Fishing plentiful at 'balanced' Lake Powell

For the first time in nearly two decades, there's balance in Lake Powell ... plenty of food, good water levels, prime habitat and good numbers of all fish.

Which promises to make 2010 a year to be well remembered by fishermen.

For years, lake conditions favored a certain species. First it was largemouth and crappie, then striped bass and walleye, then stripers and smallmouth.

"This year conditions favor all species," said Wayne Gustaveson, lake biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "During my tenure, which began in 1975, this is probably the best year I've seen for balance, conditions and numbers of all sport fish.

"This is going to be a really good year."

Changes in water levels, habitat and food supplies have not been in balance for nearly two decades, and thus one species or another has benefited.

Now, as Gustaveson said, "It's all in balance."

To begin with, Lake Powell is filling, which is bringing water levels up high enough to give access to vegetation that is vital habitat for fish. Lake conditions have also been giving up good food supplies to fish.

The thread-fin shad, the main forage fish for the big five species — striped bass, largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie and walleye — are spawning and numbers are up.

And now the big five have another item on the menu — gizzard shad.

For decades, there were efforts to bring in another forage fish but with no success. Then fish from a federal hatchery were mistakenly planted in a water that feeds into Lake Powell. Mixed in with this batch of fish were the gizzard shad, which eventually made their way into Powell.

"Now, along with a good thread-fin population, which is strong this year because of the good nutrition that has been in the lake the past three to four years, we have the gizzard shad," Gustaveson said. "The gizzard shad population is now huge.

"We set gillnets in the Escalante (arm of the lake) a few weeks ago and the nets were stuffed with adult gizzard shad."

Gizzard shad are much larger than thread-fin. Adults range between 21/2 and 3 pounds and reach lengths around 20 inches. And while the adults are too large for other fish to eat, they provide millions of young each year that do provide food.

All of this is providing fishermen with a plentiful supply of larger fish.