I've never fished UL from a boat, but cant take the ice anymore. I was shooting for Willard but ice looks like it might holding me back but trying to keep up to date on that. So Utah it is, but where do I go? Where should I launch? Lindon, Lincoln, is AF open? Provo? I hear there is a Saratoga public ramp but I don't know where that is.
I'm going to try for some 'eyes but don't know where. Seems like no one is getting into them yet. They are out there though, just a matter knowing where to go, hence, the post.
[signature]
You can try provo and as you get into open water head north then east and try that side .I had luck there last year the few times i went.
[signature]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#ff4040]You can try out around the Lincoln area. I have heard there have been some eyes that have been coming through out there.[/#ff4040][/font]
[signature]
just go to lincoln its free of ice..i was there today..[
]
[signature]
You guys are awesome. Ocean, how far N and E? XxWaLLeyexX, better to drown a minnow or grub? I'm thinkin' minnow but no expert.
[signature]
all plastic man...no bait...
[signature]
[size 1]
Quote:[size 1]just go to lincoln its free of ice..i was there today..[] [/size]
[/size]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#ff4040]So how many did you get??? See sanybody else catching anything?[/#ff4040][/font]
[signature]
[cool][#0000ff]Just breathe through your nose and be patient. In another week or so, Santa Claus will bring all the presents (walleyes) and you can open yours.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The fish are moving in, but they are still cold and inactive. A couple more degrees in the water and it will all get better.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are fish being taken right now, on both bait and plastics, but if you are not experienced, and do not know the lake, it can be frustrating.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Some day next week I will be happy to join you in your "mellow yellow" assault vehicle and download all I know about fishing those wascally walleyes. That should take about two minutes and then you are on your own.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I think that if I were to start anywhere, it would be around Lindon. The bubbleup to the south and the creek to the north would be worth trying. There are also lots of fish that come inside the harbor and hang around the outside of the dikes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]At Provo Boat Harbor, you are also likely to find more fish near the structure of the dikes than out on the flats.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]At Lincoln Beach, you turn left, out of the launch channel, and begin fishing as soon as you reach the first point to the west. That is the "first spring" area. If you do not know the layout, it will be tougher. Even if you do know it, there will be some searching necessary. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]All the places that anglers parked and fished two years ago are several feet under water. The lake is higher now than it ever got last year, so all of the conditions have changed. Fish will be in the same general areas but will likely be holding in different places. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you have sonar, work in and out, looking for the breakline, where the rock shelf drops down to the mud bottom. That is often a good zone to fish. Also look for humps a few feet across, that rise up a ways from an otherwise level bottom.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Soaking a minnow on a corky rig, in lanes where the walleyes cruise, is a good way to pick up frigid fish. However, a 3" or 4" twister, on a light (16 oz.) head, fished slowly near the bottom, is traditionally the best way to prospect for them. It can be a lot of casts between fish, but if you find the right area and put in the time, you should be rewarded.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]For the next month or so, even all the "experts" are newbies again, until we locate the fish and a pattern. It helps to have some history and to know the lake, but the fish are going to make their own decisions about where, when and how.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
My other favorite way to fish Wally in the early pre-spawn is to troll or cast suspending crank baits. I find balsa ones work best, 3" or so. It must be a suspending model. That way if you get a strike, the bait stays in the strike zone if you stop reeling. It just hangs there like a injured bait.
To troll i use various in line or walking sinker arangements to get the bait to the proper depth but I add a swivel with a spinner in front of it and about 12" leader to the bait. This makes it look a 3-4" fish is runnung down a 1" fish. Seems to excite them some. Troll slow, slow, slow just fast enough to turn the spinner blade. This slow speed will also keep down on the amount of weight needed to get into the zone. Watch the depth sounder, look for dips, holes and channels off the mouth of streams coming in.
[signature]
how many did i get?? well lets see...i first arrived...put on my waders...seen a few boats out...walk down to the lake...into the water and started casting....2 1/2 hours later i came back up and seen 2 walleyes and 3 white bass on my stringer!! didnt know where it came from
[signature]
[cool]Sounds like it might be time to kick the frost off my tube and head to TD's to get my sonar all rigged up and find out wich fins, booties etc. I REALLY need.
[signature]
I went to Cabelas to get a new finder and came home with a bow mount. So unfortunately, no sonar yet. I have an old one that the screen is on the fritz but still shows depth. I need to get out and figure out the motor and where to put the pedal before "serious" fishing starts. I'm thinking Licnoln beach on sunday, better check the weather. If anybody else is down there wave to the "mellow yellow" boat that is going in circles [cool].
[signature]
With the water being up you might want to fish near the north dike at pbh.Personally i love jigging but i always have a second pole permit so i can soak a minnow too.I have had sucess with a black body and green tail jig fished with the lightest jig head you can get away with.Fish it on the bottom and slowly drag it .Also it never hurts to change the speed of the jig like making it jump of the bottom and leting it sit there for a couple of seconds and repeating the same action.Just try different things.Thats what i would do.
[signature]
Thanks for the advice Ocean, I imagine there are going to be more people at PBH fishing the dikes than anywhere else. Do you work the shoreline or stay back a little?
[signature]
I work the shoreline till it gets shoulder to shoulder there then i hit lincoln.There seems to be fewer people at lincoln especially when we do overnighters there with my kids.If you have a boat or tube you can do better than the shore anglers.You can try different spots shallower and deeper .
[signature]