LAKE POWELL — Lake elevation: 3,610 Water temp: 51-58 F Another week and warming is poised to happen. Fish are poised. Anglers are poised. We are all waiting. In between storm fronts warmth springs forward only to be blown away by the next wind.

Warming will happen in a big rush. Previous mixing has added warm water to the cold lake base. Put three days of warm weather together and surface temperature will quickly hit 60. Then fishing will break loose.

Relying on last weeks reports will allow future success.

The hotspot/technique without a doubt is striper fishing from Good Hope to Hite. Fish are schooled and willing to hit lures fished in the comfort zone of 20-30 feet. Since school location is random, the best way to find fish is trolling over lots of water where bottom depth is near 25 feet. Fortunately when a striper hits it is likely that retracing the path once more will bring another fish, sometimes many more from the same location. Do not mindlessly troll in deep water, make sure bottom contour is followed to find schools parked on the edge of breaks.

The best baits for flat line trolling are deep diving Thundersticks, Husky Jerks, Mega Baits, Manns Heavy Duty Stretch +, Norman Deep Little N, and many other lures that dive deeper than 15 feet. The same results come with shallower running lures fished on leaded line or with down riggers.

Sometimes a school of fish follows the hooked one to the boat. It is always a good idea to toss a deep-diving crankbait or spoon near the boat while the first fish is in the net. Check the graph for followers to supplement the catch. The school dwells under the boat briefly then moves away and more trolling is required to relocate fish. They often return to the spot where the first fish was hooked.

This pattern works lake wide but numbers of fish caught are greater from Good Hope to Hite. Fewer, but larger fish are caught in the more southern lake extremes.

Bass are thinking about spawning. All the triggers, except temperature, are in place. As soon as warming occurs nest construction begins, activity levels increase and fishing success sky rockets.

Bass are catchable now. Largemouth are in thick, shallow brush thickets basking in afternoon sun. Smallmouth are on rocky structure waiting for a few more degrees of warmth. A good strategy is to work a rattletrap or suspending jerk bait around brush in slots and cuts, and in shallow rock structure. That may work fine. If not, then go deep with soft plastic tubes, bulky grubs, and slow sinking Senkos that can be fished slowly on or near bottom. Let the bait rest with occasional twitches rather than using a steady retrieve. The key to catching fish with this method is to keep the line tight so the light touch of a bass tongue can be detected.

LEES FERRY – Fishing Report Courtesy Terry Gunn at Lees Ferry Anglers:

Recent Fishing Conditions: Spring arrived with a roar at Lees Ferry. In my 26 years here I have never seen so much wind and nasty weather. Most springs we can expect one really windy day each week. This season we have had as many windy days as calm days. Despite the weather we have seen some good fishing. The spawning has mostly concluded; it was a deep water spawn with very few fish using traditional shallow water spawning areas…the exception was 4 mile bar. Beginning in February and through March we caught few large fish because they were all actively spawning in deeper water than we can effectively fly fish. The past few weeks the larger fish (18-in +) have started to reappear in the riffles and are actively feeding on midges.

This last week we actually had 2 nice days of weather in a row and the midges popped…there were so many swarms that they looked like smoke on the water. Mid April is usually the turning point for weather patterns in this part of the state, it turns moderate and is dominated by high pressure. When this happens, the fishing is going to get really good and the midge fishing is going to be on fire for the remainder of the low water release period, at least through May and likely through June.

Over Memorial Weekend (May 22-27) there will be constant water releases of 8,000-cfs so that the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center can conduct flights to photograph the river for monitoring purposes. It is very likely that this flow will result in PHENOMIAL FISHING, both upriver and in the Walk-In section. Normally this is not a busy weekend at the Ferry so you should put this trip on your schedule.

The current water flows are perfect wading and drifting flows for fishing Lees Ferry. These same flows will continue until the high summer flows begin in July. The average size of the fish is the largest of this decade; most of the fish that I put in my net are 16 to 17-in with many that are larger. Is this a peak before another down turn in the fishery? No. This is the beginning of a trend that is set to continue for at least a couple of years, and if nature cooperates and gives us moisture in the Rocky Mountains, and Lake Powell continues to rise, this trend of healthy trout populations and good fishing will continue for the next several years. Current snow pack in the Rockies’ is in excess of 100% of normal.

