WAHWEAP -- Wayne Gustaveson wasn't surprised. The pattern he'd so carefully mapped out yesterday wasn't working today.
But that's the way fishing goes at Lake Powell. The fish are deep one day and shallow the next; swimming in clear water one day and turbid water the next. One day they like blue, the next gray and the day after that orange with streaks of green."You work until you find the pattern and then stick with it," he offered as he reached into box of lures for another old standby, a chartreuse-colored grub on a quarter-ounce jig head. "That's the secret of fishing Lake Powell. Today it's clear water in areas with some brush in the water.
Find areas like that and you'll catch fish -- today, anyway."
That's what fishermen will face during the month of May as they anxiously watch for the $1 million tag to show up on the back of a hooked striped bass.
Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas will be holding a million dollar fishing event between sunrise on May 1 and sunset on May 24.
In all, 20 fish have been caught, tagged and released at various points over the entire lake. One of the fish will have a tag worth the $1 million.
The other side of the event focuses on fish management at Lake Powell. For years, lake biologist from Utah and Arizona have tried to make fishermen more aware of the striped bass fishing opportunities and the recurring population problems they routinely face
If more striped bass could be caught and kept, the better off all the fish in the lake would be. And, ultimately, the better fishing would be.
On a cloudy day last week, Gustaveson, lake biologist for the past 26 years for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, called on all his experience to find fish. This required that he fish areas he hadn't fished before and fish in ways he hadn't planned.
The results were that we caught fish, all kinds of fish -- striped bass, largemouth, crappie, even a green sunfish, but mostly smallmouth bass. Most of them smaller, little more than a pound apiece.
Larger ones, he said, were deeper.
"But, if you fish deeper, you usually don't catch as many. It's a trade off. Personally, I like to catch fish, any size fish. But pay attention to what you were doing when you caught a fish and then simply do the same thing."
The day's catch was a perfect printout of current conditions of the lake's fishes.
That is, we caught more smallmouth than largemouth and crappie. Most of the fish were caught casting grubs towards the shoreline into brush and broken rock and jigging out.
All three fish are currently wrapping up their spawn. Gustaveson believes the next three weeks will be the best fishing for largemouth and crappie.
"The smallmouth fishing will be good all summer. When everything dies down, you'll still be able to catch smallmouth," he added.
The striped bass fishing will peak during the fishing event, with could have both good and bad results. Fishermen should be able to catch a lot of striped bass, but it may not always be the tagged fish breaking through the crowd to reach the hook.
A year ago, striped bass number had bottomed out and shad, its main food source, were on the upswing.
"Surprisingly," said Gustaveson, "the shad came back sooner than I expected. This was great for the stripers because what we're seeing is good numbers of fish that are fat and healthy. Hopefully, this will be another good year for shad. If so, then by fall the fish should be up to three to four pounds."
The two most popular methods for catching striped bass is to troll crankbaits and lures, or jig a half an anchovy on a No. 2 or 4 hook.
Lake Powell marinas, the National Park Service and the wildlife agencies from Utah and Arizona will all be holding seminars and clinics during May on how to fish the lake. At the same time, all the agencies will be dispensing information on proper sanitation, boating safety and regulations.
Anyone catching a tagged fish will be required to take the entire fish, tag attached, to one of the five marinas on the lake. It will be checked to make sure it was legally caught and the tag authenticated. There will be other prizes associated with the other 19 tags, including vacation stays at properties in Alaska, Lake Tahoe and Lake Powell.
To be eligible, fishermen must register at one of the marinas.
There is no charge and no age limit.
For information on rules and requirements, as well as fishing tips and recipes for the striped bass, individuals can log on to www.milliondollarfish.com.
You can reach Ray Grass by e-mail at grass@desnews.com