Utah Lake by Land and Sea

Roger and I skipped the river today, and instead headed to Utah Lake to try our luck there. We wanted to have a fish-fry tomorrow, so Roger set up on the bank to go after catfish, and I headed out on my pontoon in search of white bass. As I headed to my honey hole, I fished for carp along the way. but the wind made you some difficult casting. I had a few chances at them, but no one came to the party. I continued on to a spot that usually holds white bass and started flingin flys.

 

I made my way around the area for about 20 minutes before I found them, and once I did it was game on! I started out using a purple wooly bugger, and the fish were fighting over it. As I stripped in line, I could see several flashes in the water as several whites were jockeying to see who got to eat it. I even had a little large mouth bass that took it.

 

After I landed several on the wolly bugger, I switched to a clouser minnow, and the fun continued. It got to wear I would only cast my leader out and drag it towards me, and I would get takes. It goes without saying that I love days like today. I ended the day catching 70 fish and keeping 63 white bass for the fish fry and also for catfish bait.

 

When I got back to the marina, I found that Roger had also gotten into some fish. He held up a stringer with four bullheads and a nice channel catfish. He also tangled with a big carp, and was able to land him. Needless to say, the trip was a success, and I can already taste the fish tacos we'll be eating tomorrow.

 

First hook-up today



even this little Large Mouth Bass  seemed to love the purple wooly bugger.

The clouser minnow got in on the action as well.

One of the bigger ones

Roger's four bullhead cats and nice channel catfish with my 63 keepers. Fish tacos, here we come!

Jordan River Cat Fishin'

The first cat fishing night of the year is always fun. We arrived at the river and set up around 7;30 p.m. It wasn't long until we had bites, and Roger soon hauled in the first fish of the night. The bullheads were fast and furious for the first few hours, but they were all small. Some of them were no bigger than the bait we used.

As the night wore on we switched up to bigger baits to keep the little guys away. We used beef liver and White Bass, and most of the fish came on the bass. The channel cats started biting later in the evening, and we were able to land a couple. They were both the typical 18-20 inch cookie cutters that are common for this river. Although we didn't get into any bigger fish last night, we'll be back again soon to give it another try.

All set up and ready to catch a few fish.

First catch of the evening, a bullhead

This might be the best I've ever seen this river look.

What a trophy! I could barely lift him up for the picture.

one of two cookie cutter channel cats we landed.

One Proud Unkle

My Brother sent me these pictures of his kids each catching there first Striper. They live near Lake Powell, and some of my brothers friends took them out on separate days in their boat. Riley caught a bunch when they went out, and Coulter caught 23 on their outing. Not only did both of them catch their share, They can now remind me that they've caught a fish that I haven't. Based on the smiles, I would say that they had a blast. Great job you two!

Also, a big thank you to the fisherman willing to take kids fishing, and teach them how it's done. If you ever get the chance to help a child learn to fish, please take the opportunity. You won't regret it.

 

Riley with a nice Striper!

Coulter with one of the 23 Stripers that were landed.

First Pike Action of 2013

Great fishing reports are coming from Yuba Reservoir for Pike, so I decided to go down and see for myself. I arrived around 9 a.m. to calm conditions, and it remained that way just long enough for me to make it across the lake in my pontoon. That's when the wind kicked in, and it got nasty in a hurry! I stuck to two bays directly across from the State Park launch ramp to stay out of the bigger waves. I was throwing Rapalas's, and worked the shoreline and flooded brush. It took about 20 minutes of fishing before I felt the strike and violent head shake of my first pike of the day. I made one hard run and jumped a few times, but he couldn't shake the hook. I soon had him in he net, and the fight was over.

The next bay produced a few more pike, but the wind won out, and I started heading back to the dock. I had to go around, hugging the shore because of the white caps that had taken over the lake. This made for a long rough ride. I attempted a few casts along the way, but I realized I had to focus on just making it back. This trip was a short one. Just two hours of fishing, with a few pike to show for it. It was great to get into some fish, but hopefully the wind won't be so bad the next time.

 

On the board! First Pike of 2013!



An average Yuba Pike.

Here's a Baby Pike. Go tell your big brother I want to fight...

The wind and waves finally won, and I called it a day.

The Weber Never Gets Old

Joe and I met up this morning to see what damage we could do on the Weber. My alarm didn't go off, so I was a little late to the party. I arrived around 8 a.m. to find that Joe had already landed three Browns! Even though the sun was out, the morning hours were a chilly 36 degrees. The river was surprisingly low for this time of year. That, along with a cloudless day, made us concentrate more on shady areas and cover.

Joe was throwing different crank baits, while I started out using a variety of different jigs. I soon realized that cranks were the way to go today. These fish were not just going after them, they would explode on them! There were several times that we almost had the pole ripped from our grasp from the force of the strike. The fight usually didn't last long though, and all the fish were released to grow and be caught another day. The fishing wasn't fast, but it was good enough to keep us engaged the whole day. We each had our share of Brown trout with Joe landing a few cutthroat as well.  We finished around 4 p.m. satisfied with another great day on the river.

 

 Crank baits were the way to go today.

Up close and personal with a beautiful Bonneville Cutthroat.

Others were also out enjoying the sunny day. A plane towing a glider.

A chunky Brown taken on a crank.

What a beauty!

My best and last fish of the day. Got him on a jig.

A sweet release... I love this river!