Protect

LAKE POWELL

Recreation

Fathom Restoration

ONE RAMP OPEN

186 MILES OF ITSHOWN AT FULL POOL

Two states, one licence, no limit on striped bass, and at the current elevation exactly one ramp on the whole lake open to a motorised boat. Every rule here is quoted from the state that wrote it.

1Ramp above its minimum

2States, one licence

NoneLimit on striped bass

8 of 30Fish species that are native

30 daysUtah winter dry time

Conditions right now

The elevation at the dam, which ramps clear their published minimum at that elevation, the forecast over the lake, and the flow at Lees Ferry. The ramp card is arithmetic on two published numbers and is not a status report.

Surface elevationUSGS

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reading the gauge at Glen Canyon Dam

Ramps above their minimumNPS

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comparing the gauge against the published minimum for all ten ramps

Forecast over the lakeNWS

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contacting the National Weather Service

Below the damUSGS

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Colorado River at Lees Ferry, the trout water

Access · 01

Getting on the water

A hundred and eighty six miles of lake, and one ramp above its published minimum.

At the current elevation, one ramp is open to motorised vessels READ THIS FIRST

The Park Service publishes a minimum operating elevation for every ramp on the lake . At about 3,520 feet, the only one above its own minimum is Wahweap Stateline Auxiliary, and it is running on plate mats .

The Park Service saw it coming: "Boaters planning to launch or retrieve vessels later this season should anticipate increased congestion at Stateline Auxiliary Ramp, particularly if water levels continue to decline."

The live card at the top of this page reads the gauge and works out which ramps clear their published minimum. It is arithmetic on two published numbers, not a status report. Check the Park Service before you tow anything.

Ramp	Minimum elevation	Note
Wahweap Stateline Auxiliary	3,515 ft	Plate mats needed at 3,524 ft to launch
Bullfrog North	3,525 ft	Launch at your own risk, boilerplate extensions
Antelope Point Business	3,535 ft	Concession ramp
Wahweap Main	3,545 ft	Paddlecraft only below this
Bullfrog Main Spur	3,549 ft
Halls Crossing	3,557 ft
Wahweap Stateline Main	3,567 ft
Bullfrog Main	3,578 ft
Antelope Point Public	3,588 ft
Hite	3,650 ft	The lake does not reach Hite

Every minimum in this table is the Park Service's own published figure . Reclamation publishes a separate critical elevation table that does not match it exactly , and where they differ this page uses the Park Service, because that is the agency that opens and closes the ramps.

Two of these are not ordinary ramps. Stateline Auxiliary operates "at lake elevation 3515 ft or above" and needs plate mats to launch at 3,524 ft . Bullfrog North is "available with the use of boilerplate extensions" and is operable "when the lake level elevation is at 3525 ft or above" . Both are extended structures rather than concrete running into water.

Reclamation projects all three uplake marinas gone five feet below today 3,515 FT

Reclamation's recreation appendix lists Antelope Marina, Bullfrog Marina and Halls Crossing Marina all closing at 3,515 feet . The lake was around 3,520 in early August 2026.

Place	Status
Wahweap	The full service end of the lake. Stateline Auxiliary is the working ramp
Antelope Point	Marina open. Public ramp closed to motorised vessels, minimum 3,588 ft . On Navajo Nation land
Bullfrog	Land based services open. The floating marina and the boat rental and fuel dock were moved into deeper water near Halls Crossing in 2026
Halls Crossing	Marina open. Ramp "Closed to all vessels."
Hite	"All services at Hite are closed until further notice." The Park Service says plainly that the lake does not reach Hite
Dangling Rope	Not listed on the marinas page at all . It was reachable only by water and has been inoperable since 2021
The ferry	State Route 276 crosses the lake between Bullfrog and Halls Crossing, or it would. Not running
Castle Rock Cut	The shortcut out of Wahweap Bay. Navigation buoys go in at 3,590 ft

The Stanton Creek replacement ramp is not built. The Park Service said in March 2026 it "will not be completed for the summer 2026 season but remains a key component of Glen Canyon's long-range infrastructure strategy", and that it was exploring a primitive ramp in the Bullfrog area instead .

A marina on Lake Powell — Wahweap. The one district on the lake with a ramp above its minimum. U.S. Geological Survey, public domain.

A houseboat on Lake Powell — Houseboats are how most people use this lake, and they are the hardest thing to launch and retrieve at a low ramp. Bureau of Reclamation, public domain.

A narrow side canyon of Lake Powell between sandstone walls — Most of the lake is not open water. It is drowned side canyon, and the map below is the only way to make sense of where anything is. U.S. Geological Survey, public domain.

