Lake Powell, AZ Fishing Report

Striped bass are now shallow at the edge of brush. We have fished both Warm Creek and Lone Rock areas recently and find all sizes of stripers holding in 8-15 feet of water near brush at the back of the canyon. A Lucky Craft Pointer, Bomber Flat A, Clackin Rap, and other shallow running crank baits have been very effective at catching stripers when trolled at 2.5 MPH (Slow down in cool water).

The deep schools of big stripers are still roaming and resting at 40-80 feet.  Find a school on the graph and immediately drop spoons for instant hookups.  Most fish hit right near the bottom.  Speed reeling is less effective than it was in the Fall. Surprisingly bait fishing is not good even though there are a fair number of thin fish swimming near the edge of the fat healthy fish.  We are catching a couple of walleye each day when trolling and spooning for stripers. When the lake dropped during the flood event many shad were pulled out of brushy hiding places creating a feeding frenzy in the backs of the canyons. Stripers were active but many birds were enjoying the feats as well. We have recently seen grebes, mergansers, seagulls, loons and great blue herons guarding the active fish locations. Find active birds and catchable fish are near.  
Weather has been flat calm and mild. What’s not to like?

“Remember to “clean, drain and dry your boat” to stop the spread of invasive species.”

Report from Nov. 28 courtesy of Wayne Gustaveson, www.wayneswords.com. Striped bass are now shallow at the edge of brush. We have fished both Warm Creek and Lone Rock areas recently and find all sizes of stripers holding in 8-15 feet of water near brush at the back of the canyon. A Lucky Craft Pointer, Bomber Flat A, Clackin Rap, and other shallow running crank baits have been very effective at catching stripers when trolled at 2.5 MPH (Slow down in cool water).

The deep schools of big stripers are still roaming and resting at 40-80 feet. Find a school on the graph and immediately drop spoons for instant hookups. Most fish hit right near the bottom. Speed reeling is less effective than it was in the fall. Surprisingly, bait fishing is not good even though there are a fair number of thin fish swimming near the edge of the fat healthy fish. 

We are catching a couple of walleye each day when trolling and spooning for stripers. When the lake dropped during the flood event, many shad were pulled out of brushy hiding places, creating a feeding frenzy in the backs of the canyons. Stripers were active but many birds were enjoying the feats as well. We have recently seen grebes, mergansers, seagulls, loons and great blue herons guarding the active fish locations. Find active birds and catchable fish are near. 

Weather has been flat calm and mild. What’s not to like?

“Remember to “clean, drain and dry your boat” to stop the spread of invasive species.”

No new fishing report for Lake Powell - visit www.wayneswords.com for Oct. 23 report. Remember to “clean, drain and dry your boat” to stop the spread of invasive species.

Report courtesy of Wayne Gustaveson, www.wayneswords.com. Report from Oct. 23, 2012. Lake elevation: 3,620 feet. Water temperature: 66-70 F. This will be the last regular fishing report for 2012. I leave on vacation this week and return just in time to sample with gill nets during the first two weeks of November. It has been an interesting year with more highs than lows. Bass and walleye fishing in the spring was awesome, followed by a great run of surface fishing for juvenile stripers in summer.  Now going into winter it’s a mixed bag with unexpected fishing opportunities occurring each day.

For example, on Saturday we took a side trip into Cathedral in the Desert at the back of Clear Creek Canyon on the Escalante. The lake level now is at the base of the second waterfall with the main cathedral well under water. We viewed the falls and then retraced our steps. While passing over the first falls (10 feet deep) marking the cathedral, we noticed a school of fish sunning themselves near the surface of the 50 feet deep chamber. A Kastmaster spoon tossed to the basking fish proved them to be largemouth bass. A slab spoon simultaneously dropped to the bottom of the chamber resulted in a 5-pound striper. The next two drops to the 50-foot bottom produced two walleye. Then the fish quit. That is a good summary of fishing this week. There are fish to catch in a wide variety of places but it takes a subtle key to understand when fish are vulnerable.

Shad in the main lake are scattered in small groups of 100 fish hiding here and there trying to avoid predators. When bass or stripers find a small school of forage fish, the area lights up with a short feeding frenzy and then quiets to a peaceful calm state. Shad are found in the backs of most canyons and coves while the open water is without forage fish. Crayfish are carrying the predatory burden in the open clear water. Fish slowly on the bottom near rocks to take advantage of this clear water crayfish key.

Shad at the inflow areas have been untouched while protected by the colored water and warm temperatures. That is now changing. Expect fishing to improve dramatically for bass, stripers, walleye and crappie near Hite and in the upper San Juan during November. Some boils are yet to occur in shad dense areas, but more fish will be caught trolling shad imitating lures and spooning along the bottom.

The best key to finding fish lakewide is to graph from the shallows out to the first drop. Striped bass are most often found on the top of a ledge that drops down to deeper water. Graph a school of fish, mark the spot with a floating marker, and then fish the area with your choice of techniques. The best option is to chum with cut-up anchovies to keep the fish in the area and then fish with spoons, bait or deep trolled lures to catch schooling fish.

Large numbers of stripers are being caught when a school is found, but many anglers are missing the subtle keys and going fishless. Pay close attention to the graph, and when a school is located, react quickly to get the school excited. Bait fishing is much more effective now than it was in the summer.  

There is still one major event to look forward to in November. As the water cools into the 50s, shad will be forced into deeper water to find stable temperatures. At that point stripers will follow. Both species will become more stationary. Then fishing will peak as finding one school will result in many more fish being caught from each school encountered.

Thanks for reading my ramblings and for helping to improve fishing for all species at Lake Powell by harvesting striped bass.

Remember to “clean, drain and dry your boat” to stop the spread of invasive species.

By Wayne Gustaveson, http://www.wayneswords.com. Lake Powell Fish Report from Oct. 9, 2012. Lake Elevation: 3,619. Water Temperature 69-74 F. The full moon has faded and fishing success is responding accordingly. Stripers were absent from anglers’ creels in the southern lake last week while fish enjoyed bright nights, but they have now returned to full daytime activity. Before the bright moon, Warm Creek and Navajo Canyon were the most successful southern striper fishing spots. With water temperatures falling, it appears that springtime hot spots are now the go-to sites once more.  

