The striper boils at Lake Pleasant are sometimes making parts of the lake look like a whitewater rapids. Mornings and evenings are best, but anglers are finding boils off-and-on throughout the day.

Stripers are voracious but sometimes, finicky. You’ll want to have lots of lure diversity close to hand. Rig up with topwater lures such as Zara Spooks, Zara Puppies and yes, even Zara Pooches. If you don’t know how to walk-the-dog, it’s time to learn.

Be sure to arm a pole with a popper. Set one up with a soft-plastic jerk bait. Having a pole rigged with a flutter-down bait like a Senko makes sense. Small spoons, such as KastMasters, can also get you lots of action. But don’t ignore the crankbaits, lipped or lipless.

Once you get to the lake at first light, or just before, first try the larger coves. Take along binoculars to spot the boils if they aren’t readily apparent. If you don’t find them in the larger coves, patrol the main body of the lake hitting the major points, islands and reefs. On some days, the near the dam is the hot spot. But anglers have been encountering huge boils at times right off the 10-lane launch ramp.

Boats can sometimes scare the stripers. If you run your boat to a boil, try shutting down the engine and then coasting to the side – not directly at – a boil. If possible, cast your offering past the boil and work it back through the melee.

Remember, there is no striper limit at Lake Pleasant. We don’t know how this burgeoning population of stripers will impact the fishery, but we do know that anglers catching and keeping all the stripers they can will help keep the fishery more productive. At some others lakes, stripers have been know to eat themselves out of house and home.

Also, I am not getting good reports of night fishing at Pleasant right now. If you want to fish the cooler times, try getting on the water after 2 a.m., enjoy the Perseids meteor showers in the sky, and catch the great topwater bite that often starts at nautical twilight.

Get to Lake Pleasant and perfect your topwater techniques for stripers, then keep a watch on the Lake Powell fishing report from now through the end of September, or possibly through the end of October. Topwater striper fishing at Powell should reach a crescendo right about the time of my birthday in mid September (guess what I want for a birthday present). As much as I like Pleasant, having around 1,700 miles of shoreline full of stripers, smallmouth, largemouth and walleye at one of the most picturesque lakes on Earth is something every angler should experience – many times.

But don’t ignore the tailwater fishery just downstream from Powell. The cicada bite has slowed significantly, but the Ferry in summer is a study in contrasts. Even though the air temperatures can soar into the 90s, possibly into triple digits, the water temperature hovers in the low 50s. You can sweat and freeze at the same time while hooking into some tail-dancing rainbows beneath red sandstone cliffs stretching to the heavens. That’s where I am fishing Friday.

I have also been getting great reports from high country anglers catching lots of trout and experiencing shivers after getting drenched by afternoon showers.

Anglers used to talk about the summer fishing doldrums – if you have them, it’s because you didn’t head to one of the hot spots.

Go catch a memory. Maybe I’ll see you out there.

STOCKING REPORT: Here is the latest stocking report from the Page Springs Hatchery: Summer Trout Stocking for the week of 08/15/08:

- Region 2: Kaibab Lake (3600), Dogtown Reservoir (3600), and Oak Creek (1800) all received fish this week. Water Quality: Kaibab Lake: pH 8.5, Temp 76*F; Dogtown Reservoir: pH 8.0, Temp 71*F; Oak Creek: Temp 60*F-73*F.

- Region 5: Rose Canyon Lake (1771 RBT + 124 BNT @ 1-1.5lbs each + 1-10lb BNT) was stocked on 08/12. Water Quality: pH 7.5, Temp 77*F.