Hi,
My buddy, Joseph Carter, the mink man, and I are looking for opportunities to film mink in the wild. Often mink who live near streams, lakes or rivers, where fishermen frequently fish have become used to humans and will approach you to steal a fish once in a while. Joseph and I would love to film some of these "tame" wild mink in their natural habitat. If we can narrow down where these mink may be, our chances would improve dramatically.
If you have had any recent encounters with a mink while you're fishing, would you mind replying to this thread or send me a PM? Let me know what time of year and the location.
Thank you for your help.
Matthew DeGraffenried
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I've seen a few around our local reservoirs while fishing in the summer and fall. They are usually around big rocky banks and are easy to spot when they're jumping from rock to rock. My most recent encounter was this fall at Deer Creek in the Wallsburg arm of the reservoir. The North side of the arm is pretty rocky when the water is down and more secluded from foot traffic and that's where I spotted one.
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Saw 1 fly fishing on the weber up stream behind the old spring chicken in. Living under bridge.
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Deer Creek for me, on the railroad track side in the north arm.
The Jordan River in Lehi has a bunch of escapees in the Lehi area, tough to film though because of the phrag on the banks.
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We saw some at the harbor/channel at Lincoln Beach this summer.
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I have seen them at Lost Creek Reservoir while fishing from the dam. It even stole a cutthroat trout I had caught. This was in the spring.
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There was one the first week of December at Mantua. He was in the cove north of the big hump on the east side. He had a small tunnel through the edge of thin ice. He was sitting on top eating a fish. I was able to walk within 3 ft before he retreated under the ice.
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I have seen several at the mouth of the Utah Lake State Park marina on the north dike.
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There is usually a bait theif around the first spring at Lincoln Beach. Have seen one every time I have fished at Lindon Bay Marina.
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[#0000FF]Probably more places you can see minks than not. But they move around with seasons, weather and food availability. However, as you guessed, they can become tolerant of humans and even resort to begging for extra bait or extra fish.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]The attached pics are of one I befriended at Jordanelle a few years ago. Like others at Lincoln Beach and elsewhere it seemed to recognize me as a soft touch after one or two encounters and would come right up and look me in the eye...begging for a handout. It always worked.
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I'm with Ice-Sled and Catchinon on this one. Minks, coons, skunks, and rats are common in and around Lincoln Beach. The minks and skunks tend to be crepuscular, the coons active mostly at night, rats are everywhere. I had a little altercation with a mink last year while fishing at night from a lawn chair at the end of the north arm. He showed up right under my chair where we had a little tug-o-war with some of my white bass bait. He wasn't friendly.
There are lots of minks that work the sloughs and creeks near LB. My daughter lives a couple of miles south of Lincoln where they have (had) a few chickens. The coons and minks have killed every chicken they can get access to. They don't just take what they can eat, they kill everything they can get to. They had one mink kill a bunch of chickens and was attempting to pull a dead chicken through the 3 inch hole he used to get into the coop. He had a firm grip on the chicken's head and refused to release it even when approached by my g-sons with a ball bat. He is dead now.
I think some of the "wild" minks out that way are escapees from some of the mink ranchers in the area. Anyhow, good area to observe and possibly film them.
BLK
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When Lived in West Jordan several years ago they would frequent my chicken coop. It got to the point where we just stopped trying to keep chickens. Those little buggers can be mean!
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Over the years, I've seen lots of posts (many with pictures) on mink sightings and interaction. This link is a search in BFT for mink returning 525 results which should give you excellent insight into finding mink:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...time&mh=25
Perhaps put up maps on your walls and mark the locations of mink sightings.
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Funny you should ask. My son just sent me this link:
[url "https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalTextGifs/comments/a96kpr/ma_fish/?utm_source=reddit-android"]Fishing Mink[/url]
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Black one on Cutler last winter.... Later J
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I haven't seen any mink for a while, but I do enjoy the mink man's channel on You Tube. For those who are unfamiliar with it, do a search for Minkenry. He runs mink and hunts with them similar to those who use birds of prey in falconry.
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I haaate mink, to be honest, and couldn't care less if they all get turned into coats, some of the most vicious animals alive. But if you really want to lose your fish and fingers go right ahead lol. I highly recommend american fork boat harbor at Utah lake. Full of them and also in the creek alongside the road running into the harbor. Seen mink in the provo river above Utah lake rip the eyeballs and gills of over 100 white bass and not eat anything just strewn them everywhere. Seen mink at pine view, hyrum, mantua, weber river, any waterbody u can think of. Naaaasty things need trapping lol. Just put a dead fish out and I'm sure one will pop up outta nowhere.
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[quote CROSSINEYES]Saw 1 fly fishing on the weber up stream behind the old spring chicken in. Living under bridge.[/quote]
I sure do hope I have a camera ready when I catch one fly fishing.
When my wife tells me "I saw a coyote on the way to school this morning" I ask her, how she knew it was going to school or what school it was going to.
I still can't figure why she is upset at me all the time.
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I noticed the same thing and got a chuckle out of how our language gets us in trouble if we're not careful... That would be cool to see a mink wielding a 6 wt... pretty sure that video would go viral... Later J
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I saw a mink on Lower Fish Creek (Price River) a couple of years ago when catchinon and I were fly fishing. It was maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile below the railroad bridge in the artificial flies/lures section below Scofield. I could probably pinpoint on a map or aerial if interested.
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