Red rock paradise

Have you ever been to Lake Powell? If you answered "no", I suggest you open your calender right now and book a vacation to visit. Lake Powell is, hands-down, one of the most magical and majestic places on earth. With more shoreline than the entire Atlantic coast shoreline in eastern u.s., it is a recreationalist's paradise.



I've been fortunate to go to Powell from the time I could barely hold a fishing pole. In fact, I cut my teeth fishing Powell's numerous coves and back canyons for bass and bluegill; Powell is where I grew a great appreciation for fishing. I can still remember as a kid one particular night throwing an over sized topwater plug as far as I could cast into the darkness of the night. The plug hit the water with a splash...then everything was silent. The rest of the family was busy back at camp, wind was non-existent, the temperature was perfectly warm, and the silence drew me into the moment. I twitched the tip of my rod to give the lure some action. Suddenly, it sounded like a school bus fell from the sky and splashed right on top of my lure. I was astounded by the big splash and quickly realized it was a large bass that had taken my plug! I set the hook and felt solid weight pull back...then my line went limp. The bass had broke my line and dove back into the depths of the dark water. I stood on the redrock bank staring into the waters.

That bass did more than just my plug; it kickstarted a predator-prey relationship inside a little boy. I've always wondered how big that fish was and I've been fishing to find out ever since. Fast forward 20 years...Last week, a large group of the Burrell clan jumped on a house boat, along with a fishing and a ski boat, and headed back to the same area where years before my dad would take my brother and I out on some of our greatest fishing expeditions.



You'll have to check out Emily's blog to read about the entire trip, but I will touch on the fishing side of things. The fishing was better than I ever remembered. Fast catfish action off the back of the house boat, amazing striper fishing casting topwater into boils, great bass action, and even some walleye and crappie to keep things interesting

I woke up each morning well before the sun and motored the 10 hp into the bay in search for striped bass boils. The stripers travel in school searching for baitfish called shad. Once they find a school of shad, the stripers will push the school of baitfish to the surface and feast on the fish until the shad either retreat back into the depths or are all eaten.

A small boil

The feeding frenzy on the surface resembles water boiling. When you find a boil you and approach it right, you will catch stripers. Throw anything silver into the water and hang on tight. The fish are big and are tremendous fighters.


I was lucky enough to have someone wake-up with me nearly every morning to enjoy a beautiful sunrise and appreciate a part of Lake Powell that most people sleep right through. These morning fishing excursions were definitely my favorite part of the trip.



Everything about Lake Powell is magical. It was really hard when it was time to leave knowing how many fish there were still to catch in that lake.

Thanks dad for always taking me out and teaching me how to enjoy the simplest things in life,while feeding my hunger to catch fish at such a young age. I've got my calender open looking at 2010, when are we going back?


A flooded cottonwood tree back in crappie country


Filleting stripers for the grill


A fistfull of stripes

Another sunrise..another day

Sun and stripers

Pop with a walleye

Cliffs adjacent to camp

Mom with a striper

My Emily!

Dave with a crappie

Sister Danielle with a morning striper

Hunter with a good smallmouth

Sister Tamara with another one for the grill

Emily with a bass and a setting sun

More Stripes!

My momma showing you how to land a Powell striper. My mom and I made a boat full of memories that morning...