Last fall Howard Prairie was stocked with over 150,000 six-inch trout, followed by 10,000 legal-sized trout this spring. These fish are 10 to 14 inches now, and are growing quickly on the abundant food available. In addition, some holdover trout up to 20-inches are still being caught. Still fishing with bait is the best bet for trout anglers at Howard Prairie right now, and Powerbait is the bait of choice. Trolling will produce some fish but is generally slow to fair.

Boat anglers caught fish still fishing with Powerbait near Grizzly Campground and behind Fawn Island over the weekend. Other spots to try include Red Rocks and around Buck Island. Several limits were reported. Emergent vegetation is now visible at the surface about 800 yards upstream of the Grizzly boat ramp, but trout can still be caught among the weeds on Powerbait in this area. Bank anglers caught limits of trout from the rock point at Grizzly Campground on Sunday using chartreuse and rainbow Powerbait. Many of the trout show evidence of copepods or copepod scars. This is a natural parasite that lives on the outside of the fish and can simply be scraped off.

The lake is still basically full. Water clarity was down over the weekend but appeared to clear a bit by Sunday. The surface temperature is probably around 70oF.