The turning point and the beginning for the recovery of the Lees Ferry fishery occurred in 2005 when Lake Powell had the first above normal snow-pack and runoff year since 1997. Last year we had almost exactly the same conditions. The above normal winter snow pack and runoff into Lake Powell in 2007-08, stirred up a tremendous amount of nutrient laden sediment that had accumulated at the lake mouths of the Colorado River, San Juan River, and the Green River. Lake Powell elevation increased 43-ft. and the rivers flowing into the lake mixed the sediment and nutrients into the lake water. It usually takes several months before we see this mixing affect. The increased nutrient load in the lake and river is evident this spring by the dramatic increase in aquatic vegetation and aquatic organisms throughout the river.

For those of you that remember what the fishing was like in 1999 and 2000…you should be as excited as I am about the current conditions and what the increased nutrient load should do for the fishing at Lees Ferry.

Lots of stuff happening at the Ferry and it is all good!

Recent Fishing: With the water flows once again fluctuating and lower flows; we have been fishing from the boat as well as wading the riffles.  Fishing techniques have been mixed between using a “heavy nymph rig” which is a 9 to 12-ft leader, strike indicator, split shot, and dual fly rig, a “double tiny” rig with a long leader and 2 bead-head midges on 7X, or a dry and dropper rig. I have been using 6 and 7X fluorocarbon tippet and feel that the lighter tippet results in a much higher success rate than say 5X. Anglers might argue that they break fish off on such light tippet but my argument is that in order to break a fish off, you first have to first get a fish to eat your fly and you are going to get more eaters with lighter tippet than heaver tippet.

When wading the riffles you need long dead drifts. There are 2 types of drifts; perfect dead drifts and all other drifts. Perfect dead drifts catch fish at Lees Ferry; all other drifts don’t catch fish here. You get a dead drift by mending the line, then throwing slack line on the water. If your line is straight from your rod tip to your indicator or you move your indicator during the drift, then your drift is not perfect and will not catch fish. The key to success is to stay over fish, get the flies down to the bottom, and get a long, perfect dead drift.

LAKE MEAD –Lake Mead water levels are dropping at about one foot per week.  The current level is  1,105 feet above msl.  I have not heard anything new on the fishing, but it should be picking up soon if it has not already.

Launching conditions at South Cove may begin to deteriorate as the water level continues to drop.  The new concrete ramp the National Park Service just completed is two lanes with cones marking the edges. Use caution not to go off the sides of the metal extensions at either side. National Park Service is working to keep the ramp open.

Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders.  Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.

For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s web pages at azgfd.gov or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.

LAKE MOHAVE –  The lake level is around 641 feet above msl is the current elevation.  Fishing for stripers seems to be pretty good in the southern portion of the lake. One angler reported catching a limit of 20” stripers in 5 hrs.  The new fish cleaning station at Katherines landing  is operational.   Bass are located on fish habitat in 15-20 ft.  As the water warms look for the fish to become more active.

Biologists from both Arizona Game and Fish Department and Nevada Division of Wildlife with the help of volunteers, National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation personnel have continued to install fish habitat in Carp Cove, Box Cove and now Shoshone.  Fish habitat consists of PVC structures, wood pallet structures, Tamarisk bundles, and some Christmas trees. The largemouth, bluegill and catfish are really utilizing the new structures.  Additional habitat will be added at several locations over the next two years.  These structures are fish magnets.

There is a wheelchair accessible fishing pier just south of the main launch ramp at Katherine’s Landing. If you fish Mohave and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.

Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.

For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s web pages at www.azgfd.gov  or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.

WILLOW BEACH – Trout are stocked every Friday.  Fishing has been pretty good for trout.    Most of the success has been coming from or around the new pier. Try using green Power Worms, or salmon eggs.

Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see. If you fish Willow beach and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s web pages at www.azgfd.gov  or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.

TOPOCK MARSH – Water level has been coming up,  crappie are biting on minnows.  Not much action on bass and catfish.

You can access the marsh by boat at the North Dike, Catfish Paradise, and Five-Mile Landing. All three also provide plenty of area for shoreline fishing too. For more information on the marsh, contact the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge at (760) 326-3853 or go to http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/havasu/index.html.

Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.

For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s web pages at www.azgfd.gov  or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.

COLORADO RIVER BELOW DAVIS DAM –The striper bite has been slow.    Trout are stocked once a month at both Davis camp and the Riverside.  Look for the trout fishing to be good immediately following the stocking.

Water levels on the river fluctuate, so be careful. You can check the Bureau of Reclamation Web site for flow predictions http://www.usbr.gov/lc/riverops.html before you go. If you fish the river below Davis Dam and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.

Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.

For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Web pages at www.azgfd.gov  or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.