Lake Powell - The Dammed Canyon
by Bassdozer Russ Comeau
Greetings. I was out at Gary
Yamamoto Custom Baits' facilities in Page, Arizona this
weekend (October 22-24, 1999). I would like to tell you
about my trip. Are you interested? I was part of a group of
nine members of Yamamoto's Pro Staff, including
nationally-known outdoor writers, guides, and regional
tournament pros from across the country. I fished for
smallmouth and largemouth bass for two days on Lake Powell
with Bubba's
Guide Service, which is owned and operated by Captain
Jim Cliburn.
Powell's a great place. You
are literally fishing in a flooded section of the Grand
Canyon...with incredible red rock cliffs towering straight
above you - and dropping off straight down into the water
too! In one spot, the "San Juan Arm", we were
pitching grubs on top of an underwater cliff and catching
largemouth in three feet of water...then pulling the grubs
over the cliff edge and free-swimming the grubs down twenty
to thirty feet to smallmouths waiting at the cliff bottom!
Way cool! I'll tell you more about the fishing soon, but
first let me tell you about Friday night.
Factory tour. On Friday
night, we took a Yamamoto factory tour. The soft plastics
are made in Lake Powell (Page, AZ). The factory is a huge
complex with a large crew of skilled operational staff and a
leading edge technology production line. They run three
shifts...24 hours a day seven days a week...and they just
can't make enough baits.
Local in Lake Powell. On
Saturday, I fished "local" in Lake Powell within
10 miles of the marina. We had over 25 bass in the boat.
Gene Savage, our guide from Bubba's Guide Service, was a
true outdoorsman...a rare breed. I got a hint as to what
bait works when Gene opened his tackle locker and it was
stuffed to overflowing with hundreds of Yamamoto single tail
grubs in a few different lengths. That's not so unusual,
except that they were practically all screaming bright
CHARTREUSE albeit with an infinite variety of different
concoctions of sparkly metal flakes and "peppers".
Gene put us precisely onto fish at every spot. The fish
were only on the very tops of points or in the bottoms of
gullies, draws and drains. All these spots were under twenty
to thirty feet of water. The sweet spot on these points and
depressions were only a few feet wide, and Gene put us over
them precisely all day. As soon as we drifted off these
sweet spots, we rarely had a hit. Most of these fish were in
mid twenty foot water, some as deep as mid-thirties, but a
few right up in shallower 10-15 foot draws and drains close
by the bank too. We did not run and gun, but fished more
"old-fashioned" by methodically raking our jigs
over the points and gullies as they meandered between the 20
to 30 foot depths. All hits were right on bottom.
Going long distance. On
Sunday, I went "long distance" with Captain Jim
Cliburn. We made our first drop about an hour up from the
marina at a place called the "San Juan Arm". Later
in the day, we made our second drop about 20 minutes further
up from there at a place called the "River Bend".
We had well over 50 smallies in the boat on Sunday. Captain
Jim kept a heavy lead foot on the trolling motor pedal, as
we hummed down casting short and fast along stretches of
fast-dropping shoreline. We let the jigs sink deep, and most
hits were from smallmouth on the bottom, as you walked the
jig down the "stairsteps" of rocky ledges into
progressively deeper water.
Sizes. Throughout the two
days, our biggest smallies were up to 2.5 lbs. but the
majority were "decent" - meaning 11 to 13 inches,
plus a few bigger. Almost every one I took on a chartreuse
single tail grub. The fish averaged an inch or two bigger
and much chunkier in girth when we went "long
distance" as opposed to staying "local".
Local was a lot of "dragging" the grubs deep and
"long distance" was a lot of stair-stepping the
jigs into deeper water on short casts. Only a few
largemouths were caught up to 2.5 lbs. both days. The
largemouths stayed further up into the shallower ends
of the cracks and crevices in the shoreline whereas the
smallmouths were on the deeper sections. It is primarily
(90%) a smallmouth fishery to me, although if you
exclusively targeted them, you would be able to concentrate
on catching largemouth.
Rigging grubs. We used the
Yamamoto single tail grubs in 4" and 5" sizes. I
did not see any real difference in catchability between the
4" and the 5" single tail grub. Throughout the
seasons wherever I go, I catch more fish, and have more
confidence in the 4" as a "numbers" bait, so
I instinctively trusted that more, although the 5" also
produced equally well on Powell - and the 5" always has
a tendency to bag a slightly larger grade of fish.
We used three different rigs throughout both days:
1.) We used the Yamamoto open hook jig heads right smack
on bottom whenever possible. Rig the grubs with tails
pointing down.
2.) In places where the brush or rocks on bottom were too
difficult to fish jigs without snagging, we also rigged up
with a few splitshots pinched on two feet above Yamamoto's
specially-made Gamakatsu "Split Shot" hooks. We
drifted and suspended these above the snags. Just stick the
split shot hook through the nose of the grub about 1/4"
inch back and make sure the hook point comes out on the same
side as the grub's curly tail points up.
3.) In heavy areas of flooded underwater tamarisk trees,
we used bullet weights and Texas rigged the grubs hooks with
the grubs tail pointing "up".