We ran uplake to West, Last Chance and Rock Creek to find stripers schooled in deep water guarding the brushy shallows where shad still live.  Adult stripers are accustomed to waiting in deep water for the opportunity to get close enough to feed on a shad school. We found some long U-shaped coves with schools guarding at the first drop to 40-60 feet. Spoons dropped to the schools often ignited a quick bite where 5-10 stripers were caught on that many casts. Then schools would move away and we had to find another cove with stripers in attendance to restart the feeding spree.

In Rock Creek we found a school of juvenile stripers holding at 12-25 feet in what is left of the submerged brush.  A trolled medium running (8-10 feet) crankbait (Thunderstick Jr) would be quickly eaten by one of the widespread schooling fish. While that fish was being landed, more trailing stripers could be hooked by casting the same lures in all directions around the boat.  Each stop resulted in as many as five stripers being caught before the boat drifted away from the school. The school could then be readily relocated by trolling up another fish and casting to increase the catch.  

Striper fishing success has never slowed in the San Juan Arm where adult schools are guarding the mouths of Piute and Neskahi Canyons and deep water in between. Fishing success at Good Hope Bay and Hite is less certain, with few reports coming from there this week. That may be due to the steady striper fishing success in Bullfrog and Halls using the same spooning and trolling techniques described above.  

Magic 60-degree temperatures that caused bass and striper fishing to peak in the spring will be duplicated during the next three weeks. Look for a fall flurry of fishing success similar to that found in spring. Use your favorite technique at your best springtime spot to have great fishing success. Crappie are being caught in trees now and will continue to provide good catches until mid November.

Bass are eager to hit topwater lures morning and evening. Largemouth bass have moved to the base of trees in quickly sloping main creek channel coves at 10-15 feet. Swim baits (D-Shad) allowed to fall slowly near these trees are working well.  Plastic baits are working well for smallmouth bass on rocky points at 12-20 feet.  Drop shooting is still very effective and chartreuse is one of the best colors to use in a wide variety of baits. October may be the best fall fishing month this year for all species at Lake Powell.

Report from Sept. 27 courtesy of Wayne Gustaveson, http://www.wayneswords.com. Lake elevation: 3,621 feet. Water temperature: 73-77 F. Surface water temperature is now in a slow downward spiral. Nights are enjoyably cool with warm temperatures during the day. A weather front and temperature drop disrupted fishing success for a couple of days last week but it was mostly a readjustment in timing. Some areas that had enjoyed a good morning bite now had better fishing in the evening. Fishing is still good but it may be necessary to readjust schedules. Best fishing will always be better early or late. Right now many good morning spots are performing better in the evening. If morning does not work for you one day ,get excited about going out again on the other end of the day. I remember well that last year during October the best fishing happened at dusk.

The new wrinkle right now is the random appearance of a roving shad school at mid day that causes a short-lived but highly productive fishing experience. The other day in Dove Canyon we struggled to find the normally reliable morning feeding stripers. We gave up and turned around to head out of the canyon when a small boil erupted 50 yards behind us in a spot we had just fished without success. Luckily, we had topwater and spoons hooked up on waiting rods. We quickly boated 10 stripers on top and then immediately went to spoons to get 10 more before they quit. A few more random casts to shore produced five nice smallmouth bass.

Fish remain active at the many spots that have been successful recently. We have good fish reports this week with stripers and bass being caught at Castle Rock Cut, Warm Creek haystacks, Navajo Canyon, Last Chance, Rock Creek, San Juan (Neskahi), Bullfrog and Halls, and Good Hope Bay at Blue Notch.

Spoons were the most reliable tool, but topwater lures are becoming much more dependable morning and evening and during the chance encounter with boiling fish mid day. Bait fishing is steady at depths of 30-60 feet where most of the larger stripers reside. Most boiling stripers are the juvenile variety that are able to live in warm surface water all the time. But it won’t be long now until the larger stripers will be released from the cool water where they have spent the summer. That presents a problem for them as the smaller stripers are quicker and stronger and able to out-compete larger stripers for the limited shad supply. All this points to a tremendous bait fishing season coming in spring of 2013.

Bass are really fun right now on topwater lures both morning and evening. Toss a big surface lure over the thin row of brush near shore and slowly work it back until the giant splash occurs. Even more bass can be caught on lightly weighted flukes and D-Shad fish slowly in the few remaining trees along the sandy shoreline.
Fishing remains excellent by worldly standards. I was disappointed yesterday to only catch 20 fish. That speaks volumes about the Lake Powell fishery.

Lake elevation: 3,622. Water Temperature 75-78 F

Lake level decline has slowed and weather is similar to that imagined for a dream vacation to a tropical island. It’s warm in the day time and delightfully cool at night with only a gentle breeze occasionally breaking up the flat calm reflecting pool of Lake Powell. Yes it’s really nice down here right now.

Fishing patterns are essentially the same with some subtle differences discovered during the past week.  Early each morning and evening small shad schools (100 fish) venture out to eat plankton. There will be an occasional quick bass or striper boil as the sun hits the water in the morning or goes behind the canyon wall at night. None of this surface action is large or long lived but it provides an indication that fish are in the area and can be caught.

An added bonus is that shad schools randomly show up during the day in shallow water along shore. Shad are trying to find new hiding places after being evicted from their summer homes by falling lake levels. Shad schools have been seen in unusual places like the Stateline Ramp, Wahweap fishing dock, and in many small coves over the length of lake. Casting near these active shad schools insures that fish will be caught. The only unknown is whether bass or stripers will be working near the cornered shad school.

Two patterns prevail.  Bass can be caught on surface lures, both hard plastic poppers and soft plastic flukes, fished in the few remaining brush thickets. It is easy to cruise the main channel and see a brushy pocket near shore. Virtually all of these remaining thickets will hold many bass and some stripers.  Cast into the brush near shore for quick action.

Stripers are roving the canyons and bays in large schools that can be seen on the surface occasionally but on the graph consistently. Graph a school and drop spoons, bait or troll the area to catch a cooler full of fish. Some recent dependable fishing spots have been vacated as stripers move in pursuit of shad that have left for safer venues.

New destinations to try now include main Warm Creek Bay half way between the floating restroom and Crosby Canyon.  Gunsight Canyon is another spot with a big striper school now in residence. Last Chance, Rock Creek, Dove and Dungeon provide some very good opportunities to get a big school going right under the boat. Graph where bottom depth quickly falls from 30 to 60 feet for best results.

