I just recently found this site and have been amazed at the amount of information here. I used to fish quite a bit as a kid, but gave it up during college. (My wife hates the smell of fish, but has mellowed somewhat.) I just recently bought some new equipment and headed up to Silver Lake, up Big Cottonwood Canyon with the kids. We saw some very small trout, but didn't catch a thing. I'd like the kids to have a good experience learning to fish, but I'm trying to remember how I used to catch fish. (Mainly Velveeta on a treble hook.) Any ideas on techniques or locations close to Salt Lake City would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
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Hi there DDS, glad you signed up and joined us.. You might wanna try some of the urban fishing opportunities. Here's a link to the DWR's urban fishing program. [url "http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/uf/"]http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/uf/[/url]
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I was floating Silver Lake on a pontoon yesterday and caught nearly 40 trout in 4 hours off of various bright colored spinners.
If you want to get your kids up there for a great time, go buy some florescent yellow or orange floating power bait power eggs. Put one on a size 10 hook on a 3 foot leader and a clear bobber filled with water so it sinks and fish from the west side of the lake where the beachy area is and i can guarantee you will get in more fish than you want to. Probably reach your limit in about an hour. There is a big hole and channel directly out from that spot and the fish love to swim up and down it.
Powerbait doughs work, but the power eggs are a bit more stinky, are a plastic type of synthetic bait, and you can reuse it each time. I have caught 20 fish off the same egg before up there.
Hope this helps. Keep in mind the fish tend to swallow the smaller baits so do not plan to catch release unless you set the hook right when you feel the trout take the bait. My rule is, if the hook is set deep and the fish swallowed the bait, keep the fish. Also there is an area there on the beachy side where you get a runoff so you can put your caught fish in there to keep them cold and fresh!
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Jordanelle is full of perch and easy to catch. kids will have a ball. 1/8 oz jig (chartreuse is my favorite) tipped with a small piece of nightcrawler 3 to 4 feet below a small bobber will do the trick.
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First allow me to say Hello and welcome aboard and welcome back to the wonderful, yet sometimes frustrating, world of fishing.. You find here that most of us basically feel fishing is the true "family sport".
Next let me say that I'm from Utah county and I dont fish many waters north of the point of the mountain to often but know several members do and I'm sure you get a lot of great advice form them about fishing waters in your area.
I would add however that if your basically new to the sport and your target is trout you might want to try "power bait". I'd also suggest a marshmello and crawler set up as starters. I also sometimes add a ("Balls of fire") Salmon egg or two to the mellow and crawler set up..
Best of luck to you and the kids!
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