The "fish finder" showed the bottom of the lake at 90 feet and holding fairly steady. It also showed fish, also holding at 90 feet. Fish habits being what they are, these were most likely striped bass.
The fish were too deep for largemouth or crappie. There were too many to be walleye or catfish and they were too big for bluegill or sunfish. Carp were definitely ruled out.But nothing was moving, so it was hard to tell.
Fishermen simply waited. Some talked, some napped, some reeled in their hooks to make sure they still had bait, then tossed them out again.
In about the time it takes to sip a soft drink, it happened. The "fish finder" showed fish at 60 feet and rising, then some at 40 feet. One fish hit, then another. Small fish came out first, the biggest not more than a pound and a half, then the larger fish. Some went up to 7 and 8 pounds.
That's the pattern these days . . . wait, watch and fish - fast.
Almost as suddenly as it hits, it's over . . . and fishermen talk, nap and check their hooks, and wait for the next school.
Trout didn't take well to Lake Powell. Neither did kokanee salmon. Largemouth bass did, but at some point their future was in question. There was an abundance of bass habitat as Lake Powell was rising, but what about when it filled? Crappie faced the same future.
In the early 1970s, fish biologists looked at introducing the striped bass.
On the good side, the striper grows fast, is easy to catch and is a favorite dish of fish lovers.
On the bad side, the striper is extremely prolific, has a voracious appetite and is known to overrun waters.
The good points won out with decisionmakers. In 1974, and for the next five years, striped bass were introduced into Lake Powell.
Biologists believed their numbers could be controlled. They believed striped bass could not reproduce sufficiently in Lake Powell. The only fish caught, they contended, would be those they planted. There would be no ravaging of the food supply, no exploding population.
Striped bass spawn in rivers where the current keeps the eggs suspended during their incubation period. Tributaries to Lake Powell - Colorado, San Juan, Dirty Devil and Escalante - were believed to be too silty for the stripers.
There were, theoretically, no mating areas in the lake conducive to spawning.
In 1979, however, small YOY (young-of--the-year) were discovered in the upper reaches of Lake Powell. Striped bass had, in fact, moved into the Colorado to spawn.
They didn't go far up the river, only about 15 miles, about to the base of Cataract Canyon, but it was enough.
Later the stripers were also discovered spawning near Glen Canyon Dam.
According to Wayne Gustaveson, biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, it was determined that the "nature of the reservoir allowed the fertilized eggs to settle on highly oxygenated sandy substrate where they hatched instead of being smothered by an oxygen poor environment that occurs in most lakes."
Lake Powell had a new eating, breeding game fish.
The striped bass is silver in color and gets its name from the seven or eight black stripes that run down its side.
It has long been a favorite game fish of easterners. Early records show it was one of the most important fish in the early 1600s for both its culinary qualities and commercial importance.
Like the salmon, the striper moves from the ocean into fresh-water rivers to spawn each year. But unlike the salmon it doesn't die after spawning.
Some stripers apparently became landlocked in man-made enclosures around the turn of the century, and thus began the fish's domestication. In recent years, the striper has been raised and introduced into freshwater systems in most states.
A 30-pound female may drop as many as 20 million eggs in a year.
Another appealing quality of stripers is that they grow rapidly. Where a lake trout in the Northwest Territory might gain a few ounces a year and may live to be 100, a Lake Powell striper can average as much as 5 pounds a year and may live 10 years.
The Lake Powell record, caught last year, is 48 pounds 11 ounces. It was determined that the fish was about 10 years old. The previous record was a 48-pound fish that was pulled to shore by a family dog.
Most of the dead fish found floating on the surface have weighed between 20 and 50 pounds and were found to be 9 to 10 years old, Gustaveson says.
The largest landlocked striped bass caught in the United States weighed 66 pounds. It was caught in 1988 in California.
Striped bass reach these sizes because they are voracious and opportunistic predators that will consume all types of fish, even their own during times of stress.
They are also efficient hunters. Stripers are known to herd their favorite food, the threadfin shad, into box canyons and then feast on the trapped fish.
