Water temperature (Wahweap Bay) 54-61 F, Lake Elevation 3,575.52 MSL (and dropping) as of 11/25/2024. Report courtesy of Dan Keller (www.wayneswords.net):

I spent the last week of October and first week of November on the lake conducting our annual gillnet survey. Each year we set 10 nets at Good Hope, Rincon, San Juan Arm, and Wahweap to monitor sport fish abundance, condition, forage fish density, diet, age structure and more. The water temperature ranged from 68 to 61 degrees during that time. I wanted to share a few noteworthy observations from the survey.

As usual, we found walleye to be most common on the north end of the lake. We set nets near Blue Notch and Red Canyon and caught several 3- to 4-pound (19-22 inch) walleye in this area. We also found threadfin shad; we typically don’t catch many threadfin shad in our nets as they are too small to be caught in most of the panels. We rely on hydroacoustic surveys to monitor shad. When we do catch threadfin shad in the gillnets, this indicates a large population in the area. The good growth of walleye is a direct result of plentiful threadfin shad. At the Rincon, water is very clear, so fish are better at avoiding our nets. However, we caught average numbers of fish. The most exciting catch at Rincon didn’t come from our nets, instead it was caught with rod and reel while fishing near our camp. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources warmwater fisheries biologist Jon Hudson boated this 22-pound striped bass while casting a crank bait out in open water on the south side of Rincon Bay.

Jon was considering returning to camp to start preparing dinner when he noticed a school of scattered fish near the surface on the sonar. A few casts later, he hooked a fish that at first didn’t appear extraordinary. However, when the fish approached the boat, it made a powerful run and the fight was on! A few minutes later the fish was in the boat being admired. The striper cooperated for a picture before being released. You just never know when that next cast will hook a fish of a lifetime, so keep casting! Two details of this catch add substance to this fish story. First, Jon caught this impressive fish on a crankbait he found on the shoreline a few weeks earlier! Second, he caught this fish on Oct. 31, no doubt a “Halloween Treat” to remember.

Moving on to the San Juan, the big news there is crappie, good numbers of them, multiple age classes, and some real nice ones (12-15 inches). Crappie at Lake Powell stay active in the fall and even into the winter, so if you like to target crappie, the San Juan would be a good bet. We had some success for crappie using 2.5-inch gulp minnows and white feather jigs. We used sonar to locate fish around submerged trees in about 20-30 feet of water and dropped small jigs to the top of the trees. We found crappie from Piute Canyon up past Neskahi Wash; however, crappie can be found lakewide around submerged trees. Bluegill will often be in the mix, or at least nearby where you find crappie.

At Wahweap and the San Juan, it was interesting to see how fish responded to the changing water temperature. As temps dropped into the lower 60s, we still found smallmouth and largemouth bass feeding in shallow coves and rocky points. Some have moved deeper. On the San Juan and Wahweap, we set nets on both the north and south side of major bays. The south side held more fish. This could be related to sunlight exposure, prevailing winds, presence of forage fish, and density of submerged vegetation. Regardless of the reason, the fact is some nets caught many fish and multiple species while others caught very little. Fish are not evenly distributed along the shoreline, especially this time of year. Keep this in mind when fishing in November. Despite shoreline looking similar on the surface, subtle variation in habitat often encourages fish crowding into small areas of prime habitat. This is especially true for structure-loving fish such as crappie, largemouth, and in some cases, walleye. On the flip side, striped bass don’t care much about structure, they will be found wherever good numbers of shad are present. We found striped bass at all gillnet locations, with most being healthy. However, some of them are getting too thin to survive the winter. The skinny ones will die out, making room in the food web for younger cohorts to grow and survive.

During our free time we tried various fishing techniques, including finesse fishing with plastics, spoons, trolling 3.5-4 mph, casting crankbaits towards shore, and even bait fishing for catfish after dark. While all these methods caught fish, I would say the best method was covering lots of water trolling to locate active fish, then casting crankbaits in that area to catch more. Common lures like shad raps, norma divers, flicker shad, all worked. Don’t forget, the biggest fish of the trip was caught on a basic crankbait, nothing complicated. The key factor is fish at Lake Powell are active and willing to bite. Fishing for all species will remain good for several weeks. After that, cold temps will slow down warmwater species' metabolisms. You can still catch them, but they will be deeper and less active. Catching good numbers of striped bass is possible all winter by locating schools holding in deep water and vertical jigging with heavy spoons (or sending down anchovies). If you catch the weather right, this time of year at Lake Powell is amazing, so get out and enjoy it all!