LAKE POWELL — By Wayne Gustaveson. The first freeze occurred on Thanksgiving Day.  Fish respond to cold temperatures by exhibiting springtime behavior. Best fishing happens when water is warmest - usually in the afternoon. Feeding periods are farther apart meaning there are times when fish just will not bite. These dormant periods are followed by brief feeding sprees that make it very worthwhile to be fishing on a cool day.

Striped bass: Still very abundant although average length is smaller than in the spring, fish health is greatly improved as the older generation is now mostly gone giving way to the new rising generation. Shad are moving deeper and stripers follow. Expect to find striper schools in canyons with shad where bottom depth is 40-60 feet deep. They can be deeper when resting and shallower when feeding but graphing in this range allows a good starting point when searching for the first school of the day.

Striper schools have been most recently found in Wahweap Bay near Lone Rock, Dry Rock Creek, San Juan past the Great Bend, and Trachyte and White Canyon near Hite. Night fishing is good near the marinas.

When shallow, stripers can be caught trolling shallow running “trap” baits or Shad Raps with a bit of chartreuse and shad color. When deep, swim baits like Walleye Assassin and Yamamoto swim baits are very effective when retrieved slowly along the bottom. It is very important to use the graph to locate fish during the winter. They don’t move much, so a large school can be very close but not caught unless the boat is positioned directly over them. Anchovies are always effective.

BASS: It has been a great year for big black bass. The trophies are still out there and can be caught by fortunate anglers in the right place at the right time. But most average-sized bass are hanging in one of two locations:

Largemouth bass really like cover. Sunfish are hold up along the bottom in weed beds. Some of these weed beds are shallow with an edge exposed as the lake drops. Others are down as much as 20 feet. Largemouth bass will be right in the weeds (including tumbleweed piles) all winter long. They stay surprisingly shallow and follow the forage. Weed busting lures like spinnerbaits or vertically fished jig-and-pig baits are the winter standards. Some lake areas along the main channel are very clear. Look for murky water for best success.

Smallmouth bass are rock oriented and will be deeper along breaking edges of long points or terraces. Both bass species are in cool water well below their preferred temperature range in the winter, so feeding may not happen every day. But they do feed and can be caught. Smallmouth bass eat crayfish that hide under rocks. Use a bait that resembles their prey and stays close to the bottom. Nothing is better in the winter than the standard plastic grub that has been so effective for the past 20 years. Just experiment with grub colors, swimming action and speed of retrieve to refine the most appealing pattern on any given day.

OTHERS:
Walleye feed well in winter. They congregate around brushy cover where bait fish hide. Murky water is more comfortable for them and they are a very effective night time predator. Spoons, swim baits and plastics are effective cold weather walleye baits. Walleye can often be seen in shallow water around brush.  Put a drop shot bait right in front of their nose to wake them up.

Crappie suspend in open water or hold up in schools near brush in winter. They don’t feed often but they can be started once a school is located. Fishing at night under lights may be the most effective cold weather crappie technique.
Sunfish hide out during the winter trying to avoid bigger fish. Do not expect to catch many bluegills.

LEES FERRY – This is a great time to fish the Ferry – the wild rainbow trout are spawning. The Ferry is probably providing some of the best fishing in Arizona right now but for some reason, it’s not getting a lot of angling pressure.

One of the guides, Dave Foster, provided us the following report: There are good numbers of fish moving up to spawn and providing an excellent sight-fishing opportunity.  The fish are also in very good shape. I do the redd surveys for the GCMRC and counted well over 100 redds on 4 mile the other day.  The last four years the peak has been in early-mid March so they may be the best spawn in years.

Many days there are less than five boats up river; it is easy to have the place pretty much to yourself.  It is cold, but with the right gear, a Thermos of hot drinks and a start time that allows the sun to get into the canyon, a trip this time of year can be a great experience. The sight-fishing is the greatest attraction right now for fly rodders.  Many fish are holding in less than 2 feet of water and provide a great opportunity to spot, stalk and cast to some very nice fish. This situation puts a premium on fish spotting and casting accuracy.  However most situations don’t require more than a 20-foot cast.  Polaroid glasses are a must because the low angle of the sun produces some serious glare.  Fly selection runs the entire array of Lees Ferry flies.  Glo bugs, scuds, midges, San Juan worms and just about everything else you can think of will take fish, but nothing seems to work consistently for very long.  These fish have other things on their mind than feeding (except for the ones hanging behind spawning fish waiting for a stray egg).  Also, the river is at its lowest productivity of the year.  There isn’t a whole lot of any single food source around.  Change flies often and be perseverant to be successful.

