Fishing Forum

I was thinking that I don't see many reports on Cutler, and I suspect at least one MOD will delete this thread for divulging his local pond.  LOL  

I took my brother and nephew out for our first trip on Cutler with a boat on 7.24.21.  We did not get there until about 4:30 pm, but Benson was completely full of boats (no parking spots).  My brother knew about the other launch so we found ONE spot there.  Let me assure you, it was not fishermen on the lake.  Jet boats, ski boats, wakeboard boats, and near Benson even a few paddle boards.  

Having never been on Cutler before, and with a new Helix 7 Mega sidefinder and mapping software, I had to explore.  I have a new Garmin on the front with similar features, so I figured with the "flat bottom" of Cutler this was going to be pretty dull.  Not so much!  There are huge flats for sure, in fact most of the lake is so shallow that if the ski boats knew what they were roaring over it would scare them to death.  But, the old river channel is alive and well.  I was also of the understanding that there were no weeds in Cutler, due to the carp and dirty water.  Oh Contreras, most of the lake shallower than 4 feet has weed growth.  Did you know there use to be another dam where Cutler is now, just upstream of the current dam?  I did not, but I know where it is/was, and even found some old flooded canals from "the day".  On the lower end there a lots of spots where you will find rock outcroppings coming out of the muddy water, just waiting for an unsuspecting boater to be gobbled up.

As for fishing, think about fishing in a swimming pool with 50 kids jumping, screaming, splashing around, etc.  The lake is bigger than a swimming pool, but the kids all have jet boats, ski boats, wakeboard boats, and scream up and down the lake.  What is the distance between boats at speed?  Closer to the dam, the canyon, there are lots of places where there is not enough room for two boats to pass each other on plane and be legal, but they are boarding or skiing by each other.  For the record, you are suppose to have a driver, a skier, and a spotter.....who needs some stupid spotter on Cutler anyway, cause they don't have one.  How about flying the orange flag?  Is that to show a downed skier?  NO, it is some decoration flag flown like the American flag on a regatta.  It was an entertaining day for sure.

OK, I digress, fishing was slow at best.  We were just fishing with all the wrong stuff (remember, I was under the wrong impression about Cutler).  We did get some hits.  We also saw some fishing jumping in the weeds, not carp, but not able to identify them either.  Even saw a couple huge schools of minnows, wrong shape for carplets, but again, not able to get an identification in the water either.  We finally rigged up with some fresh carp (gave itself up for the cause), some frozen sucker, some left over BELH minnows (aka chub minnows I had left over from prior trips to Willard) and some Anchovies.  At 9:00 PM, in a spot up lake, or was it down lake, that showed promise early on we found some Channel Cats, and one SMB, that decided to give us love.  It only lasted about 20 minutes, but hot and fun action.  Nothing to huge, and the biggest one decided to perform a Houdini on my Nephew and escaped.  Oh ya, the SMB, maybe 1 1/2 pounds, but it too did a Houdini on my Brother.  It came unbuttoned in the net and found a new hole that I assume one of the Cats just made.  He says it counted, but I said if it was a a bass tournament it would count as ZERO.  LOL 

Summary: 1) No skunk today.   2) Mostly a big boat playground.   3) Potentially dangerous shallow water in most of the lake with potentially dangerous rock near the last third of the lake near the dam.   

PS, Water temps were 78 to 79 degrees all afternoon.  Cats fought way above their weight class.  Water visibility, inches at best.  Air temperature, just under the temperatures found at the surface of the Sun.  

That's an interesting area down there by the dam. A number of years ago, we had a BFT get together in that area, at that time there was a little island down in that area that we set up on and cooked lunch, good times.

