**please scroll down for past guide reports and fish photos
Lake Powell Fishing Report - San Juan River Arm - May 1st - 7th
We just got done doing a guided week long Lake Powell fishing trip on the San Juan River Arm of Lake Powell. Fred Hopper and his crew came up and camped out 60 miles uplake with TST and were treated by some of the best weather/fishing/camping that Mother Nature can provide. They preferred to fish for Crappie and the San Juan didn’t disappoint. They all were nailing limits that were in the 1.5lb range with a few that were pushing 2lb and if you know your Crappie then you know that, ‘dos are goot slabs! Danny and Brian’s dad, Jim, was the camp chef and provided them with five star meals that left nobody wanting. Man… If you want to treat yourself to an amazing experience…. BOOK ONE OF OUR MULTI- DAY TRIPS!!! All you have to bring is your tooth brush. We have everything else covered….. Top notch guides, equipment, food and attitude.
The following is what was reported by Cptn. Brian Woods
What a great trip, fishing was awesome! Caught fish all day on all types of lures. Water temps went from high 50's to lower 60's with outside temp cooler and windy at the beginning of the week to mid 80's and calm by end of week.
Water & Air Temps.
May 1 - Windy mostly cloudy, Water Temp. 59-60
May 2 - Calmer, sunny, Water temp 59-61
May 3 - Sunny and warmer, water temp. up to 63 back of coves in afternoon
May 4 - Sunny, warmer, beautiful, water temp. up to 64
May 5 - Sunny, still warmer (mid 80s), calm, no wind, water temp. 62-64
May 6 - Moved to Dungeon Canyon across from Rock Creek Bay; windy and cooler
May 7 - Calm in morning, found LM and SM on beds in Dungeon
Throughout the spring the prevailing structure has been brush mixed with broken rock for all species. Brush in sand has been a bust. Likewise, broken rock with no brush has been unproductive. After this trip we have an official confirmation that Large & Smallmouth are officially starting to defend beds……yeee hawwww! Crappie were associated with brushy coves (of course), some were hovering on the mouth in deep water and others were holding tight to the shrubbery in the shallows.
Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass:
Texas rigged brush hog - Watermelon w/ black flake; Green Pumpkin w/ red flake
Texas rigged Kreature - cinnamon w/ black & purple flake; green pumpkin w/ purple & copper flake
Tubes - smoke, green, all colors
Topwater - poppers, zara puppies in shallows
Crappie:
2" curly tail w/ 1/16 oz head, colors - acid rain, chartreuse, white
3" Ika, smoke w/ 1/32 oz chartreuse head
1/16 oz Marabou Jigs
Striped Bass:
Striped bass were actually swarming the back of the boat when we were cleaning the fish. Fred and crew didn't fish for them because they were so easy to catch that they didn't provide a challenge.
May 1 - 2, pre-fished, caught sm, lm, crappie on all
May 3 - 5, mostly crappie fished with clients, 15-20' of water casting towards shore moving jig out
May 5
Early morning bass fishing, topwater and brush hogs in shallows
Crappie moved up to submerged brush/trees in afternoon
Bill caught 5 species of fish in about 15 minutes - sm, lm, crappie, bluegill, and walleye all on 2" acid rain crappie jig
Fred caught his personal first topwater bass on a popper in the shallows
I haven't been on the water as of late because I have been getting our new store ready to go for this season. We are very excited about our new home base and I will be sharing the info about it as it happens. Danny and Brian are both on a week long TST guided houseboat fishing trip up on the San Juan and I am sure the clients are putting tons of fish in the boat as we speak. Those lucky bastards!!
I did just complete my latest video. If you want to see a typical spring afternoon of Lake Powell fishing then click this link. Enjoy and we will post a report after Danny and Brian get off the trip.
Lake Powell Fishing - Spring Pre-Spawn Action
Lake Powell Fishing Report - 4/25/11
Howdy everyone,
Before I give the report I would like to share a few stories:
Danny caught a 7+ lb bass on Roosevelt Lake using a Senco. He was fishing a local charity tourney with his son. Reluctantly I have to say that he now has the biggest Largemouth either of us has ever caught.
My fiance Kristin and I got the chance to spend the weekend fishing together and we put together a Lake Powell Grand Slam. What is a Lake Powell Grand Slam might you ask???
Well it is a Striped, Largemouth, Smallmouth Bass, a Walleye and a Crappie, all in a day. Kristin put the walleye in the boat early in the day and the Large/Small and Striped bass were soon to follow and all we had left was the Crappie. We made a run into a driving rainstorm as the sun was sinking into a favorite crappie spot of mine and completed the second grand slam of my life. As a bonus, the largemouth that we caught was 5+ lbs.