In the vicinity of Bullfrog a few boils have been seen at Hobie Cat beach and at the back of Bullfrog Bay. Again the best catching has come on bait and spoons in Moki Canyon, and Halls Creek (near the pass that leads to Bullfrog Bay at higher water).

Good Hope Bay is the center of north lake action.  Look for suspended fish in open water holding near the thermocline.  We found a large school on the main channel side of Blue Notch near the last large main channel island when leaving Blue Notch to run further uplake.

Our largest striper school of the week was found at the mouth of Piute Canyon on the San Juan.  We were able to fill the cooler 3 different times with 3-5 pound stripers.  Fish were filleted as the cooler ran out of space and then we returned for another battle. At the end of the day we had spent a total of 4 hours fishing and caught 115 large stripers.

Striper fishing is really good right now but schools tend to move often. Troll deep to find a new school but drop spoons when a hooked fish comes to the boat and the school is seen on the graph to maximize catch. Another trick is to chum an area with anchovies and return later in the day to find stripers cruising that area to find more bait.

Fishing is excellent and will hold up through October. We hope you can make one more trip to help us save some shad and harvest striped bass. Thanks for your efforts to improve the Lake Powell fishery.

Lake elevation: 3,622. Water temperature 77-80 F

Good fishing success we have enjoyed for a while continues and is perhaps even better than last week. The main factor is falling lake level. Shad have been hiding in the brush line surrounding the lake all summer long. Now water level is declining leaving the brush high and dry and shad without a good hiding spot.   Shad are exposed and all game fish are taking a swipe at them every chance they get.

Scattered splashes mark the action punctuated by diving seagulls and terns, with shore bound ravens, coyotes and herons waiting for their turn. Cast surface lures and shallow diving crankbaits near diving gulls and splashes.  When surface splashes cease look at the graph for more action.  The brush line is in shallow water from 12-20 feet.  When fish leave the surface, graph the sloping bottom from 35-60 feet for striper schools.  When found drop spoons to the waiting, hungry fish for quick results.

It is common for all who drop heavy slab spoons into an active school to catch fish at the same time. Make sure to mark the spot of first encounter so it is easy to return to the same spot after the school leaves the boat and returns to their resting spot.

Lake Powell’s shoreline is not completely brush lined. It is hard to find boils in canyon areas with steep cliffs and no brush. Here trolling while graphing is the best way to find striper schools. Spoons work just as well with the deep hungry fish as they do with surface feeders. Find a school in 50-100 feet of water and catch them by down rigger trolling, with spoons on bottom or on bait with copious chumming. Smaller fish are more likely to be close to the surface while bigger fish are in the depths. Use you favorite technique but, if at all possible, come now.  Fishing is at the fall peak.

Some of the best splash and graph shallow areas are: Warm Creek channel from Castle Rock to twin islands, Warm Creek Haystacks (Cottonwood Arm), islands in Padre Bay, West Canyon mouth to Dove Canyon, Last Chance coves with brushy shoreline, and mouth of Dungeon Canyon. Look for exposed brush as an indicator of fish presence in all these areas.

Best trolling and bait fishing occurs in steep walled areas including: Navajo Canyon upstream from the big sand dune, buoy 83, mouth of Knowles Canyon, Good Hope Bay and many other spots.

Lost in the striper story are the bass frequenting all the areas just mentioned. Large and smallmouth are reacting to the displaced shad just as vociferously as stripers.  Soft plastic or hard surface lures cast to the brush line around the perimeter of Lake Powell will catch bass virtually all day long. It helps to see a few fish splashing or a bird diving into a cove to make sure it’s the right spot.  But bass fishing is peaking now.  Choose your favorite fishing technique, location and lure. Then go out and try it. Fishing is superb from Wahweap to Good Hope Bay or on the San Juan to Neskahi Wash or up the Escalante to the Indian Ruin.

Lake elevation: 3,624. Water temperature 78-83 F

Lake Powell water level has declined another foot this week leaving 16 feet of water in Castle Rock Cut. Falling lake level and a slight dip in water temperature may have jacked up fishing success another notch. Sporadic catches of stripers early in the month have given way to dependable results every morning and evening.

Finding stripers is easy and dependable. First thing in the morning, cruise along the shoreline looking for a few random splashes. When close enough to the splash ring cast a surface lure right at the ring.  If that doesn’t work, drop a spoon to the bottom, jig it a few times and then speed reel it back to the boat. Check the graph to see any fish activity. If there are fish on the bottom continue to work the spoon.  If no fish are seen, move on looking for more splashes.

At some point the surface lure or spoon will hook up.  Hopefully the active school will follow the hooked fish to the boat.  Then all that cast spoons, swimbaits, shallow crankbaits or plastic grubs near the hooked fish could hook up with trailing fish.  Put as many stripers in the boat as possible before the school moves on. Save picture taking and deck cleaning until the school departs. Then move on to graph more schools or find more surface action.  These close encounters with striper schools may result in 10-30 fish in very short order when the school stays in range for 15 minutes.

The majority of fish caught near the surface are 14-inch stripers but larger fish are caught more often in deeper water under the school of small stripers. Wahweap Bay holds a ton of 14-inch fish with a few 2-3 pounders in the mix. There have been good early morning boils near Lone Rock and Castle Rock recently.  Best time is from dawn until 8 AM.

Navajo Canyon has the biggest stripers in the lower lake with many 4-7 pounders caught recently.

The same pattern holds up the main channel through Padre Bay and beyond.

Reports from the San Juan and Escalante are off the charts.  I can’t write how good it actually is because no one would believe it!  Piute Bay and canyon is loaded with 4-7 pound stripers eager to hit top water, trolled lures or spoons. The Escalante near the Indian Ruin offers the same banquet with big fish being caught on top and at depth.

Bullfrog is more like the main lake with the report being “really good”.  Good Hope bay is off the charts in the northern lake.  The only spot underperforming right now is Hite.   Fish in Good Hope now and save Hite until next month.

That about covers fishing success for the first 3 hours each day – but there is more.  Remember each spot where fish were caught and return there after 9 AM.  Schools regroup and rest in deeper water.  Now they can be caught on bait. Anchor or tie up near the best early morning action and chum with anchovies for the opportunity to catch more and larger fish. Stripers are not ranging very far and often return to the same bay or channel location each day. Find a good spot one day and return the next to duplicate previous fishing success.