Still there, mowed down, cooking ring/Dutch oven, camp chair.  I still don't know how it got mowed, but it almost looked like a golf green.  LOL

I heard the jet boats roaring all weekend, don't know who started those guys playing up here, but they sure ruined the peaceful pond, well guess the jet skis did that first, but it is a little too busy on weekends for me anymore.... Even the river channels are full of recreators anymore... bring on the ice so the crowds go home.... Later J

(07-26-2021, 04:04 AM)Anglinarcher Wrote: [ -> ]Still there, mowed down, cooking ring/Dutch oven, camp chair.  I still don't know how it got mowed, but it almost looked like a golf green.  LOL

Well that's cool. I would not be surprised if someone brought out a lawn mower to keep it mowed but that would be extreme, if they did. That whole area is a piece of history down there where that railroad goes, I'd bet it is 75 years old or maybe even older. If I remember correctly there is an orchard on the North side that had deer everywhere, I thought to myself, that would be a great area to hunt, if you could get permission.

Curt, You're right there is a lot of history on the railroad through that cut, but you need to add a few years on the history its been there longer than 75 years. During World War 2 that railroad pass was so important that they had soldiers stationed there to keep it safe from sabotage. It's the major North to South railroad in this part of the country and was worth watching to keep safe in war times...

The other dam that was mentioned was early in the 1900's when it was a thing, it was called Wheelin (not sure of spelling) dam and was used for irrigation diversion... Those old timers were amazing at what they could do with the equipment they had available to them... Anyway it's a cool area and really doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the area... but a fun place to see.... I was also amazed at the topography of that lower area of the reservoir when I used my side finder down there... I thought it would all be filled with mud like the rest of the reservoir, but it's not, there's actually some rocky bottom in places like was mentioned... Problem is it's tough to stay off the mud between the ramp and canyon while getting down into there... I was churning up mud pretty heavily in the first big turn between the bridge and the canyon and my boat doesn't draft very deep... Good place to go easy and watch out from hazards...

My brother tells of hobo's catcalling at them in the canyon as the trains go through there in the middle of the night as they were night fishing down there... Kind of a spooky spot to fish in the dark... Later Jeff

I have sacrificed and outboard prop down there before. I know some power squadron guys who like it out there because there are no rangers or patrols. It's kinda like the wild west.

Well I wouldn't count on no rangers, they just don't show up everyday like they do at Hyrum, but I have seen them there from time to time, so the guys are playing Russian roulettes if they don't think they will be caught breaking the law... But I know what they mean about being more lax on rule observance, so it makes it a place you need to be extra careful watching out for what the other guy is doing... In the old days when there wasn't any other boats on Cutler you could get away without a flagger/spotter in the boat, but I sure wouldn't try it now with the higher number of boats around... it's only there for our safety so we're hurting our selves if we don't take steps to stay safe... I think your wild west refers to the crazy high octane jetboats... That's something that could use some regulating, they get a little out of control.... Not what you want to see if you're there to go fishing... Later Jeff

I have contacted my supervisor in the DWR to see what she can do, I also found this online-

---

Thanks for contacting your supervisor about this issue. I don't think there is much of an issue after Sept to March, likely not a lot of power boats out between these days, maybe some duck hunter but with the water being so cool during those dates power boating is pretty much done.

So I got to the Marina at 20 to 8 last night, after waiting for 10-15 minutes for the paddle boarders to clear the ramp, I got launched and there had to be between 15-20 jet skis and PWC's there last night, and you have to understand, this area is not very big by the ramp, yet all of them were racing around in the same 300 yard area, it was a mad house.... So much noise I couldn't hear if my motor was starting or not... I am getting hard at hearing lately, but it was nuts... Anyway, I know the fish and game stops by the marina more often than the parks department crew and the sheriff deputies check in regularly as well, but I don't know how much enforcement they can do from the parking lot... I don't think they have a boat with a shallow enough draft to work the area, so they don't patrol it by water, your risk is not being licensed and getting caught for that... I don't think they do any summer enforcement of the 35 hp rule for the south side, at least I see lots of big boats ripping out there at times, I do know they watch it during the hunting season, at least I've heard of folks getting pinched for taking bigger boats out there that time of year.. Anyway it's no Hyrum or Willard, but it also doesn't have the numbers to justify that much enforcement either... Biggest issue would be the density of use, meaning thickness, not stupidity.... even though I may second guess that comment... Well too much BS I'll quit... Later Jeff