Wayne I want you to meet a friend Ross Green some time. He will be taking a lot of guys to Powell and he is really an incredible fisherman. I would like him to send you a technique he uses for anchovies that is so simple and effective. In simple terms: smaller hook goes through bait once then entirely out. Next the hook goes into spine and is left. Line is now taken and half hitched around the tail and it holds the bait unbelievably well. I will try to get him to explain it better. This is most likely something you have run into but I had not. He rarely ever gets stripped of bait and catches almost every hit because of the small wide hook and placement and maybe even the way it pulls off the bait. This is a deadly setup for bait fishing from shore or with split shot or free fall. I have never seen anyone so successful with anchovies. This technique works mainly with the last 1-2" tailpiece and the half hitch ending up around the tail. It is also fast to do. We had excellent spring fishing May 30 - June 4th primarily fishing the main channel points and islands from Friendship Cove to Dungeon. Here is a summary:

I had excellent success with the natural colors of 3" and 4" Berkeley Tubes. They seem to be a good mimic of shad, crawdads or both. They worked well in the small coves for largemouth and outside the coves for smallies. They picked up many, many stripers too. Berkeley baits seem to give you many chances to catch the fish also with their well tested and researched scents. I think they really help the beginners. Slide the a 1/4 to 1/2 lead head inside the tube and you will catch fish. I had bass giving me a half dozen chances to get a good hook set as they just keep coming back. Stripers do the same. Spent a fair amount of time bouncing the bottom, but swimming it by a point works too. Often the hit comes before you ever move the tube. Stay persistent, they work!

The Kastmasters also worked well as their size must have "matched the hatch". We found these easy for the kids to cast and they could have real success on them. 1.5" size was what we had.

Small 1" crappie grubs were a success in the coves with one split shot weight catching crappie, sunfish and yes some nice 3 lbs. Largemouth darted out and snatched them too and this was also a great gig for our young fishermen that gave them a very productive hour of fishing. I will always keep that trick in my hat for future trips.

We also were wildly successful using crank baits as long as we used my one rule of cranking............there is only one speed for a crank bait: mach speed. The small 1 to 1.5 " crank bait bodies worked well at full speed on Walleye, Smallies and Stripers. We had better success on any of the fat shad type lures with longer diving bills. Two lures worth noting is a 2" sunfish looking rapala with a longer bill. Another lure, my favorite of the trip (you could bet your paycheck on) is the Norman Deep lures. The Norman Lure that is a big fat shad body (largest Norman made I think) with the deep dive bill and the "suspend" body absolutely kicks butt at a fast speed and will sometimes hit bottom in 22' of water. This lure looks huge but will slam walleye, pounder smallies and larger and stripers. I think this lure and some 10-15 lbs test may also be the ultimate houseboat lure for that 5 knot troll of a houseboat down the channel. It tracks well and gives you a deep deep troll. We slammed a lot of Stripers using this deep deep Norman at a 4-5 knot troll on 8-10 lbs test line around the islands just before dungeon canyon extending back toward Page a mile or so. Look for the high points there and troll around them. The coves between the islands and shore produced full boils each afternoon and fish were caught out of the boil. My other Captain said he saw shad the size of his hand being attacked by the stripers. Are these the gizzard shad being attacked??? Are we the first to catch stripers out of a full boil this season??? We also saw smaller slurps in Friendship cove about a third of the way back and deep in main rock creek. Fish were healthier out in the main channel. The shoreline on the most upstream side of Friendship produced nearly a dozen walleye the largest a 3-4 pounder. 99% of our fish were caught at a point of some kind or an island (usually on the point).

My buddy also jigged up a few using Cabalas real image spoons in 1.5 oz. This was a tougher sell but he did get several fish per hour on them. In contrast we got 10 per hour per boat trolling deep divers or casting.

TRY THAT NORMAN DEEP DIVER AT A FAST TROLL IF YOU WANT FISH.

I had the incredible pleasure of hooking two ten year old nephews on fishing. They were eager, listened and enjoyed. Take them and teach them with a simple pole/reel and teach them exactly what you to do to cast and retrieve without tangles and you will be rewarded with their success. They especially need to know the particulars of keeping lines from wrapping around tips and reel handles and keeping line tight as it goes on the spools, etc. If you teach the tangle prevention and snag prevention well, they will most likely be catching fish off points with a crank bait just like you in a couple days. Cost to get a boy a trip like this was maybe $150, one 10 year old boy caught over 75 fish---------Priceless!

Hope you can all get some of that Lake Powell beauty, adventure, freedom and friendship and share it with a boy and turn him into a man. GO FISH!