My heart is racing just writing about this. Labor Day weekend should be a really good time to fish the lake despite the looming full moon. Fishing is quite good now because stripers have found shad.  That should overcome the negative effect of full moon. The only downside to bright nights is that morning fishing success may decline and evening success will increase.

Lake Elevation: 3626
Water Temperature 80-85 F

Fishing strategy this week is to be prepared for anything. Stripers are being caught night and day but it seems to be in a different spot with a different bait or lure each time. The common thread is to look for small stripers splashing and then react to what stripers are doing.

Shad forage is limited in the lower lake but abundant near the Colorado River inflow and the upper San Juan. Shad are small in size and not attractive to the bigger stripers. Small stripers visibly attack shad while larger fish lurk nearby in deeper, cooler water. Big stripers follow the surface feeders hoping for a chance encounter with larger shad. Find small 2-3 fish splashes to locate larger suspended stripers, bass and walleye.

Over the weekend 2-4 pound stripers were caught in Navajo Canyon on bait between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. where small fish had boiled the previous day. Main channel depth was between 100-110 feet at this location (Monitoring gradually changing channel bottom depth in long canyons is a good way to mark a location that can be described to others). The following day stripers boiled in the same spot between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. and were readily caught on surface lures and spoons in the same location.

This splash and graph pattern is working lakewide. One time they boil and the next time they suspend at depth in big schools. Fish are mid way back in the canyons because the backs of canyons with colored water have excessive water temperatures.

My best strategy is to start trolling a deep-diving lure where water color changes from clear to murky with bottom depth near 100 feet. Look for splashes near shore in shade while graphing for suspended schools in the open channel. I follow the shade line as stripers really like to hold in shade and look out into brighter water. In each canyon there will be an area where more fish are marked. Troll through the fish marks but if they do not respond hover over a school and try spoons. If that does not work then cut up anchovies, broadcast chum around the boat and fish cut bait in 30-60 feet of water. Look for shade and broken rocks that may harbor crayfish when bait fishing.

Sounds difficult doesn’t it? It’s a great time to learn about fish behavior because there are a lot of hungry fish just waiting for the right trigger. It is really gratifying to be able to decipher all the nuances that identify vulnerable fish and catch a bunch of hungry stripers where everyone else has just driven by.

Night fishing is working very well near the marinas. Tie the boat up to the marina breakwater, put out a night light, and watch the shad gather. Chumming attracts the stripers lurking on the outer edge of the light and under the shad school. Fish deeper than the suspended shad.

On my weekend trip I reluctantly bought anchovies to catch some bigger fish at depth. Trolling while graphing revealed many fish marks on the corner of the channel. I trolled through the fish and was surprised to catch my biggest striper (5 pounds) of the year on a Norman deep diver. While unhooking and taking pictures the familiar sound of boiling stripers echoed off the canyon walls behind us in the shade. We commenced to catch 20 more 1-3 pound stripers on top in the next half hour. It was a great trip.

I can try bait next time. 

Lake Elevation: 3626
Water Temperature 80-85 F

Fishing strategy this week is to be prepared for anything. Stripers are being caught night and day but it seems to be in a different spot with a different bait or lure each time. The common thread is to look for small stripers splashing and then react to what stripers are doing.

Shad forage is limited in the lower lake but abundant near the Colorado River inflow and the upper San Juan. Shad are small in size and not attractive to the bigger stripers. Small stripers visibly attack shad while larger fish lurk nearby in deeper, cooler water. Big stripers follow the surface feeders hoping for a chance encounter with larger shad. Find small 2-3 fish splashes to locate larger suspended stripers, bass and walleye.

Over the weekend 2-4 pound stripers were caught in Navajo Canyon on bait between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. where small fish had boiled the previous day. Main channel depth was between 100-110 feet at this location (Monitoring gradually changing channel bottom depth in long canyons is a good way to mark a location that can be described to others). The following day stripers boiled in the same spot between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. and were readily caught on surface lures and spoons in the same location.

This splash and graph pattern is working lakewide. One time they boil and the next time they suspend at depth in big schools. Fish are mid way back in the canyons because the backs of canyons with colored water have excessive water temperatures.

My best strategy is to start trolling a deep-diving lure where water color changes from clear to murky with bottom depth near 100 feet. Look for splashes near shore in shade while graphing for suspended schools in the open channel. I follow the shade line as stripers really like to hold in shade and look out into brighter water. In each canyon there will be an area where more fish are marked. Troll through the fish marks but if they do not respond hover over a school and try spoons. If that does not work then cut up anchovies, broadcast chum around the boat and fish cut bait in 30-60 feet of water. Look for shade and broken rocks that may harbor crayfish when bait fishing.

Sounds difficult doesn’t it? It’s a great time to learn about fish behavior because there are a lot of hungry fish just waiting for the right trigger. It is really gratifying to be able to decipher all the nuances that identify vulnerable fish and catch a bunch of hungry stripers where everyone else has just driven by.

Night fishing is working very well near the marinas. Tie the boat up to the marina breakwater, put out a night light, and watch the shad gather. Chumming attracts the stripers lurking on the outer edge of the light and under the shad school. Fish deeper than the suspended shad.

On my weekend trip I reluctantly bought anchovies to catch some bigger fish at depth. Trolling while graphing revealed many fish marks on the corner of the channel. I trolled through the fish and was surprised to catch my biggest striper (5 pounds) of the year on a Norman deep diver. While unhooking and taking pictures the familiar sound of boiling stripers echoed off the canyon walls behind us in the shade. We commenced to catch 20 more 1-3 pound stripers on top in the next half hour. It was a great trip.

I can try bait next time.

With great relief the fishing report is much better this week. Looks like last week’s dismal report is gone and buried.

Here are the bright spots.

Scattered striper boils have been reported the past few days. Navajo Canyon and the high shady wall separating Padre and Last Chance got the most praise. Shade lasts in the eastern most part of Padre Bay until about 9 a.m., which allows stripers to hunt for shad in low light along the wall beginning at dawn. We arrived this morning at 6 a.m. with the entire bay in shade due to cloud cover. Unfortunately there were no boils in the choppy bay. We trolled the shoreline and caught 2 stripers and 1 bass but the boils did not happen.