The whole lake

Centre of the USGS National Hydrography bounding box for the Lake Powell water body, so the frame is symmetric about the real published extent. Note this point falls on a mesa between two arms rather than on water, which is what happens when you take the centre of a flooded canyon system.

Open in Google Maps →Directions →

Ramps and marinas from the Park Service, the dam from the federal dam register, bays and arms from the federal names database. Every pin is a published coordinate, never a name search.

Two states · 02

One licence, two rulebooks

Either state's licence fishes the whole lake. Two limits still differ, and nobody has marked the line on the water.

Lake Powell straddles the state line, and the two states have made this simple. Utah's rule, verbatim:

The reciprocal rule R657-13-5(3)

"A person possessing a valid Utah or Arizona fishing or combination license, whether resident or nonresident, may fish both the Utah and Arizona portions of the Reservoir in accordance with the angling regulations applicable to the state where they are fishing."

"Only one daily limit may be taken in a single day, even if licensed in both states."

Arizona agrees: "As of Jan. 1, 2019, a Utah stamp is no longer needed for a licensed Arizona angler to fish on Lake Powell."

Two things people get wrong CHECK BOTH

The licence ages differ. The Park Service: "AZ portion: All persons 10 years of age and older must have a valid fishing license." and "UT portion: All persons 11 years of age and older must have a valid fishing license."

Reciprocity stops at the dam. Below Glen Canyon Dam, at Lees Ferry, it is Arizona only . A Utah licence does not work there.

And one thing this page will not repeat. There is a widely circulated claim that the San Juan arm carries a licensing exception. It does not. The Utah rule contains no geographic carve out . What exists is a separate entry for the San Juan River above the reservoir, which is a different water with its own kill rules for catfish, burbot, pike, smallmouth and walleye .

Species	Utah at Powell	Arizona at Powell
Striped bass	No limit	Unlimited
Walleye	No limit	Unlimited
Smallmouth bass	20	20
Largemouth bass	5	5
Crappie	10	10
Channel catfish	25	10, the statewide default
Bluegill and green sunfish	50 combined, the statewide default	Unlimited, the statewide default

The two gaps are the reverse of what people assume CATFISH AND SUNFISH

Arizona's Lake Powell entry is silent on catfish and sunfish, so its statewide defaults fill the gap . That makes Utah the more generous state on catfish, 25 against 10, and Arizona the more generous on sunfish, unlimited against 50.

You follow the rules of the state you are fishing in , and nobody has marked the line on the water.

Utah also allows things at Powell it allows almost nowhere else: "Fish may be filleted at any time.", "Anglers may possess filleted fish.", "Anglers may use dead striped bass as bait.", and "Gaffs may be used to land striped bass only."

Spearfishing is open here, with a closed season for bass. Utah closes underwater spearfishing for largemouth and smallmouth "from April 1 through the fourth Saturday in June", and bars spearfishing within a quarter mile of developed areas, Rainbow Bridge National Monument and Dangling Rope, and within 100 yards of boats .

An angler fishing for trout on the Colorado River at Lees Ferry — Lees Ferry. Cold water straight off the bottom of the reservoir, and an Arizona licence only. U.S. Geological Survey, photo by David Herasimtschuk, Freshwaters Illustrated.

Arizona's Commission Order 40, verbatim: "The limit is 2 rainbow trout per day; artificial fly and lure only; barbless hooks only. Rainbow trout taken from this portion of the Colorado River shall be killed and retained as part of the bag limit or immediately released; there is no limit on other sport fish species which includes all species of bass (including sunfish and stripers), all species of catfish, all species of trout other than rainbow trout, and walleye."

That last clause is not generosity IT IS A CONTROL LEVER

No limit on bass below the dam is deliberate. Smallmouth bass coming through Glen Canyon Dam are, in the Park Service's words, a threat to native fish in Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon . Unlimited harvest is the tool. The Park Service "encourages anglers to report any observations or catches of smallmouth bass below the dam."

The Park Service on protected natives: "If any of these protected native fish are incidentally caught, they must be immediately released unharmed."

The fish · 03

Fishing Lake Powell

Twelve species, no limit at all on two of them, and two you must put back.

Opens a live Google map. Pick a species, get both states' rules and the named areas.

Striped bass

The fish this lake is managed around

No limit, either state

Smallmouth bass

And the one getting through the dam

Twenty a day, and none below the dam

Largemouth bass

A quarter of the smallmouth limit

Five a day

Walleye

Recovered when the gizzard shad arrived

No limit, either state

Black crappie

Tighter here than statewide, both states

Ten a day

Bluegill

Fifty in Utah, unlimited in Arizona

The states differ here

Channel catfish

Twenty five in Utah, ten in Arizona

The states differ here

Common carp

Long established, unmanaged

Nonnative, established

Threadfin shad

The forage the whole fishery rides on

Stocked in 1968

Rainbow trout

The tailwater, not the reservoir

Below the dam, Arizona only

Razorback sucker

Listed. Release it unharmed

Threatened since 17 Aug 2026

Humpback chub

Listed. Release it unharmed

Threatened since 2021

Drawings are illustrations of the named species, not photographs of fish caught here. Presence comes from the state's own 2021 reservoir survey and the Park Service's nonnative list . Of roughly thirty fish species in Glen Canyon, only eight are native .