Senko in the mornings. Also
had good morning bites using the Senko soft plastic
jerkbait. We rigged it with either the Split Shot hook in
it's nose...or with the Texas-rigged hook a bit further back
on the bait's body. The clear (000) and the cream white
(036) worked fine. Also, the hard plastic Sugoi Splash
popper worked just fine in the earlier parts of the morning.
What was happening? As far as
I can tell, the fishing we experienced on Powell was
"typical" for that body of water. I think the
smallies in general act aggressively towards food there,
especially in the late part of the season (October) when we
were there. However, there is an awesome striper fishery in
Powell, and I think that the stripers are eating most of the
shad most of the time. This leaves the smallies in their
"niches" precisely on the structure and cover,
feeling pretty hungry and in pursuit of bottom and
cover-oriented prey such as crawdads and panfish. Perhaps
the bass were maybe deep and in transition zones to their
late fall habitats during October...but deep AND aggressive!
Even still, it seems that what I experienced was the typical
situation on Powell during many parts of the year...deep,
aggressive fish that are precisely oriented to structure and
cover. I think the chartreuse single tail grubs will work on
Powell at any time of the year. Why do they want that
BOLD-colored chartreuse grub? Cause the bass themselves were
being BOLD and aggressive perhaps. Or...the chartreuse grub
just looked like a glowing red sucker waiting to be eaten.
The water was clear...you could see bottom in 20 feet, and
those chartreuse grubs were glowing like neon light bulbs!
...or who knows?
Who can ever say for sure?
Some people say that the chartreuse triggers an impression
of immature panfish (sunfish and perch), which are an
important component of the Lake Powell food chain.
Personally, I really don't care or try to figure some things
out sometimes. I don't know why they hit the bold chartreuse
so well there...nor do I really care as long as they hit it!
What I did do though, was to experiment with several
varieties of chartreuse. It seemed that the brighter the
chartreuse the better. I was especially confident using one
that only had very little black pepper and not much else!
You see, the pepper and metal flakes tinge or taint the
plastic so that different color metal flakes produce
different colors of the plastic of the grub bodies. On the
days I fished, the fish seemed to favor the chartreuse with
a little black pepper only. That little black pepper seemed
to make the grub brighter and what I can only describe as a
little more "solid", "bolder" and
"greener" than the metallic reflective flakes and
the different sparkle patterns of the other chartreuse grubs
that I tried also. Get a bunch of bags of grubs...you will
tear up quite a few during a day's adventure.
Sure, I tried other colors.
In fact, I followed a strategy that I wrote about for how to
select colors. Click here to read all about my color
selection process. On Lake Powell, I did exactly what
that article suggests for cycling through the "six food
groups" article. I tried all six color groups (white,
black, brown, neutral, sparkle and bold). I found the bold
(chartreuse) to be best on Powell...and then I micro-tuned
into the very best bold color within that group for me...the
chartreuse with sparse black pepper, thereby giving me a
bolder, greener bait than the other chartreuse patterns. I'm
not saying what I did works right or wrong all the time. If
I was limited to using only any other color of dark, light
and in-between, I possibly may have figured out a pattern
for them too, but the strategy of searching the six food
groups (white, black, brown, neutral, sparkle, bold) worked
for me at Powell, and uncovered the BOLD chartreuse pattern
successfully for me. On the other hand, I could have just
not gone through any color selection process at all...just
used what Gene the guide had in his tackle locker - hundreds
of chartreuse grubs!
Regardless of the reason WHY chartreuse works so well
there, why not give it a shot! You just may enjoy fast, fun
fishing like I had on Lake Powell this past weekend!
Things to look for on Lake Powell:
 Brushy Areas.
Above-water brush is a sure-fire indicator of flooded brush
underwater. Typically, this is flooded tamarisk brush rooted
to sandy bottom. It is likely that there was originally a
source of surface water that nourished the tamarisk before
they were flooded. So, look for an underwater drain or gully
bed extending back into the shoreline. If you find and
follow the drain out into deeper water, you should notice
two rows of ever-widening tamarisk brush underwater along
the "banks" of the underwater drain. Bass will
hold close to the cover - right in the brush - and also
along the sides and deepest center spots of the original
drain bed.
 Backs of bays.
Get all the way up into the back of bays like this! You
should find largemouth up into the very shallow end of such
a bay. Look for some sort of shadowy ledge or dark
cave...look for wind-stained shallow water.
As for smallies, fishing Powell is very much an
electronics game. Use electronics to pinpoint where
"cracks" exist in the bottom...also where large
boulders or sheer drop-offs exist underwater. Smallies will
be pinned tight to within a few feet of such spots.
Remember, what you see above the water is exactly how it
appears underwater too!
 Rocky Points.
Just like they look above the ground, rocky points can
extend for several hundred yards or more below the water.
Some go out straight, others dogleg to either side, curl
around, may go up and then back down, etc. You need
electronics to pinpoint the underwater ridges...and drop a
marker buoy as a visual indicator as to where to cast once
you start fishing.
Smallies will usually be pinned tight to the underwater
ridges, particularly where they turn, drop off or whatever
other unusual "spot" on the point may be found
underwater.
(Photos shown are the property of the Utah
Division of Wildlife Resources and may not be reproduced
without permission.) |
