inch striper was discovered belly up near the San Juan tributary. Gustaveson said it would have weighed between 75 and 80 pounds alive, which, if it had been caught on a rod and reel, could have put it in the running for the world record at 78 1/2 pounds. The Powell striper was 8 1/2 inches longer than the all-tackle world record caught in 1982 near Atlantic City, N.J.
    Striped bass are normally seafaring fish, but proved they could also survive in fresh water about three decades ago. They were planted in Powell in 1974 and stocked for five years, after which natural reproduction took over.
    Gustaveson can't say how many stripers are in the reservoir now, but a creel census in 2006 showed 2.6 million stripers were caught and kept by anglers visiting Powell.
    "If you harvest 2 million, you probably have 10 million and maybe 30. It is still not enough, though," Gustaveson said. "Fish are a renewable resource at Powell. It doesn't hurt one bit to keep your legal limit of fish."
     
    When the lake boils » Fishing at Powell is best approached by seeking out patterns. The easiest pattern to identify, and surely the most fun to fish, is the striper boil.
    Here's how it works: Groups of stripers, ranging from a couple of dozen to hundreds of fish, chase a school of threadfin or gizzard shad. Shad, which provide food for all other species and thus are Powell's most important fish, are pushed until they come to a barrier - a sandstone wall or floating tire breakwaters found around the marinas.
    Often, the barrier is the surface of the lake. It starts innocently enough, with shad leaping into the air in an attempt to escape being eaten. Then the water becomes a chaotic, frothy mess with stripers lunging, leaping and lapping up shad in a frenzy that can send nearby waterskiers to the boat.
    "It is a sheer adrenaline rush. You make a mad dash to get to the fish, all the time thinking 'Man, look at them go,' and then you hope you don't run the boat over them," said Mark Roberts of South Jordan, who has been fishing striper boils at Powell since the early 1980s. "It is even more exciting when you have four or five other boats chasing the boils with you."
    With high limits on all species at Powell, and no limit on stripers - that's right, no limit - skilled or lucky anglers can feed an entire houseboat for a week with some tasty fish. Reports of anglers hauling in 10, 15 or even 20 stripers in a 15- to 20-minute stretch are common. Boils can last 10 minutes to an hour. The best boils are often in the morning 30 minutes after first light because the shad have had a chance to regroup.
    "The best luck I've had is fishing the leading edge and trying to figure out which way the boil is moving," Roberts said. "Some days they are selective, but when you really get into them you can throw anything and you will pull in a fish."
    The striper boil season at Powell typically starts in mid- to late June and heats up though July and August.
    "In years where we have abundant shad, the boils will go through September and into October and sometimes into November depending on the weather," Gustaveson said.
    Fifteen years ago, Gustaveson and his sons wandered into a massive boil of 4- to 5-pound fish near Bullfrog Marina and came out of the fray four hours later with their boat much lower in the water. The biologist heard of another boil in the San Juan area that lasted six hours. He remembers one boil that was 75 to 100 yards long and 20 yards wide.
    Most boils at Powell, however, last less than five minutes. But don't leave the area if you came across a boil too late to get in some angling action.
    "It takes the stripers a little while to get the shad herded up again, but chances are pretty good you will see another boil if you stick around," Gustaveson said.
   
    Brett Prettyman writes about recreation and the outdoors. Contact him at brettp@sltrib. com or 801-257-8902.
   
   
   
    Sport fish in Lake Powell
   
    Striped bass » Striped bass are saltwater fish that can live in fresh water. They were stocked in Lake Powell in 1974 and have produced millions of offspring, unprecedented in other striped bass fisheries.
    They are a voracious predator feeding on the open water shad population and are best known for surrounding a school of shad, driving them to the surface and feeding in churning boils that are visible for long distances. Fish over the state record of 48 pounds can be found in the lake, but most anglers catch schooling fish weighing 3-6 pounds.
    Largemouth bass » Largemouth bass were one of the original fish stocked at Powell and can grow to more than 20 pounds. In Lake Powell, the record is 10 pounds 2 ounces. They can be identified by the green cast to the body accompanied by a black horizontal line along the midline of the body. In largemouth, the upper jaw extends past the eye.
    Smallmouth bass » They are known for bronze body color and superior fighting ability. The closed jaw is even with the front of the eye, making it just smaller than a largemouth's. They will chase shad in open water and sometimes boil with stripers in the fall.
    Channel catfish » These fish usually run about 1-2 pounds in Powell; the lake record is 25 pounds. Bigger fish are caught near inflowing water or in the river itself. They eat a variety of food and can be caught on the remnants of your dinner.
    Bullhead catfish » This little-known catfish variety exists in Lake Powell in modest numbers. Grows to about 12 inches with color variations from black to bright yellow. Yellow bullhead are distinguished from their close cousins, black bullhead, by their white chin barbels.
    Crappie » Crappie are a highly sought-after panfish that were once very abundant in the lake. They declined when the lake went down and brush disappeared. Now with brush coming back in rising water conditions, crappie are rebounding. Spawning happens in April, the best fishing month for crappie.
    Green sunfish » Green sunfish are a pugnacious panfish. Often mistaken for bluegill, they have a larger mouth and a green cast to their body. Final identification is the blue squiggly lines on the gill covers. They are known for biting lures larger than their body length.
    Bluegill » Brightly colored as adults, they have a small mouth and must be taken on small hooks. They provide the main forage for largemouth bass and other predators that look to brush shelters for food. They are great fish for kids with bobbers and a bit of live worm.
    Walleye » These nocturnal, voracious predators lay in wait for food to swim by. Big eyes allow them to see well at night. Large teeth grab prey and hold it until consumed. At Powell, walleye spawn in March, with prime fishing from April 15 to June 15.
    Northern pike » Not commonly caught at Powell, these fish have found their way down the Colorado River from upstream impoundments.
    Gizzard shad » The mouth is subterminal, much like a carp, which makes it easier for shad to eat plant material off the bottom. The fish can grow to 18 inches and more than 3 pounds.
    Threadfin shad » These are the most important fish in Lake Powell, the key link in a food chain converting plankton into fish mass, which is then transferred to game fish. Threadfin can be identified by the yellow color in the tail fin of an adult, but more important, by the terminal mouth.
   
   
   Extra tips and tricks for Lake Powell anglers
   
   Wayne Gustaveson, Lake Powell project leader for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, is the Wayne of www.wayneswords.com. For the definitive fishing forecast at Lake Powell visit www.wayneswords.com. The webpage includes a weekly report of action at the massive reservoir, photos from successful anglers and in-depth descriptions of useful techniques.