Moving uplake we found widely scattered stripers hitting the surface on the point dividing Padre from Last Chance. We trolled to catch a couple more but could not score on boiling fish. Another boil blew up in the shade of Gregory Butte. Long casts with ¾ ounce KastMasters and 1 ounce Wally lure spoons were quickly rewarded with yearling stripers. Then we headed to Last Chance. Each bay on the east side of Last Chance had a small boil brewing. When we were in range to cast to any boil our spoons were quickly taken and fish began flying into the boat. After one boil subsided we had 9 fish lying on the deck ready for deposit on ice in the fish cooler. Now we were having fun.

The only secret to catching fish was to hit near the splash ring made by actively feeding stripers. The spoon fell only about 5 feet before being engulfed by voracious stripers. When the boil sounded a few more fish could be caught by letting the spoon fall 20-30 feet before working it back. But casting into active boils was by far the best pattern. We forgot all about trolling.

Stripers boiled until about 9 a.m. (MST). With the surface quiet we concentrated on the graph and found a striper school on a submerged reef that ranged from 25-40 feet surrounded by very deep water. Our spoons were attacked as soon as they hit bottom. We caught more stripers, including 4-pound adults, at depth but half the fish caught were walleye. We made 3 productive passes over the reef before the school got tired of us and left the reef for the depths. What a great morning. We caught 36 stripers and 5 walleye.

This pattern should hold up for a few more days. Search the shade line along the east wall of the canyons and main channel looking for a few splashes which designate the location of a striper school. Look for bass and walleye along the shoreline to be stirred up by stripers herding shad into their cove. This should be a lakewide pattern. The San Juan and White Canyon area near Hite should be boiling as well with bigger fish being caught in scattered boils. In brushy shoreline areas use topwater baits to catch bass and stripers at dusk and dawn.

Looks like the summer doldrums are over. Expect more surface activity at Lake Powell during August.

By: Wayne Gustaveson  
http://www.wayneswords.com, July 18, 2012. Lake elevation: 3,631. Water temperature 80-83 F

The weekly fishing trip revealed some distressing news. Trolling for juvenile stripers along the brushy shoreline failed to work for the first time this year. It may have been just one slow day or a sign of fish movement out of the shallow zone. It will take another trip or two to make a positive determination.

The good news was finding early morning and late evening boils from these same juvenile fish. Feeding location has changed from the brushy shoreline in bays to shaded pockets along steep cliff walls.  In the southern lake scattered boils are found during the first two hours of daylight and last hour of light in Navajo Canyon and the high walls of Gooseneck Point separating Padre Bay and Last Chance.  This general pattern should work over the length of the lake.

As the sun gets higher in the sky boils are confined only to shady areas. Cruising along the shade line in Navajo Canyon is a good way to find active stripers in early morning or late evening. Schools may range from 5 fish up to 100 stripers. Bigger schools provide more hookups while small groups make it harder to hook fish.

When a school is seen the most effective technique is to throw long casts with a small spoon right at the splash ring. Let the bait sink about 5 feet then work it back toward the surface and then let it fall again. Work the bait in a series of vertical drops while reeling it back to the boat.  KastMaster spoons are very effective for these fish feeding on top in very deep water. It is still a very good idea to use light leader to get more hookups when targeting juvenile stripers.

From Bullfrog to Hite fishing remains much better. Striper size is larger as adult fish are caught regularly. A few boils are seen but frequency is diminishing uplake in the hot weather. KastMaster tactics should be employed for random surface action.

The go-to technique is to troll deeper diving lures that get down to 15 feet and deeper. Down riggers would be the preferred way to present you favorite lure at the preferred depth stripers desire. That depth is getting deeper as surface warming expands the warm surface layer. Bait fishing is still only fair during the day but heating up dramatically at night.

The best technique for catching stripers now is to use a fish light after dark and cast anchovy bait on the outskirts of the attracted fish schools swarming the light.  It’s a neat visual experience to see shad surround the light and predators cutting a quick swath through the bait ball.

Bass and walleye fishing is slowing with the heat as well. Smallmouth are still readily available along the shoreline with the bigger fish holding at 25-35 feet where the water is cooler.  Catfish are easy to catch on table scraps at dusk along the sandy beach areas.

Angler report:

We spent the first couple of days (July 7-10) camping in Knowles Canyon.   There were a few striper boils in the mouth of the canyon, and once in a while we could sneak up and get a few casts into the boil.  We were using Silver Crippled Hearing and Kast Masters. After the boil would go down, we would float over the school, graph the depth of the fish with fish finder. We would then vertically jig with anchovies and the same silver spoons. One day this worked really well. All of the stripers those first few days were caught with these methodologies.

Fishing slowed down as the week went on.  

Later in the week we moved down to Moki Canyon.  We did really well trolling Cabalas Grave digger deep running shad. We found that deep running shad plugs (15 feet) did really well.  We trolled the rocky shoreline opposite the Moki mouth and caught walleye, stripers, smallmouth and one nice largemouth.    Mornings seemed best, but for some reason one morning was a bust.

It seems some boats were getting stripers deep off at the mouth of Moki.  It seemed most boats in the Moki area were very satisfied. When we were leaving to go home, I graphed some large schools inside Moki, but didn't get a chance to fish them. Not one boil was seen in Moki.

Thanks to Wayne for pointing out lighter line was needed to troll the deep shad lures. We found this true also, but we lost more lures since we were fishing a rocky shoreline and the stripers were very nice.   Bring extra line and lures. 

Rich Tolway, Phoenix Az

Lake elevation: 3,632. Water temperature 80-83 F

Water temperature has now reached the high point for the year. Early morning temp is 80 and by afternoon it reaches 83 or higher. From now until September the temperature will remain the same but the band of warm water will deepen. These warm temperatures are higher than any of the fish in Lake Powell prefer. It makes sense then that fishing has slowed down all over Lake Powell.

Striped bass can still be caught but it takes a bit more patience or some late night work. Stripers are most active at dusk and dawn. There will be an occasional boil in the northern lake. In the south there is scattered surface action from yearling stripers feeding in groups of 2-5 fish. They hit the surface from dawn to 7 a.m. (MST) but splashes are widely spaced. If close enough to cast to a rising fish the chances of catching it are high. It is much more efficient to troll the general area where striper splashes are seen. Use a shallow running pointer, LV100 or X-rap to steadily catch yearling stripers while trolling near surface feeding stripers.

