Fishing Forum

Headed down to provo harbor this morning with my brother in law for a day of fishing on the tube/toon. We were hoping to get into some white bass as well as any cat fish that might also be willing to play if they were in the area. Our plan was to launch off the little ramp on the south side of the harbor that goes into the river flow. Then head out and into the reed line south of the river looking for any areas with active whites.

We got on the water at about 7am (someone needs a better alarm that can't be slept through... hint... hint...). Mild breeze at launch form the south and not many others on the water to contend with. Moved into some areas I've had good results in before and nothing... Moved around the various clumps of reeds as well as kept moving south and still nothing. This went on for about 45 minutes to an hour. Then Jason lands the first fish, a nice white bass. Even though he got first fish jinx I was a bit envious that his basket had something and mine did not.

Well the wind starting to pick up some and got me worried this was going to be a short day and might leave me with an empty basket. I took shelter in one of the reed pockets and started to toss the jigs around seeing if any whites might also have picked this pocket for a safe haven. Nothing... Then I saw some dark green brown masses on the reed line... CARP! Figured well if I can't get anything else to play today I might be able to go pick on some carp. Flipped the jig out around the various love nests and got hooked up on one for a short fun fight and then the carp let go and went home. I called Jason over to see if we could at least have some more fun with the carp.

While waiting for him to get there I kept tossing out the jigs... Thump... First hit I'd had so far... Then nothing.. Still hopeful I kept the line tight and felt for any weight... Nothing so far... Gave the rod a slight lift...some dead weight there... Hook set and fight on... Turned into a fairly short fight but it was clear pretty fast that it was not a white bass. Figured it was a cookie cat by the slower tug tug going on. When it neared the surface I saw some splotchy look to the side and wondered if I had a male channel cat... Nope, surprise when Mr. Walleye turned and opened up for a big toothy for me. Net in the water, fish retrieved! Turned out my modest thump was a 22" Walleye, biggest walleye for me yet. What a thrill! In the basket he went. For some odd reason I had to keep picking the basket up out of the water for the next while to reassure myself of what I thought I had caught...

Well after that high things stopped for me again. Even the carp ran away and didn't want to play. Jason hollered out that he had landed another white and was going to work that area a bit to see if there were more. The wind had died down now so I opted to head out away from the reed line into deeper water to see if I could drag a minnow and piece of carp meat looking for cats. I got out into about 5' of water and started to feel a bit sleepy in the warm sun and calm water. Figured I'd let my eyes close a bit as I kicked a really slow pace. Next thing I know I near a big slash right next to me and as I open my eyes my left pole is bending something fierce. My mind gets all fuzzy as I try to figure out if this cat thats on my carp meat is the one that just did the big jump and splash... Well the line was right in the center of the ripple so it looked like whatever I had hooked into was the source of the splash but as I fought the fish in it turned out to be a fair sized carp. Hook was not in his mouth so can't claim that the carp was eating carp meat bait... Somehow this carp as I dozed had managed to snag himself into my 2/0 circle hook right on his back near his dorsal fin. Not sure how that was managed but again I had a wonderful fight until the hook came out. Oh well, It was fun and I was no longer feeling tired...

Both Jason and I agreed that things were slow enough this way on the lake that we should head back and see if there was more action to be had near the river inlet. Jason made the right pick... We got up to the inlet where a few other boats were working the area and picking up whites every few casts. We moved around then to their north side and started to pick up some whites with some regularity. Most seemed to hit on our TubeDude special sparkled jig heads. We each used a few different curly tail grubs but the chartreuse seemed a good pick as did red/chartreuse. A good number of the whites we caught were pretty good sized for what I've seen in UL before. Didn't measure any to be more specific...

We called it quits at about 2pm and headed back to the ramp to pack up. Jason ended up with just over 10 white bass in his basket and I had 34 whites plus the walleye. As I packed things up I had to remember a comment TD had made before about how many walleye were caught by accident and by people who didn't know how to fish for them. I matched up on both accounts today but I'm not one to complain.

We didn't take the camera out but snapped a few as we cleaned up and then a few more later when I went to fillet up the fish. Here are a few pics:

http://www.chpc.utah.edu/~u0104663/Fishi...alleye.JPG
http://www.chpc.utah.edu/~u0104663/Fishi...lleye2.JPG
[url]http://www.chpc.utah.edu/~u0104663/Fishing/UtahLake_ProvoHarbor-August26_2010/walleye3.JPG[/url
http://www.chpc.utah.edu/~u0104663/Fishi...lleye5.JPG]
http://www.chpc.utah.edu/~u0104663/Fishi...ebass4.JPG
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Were you in a red float tube? I was out there for a short bit in my waiters around 11:30-1. Seemed the white bass were just barely too deep for me to reach in my waiters, but got into a bunch non the less. I was there on Sat. fishing from a boat in the evening. 3 of us caught around 150+. I was feeling like it was slow today compared to Saturday. Of course it was in the middle of the day, can't complain. Congrats on the Eye!
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Yes that was me. I was surprised at how far out you got though. I would agree that you were just out of range of most of them. Once we got on them it was good action but that took being out about as far as the three (later four) boats that were there and then casting further into the lake from the boats.
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Name is Jordan, nice to meet you. Next time I see you out I'll holler at ya! Did the eye take a piece of carp meat?
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No, no carp for the eye. That was on a small sparkle red jig head TubeDude makes with a cabelas brand chartreuse/pink firetail grub with a bit of worm on it too.

We are already talking about watching the weather for the week after next for a return trip. I'll keep my eye open for the floating torso I'm Brian btw, also nice to meet you.
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Great looking Whities and Eye!! I have been in that area with quite a few others from the site and have yet to catch an eye in the provo this year. I have gotten them elsewhere in UL this year, just not there. I will have to try some new tactics to see if I can tame an Eye. The whities are awesome fun if you can get on a school.

Nice Post N Pics,

Shawn M
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[cool][#0000ff]Nice work. Sounds like Jason is getting serious about this tubing business. Good on ya.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That thing about the walleyes is true. Almost any angler who has ever caught walleyes will admit their first (and most) walleye were caught while fishing for other species. Doesn't make them any worse on the table though.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]This time of year there are quite a few walleyes to be had by those who would like to target them. Find the white bass schools and fish near them. The walleyes are following the young of the year whities...only about 3" long. Where you find the bitty bites there will usually be walleyes nearby. They don't always bite lures...especially if they are full of natural "walleye chow". But sometimes a brightly colored trinket or noisy flashy spinner or crankbait can generate a "reaction bite". Big action plastics work well too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the tricks that knowledgeable wallieholics use is to keep a rod rigged with a shallow diving crankbait while fishing for white bass. If the whities suddenly move out or quit biting it could be because the toothy guys have moved in. Start flinging a bigger lure and you may go bendo on a bigger fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]White bass are starting to school at several places around the shoreline of Utah Lake right now. Look for water inlets or mud flats with lots of midge larvae to feed the little fish. The little ones attract the bigger ones, etc. There are also large schools of baby carp in some areas that attract both the larger white bass and the walleyes. Try throwing gold tinged lures in those areas. Good old floating diving Rapala in about size 5 or 7 works good.[/#0000ff]
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