PAGE, Ariz. — There is a delicate balance that exists between prey and predator. Currently, in Lake Powell, the scales are tipped on the side of the predator.

Which means: There were more striped bass in Lake Powell two years ago, but you wouldn't know it.

Boats are pulling into the marinas after a few hours of fishing with large ice chests brimming with four-pound fish.

There were larger striped bass in Lake Powell last year, but it's hardly noticeable. The four-pound stripers being caught are as long as the five pounders of last year, and come with as much fight, they're just a little thinner.

The overpopulation of striped bass has, as happens, depleted their food supply of shad to the point where good meals are hard to find. So, the striped bass are hungry, quick to take a lure and are providing excellent fishing.

It's the same teeter-totter predicament between striped bass and shad that has been with Lake Powell for the past few decades — stripers go up and shad go down, then stripers go down and shad rise ... and the cycle begins again.

Since the limit on striped bass was removed several years ago, and fishermen have been able to catch and keep as many fish as they want, the fluctuations have been less dramatic.

For now, what the lower food supply means is "the fish are hungry and are easy to catch," said Wayne Gustaveson, lake biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

"It's easy for a fisherman to catch 50 or more of the four-pound stripers in a day. It's not a problem."

Tyler Pratt and Jeff Baird of Washington came off the lake last week with 30 fish caught in about three hours.

"We've fished the last few weekends and caught 70 to 80 fish each trip," said Pratt as he set up a portable cleaning station away from the main station that was clogged with fishermen waiting to fillet their catches.

Jeff Lindquist and Mike Asay of Salt Lake City said they caught 81 fish in a matter of three to four hours, "one right after another," said Lindquist.

"We caught double this last year. Today we actually stopped fishing. It takes so long to clean this many fish," said Asay.

Most of the striped bass are being caught near the southern tip within 100 yards of the dam. Anglers are tying up on the buoy line, dropping a quarter-ounce jig head with a chunk of anchovy meat attached down about 30 to 40 feet and, as Lindquist said, "catching all the fish you want."

While the striped bass are struggling, other fish are doing better.

Gustaveson said he expects this to be a banner year for largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye and bluegill.

"We've got some good size to our bass," he explained. "In fact, it's the best we've had in a decade.