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Wayne Gustaveson: The brains behind fishing at PowellBy Dennis Williams
But the real monolith of Lake Powell isn’t a rock; it’s a man–Wayne Gustaveson. As the lake’s fisheries biologist, Wayne has created a fishery that millions of visitors enjoy annually. He has been there since the lake’s beginnings. He knows more about the lake and the fish than anyone. Wayne and Lake Powell are so closely intertwined that you can’t talk about one without mentioning the other. Anyone who has come to Lake Powell and caught a fish has Wayne Gustaveson to thank. I’ve been to Lake Powell plenty of times, but this assignment prompted my first trip to Wahweap. I had arranged to meet Wayne and spend a day with him, and hopefully do some fishing. I pulled into Wahweap in the middle of the night. Wayne had arranged a place for me to sleep near his office and, after a restless night, I awoke at sunrise. I walked right to the window and was taken aback by the incredible vista from Wayne’s office overlooking Wahweap Bay. I went outside to soak in the view, but the crisp winter air soon drove me back inside. Wayne was the first one to arrive at his office, and as I packed up my sleeping gear the rest of his crew arrived. I was introduced to everyone and then went into Wayne’s office. There was nothing fancy or extravagant about the building or his office. There was no clutter, no stacks of papers, just a phone on his desk and a computer in the corner. On the wall were hanging some of his credentials, awards, and citations. And a picture of his family stood on his bookshelf. We talked about Lake Powell and about his informative web site, www.wayneswords.com. Maybe some of you are familiar with his site. It has an almost cult-like following of self-proclaimed "Wayne’s Wordlings" from anglers using monikers such as Bassman, TopCat, and Papa Jack. If you’ve ever been turned off by the negativity on Internet message boards, you’ll be surprised with "Wayne’s Words." There is no offensive language, no rude replies, no dastardly deeds. The "behind the scenes" expertise to create and maintain the site comes from "Wayne’s Wordlings" who offer their time and expertise for free. It is truly a unique place, and all visitors feel like family. In fact, the "Wayne’s Wordlings" clan plan several get-togethers semi-annually dubbed "Shad Rallies." Their purpose is to "save the shad" by helping keep striped bass numbers in-check. These are typically held in the spring and fall and attendees organize lunches, dinners, and even award prizes. Anyone is welcome. Check the message board for information. Once the sun had taken the chill off the January air we loaded up Wayne’s boat and headed out on the water. Wayne’s boat is like his office–meant for work, functional without the fluff. It’s a custom aluminum craft with a large, flat front deck ideal for working with gill nets. The water was flat, crystal clear, and we had it all to ourselves. Wayne uses the information from his message board too, and the latest fishing report from another angler noted stripers had been found near Gunsight Butte near Padre Bay. So that’s where we went. We moved slowly once at Gunsight until we were graphing fish, then Wayne threw out a marker. He continued motoring slowly around the bay and found a second school. He tossed out another marker. We then went back to the first marker, set the anchor until we were hovering over the school of stripers, and we started to fish. We cut up frozen anchovies into small pieces and broadcast them around the boat. Following Wayne’s recommendation, I rigged one pole with a half-ounce jig head and a second pole with a Carolina rig. It wasn’t long before the fish started biting and Wayne had three fish in the boat before I had my first one on. The fishing was fast and furious, and I watched and repeated everything Wayne did, but he continued to out-catch me two to one. You can’t feel bad about that, though–you’re fishing with Mr. Lake Powell. After 45 minutes the fishing tapered off so we picked all the fish up off the floor and put them in a cooler. Then we motored over to the second marker and repeated the process of chumming and fishing. The second school never quite turned on like the first, but we took a dozen fish before things got slow again. When it was over we had put more than 35 fish in the cooler–not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. Wayne’s story The Glen Canyon Dam was closed in 1963 when Wayne was a sophomore in high school. He graduated in 1965 and went to Weber State College and eventually graduated from the University of Utah. He then worked a four-year stint with the Marines, after which he decided he wanted to become a fisheries biologist. He went back to school where he earned a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Utah State University, but this time his degree was in wildlife science. That same summer–1975–he got a job at Lake Powell and he’s been here ever since. It took Lake Powell 17 years to fill, and it reached full pool in 1980. When Wayne took the reigns at Lake Powell, the striped bass hadn’t yet matured (it takes four years). His first claim to fame was documenting the natural reproduction of striped bass in Lake Powell–something that was totally unexpected. Because of the peculiar physical conditions of the water in Lake Powell, most of the spawned fish survived and the population grew beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. After documenting the reason that striped bass were able to spawn, Wayne became a recognized expert on striped bass. The large number of striped bass now in the lake put pressure on the forage base, threadfin shad. Wayne proposed to add more forage, to create a two-story fishery with shad on the top, warmer layer and rainbow smelt on the bottom, cooler layer. This would be ideal because as striped bass mature they’re not able to go to the warm, shallow water where the shad live and they’re forced deeper to cooler water where there is currently no forage. Wayne proposed introducing the rainbow smelt, but the political climate at the time was becoming increasingly restrictive. Currently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has imposed a moratorium on introducing new species to the Colorado River system. Wayne says the moratorium is probably a good thing to give the fish some time to see what they’ll do. But Wayne’s hands were tied–he couldn’t introduce additional forage species into the lake, and simply stocking more Threadfin Shad would just feed the ravenous stripers. Many people told Wayne during that time that Lake Powell was unmanageable. But Wayne isn’t the type to accept no for an answer without looking at other options. He recognized that millions of people come to Lake Powell. And there are millions of striped bass. The solution seemed simple–just take one striped bass and send it home with each visitor that comes to Lake Powell. But how? At this same time a Utah Wildlife Board member who visited Lake Powell each year always seemed to come at the wrong time. One day he told Wayne, "You ought to have a hotline so I can call before I came and find out what the fishing is like." Wayne thought it was a great idea, so he got an old answering machine, put it on his desk, and started recording weekly fishing reports. It eventually grew into Wayne sending his weekly fishing reports up to the Salt Lake office to put on their web page. But because of other issues, information became out-of-date by the time it was posted. So the phone line was too costly, then too cumbersome, and the DWR site wasn’t timely enough. Wayne decided he wanted his own site, and when the timing was right he got it. His site has grown exponentially since inception. The main purpose is to share a credible fishing report, so people can come and use it to find fish. One time Wayne went to Gunsight Bay and was catching a lot of fish next to another boat doing equally as well. After the fishing slowed they talked and one of them said, "We didn’t know it would be this easy. This is our first trip and we just got here last night in the middle of the night. We got this report that said if we go to Gunsight, at this spot and fish this way with this bait then we’ll catch fish." It was their first time on Lake Powell and they were next to Wayne catching fish for fish with him. This confirmed to Wayne that his site was successful. For a guy who has seen so much success in his field, Wayne places his job behind other priorities. His values in life are: first, faith in God; second, his family; and clear down the list is his profession and civic duties. And for being third or fourth place on the list, he sure enjoys his job. You can talk to Wayne by visiting www.wayneswords.com and clicking the "Message Board. |
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East
of Wahweap Bay at the southern tip of Lake Powell looms Tower Butte. This giant
stone guardian seems to watch over Lake Powell, welcoming visitors and making
their stay more enjoyable.