We tried trolling deeper under the surface action without success. We are still clueless as to the general location of adult stripers in the southern lake. It is now too warm for them to feed on the surface for extended periods. We don’t see many adult striper schools when graphing deeper water. Conditions seem ideal for bait fishing now but the only successful bait fishing reports come after dark. This is a great time to break out the green fishing lights and use bait in areas that have produced well in the past. Some stripers are taken under the lights near the marinas or off houseboats in the buoy fields. Adult fish are deep and should be hungry. Down rigger trolling is another good option to take bigger fish.

Smallmouth bass are by far the best choice for targeting catchable fish. The brush zone from shore to 25 feet deep harbors most of the action. Large and smallmouth bass, walleye, stripers and sunfish are in brush along with shad and small sunfish. Cast plastic grubs to rocky drop-offs in the brush zone to catch multiple bass. Surface lures work very well morning and evening. Casting crankbaits in the spaces between the trees is very effective. Use your favorite fishing technique to catch bass early and late.

Catfishing success peaks in warm water of summer. It’s time to use some smelly old bait along the shoreline at dusk and into the night to catch some dandy whiskered fish. Chicken liver, shrimp, night crawlers, hot dog rounds and anchovies are excellent catfish bait.

My hopes are high that after this fishing lull that the anticipated summer boil season will break loose. Usually all that is needed is for me to write one dismal fishing report and stripers start to boil everywhere. This is that dismal report. Now we are impatiently waiting for the bigger stripers to find shad and start boiling.

Lake Elevation: 3,635. Water Temperature 72-80 F.

Lake level is now falling after remaining stable all spring. This will have an impact on fishing later in the summer but for right now the same old patterns are still in force. The brush forest at lake edge has been responsible for the good fishing results for all species seen this year and for some unexpected quirks as well. Adult stripers have been hard to catch in the main lake this year as these big fish remain associated with brush that they have occupied for most of their 3-4 year life span.  As water pulls out of the trees, stripers and forage will have to move to open water creating a different fishing pattern.

But for this week stripers are still associated with brush. In the southern lake yearling stripers are holding near brushy coves. The best pattern is to troll in 15-25 feet of water, near brush, on flat shorelines. Bays like Warm Creek, Padre, and West Canyon have the flat brushy shoreline small stripers favor. While trolling watch the graph for schools of fish under the boat and constantly scan the surface for slurping boils.  Boils are most likely to be seen at morning and evening twilight. Good numbers of stripers can be caught trolling and then under the boat as the school follows the hooked fish to casting and spooning range.

From Hite to Good Hope the same technique of trolling while watching for surface activity works well. Troll right up to boiling fish, change rods and catch surface feeding fish. When they go down, keep trolling for more fish. Trachyte and Tapestry Wall have been consistent for boils this week.

At Bullfrog lots of slurpers are seen morning and evening from Hansen Creek to Lake Canyon and all spots in between. The fish are spooky but a few fish can be caught from each boil. The big advantage at Bullfrog is boiling stripers weigh 3-pounds instead of the half pound fish found at Wahweap.  Striper fishing is best described as steady. Fish are regularly caught but not in numbers in which we have become accustomed.

The surprise species continues to be walleye. They can be caught trolling in the treetops in 15-20 feet of water early and late in the day. (That is the essentially the same pattern and location described for stripers.) Use a Bomber Flat A crankbait or a Lucky Craft Flat Mini to troll at just the right depth over trees.  On windy afternoons walleye bite trolled baits very well while on calm days they are missing in action.  Walleye fishing near Hite is great while best described as good in the main lake downstream all the way to Padre Bay. 
   
Saving the best for last, it is now time to describe smallmouth bass fishing as wide open.  It is essential to use the right technique to achieve the best results. Drop-shot is the key and Yamamoto shad shaped worms are the best bait.  Fish the edge of the tree line for smallmouth and the brush thickets for largemouth. Place the bait on the bottom in 15-25 feet of water near brush and then fish it very   s-l-o-w-l-y.   Let the fish tell you when it has been in one place long enough. Once in the zone, 100-bass days are very possible. If drop-shot rigs are still a mystery to you then it’s time to study up and learn how to use this effective summer fishing technique.

Lake elevation: 3,636; Water temperature 65-72 F

 Forgive me for taking off my fishing hat and going biologist, but after spending much time on the water conducting a striper fishing seminar over the weekend it became apparent to me that we have just gained significant insight into striped bass behavior. Striper fishing has changed dramatically since the last report. Here is a brief summary of the events leading up to the present.

In most other years there is an overabundance of stripers and not enough shad to go around. That makes fish hungry and easy to catch. Seldom do we see healthy stripers completing a spring cycle in perfect habitat and forage conditions. The current population is composed of young (2-yrs and younger) fish that survived by eating plankton during an adult die-off in fall of 2010. These young fish have since lived in high forage and perfect habitat conditions. Now as mature 4-years-olds they have shown us what their activity cycle would be under ideal conditions.

In early spring, day length and first warming trigger male stripers into activity. Females are not yet ready to spawn but males are anxiously waiting from early April until spawning finally occurs sometime in May. Anglers were able to find and catch ripe males but females were missing from the creel. In late April ripe males went nocturnal providing excellent fishing morning and evening but then went dormant during the day. Big mature females were only caught at night.

With more warming in late April, yearling (12-inch) stripers became active and schools could be found and caught over the brush forests in the backs (15-25 feet bottom depth) of many canyons. Then this past weekend as water temperature increased into the 70s another portion of the striper population burst onto the scene as immature (2 year-old) stripers became active during the day. Anglers now were suddenly catching 2-3 pound stripers in unlimited numbers. The long awaited spring striper extravaganza has now arrived.

Troll over brushy points leading to deep water to find striper schools.

It is interesting that this feeding spree coincided with the sighting of abundant young shad schools in the backs of many canyons. Apparently this specific portion of the population has been dormant and living off fat reserves accumulated during past good times. The activity trigger was warming water temperature which also related to forage being available when feeding commenced.

The next step will be surface feeding boils which will follow the spawning event which is imminent. In my long association with striped bass this spring has been truly unique. We now know what the cycle would be like in Lake Powell under ideal forage conditions. Ideal conditions may not happen again for a very long time but this has been very gratifying to witness and record.

Back to fishing. Striper schools are found in close association with brush. Look for a brush covered point in proximity to deep water. Troll over or adjacent to brush with shallow running crank baits where bottom depth is 15-30 feet. This is the same advice that has been given all spring. The difference is that trolling is only used to locate the school. When the hooked striper is brought to the boat the hungry school follows and stays near the boat. Fish are often visible and aggressive. Toss your favorite lure to the waiting fish and catch as many stripers as possible before the boat drifts into the shallows or separates from the school. Then simply troll again to relocate the school and then cast to catch many more fish.