When shad are plentiful, so-called "boils" can be seen lakewide. They occur during these feeding frenzies. Between shad trying to escape their predators, and the stripers trying to eat, the surface of the water over large areas looks as if it's boiling.
And therein rests the problem. The striped bass in Lake Powell produce too rapidly and eat too much.
When striped bass first started showing up on the end of fishing lines, all worries were put to rest.
The shad were plentiful enough to keep all the fish happy in Lake Powell. Largemouth bass were near their peak, so were crappie, and more and more walleye were being caught.
The best part was that the striped bass were growing at an incredible rate. In 1984, it was nothing to hook a few dozen fish over 8 pounds in a day. The limit then was only two fish daily.
The following year, however, the first signs of stress started to show. Stripers weren't as healthy or as plentiful. Many of those fish that were caught had large heads and razor-thin bodies. Their stomachs were empty and they had very little fight to them.
The stripers, with some help from the largemouth, walleye and crappie, had eaten their cupboard bare. The lake's shad population had been decimated. Largemouth and crappie switched successfully to a diet of crayfish. Striped bass could not adapt. Thousands of fish, mainly the larger ones, died.
Smaller stripers survived because of the abundance of zooplankton in the lake. The very large bass were able to catch and eat carp. Most fish, however, either died or were struggling to survive.
With striper numbers down, the shad bounced back. Their number increased over the next few years but never back to pre-1984 conditions.
In response, the striper came back, not necessarily in size but in numbers. Fish in the 3- to 4-pound range were coming out of the lake in incredible numbers.
Harold Johnson, the former public relations director at the Wahweap Marina on the southern tip of the lake, figured that from an area the size of four city blocks, over a period of 100 days, an average of 2 1/2 tons of fish per day were being caught.
He counted between 40 and 75 boats a day fishing the area about a mile north of the dam, and each boat averaged three fishermen. He computed this out to a total of 15,000 fishing days over his survey period.
The limit on fish at the time had been increased to 10, and most anglers were hitting the limit.
He figured that with an average of eight fish per day per fisherman, and with fish averaging about 4 pounds, 480,000 pounds of fish came out of that section of lake over the 100 days, or roughly 240 tons of striped bass.
Fishing was, in fact, so good that the lake was getting worldwide acclaim. A British fishing publication, with circulation well over 1 million, held a contest and as the grand prize gave a fishing trip for two to Lake Powell to fish for stripers.
A writer from the magazine said striper fishing at Lake Powell "was mentioned frequently" in the publication.
About this time, however, the downturn began.
Once again the striper couldn't control its numbers or appetite. By 1990, the shad population had again been ravaged . . . and the stripers began to die.
For several years, now, Gustaveson has been trying to get support of other states along the Colorado River to introduce a second forage fish into Lake Powell to help support the fish there.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and Arizona and California, however, oppose it.
So, the main support of the fish in Lake Powell rests with the shad.
This year, striped bass are plentiful but shad aren't. There are large schools of stripers, but a limited supply of shad.
Without a thinning of the striped bass, Gustaveson says, it's likely that by midsummer the bass will begin to show signs of a dwindling food supply. Fishermen will start catching fish with big heads and razor-thin backbones.
"The only means of controlling the striper I have," Gustaveson points out, "is fishermen."
To increase the effectiveness of this "tool," last March the Utah Wildlife Board lifted the limit on striped bass. However many fish an angler can catch with one fishing pole are his or hers.
Gustaveson had hoped to legalize chumming. It's used effectively at Lake Mead in Nevada, but the board chose not to allow it. Chumming is legal in the small Arizona section of water between Wahweap and the dam.
Fishing now hasn't quite reached 1984 levels, but it's close.
During one three-week period in March it was figured that about 20,000 fish were caught from one small area near the dam. One boat, says Gustaveson, went out and came back with 100 fish.
If this works, and fishermen can catch enough stripers to make a difference, then it's likely this teeter-totter action between shad and stripers can be controlled, and good fishing will be a constant rather than a variable.
If it doesn't, look for a die-off this fall and winter. Then expect a gradual buildup to where . . .
Fishermen wait, watch and fish - fast.