September  29, 2005
By Wayne Gustaveson
Lake Elevation: 3601
Water Temp: 73-76 F

The pilot light has gone out.  Stripers have quit boiling.  An ember smolders near the heart of the lake at the confluence of the San Juan.  A few rapidly moving stripers are still boiling in the morning from buoy 63 to 52 but it is very quiet outside of those boundaries.  

It is time to quit chasing and go fishing once more – darn it!

Stripers have gone deep temporarily.  For the next few days use the graph extensively.  Locate deep schools of baitfish or stripers.  Use spoons, anchovies, slow trolling or down riggers to get the bait down 30-50 feet.   Spooning may be the best bet as schools are not at all stationary.  Find a school and drop spoons immediately before the fish move on.

I expect boils to erupt again in the near future.  Surface action is not over for the year.  But until the unknown factor holding most of the fish mouths closed changes, the best thing to do is fish deep.

Bass are suffering from the same closed-mouth behavior as stripers.  Success has dropped off dramatically in both the far north and far south ends of the lake. Again the heartland is the place to go to catch bass.  The mouth of the San Juan Arm seems immune to whatever is happening elsewhere.

Catfish are still prowling and providing some fun on sandy beaches each evening.

Small stripers are biting on anchovy bait at the dam and the Wahweap and Antelope Point public fish docks.  Fishing success is better after dark than during the day.

I think stripers will start boiling near shore soon.  Look on shore for birds and stripers in the backs of coves.