Spin fishing seems to be best drifting Glo-bugs.  It is critical that the Glo-bug is presented on the bottom.  You should feel the tap, tap, tap as the weight hits the bottom.  The best method is to use surgical tubing and pencil lead so it is easy to adjust the amount of weight.  Any prolonged pulling or tension is possible a take.  The guy who is constantly setting the hook is the one who catches all the fish.

Report courtesy Lees Ferry Anglers. Sunday, Jan. 13: I fished half a day today! In the morning a dry/dropper rig worked. Because the lighting is so low during our winter months, a large deer hair dry works well as a strike indicator. Below my indicator I dropped glo bugs with a pinch of split shot and hooked up right away. Around 9:30 a.m. I started to fish a shallow nymph rig with a glo bug/San Juan worm combo, which picked up fish off the bat. Happy hour hit around 11 a.m., which brought more 16-plus inchers to hand, not without a trying and acrobatic fight, I might add. The trout are sporting nice girth and seem to know every trick in the book. Even a scud pattern turned a couple. Because I was due into the fly shop for my 2-9 p.m. shift, I had to keep the day short. Fishing was great today!

Walk-in fishing: I took in a report that the area below the confluence is holding some nice trout. They’re taking orange San Juans. A good chunk of split shot will needed, as the river is really moving through this section. This section rarely ever gets fished. The “big rock” area is reportedly slowing down, however still producing. The boulder field was also reported as productive. The trout hold in the pockets and are taking San Juans, and scuds. The last light of the day was reported as the best.
 
Spin Fishing: Panther Martins off the bank, and glo bugs bounced along the bottom. Do this and you will find plenty of action. 

Fishing Synopsis and Forecast by Terry Gunn 12/07/07: What a difference a month can make…the new flows that went to effect on Dec. 1 have certainly changed things! First and foremost: The trout are spawning!  I would not call it a river-wide spawn but we are seeing several groups of fish spawning in a few traditional areas of the river.

This is the first time in at least a couple of years that we have seen fish spawning in December, which is historically a “normal” time for the trout to spawn at Lees Ferry. I’m not sure if it will continue or build in strength any time soon, but we’ll keep you up-to-date with our daily reports. The sad thing is that there is nobody here to see the fish spawning.  Most days there have been NO boats on the river…there is less traffic this December than I have seen in my 25 year career here at the Ferry.

The water flows from Glen Canyon Dam increased on 12/1 as they do every year. The current flow is 9,000 cfs to 16,000 cfs, with the water rising early in the morning and then beginning a slow drop around 11 AM. The flow in January is expected to be the same as December.  The higher flows mean that there is more food being transported and moved around so the fish are getting well fed.  In the process, they are in a feeding mood and thus more likely to eat a fly.

For a real time graphic view of water releases and ramp rates go here: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/uv?09380000
Overall the trout are in great shape and the average size is larger than we have seen in several years. I predict that the size and condition of the fish will continue to improve this winter and we should continue to see great fishing for the remainder of 2007 and into 2008. I expect the spring season at Lees Ferry to be even better than last year, which was the best that we have seen in years.

I have had some people that are fishing on their own (unguided) and tell me that they are having a difficult time catching fish. The fishing has changed from the peak of 2000 and many people are not adapting to the new conditions. The current fish population is lower than it was in 2000 and there are not fish “everywhere” in the river like there was several years back (this is probably the reason that we are seeing better conditioned and larger fish today).

Just because you might have been successful in one spot on the river in the past does not mean that particular spot is always good. There are many times of the year that the water flows, or conditions are not right to hold fish at “famous” spots such as 4 mile or Dam Island. It is often challenging, even for a good guide, to stay on top of where the fish are and what they are eating; but we do have the advantage of spending a lot of time on the water.   

There are a tremendous number of fingerling trout in the river as a result of the terrific spawn that we saw in the spring of 2007 which bodes well for the future…the downside is that these fish will not be of catchable size until the fall of 2008.