Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]Just had to go "field test" some of those Grantsville grayling (carp minnows). Figured Willard might be a good place to soak a few. Took TubeBabe and a couple of bags of the new minners and headed north. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Only 27 degree air temp when we launched at the north marina about 8. Water level is up almost a foot since last month. Water temp was 43 at launch and 46 when we came back in around 1. Clear and calm all morning. Wunnerful for tubers.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We started dragging one of the "carp emerger patterns" on one rod and pitching plastics on the other. I got the first fish, a "cookie cutter" kitty of about 15 inches...on a red and chartreuse plastic tube jig. Hit hard and fought well...in COLD water. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Amazingly, TubeBabe caught her first fish on the same tube jig...about a 17 incher. And those were the only fish we caught on lures all day.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It took a while to start getting bit on the carp minnows. But, once the sun came over the mountain, we both began to get "inquiries". The fish were either very tentative in the cold water...or else they did a "gulp and go"...swallowing the bait quickly. We both donated a lot of minnows to "inexperienced fish" that didn't know how to play the game right.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The upside is that we kept busy and it was definitely not boring. We both caught a few decent sized kitties...with my 22 incher being the biggest. TubeBabe's largest of the day was 19 inches.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Had a couple of bonus catches on the carplets. TubeBabe finessed a 13" smallie that kept picking up and dropping her minnow. Of course she kept it. Hey, Bassrods, YOU TELL HER. I gotta live with her.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The highlight of my day was a porky and purty 22 inch walleye. First walleye I have landed from Willard this year in spite of spending many early mornings slinging all kinds of stuff specifically for those toothy critters. Just supports the claim I always make that there are far more walleye caught by accident than by design.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]At one point, TubeBabe and I were working back toward each other, to make a tackle handoff or something, and she suddenly went bendo on both of her rods. She rassled in the first cat, scooped it in her net, put her first rod in a holder and then brought in the second fish. Scooped it up in the net along with the first kitty and had a "double dipper". The ha-ha part was that she had gone almost an hour without a bite at that point and then does a double take. Sheesh.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I had tossed back a couple of fish, keeping 7, and figured I would have no trouble bringing in the 8th and last fish. It had been pretty steady. But, just as we kicked back away from each other, a brisk cold west breeze came up and somebody un-rung the dinner bell for the fishies. We still saw lots of fish on the sonar screen, but they all had their little mouths closed and their middle fins upraised. You have to know how to read your display to determine that. Doesn't show up on a flasher.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We fished almost an hour after the west wind came up without a bite for either of us. Headed for a Smith and Eddies stop and then headed home to the fillet board.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

How was the "pollution"?
[signature]

Looks like a beautiful day! Congrats to you and TB.

I had a neighbor arguing with me yesterday about cats and cold water.. He seems to think they hibernate [] I typically enjoy this time of year for the lack of the power squad... Makes for better fishin ...
[signature]

[quote fish1on]How was the "pollution"?[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Only two boats launched all morning.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Nary a love balloon in sight.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

Glad to see my bait is workin for ya!
[signature]

[cool][#0000ff]YOUR BAIT????[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Unless you were born before 1962 I have been using carp minnows longer than you have been alive.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Now, if you are laying claim to the carplets of Grantsville, I guess I do owe ya for making me aware of them. I have been unable to time a trip to Utah Lake to harvest them as I used to. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The last couple of years there has been a long cold spring, with a series of storms, which has led to the carp spawn being spread over a longer period of time. That is why there is such a difference in the sizes of the carp fry. And, in a big lake like Utah Lake, there are many small schools of same size carplets and they often stay back in the reeds where it is tough to net them. But, you can see the boils when a school of white bass finds them back in the cover. Really hard to fish them in the structure though.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Carp minnows will work almost anywhere, any time...and for almost all predator species.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Thanks for the headsup...to you and the other BFTers who posted info on the "gathering".[/#0000ff]
[signature]

congrats to Tubebabe and yourself TD. looks like it was as nice at willard as it was at deer creek . thanks for sharing. [cool]
[signature]

I was only born 22 years after 1962.

[cool][cool]
[signature]

I still think we need to harvest more by the way. Using your method of course. Unless your feet are really hot.
[signature]

Holy cold weather-catfish-catching-abilities Batman!

In this cold of weather I'm catfish-stumped!

I would of never thought catfish this time of year in Utah.

About carp: sure you can use carp for trout too. In fact dead fresh carp can work for both browns, bows, and even cutthroats.

I have thought about using carp numerous times for trout. But only to not get to the carp spawn on time due to work schedules.

I plan on trying to use carp for trout next year.
[signature]

[quote catfish-logic]Holy cold weather-catfish-catching-abilities Batman!

In this cold of weather I'm catfish-stumped!

I would of never thought catfish this time of year in Utah..[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Some folks think that catfish can only be caught in the middle of the summer...at night...on stink baits. We catch them all year long...during bright daylight...on freshly dead or frozen natural baits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Some species of cats, like flatheads. ARE mostly warm water and nighttime oriented. And, they go semi-dormant when water temps drop below about 50 degrees...laying on the bottom for months until the water warms up in the spring.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]However, channel cats remain active all winter, even feeding under the ice. There have been plenty of cats taken through the ice at both Utah Lake and Willard Bay. And, because most "cat men" quit fishing for them after Labor Day, they miss out on some of the best catfish catchin' of the year. The channels may slow down in colder water, but they feed aggressively in late fall, just like many other species. I typically catch some of my biggest cats of the year in October and November.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In years past, I scooped up a grundle of young carplets around the mouth of the Provo River late each summer. Then, I would soak them in the deeper holes of the lower river...just above the lake...beginning in October. I have taken catfish, white bass, walleyes, yellow perch, largemouth bass and both rainbow and brown trout on them...just on the Provo and in Utah Lake.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In Deer Creek they hammer both rainbows and browns...and walleyes, perch and smallmouth too. Ditto for Starvation.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Two of the best places to get carp fry on Utah Lake these days (when available) are Lindon Harbor and off the boat ramp at LIncoln Beach. I haven't tried Provo Harbor or American Fork, but I suspect they swarm in there too. Since Utah Lake is often murky it is hard to see them around other parts of the lake, but they seem to have an affinity for the concrete boat ramps.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

Ditto! I love this time of year, and may I add... dealing with minnows is much preferred over getting the stinkbait smell out of your clothes, off your hands, off the boat, toon, etc.... My wife doesn't cringe anymore when I announce I will be catfishin this weekend. []
[signature]