Just getting my feet back under me after returning from my annual Lake Powell trip with my fishing buddy Walt (RIPNLIP). We went to Hite this year for 6 days and had a fantastic time. We focused most of our attention on Crappie and Stripers. Lake Powell has some fatastic Crappie!
This year was by far the best out of the last 3. Not just because we didn’t have any major disasters like last year but the total package. It was so much nicer to be able to drive to Hite and camp with the truck rather than load everything on the boat for a 30 mile run just to get to camp. The weather (blew) for the first day and a half and then was beautiful for the rest of the time. High 70’s in the afternoon and very nice at night.
We found the crappies over submerged brush in the backs of canyons in water from 14 to 25 feet deep. It took us about a day and a half to find the stripers and get them dialed in but once we did we could catch them at will for the next 4 days. It got to the point where we would go catch stripers in the middle of the day when nothing else was happening! We found the stripers scattered along the shore line in stained or slightly muddy water. We were trolling any hard diving crankbait with an aggressive action. The key was to have a bait that would pull down hard and bang the rocks in 15 feet of water. We would contour troll the shoreline swinging our lures over breaklines where we could bang bottom 13 to 15 feet deep. We found one area with a 15 foot deep flat that stretched between the shore and a big rock pile about 100 feet from shore. It was a narrow strip which dropped into 25 feet of water on each side.
This spot was amazing, we would hook up a single or double almost every time we ran over it and banged the bottom. This went on for 3 days!
This was by far my best trip to Powell so far! 3rd time’s a charm I guess as we had not caught stripers the 2 previous years but we wore them out this year. Get down there if you can this year, the fishing is fantastic!
I’ll forever be grateful to my good friend The Pikeman for talking me into going down there with him 3 years ago. Thank you Glenn!!! [fishin]
Big fish for the trip were:
7 lb Striper
4 lb Large Mouth
multiple 2 lb + Crappies
3 lb Walleye
Great post! those were some monster crappie! bet you got a couple pounds of fillets in the freezer after a trip like that! Oh man, I can’t wait for august and striper boils down there!
Nice post and great pics. The average size of those carppie is impressive.
Ok, ok, so your boat didn’t sink and you got into the stripers, did you have to run far down stream and is there a lot of debris coming down yet? I don’t enjoy fishing in chocolate milk.
I’m trying to find a time to shoot down there in May and debating between Hite & BF. Any thoughts?
And Todd, what are you doing with that walleye - couldn’t get a perch to bite?
Hi Peter, first of all we were camping at Hite and most of our fishing was a pretty short run to the Trachyte and White canyon areas. No debris in the water and the mudline was at striper city area. We found our best fishing in the stained water. There just isn’t the big runoff this year so far like we saw the last couple years with very distinct mudlines.
We ended up with only about 5 or 6 walleye. Only targeted them 1 morning and didn’t really put much focus on them. We’ve got great walleye fishing much closer to home so we spent our time fishing for things we don’t have much of up here, like 2 1/2 pound crappie and Stripers! [:p]
If I were to go down again this year, I would keep an eye on Waynes Words. With the lake being 25 feet higher than last year and the Colorado river basin snow pack at 56% I expect Hite to be a viable destination most of the spring. Bullfrog is not a bad place to go either though, just depends where you want to fish.
Just in case anyone missed the picture of my Walleye. This is my biggest PHOTOGRAPHED walleye to date. We caught one in 2010 that was probably bigger, but was too excited to take a picture.
You know it my friend! I prefer perch and walleye for my sushi. Stripers are great taco meat and crapiie, well it just doesn’t get better than a fried crappie fillet sandwhich…
Looking forward to seeing you on the water this summer Pat. Maybe we can hook up for another trip to Starvation I really think the perch fishing is going to be unbelievable up there this summer and the walleyes as well!
Looking forward to lowering my standards again and fishing in your boat with you. Good times.
Hey, I have some new trinkets you guys need to try. Making a lot of new things with the wobble jig mold…including some little spinner goodies. Got lots of both perch and wallies on them last year. Of course those silly troutskis won’t leave 'em alone either.
About another six weeks and it will be time to start workin’ Starvy over.
Nice report and pictures. I could not help but notice the “BW” hat you were wearing in one of your pictures. Looks like a Bo Wilson memorial hat. Bo was my grandson and the best fishin’ buddy I ever had. Will be four years on the 29th since we lost him and I miss him every day. He was a great kid. Sorry for the off-topic.
Sounds good Pat. I’ll have to stop by the tackletorium and check out your latest designs. I’m sure you’ve come up with some good ones over the winter.
I believe you are correct sir. My friend and fishing partner is the one wearing the hat. His name is Walt and he goes by ripnlip on here. He told me the story and has some connection with a family member. I am sincerely sorry for your loss.
