Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]TubeBabe and I hit the west side of Utah Lake twice this weekend. The first time was as a "Plan B", after being blown off the water at Lincoln Beach early Sunday morning. North wind and 3 foot waves, with chocolate water, sent us looking for more protected fishing. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Took a nice drive around through Goshen and up the west side of the lake. Pulled down one of the dirt roads and found lots of flooded tamarisk and reeds, with many suitable launch spots for the tubes. The wind was still blowing but not quite as hard. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Even though it was late morning (past the best bite) we both scored a couple of channel cats and a white bass. TubeBabe's channels were 2.3 pounds and 4 pounds. The smallest on a worm and bobber and the largest on plastic. I scored a 3.3 pound channel on the plastic and a 5.2 pounder on carp meat. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We thought the fishing might be even better early in the morning, so we got up at O dark thirty on July 4th and headed back down. Now the wind was blowing directly onto the shoreline from the southeast. We launched anyway, hoping it would die down after the sun came up. Nope. It got worse. At one point the swells were up to about 3 feet and a couple of rollers came over the back of my Super Fat Cat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I got two mud cats around 9, on crawlers, after getting no hits on either plastic or carp meat. Just when we had decided to bag it and head for home, the wind dropped and the water flattened. I noticed some big balls of carp congregating over the numerous weedbeds and decided to stretch my string on one or two. I landed a 5# "fin feeder" on my plastic jig and put it in the basket to replace the carp meat we had used over the past two days.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As the water turned nice and flat, and the color got some more green in it, I moved in close to the shoreline brush and began casting my purple and chartreuse plastic on my new red hook jig heads. I started getting hits immediately and in the hundred yards on the way back to the car I scored three white bass, two more mudders, a 16" walleye, a 2# channel and a porky 4# channel...all on the same plastic lure and my light action outfit. I didn't find any largemouths, but I think I can still count my score as a "grand slime"...multiple species on the same lure.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Poor TubeBabe. She managed only one white bass that climbed onto a worm baited hook trailing in the water beside her tube while she worked to undo a snag on her larger bait rod.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The fast growing water weeds are making it difficult to fish the west side beyond the near shoreline. But, most of the fish seem to be cruising or holding within a few feet of the edge of the brush and reeds anyway.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temps were up to 74 on July 3, but had dropped to 69 early in the morning on July 4. With all the wind, the temp was still only 70 degrees when we left the water at noon.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lots of good camping spots along the shoreline on the west side. There were a few folks taking advantage of the opportunities. Surprisingly, there were very few bugs. I guess the wind has a positive side too.[/#0000ff]
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Looks like a couple fun days of multi-species fishing. Did you notice any areas on the west side that one could back up one's vehicle (Suburban) and fish off of the back of it, at night for the channels?
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[cool][#0000ff]There are quite a few spots along the shoreline that have been used over the years for that kind of fishing and there is a clear pathway out through the flooded reeds and brush. However, with the current water level, you would not gain much advantage by using the vehicle. The depth in most areas drops off fairly quickly from the bank to 2 1/2 or 3 feet. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As I observed, most of the fish seem to be staying close to the shoreline, so a long cast is not necessary. There were a couple of "bank tanglers" down there Sunday that were bringing in fish with some frequency (muds and channels) by making only average casts out from shore.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The heavy underwater weed growth is going to make shore fishing more difficult when the water levels begin dropping again. It was virtually impossible for us to fish bait behind our tubes, as we normally do for catfish. We could not go more than a few feet without having our baits snared in the weeds. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Best approach down there these days is from the lake, casting in to the weed line or known rock piles. I think you know some of those. And, using a bobber is definitely the best way to keep out of the rocks and weeds.[/#0000ff]
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Very cool photos TD. I had no idea that mudders and channels ever took lures ... interesting. Also all those species seem to have been caught on the same lure. I really want (need) to get the 'toon out on UL soon. My goal is to hit it this Saturday early AM before sunrise.