Lake Powell fishing has been on fire! This Side of That Guide Service has been out on the water a lot and we have put together a pretty good pattern.
Striped Bass: Nothing has changed since the last report. We can guarantee that you will catch Striped Bass in any fashion that you desire. To illustrate my point, I went out the other day and caught a bunch in shallow water on a fly rod. It was a ball! 
The following picture was sent from a great bunch of guys from Twin falls that I took out last week. I lipped so many fish that day my thumb became a bloody stump from all the striped bass teeth. That's what I call a GOOD battle wound.
Largemouth/Smallmouth Bass: They are starting to fan beds but are not actively protecting them. We found 60 degree water on Sat. but a storm rolled in on Sun and put the temp back down to 57. I think a good warm spell and 3 degrees of water temp and they'll lay their eggs and start defending the nests (which equates to the best fishing lake Powell can afford). As of now we are catching pre-spawn bass on the same structure that we have been catching them all spring, which is long, brushy, rocky points and in the backs of shallow coves. We also have been picking up some smaller Smallmouth on rockslides and shelves (this pattern will get even better in the post spawn).
Walleye: We have not been catching as many as we did last year. They have been sporadic at best and the few that we have been catching have been by using the same technique as for Lrg/Sml Bass.
Crappie: The water receded so much that the bushes they were spawning in became high and dry. We have not had much luck for crappie lately and I am not expecting that it will pick back up until next March.
Ahhh man the season has started! There isn't a better time to be fishing Lake Powell. We have been out fishing with clients for the past several days and have been putting LARGE numbers of fish in the boat. The only question now is..... What do you want to fish for?
The great thing is, it's only going to get better as it warms up. The spawn is just around the corner and I am once again restating that, this is going to be the best spring fishing that we have seen for some time. 70 degree spring days and no (and I do mean NO!!) traffic on the lake. You cannot get any better than that!
Striped Bass: We are catching rediculous numbers of fish on anchovies. If you are looking to take your kids out or just do some easy fishing that putts hundreds of stripers in the boat then this is the style for you. If you want to add some technique and skill into the mix then we can cast tubes into shallow/weedy/sandy structure and stroke fish all day. Casting the shallows is a ton of fun because it can be a visual bite and you can see them inhale your lure in 2 to 4 foot of crystal clear water.
Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass: We just had a cold storm blow through and we thought for sure that they would be "off" for a little while but we were wrong. This Side of That Guide Service has put many in the boat in the last few days. Danny and I went out in the wind and cold and boated a number of chunky bronze/green fish. The key bait was Yamamoto Creature baits in a brown with purple flake color and the key structure was shallow rocky/brushy points. We didn't catch many fish on any other structure than points mixed with bushes/rock.
Crappie: Crappie are spawning and if you are into hooking a few slabs then now is most definitely the time get out there. In a few weeks the water will rise and they will be gone for the summer. We have been catching them on small jigs in the backs of "secret" coves.
Merry Spring to you all,
One of my favorite things about being a local and a guide, is watching Lake Powell live and breath. By trying to hook fish I get to experience this body of water change by the month, week, day and hour. I love it!
Let's talk about the changes that have occured since my report last July:
Ample shad populations were keeping the Striped Bass population healthy and in the deep water. They were doing exactly what Stripers should do, which was schooling around balls of baitfish and reeking havock. For the last two years the only way we could catch Striped Bass was to troll or cast at them on the boil because they were actively chasing bait. This spring the shad have declined and the thousands of Striped Bass that thrived because of them have gotten desperate. That equates to......... VERY DUMB FISH!!!!
Honestly... We have been catching 50 to 100 striped bass per trip. For the last two years my policy when talking to clients has been to never promise fish but this spring I am going to put my reputation on the line and personally guarantee that you will catch a fish if you book with This Side of That Guide Service.
We have been catching Striped Bass in two ways:
First, we have been bait fishing with cut anchovies along rock walls and points. This technique is perfect for beginner fishermen because there is very little skill needed and it produces insane numbers of bites.
Second, we have been casting ANY (and I do mean ANY) lure into shallow brushy coves and getting nailed on almost every cast. Danny and I went out yesterday and I had one run where I caught 10 fish in 10 casts.
Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass have also turned on as of late. We have been fishing brush that is mixed with rock, using tubes/jigs and doing well. The one problem has been keeping the Stripers off of your line. I have talked to some fishermen that have been having some good success with crank baits but I haven't had time to experiment with them. The spawn should start in the next couple of weeks. It very well could be the best spring Lake Powell has ever seen for these two species of fish. Now is the time to book your Lake Powell fishing trip.
