Columnist Paula Del Giudice: Good fishing at Lake Powell

Friday, April 12, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

Paula Del Giudice's outdoors column appears Thursday. She can be reached at desertdenizens@aol.com.

One of my favorite fishing trips to make this time of year is to Lake Powell. If you can make a trip this month before the weather gets too warm and before summer vacation begins, it's just about perfect. Not only can you enjoy some of the best fishing of the year, but you can do it in virtual solitude.

Surface water temps have reached the magical numbers at Powell. According to Lake Powell fishing aficionado Wayne Gustaveson, the project leader with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the surface temp needs to be about 55 degrees for largemouth bass to turn on at Powell. At 60 degrees, the smallmouth bass become active and the fishing takes off.

The warm weather of late has caused surface waters to rise to between 55-62 degrees and the fish are beginning to respond.

Gustaveson recommends starting your fishing expedition at the backs of coves where water temp is a little higher, then look for cover in those coves. That's where you'll find the largemouths. Look in deeper waters near broken rocks for the smallmouths. They'll want a deep water escape route nearby, so that's an additional clue as to their whereabouts.

Gustaveson recommends fishing a plastic jig in the cracks, or behind a bush hugging a wall. Rolling a spinnerbait through may also entice a willing bass.

Mid-April is one of the best times to fish for walleyes at Lake Powell. These great-eating fish have just finished their spawning period and are beginning to resume normal feeding activities.

The warm surface temps have caused stripers to move toward water currents. Gustaveson says that in the lower lake, water being released from Glen Canyon dam and drawn into the NGS Power Plant creates plenty of current for the stripers to follow.

"Large striper schools congregate near the rock wall barrier at the water release point," Gustaveson said. "Anchovy bait fished at 30-60 feet is very effective."

Chumming has been very successful, also. "Some anglers attach an anchovy head behind a white double tail plastic grub; others use a Carolina-rig with a one-inch chunk of bait. Another effective technique is to place an anchovy tail in line with a lead head jig."

Typically at this time of year, one of the best striper spots at Lake Powell is near the dam. But Gustaveson points out that the average catch right now is better at the intake than at the dam.

Dana Johnson, manager of the area, said the BLM provided two restrooms, four windscreen awnings, four picnic tables and four charcoal barbecues to the Nevada Division of Wildlife, which manages Kirch. The donated items came from a BLM campground near the area that was recently closed.

The restrooms were moved to Cold Springs and Haymeadow reservoirs while the barbecues, picnic tables and crescent-shaped windscreens were placed at David Deacon Campground. Young Electric Sign Company of Las Vegas provided a crane and operator to move the restrooms and windscreens. Boy Scouts and volunteers assisted with placing the windscreens, picnic tables and barbecues in the campground.

Kirch is located in Nye County approximately 180 miles north of Las Vegas. It is accessible from State Route 318, approximately 35 miles south of Lund.

John McKay, NDOW hunter education coordinator, said the one-day classes will be held Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at NDOW, 4747 Vegas Drive. They were added specifically for hunters who will apply for tags online. Enrollment for each class is limited to 30 students.

Hunters who are born in 1960 or later are required to have successfully completed a hunter education class before purchasing a Nevada hunting license and applying for big game hunting tags.

To register, call NDOW at 486-5127.