Tackle/Lure Suggestions for our Lake Powell Trip

[cousinlll]

Thought I'd start a new thread on some tackle/lures that seemed to work for me on my two previous Walleye trips to Lake Powell.  Please post what worked for you on your previous trips. 

On my first trip, I was primarily hopping a jig with a Gulp Alive minnow down any rocky (the more rip rap the better) shoreline I could find.  I was using a 1/4 oz VMC Dominator Hammer Head jig in greens & reds.  Probably should have went a little heavier but still had good success with it.  Used a spinning rod/reel on light line so a swivel was a must to prevent line twist.  I tipped it with a nose hooked 3" or 4" Gulp Alive Smelt or Shad colored minnow.  All bites I got were a pressure bite, you felt for the extra weight.  I'm going to try rigging up a stinger hook on my jigs this year which should help the hookup ratio.  This jig head has an extra eye for this purpose.

Then there was the good old fashion Lindy Rig with either a Slow Death hook or small gold Aberdeen hook & nightcrawler.  Was my first time using it so there was a learning curve.  Did catch fish on it after missing many bites, again it was a pressure bite.

As for crawler rigs, only used them the afternoon of our last day there.  Used them behind a 2 oz bottom bouncer.  Certainly wasn't a pressure bite with these. 

http://www.landbigfish.com/VMC-Hooks/VMC-Hooks-Dominator-Hammer-Head-Jig.cfm
http://www.basspro.com/Berkley-Gulp!-Alive-Minnows-in-Bucket/product/103793/
http://www.landbigfish.com/VMC-Hooks/VMC-Hooks-Quick-Strike-Trailer-Hook.cfm
http://www.mustad.no/www2010/products/product-news/a-perspective-on-perfection

Last year's trip with Sparkchaser, we primarily used 1 1/2 to 2 oz bottom bouncers with Mack's Lures Smile Blade Crawler or Slow Death rigs.  Dave can tell you the colors which seemed to work the best for us.  We had real good success with these & no pressure bite either.  We trolled them around 1 mph or a bit slower.

Did do a little jig fishing, changed up my jig of choice to Fin-Tech's Nuckle Ball jigs in 1/4 oz size.  Used the same 3" Gulp Alive minnows but this time, I threaded the minnow on the jig.  Same spinning rod with light line & swivel.  Definitely a pressure bite.  Hopping/dragging it around chunk rock areas.

http://www.mackslure.com/index.php?c_ref=8
http://www.jigfish.com/nuckleballjig.htm
http://www.jigfish.com/cgi/commerce.cgi?listcategories
http://youtu.be/Icaw_SOFMUs

Bottom line, I probably don't need all this CRAP!  There is something to just keeping it simple - a hook, a little lead & one fantastic Liars Corner nightcrawler.......... Done!

[cousinlll]

Received a call from whaler today - he wanted to share how he & Hairless have been making their own crawler harnesses.  Seems really simple.  For those the want to make your own crawler rigs, check out the video: 

http://youtu.be/S1ZnAbAgfkQ


Thank's Jack - I'm thinking we need you to join us on this trip to class the place up a bit.......

[menrats]

cool vid learned that i dont have to tie a cinch knot for everything. thx. id tie a sinch knot to the actual frnot hook for my stinger hook which gravitates to the bottom of the hook and interferes with the crawler alignment. and my snell knots are always a mess. not no mo.
best succes for me last trip was a harness with a very darkgreen mixed with black spinner. and jigging but not the drop off but the flat area where if i found larry abd dave the first day. ill be back.
the guy that i talked to campin for a month catches all his eyes droppin jigs down riprap slides. he say ya gotta try and get the jig past the sunnies then past the bass then u get to the eyes. crawler tipped. matthew if ure riding with me expect to mostly go with the harness. good thing is there arent to many snags but u need to tie up some harnesses.
other than the dark green im going with some siolver/blue blades and chart or orange jigs robably naked but im might throw some spinners on them too.
when tiein the harness i use ten to fifteen lb. flouro. if i buy rigs i strip the gear off and retie with flouro. ive found their leaders to be chit amd break, especially lindys stuff. its crap but ill buy it for the color combo. and ive found that mylar blades add a significant additional flash. i also like the two tone blades with the hole in them then ill use a diff color bead to set off the top color.
i cant stand usin more than a qoarter ounce weight jig or bbouncer. but if the wind is up im probably foolish i just hate dragging too much extra fat.haha
the pressure bites are cool and somethin we dont get with the slab. all of a sudden its just different down there and ya give a tug and whoa u dont know how much of a chunk u have till that hook set. its a kick.

[cousinlll]

best succes for me last trip was a harness with a very darkgreen mixed with black spinner. and jigging but not the drop off but the flat area where if i found larry abd dave the first day. ill be back.

Hey Counselor, don't poach my water!    Yeah, two years ago with the lake level at 3611' that little cove in Hanson Canyon had a really cool beach & drop off in the corner.  Wife & I did really good dragging or hopping jigs back to the boat after casting towards the beach.

the guy that i talked to campin for a month catches all his eyes droppin jigs down riprap slides. he say ya gotta try and get the jig past the sunnies then past the bass then u get to the eyes. crawler tipped.

Yep, I've been told to concentrate on rocky shorelines.  You'll either catch Smallies or Walleyes.  I didn't have problems with Sunnies except for one little corner in Knowles Canyon.  I like the idea of tipping the jig with a crawler!

[sparkchaser]

I had the most success on Macks lures wally pop in green and either pink or red with a silver blade bottom bouncing. Once we found the fish and got the depth right, it was game on. As far as jigging, I'm going with 1/4 ounce smile blade jigs tipped with either minnows or crawlers. We found some great areas last year, and I hope they produce again.

[menrats]

i just scored a couple of jigs witht the smile blades on them green w silver and green with red blades. im thinking of using them tom on rosey?

[wadefisherman]

We used mostly crawler harness's in deeper water. 1.5 oz bottom bouncers with 1/2 a crawler. Silver and Chartuse blades worked the best. In the back of the canyons crappie rigs rigged with bbc, junebug or white worked well on crappie and any eyes in the area. Chris did pretty good with some floating eye harness rigs with white gulp minnows worked just of the bottom.

[cousinlll]

TRITOON asked about the type of rods we use.  Here are my thoughts but please add your suggestions & comments....

First of all, I'm leaving my long Crappie rods at home.  I will, however, still have my shorter Crappie setups with me.  As for the other rods, 1 rod spooled with 65lbs power pro braid for use with an 1 1/2 oz - 2 oz bottom bouncer.  You'll need a rod w/ a little back bone to it for this.  You'll need the heavy line to get you bottom bouncer back when it hangs up.  Another trolling rod for dragging cranks or stick baits.  I did buy a two pole stamp but actually only used the 1 rod 95% of the time as you'll be busy working the bottom bouncer along the bottom.

I'm going to have a couple spinning setups, 1 for casting jigs w/ probably 10 lbs fluorocarbon main line & the other will be - don't call me names - but yes it'll be my drop shot rod.  You can effectively drop shot for Walleyes when you find a school.

But again, just keep it simple.  Don't go out & buy a million dollars worth of new gear!  Your current setups will probably work just might need to change your line out    My two cents...

[TRITOON]

You mean my 4ft microlite rods with 4lb Fireline won't do the job.        Thanks for the info Larry. I do have a couple rods that I can change the line on that should do the trick. Any other ideas will be appreciated.

[wadefisherman]

I liked having one 12 footer for dipping jigs in the brush when working the trees for slabs. Everything else sounds about right.