Two corrections worth making CAREFUL

Brown trout are not a reservoir fish here. They appear on the Park Service list, which covers the whole recreation area including the river below the dam, and they are absent from the state's reservoir survey . They are a tailwater fish.

The wildlife service's own recovery program page is out of date. It still describes humpback chub as endangered and razorback sucker as endangered . Both have been reclassified . The Federal Register rules govern.

The Park Service: "Nearly 30 species of fish are known to inhabit the waters of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (NRA). However, only eight of these species are native"

Species	Status	Source
Humpback chub	Threatened, reclassified effective 17 November 2021	Federal Register
Razorback sucker	Threatened, reclassified effective 17 August 2026	Federal Register
Bonytail	Endangered. The rarest of the four, and wild populations no longer exist	Wildlife service
Colorado pikeminnow	Endangered. Wild populations only upstream of Glen Canyon Dam	Wildlife service
Bluehead sucker, flannelmouth sucker, roundtail chub, speckled dace	Not federally listed. Under a four state conservation agreement	Park Service

The razorback sucker changed status this month 17 AUGUST 2026

The wildlife service published the reclassification on 17 July 2026 with an effective date of 17 August 2026 . Anything you read that calls it endangered was written before that date and was correct when written.

Threatened is not unprotected. It is still a listed species and it still must be released unharmed .

Hazards · 04

What to watch for

An exit inspection, two states that disagree about how long to dry your boat, and a lake that moves its own hazards.

Every boat leaving this lake faces an exit inspection QUAGGA MUSSELS

Utah: "All watercraft leaving Lake Powell, currently the only Utah waterbody with confirmed quagga mussels, are required to have an exit inspection during the inspection station's hours of operation."

Then a dry time before you launch anywhere else. Utah requires "seven days in summer, 18 days in fall and spring, or 30 days in winter", and wakeboard boats are "defined as complex boats, which always require a 30-day dry time" unless professionally decontaminated .

The state also sets out the procedure step by step: clean off mud, plants and animals, pull the drain plugs and leave them out, pump the ballast tanks, drain the engine, stop at the inspection station, then "Wait a required dry time and self-certify at your next destination that your boat has met the dry time."

The two states do not agree on the dry time 18 OR 30

Arizona's order requires "Eighteen (18) consecutive days during the months of November through April, and Seven (7) consecutive days during the months of May through October" . Utah's winter figure is 30 .

A boat leaving Powell in January satisfies Arizona and fails Utah. If you are trailering north, the Utah number is the one that binds you.

Utah's legislature has passed changes to these requirements. They do not take effect until 1 January 2027 , so nothing on this page changes for the 2026 season.

The dock at Rainbow Bridge does not reach land CURRENT LEVELS

The Park Service: "At current lake levels, the dock at Rainbow Bridge does not reach the land. Approach at your own risk." and "Please visit Rainbow Bridge in a spirit that honors and respects the cultures to whom it is sacred."

The alternative is "a approximately 14-mile hike around Navajo Mountain", and "The hike requires a permit from the Navajo Nation." The typographical error is the agency's.

Speed, wakeless zones and life jackets BOATING

Speed limits are 45 miles per hour at Wahweap, Bullfrog, Halls Crossing and Hite, 25 in specific developed areas . Antelope, Labyrinth, Forbidding and Lost Eden Canyons restrict motorised vessels to wakeless . Personal watercraft operators "must wear a life jacket at all times regardless of their age."

A falling lake moves the hazards READ THE MAP AGAIN

The Park Service says of its own maps: "Lake Powell and the launch ramps, marinas, and other water-based infrastructure are constantly changing. This map may not represent the current lake elevation."

Rock that was forty feet down last season is not now. Buoys move. Castle Rock Cut only has navigation buoys above 3,590 feet . Nothing on this page is a navigation chart.

The only Utah water with confirmed quagga mussels, and every boat that leaves it carries them somewhere else if nobody checks.

Fathom Restoration is a Utah 501(c)(3) that runs volunteer dive cleanups and is built to pull what does not belong out of Utah water, statewide.

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Lake Powell

About

Glen Canyon before the dam, how it came to be built, 1983, and both sides of the argument about whether it should stay.