Striper fishing is now equal to the other incredible fishing that has been found at Lake Powell this spring. Largemouth catch has declined but walleye, smallmouth and crappie fishing is still superb. Smallmouth are found and readily caught on virtually any rocky shoreline using plastic tubes and grubs and deep diving crankbaits. Crappie and bluegill are in the backs of canyons where they can be caught on live worms and small marabou jigs. Walleye are found on the deep water side of brushy rocky flats. Fish for them with tube jigs, bottom bouncers, and crankbaits in low light and under muddy wind-washed areas of low visibility.

Submerged points near brush are perhaps the best striper collection spots. Find the breaking edge and troll to find the striper school.

 Fishing at Lake Powell is still incredible for all species of fish. The addition of striped bass to the fishing party is very welcome.

For another week Lake Powell’s water level is stable and temperature remains in the low 60s, which is ideal for excellent bass, walleye and crappie fishing. With day length and ambient temperature increasing the best tip is to fish in the shade. That includes the shady side of an individual rock or the shady side of a canyon. Seek shade to increase catch.

Bass nests are still seen in the clear water and some have male guards cruising in the vicinity. But bass spawning is near completion. Smallmouth have begun the migration from shallow nesting areas in the backs of the coves toward the channel where they will reside on rocky points and ledges for the rest of the summer. Adult smallmouth have moved down a notch and can be found in deeper water depths at 10 to 20 feet. Young smallmouth are still ever present and eager to attack lures just about anywhere.

Largemouth bass really do not like to leave brush. Big adults are still residing in the thickest trees they can find in shallow water. Expect them to be 5-10 feet of water surrounded by tree limbs. Weightless rigged senkos are still accounting for a good catch of bucket mouth bass for those fishing shallow brush lined coves.

Walleye are the hot ticket right now particularly north of Bullfrog. The best technique involves worm harnesses attached to bottom bouncers which can be slow trolled along a fairly flat bottomed. Bottom bouncers will travel along slick rock humps and flood plain bottoms with ease but are not good in thick tree lined areas. Select a relatively open bottom and troll at a depth of 20-40 feet. Walleye are often captured with flat line trolled wally diver type crankbaits and randomly caught with plastic baits while fishing for bass. Fish the edge of bass habitat in slightly deeper water to find walleye.

Striped bass fishing is heating up from Good Hope to Hite where trolling leads to decent catches of fat fish up to 6 pounds. In the main lake stripers are still waiting for the spawning trigger. Males from 2-4 pounds are holding in 25 to 40 feet of water eating plankton and a few crayfish.

 Schools are very active at dusk and dawn. Troll shallow running crankbaits, swimbaits, or bucktail jigs to locate a school. Once found, return to these spots every night and morning to catch another cooler full of fat stripers from stationary schools.

 During the day fishing success drops off, although this week there has been a noticeable increase in school size and some have been willing to greedily attack spoons for short periods morning and evening. Large females are still mysteriously sulking during the day. They can be caught at night near schooling males.

One of these nights spawning will occur. Those lucky enough to witness the event will be able to catch stripers on every cast for hours. Spawning fish will range from 2 pounds at the smallest to 50 pounds plus for adult females. They will all be mixed together so a 2-pound fish could be caught followed by 30-pounder. Cast a single hook on a bucktail jig after dark to prevent hooking your hand during lure removal. Striper spawning is a singular event that should be on any anglers bucket list. I have been fortunate enough to have witnessed this event only about 5 times in 30 years. Night fishing is not my favorite but conditions are right this week for striper spawning to occur.

Here is the plan. Choose a calm night when water temperature has increased from the low 60s in the morning to mid 70s in the evening. Choose a warm night when water temperature remains high. That triggers the females and spawning occurs. Find the male aggregation by trolling or casting to prominent points at dusk. Sometimes surface splashing near shore at dusk marks the spawning coves. Anchor the boat one long cast from shore. It is fine to catch males while waiting for the bigger fish to move in. This event is the only fishing experience that exceeds a major striper boil lasting longer than an hour. The time is close. I hope you find them.

For another week Lake Powell’s water level is stable and temperature remains in the low 60s, which is ideal for excellent bass, walleye and crappie fishing. With day length and ambient temperature increasing the best tip is to fish in the shade. That includes the shady side of an individual rock or the shady side of a canyon. Seek shade to increase catch.

Bass nests are still seen in the clear water and some have male guards cruising in the vicinity. But bass spawning is near completion. Smallmouth have begun the migration from shallow nesting areas in the backs of the coves toward the channel where they will reside on rocky points and ledges for the rest of the summer. Adult smallmouth have moved down a notch and can be found in deeper water depths at 10 to 20 feet. Young smallmouth are still ever present and eager to attack lures just about anywhere.

Largemouth bass really do not like to leave brush. Big adults are still residing in the thickest trees they can find in shallow water. Expect them to be 5-10 feet of water surrounded by tree limbs. Weightless rigged senkos are still accounting for a good catch of bucket mouth bass for those fishing shallow brush lined coves.

Walleye are the hot ticket right now particularly north of Bullfrog. The best technique involves worm harnesses attached to bottom bouncers which can be slow trolled along a fairly flat bottomed. Bottom bouncers will travel along slick rock humps and flood plain bottoms with ease but are not good in thick tree lined areas. Select a relatively open bottom and troll at a depth of 20-40 feet. Walleye are often captured with flat line trolled wally diver type crankbaits and randomly caught with plastic baits while fishing for bass. Fish the edge of bass habitat in slightly deeper water to find walleye.

Striped bass fishing is heating up from Good Hope to Hite where trolling leads to decent catches of fat fish up to 6 pounds. In the main lake stripers are still waiting for the spawning trigger. Males from 2-4 pounds are holding in 25 to 40 feet of water eating plankton and a few crayfish.

 Schools are very active at dusk and dawn. Troll shallow running crankbaits, swimbaits, or bucktail jigs to locate a school. Once found, return to these spots every night and morning to catch another cooler full of fat stripers from stationary schools.

 During the day fishing success drops off, although this week there has been a noticeable increase in school size and some have been willing to greedily attack spoons for short periods morning and evening. Large females are still mysteriously sulking during the day. They can be caught at night near schooling males.