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[cool][#0000ff]Catfish on lures? You betcha! On flies? Right on! Catfish are predators that will catch, kill and eat almost any kind of aquatic critters available. That includes crawdads, minnows, leeches, insect larvae, etc. In fact, when the water is clear enough for sight feeding, channel cats will range up quite high in the water column to chase minnows, etc. I have taken them on poppers and buzzbaits while fishing for bass with shad imitations in waters where there were lots of shad near the surface.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I used to fish Willard Bay for catfish almost exclusively with lures. They smacked several colors of size 7 countdown Rapalas and several colors of 3" twisters and shad fished close to and parallel to the rocks. Of course, I told everyone I was fishing for walleyes or wipers, and sometimes one of those "less glamorous" species interrupted my catfish casting.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I once won a bet on Willard Bay, by catching a limit of channel cats (16 at that time) on flies...in less than an hour. I also used to catch lots of channels in the lower Provo River, on stone fly nymphs (artificials). [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most walleye anglers on Utah Lake have taken many channels and bullheads (mudders) on a wide variety of plastics and hardbaits. They hit hard and fight well (better than walleyes) so they provide some real entertainment.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I DID indeed catch all of the fish on the same lure. I custom color my plastic baits, and I make all of my own jig heads. I have been experimenting with jig heads made with the Matzuo red jig hooks for the last couple of months.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]At only $7 per hundred, they are comparably priced to the Eagle Claw 575 gold hooks I usually use, but the chemically sharpened hook points are equal to any of the higher priced hooks on the market.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In addition to the red hook, I make many of my heads in either red or purple glitter, with the hot yellow eye with a black pupil. I also make them with chartreuse glitter with a hot red eye. These jig heads are dynamite with several colors and color combos of the plastics.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I recently decided to try some of the "Mag Tail" grubs from Barlow Tackle. I got 3", 4" and 5", in several colors. For my custom dye jobs, I prefer to get clear sparkle, since the colors come out more true. The jig in the pictures is a 3" mag tail clear sparkle, that I have made the head purple and the tail chartreuse. The fantastic tail action and the extra sparkly glitter combine to make these real killers all over Utah Lake. The score on the 4th was typical of what I have been enjoying since I began throwing those things...at Lindon, Lincoln Beach and now at the West Side.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Since I make my own jig heads, I seldom use more than 1/16 oz. head for fishing Utah Lake. I make the small heads on hooks up to 5/0, for slow fishing large plastics above the lure munching rocks. The hooks on the 3" jig in the pic was a 1/0 size Matzuo. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I started out with a plastic that I had already caught quite a few white bass and a couple of walleye on. It had also taken a 3" catfish the day before. The small walleye I caught on the 4th ripped the top part of the plastic away from the barb on the head. I removed the plastic from the jig head, bit off a half inch or so and threaded it back on the head. The shortened version continued to work just fine.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Yeah, I am really impressed with those new plastics from Barlows. They are great colors and the wide tails have great action. And, as I mentioned, the heavy glitter in the clear sparkle really adds to the flash and attraction. More importantly, they are tough. I catch a lot of fish on each one before I have to replace it. Wish I could say the same thing about those (expensive Senkos). Oh yeah, the hundred pack of the 3" plastics from Barlows is only $9.95.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We had tentatively planned to make our first trip to Jordanelle this Saturday, but if you wanna "hook up" at Lincoln Beach (weather permitting), we can gang up on those fishies if ya wanna.[/#0000ff]
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[cool]That was a very informative report, TD. If my tube wasn't flat on the 4th, I should have went further west than Lincoln Beach. You wouldn't have believed how many jet ski's and waterski boats were there. I purposely went to Lincoln because I thought there would be less of the power squadron there than at LBH. There may have been less at Lincoln, but not a lot less. I think people don't mind driving that far to launch their noisemakers because of the free launch there. No joke, when I left at about 1:30 (to 92 degree heat, no less) there were probably 60-70 vehicles in the parking lot.

As for the plastics, thanks for pointing out the awesome deal at Barlows. I'm gonna get me some of those. I recently picked up some dyes(sp?) at Sportsmans that I'm anxiously excited to try out. That purple/chartruese combo sounds like a killer. I've been doing a lot of bait fishing lately so I haven't got to try out the Matzuo jig heads too much, but will give them a try at Lake X soon, and also look forward to nailing lots of 'eyes this fall at UL as the temps cool back down.

I'm going to get more of those hooks and in the smaller sizes too. I wanna see what the red hooks with a white minnow head with red eye will do under the ice this winter. I have a feeling it will be quite successful!
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[cool][#0000ff]Barlows has started carrying the Matsuos and some other Japanese jig hooks in red that are the more traditional shape...at a very reasonable price. I got some of those down to size 6. I also think they would be a good hook to use for ice fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You need to let me guide you to another launch spot down by Lincoln Beach, with less activity. Either that, or I can show you some places on the west side that you can reach by regular auto, if you are careful. Most of those dirt roads down to the water over there require very high clearance to deal with the big rocks and the deep ruts.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am looking forward to the fall fishing down there this year. With the higher water, it will be interesting to see where the big wallies hang out. I have some educated guesses working, so we will just have to conduct some on the water research.[/#0000ff]
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