One of these nights spawning will occur. Those lucky enough to witness the event will be able to catch stripers on every cast for hours. Spawning fish will range from 2 pounds at the smallest to 50 pounds plus for adult females. They will all be mixed together so a 2-pound fish could be caught followed by 30-pounder. Cast a single hook on a bucktail jig after dark to prevent hooking your hand during lure removal. Striper spawning is a singular event that should be on any anglers bucket list. I have been fortunate enough to have witnessed this event only about 5 times in 30 years. Night fishing is not my favorite but conditions are right this week for striper spawning to occur.

Here is the plan. Choose a calm night when water temperature has increased from the low 60s in the morning to mid 70s in the evening. Choose a warm night when water temperature remains high. That triggers the females and spawning occurs. Find the male aggregation by trolling or casting to prominent points at dusk. Sometimes surface splashing near shore at dusk marks the spawning coves. Anchor the boat one long cast from shore. It is fine to catch males while waiting for the bigger fish to move in. This event is the only fishing experience that exceeds a major striper boil lasting longer than an hour. The time is close. I hope you find them.

Lake Powell is stable and holding at elevation 3,635 (MSL) where it has been for over a month.  Water flowing in equals water flowing out with no sign of increased runoff. This means that bass and crappie nests are still visible. Water temperature is holding in the low 60s, which is ideal for excellent bass, walleye and crappie fishing.    The end result is ideal fishing conditions that will continue for a few more weeks. Here are the details.

Bass have mostly pulled off the nests as fry have hatched following a good spawn in mid April.  But males still guard the swimming fry for a time and are in close proximity to the nest. Bass are seen cruising in shallow water rather than guarding each nest. But it’s not over.  Soon guarding males will abandon swimming fry and reoccupy the nest. They spawn again and start the process over again.  The difference this year is that anglers will be able to see nests in May that are usually covered by murky runoff.

 Males will now randomly spawn and guard nests depending on where they are in their individual nesting/spawning cycle.  The end result will be visible bass which are very aggressive on nests shortly after eggs are deposited but slacking off in aggressiveness a day or two after the event. Crappie follow a similar pattern but their second spawn is weaker than large and smallmouth bass.

Immature bass have really moved into the shallows at the edge of deep water. Young smallmouth are on the edge of the rocky channels and coves while young largemouth are in the brush thickets.  Both species are eager to hit plastic grubs and Senkos.

Walleye fishing improves each day. Many bass anglers catch walleye while fishing for bass. Those specifically targeting walleye with worm harnesses and slow trolling bottom bouncers are doing even better. Walleye depth is 12 to 25 feet with best location being on the edge of the shallows with deep water access nearby.  Best time to fish is in subdued light of early morning or late evening. It is possible to find a good bass reef while fishing during the day and then return to the same spot after dark to find it taken over by walleye.

Darn stripers!  These critters are thinking about spawning but are not quite ready. That means males stake out a point off the main lake near a potential spawning cove and wait for females to arrive.  The cove would normally be less than 30 feet deep.  Male stripers have been ready to spawn since early April but females are still holding off, hence the inconsistency of striper fishing right now.  Once in place males don’t move much and are often dormant during the day.  They can be found by trolling and casting near points.  Spawning will not occur until females are stimulated to spawn by rapidly rising water temperature and increased inflow near a flowing tributary.  Historically, the earliest spawn has come near May 10 and has been delayed as late as June 10.  Finding a spawning striper school is the only thing better than fishing a boil.  The only problem is that it all happens at night.  

Night fishing is the key to catching stripers now.  Big females have been caught at night slow trolling whole anchovies in Navajo Canyon where bottom depth in the main channel is 40 feet. If you want a trophy now is the time to catch one.

Fishing is fantastic as long as you are fishing for bass in the afternoon.  Bass spawning is imminent.  It may take another week due to unsettled weather but fishing will remain very good for bass for the rest of the month.

 Water temperature still declines into the mid 50s overnight but by afternoon water in the backs of the canyons and coves warms to the mid 60s.  This warming and cooling cycle produces the best bass fishing of the year.

Sight fishing for very big bass makes fishing very exciting. Bass are cruising the shallow shoreline looking for nests sites. Water is often crystal clear making bass very visible as they leisurely swim from one clump of brush to the next. The secret to actually catching bass is to put the lure in front of them before you see each other. Bass can see you as well as you see them. One approach is mark the spot where a large bass or nest is seen. Return a few hours later. Throw a long cast to the bush where the bass lives.  Let the bait rest on bottom for at least a minute or two and then twitch it once.  That should result in a hook up if the bass is still there.

 The best lure this week was a 5- or 6-inch Yamamoto Senko fished on an offset worm hook.  Fish it very patiently.

The good news about early warming and small runoff is that sight fishing for cruising and nesting bass may be prolonged into May. Bass nests made this week may still be visible and only a foot or two deeper during May.  Bass fishing will be good enough that all anglers will be successful.  So remember to release largemouth bass and male smallmouth bass that are guarding nests. It is fine to keep smallmouth bass 12 inches and smaller.

Crappie are hanging in the submerged trees and are visible in clear water.  They too will be on nests by the third week of April if not earlier.  The crappie limit is 10 fish as we try to protect the population for future years when brush inevitably declines and survival of young crappie will be more difficult.  Keep 10 crappie and release the rest for another day.

Striped bass are a bit of a mystery. Yearling stripers up to 15 inches are eating plankton in the back of the canyons in treetops where bottom depth is 15-25 feet. Trees stick up to 5-10 feet under the surface. Trolling and casting very shallow running crankbaits is most effective during morning and evening hours.

Larger stripers make occasional appearances in the treetops but most of the time they are absent.  Finding big stripers is a random event. The most successful pattern is to troll or fish deep running spoons and jigs along drop-offs where depth changes rapidly from 40 to 25 feet. Isolated schools are very cooperative when found but very difficult to locate.

Adult stripers are not being seen in deep water, and are more likely to be found toward the back of the canyon or along the edge of the main channel. They have not moved toward the channel or the dam.  Do not expect to find large numbers of stripers in the deep water channel this spring.  They are fat and lazy living off stored fat from the many shad that were eaten last fall.  They will stay in the backs of canyons until water warms into the 70s.

Fishing will be excellent during the rest of April in between the cold storm fronts of springtime.