It's white bass city at Utah Lake. All you can handle & are willing to clean. Hitting everything from sonars to tubes to bare leadheads. Drove to Pelican Bay, Pumphouse, AmFk & Lindon yesterday, with AmFk being the slowest. Fished Lindon today, but did a drive-by of AmFk on way home and still slow. Ice 4" & solid, tho most guys fishing either on or around docks. Least crowded at Lindon. Token perch & bluegill showing up, but must be difficult for them to get a bite in edgewise, what with the piranha-like school of whities all around. Saw more white bass on the ice each of last two days than orange construction barrels on I-15, and that's saying a lot. Took some pics of Pumphouse fishermen & their piles of 300 fish each. I know 'cuz I counted one pile.
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I knew sooner or later the word was gonna get out. I fished the gates area by the pumphouse and I measured the ice there at 6". The fishing was crazy fast for white bass and I caught a couple of bluegill and a half a dozen perch.
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My brother and I took a peak around noon to check the ice and couldn't believe how many people were out. I'll have to get there early to stake out my spot.... Aren't white bass too full of bones to be worth much as far as table fare goes?
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Depends on how you clean them. If you fillet them, no bones man. Little egg/milk dip, seasoned corn meal, grease at 350 or better and you have delicious fried white bass. I think the reason Lindon is pretty bare bones is because the ice is craptacular there. It is barely 3 inches with slush on top. No bueno for gravity-enhanced individuals such as myself.
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Looks like a nice mess of fish. That's the kind of action I'd like to get my kids in on! Sounds like a lot of fun.
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looks like no catch and release here ?
more than a meal next time you go out there there wont any action at all
sorry just my 2 cents
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You will never put a dent in the white bass population at Utah Lake. The best thing that can happen is to harvest every white bass that you catch there. No reason for catch an' release on whites.
My 2 cents.
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I was thinking the same thing-- Those fishermen look really cold, too bad they just can't use a big net like they do for the carp removal and get home sooner. [
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I agree with Fishrmn. Yank those whities while you can, but use everything you keep. There is a reason there is no limit on them.
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Gravity-enhanced... I like that. I'm upwards of 320 myself but I make myself feel better by telling myself that my size 15s spread the weight more evenly so I'm no different than my 120 lb wife in her size 6s. Right? ... Right?
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White bass are extremely prolific. I remember reading that a single mature female white bass can lay up to 100,000 eggs per spawn. Survival rates vary but when the lake is up as it has been for a few years, a large percentage of the fry survive hence the no limit. White bass (or sand bass if you are from my neck of the woods) are really fun to catch in my opinion. The typical size you will catch is between 10-12 inches right now. Those make for great eating. I caught larger white bass in Texas when I was younger and we would have to cut off the red sensory tissue on the bigger (>15 inches) fish otherwise it would have a little bit o' funky flavor. Now y'all get out to the pumphouse and yank some of them "albino walleye" through the ice! [
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Right! You'd be fine on 4 inches or better of good ice. I'm also a huge chicken when it comes to testing out the ice. If I had more time, I'd be right out there in the pumphouse and the channel jerkin' the whities up with no worries of breaking through.[cool]
BFT Consumer Saftey Warning: consuming fried fish in large quantities can cause severe gravity enhancement. Proceed with caution!
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Those pics are insane man. PCB levels through the roof but what the hay. Wow, i'd even be a little nervous about having 600 lbs of fish on the ice next to me. haha I agree, cant over harvest the whities. Biologists know what they are talking about.
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Talk about the 7 deadly sins Gluttony fer sure !!!! But as mentioned before they are extremely prolific as are the stripers !!. Really no harm done just a couple of anglers putin the wack to a no limit fish !!!!! On a 10 in white bass you get a purty good return [
] so just imagine 600 fatt fillets it would feed a purty good sized fam fer atleast 3-5 sessions..Minus the eyes,carcass and innards !!!l LOL[
] Plus the remnant stew thatd follow....
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I hope to hit the Pumphouse this Sat. I am too cheap to pay at the harbors...and they are collecting, and it sounds like the ice is better up there too. I haven't heard too much on the gills yet, but the WB sure are entertaining.
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drove down today looked soft around edges I would have ventured out but like mentioned before I am a big chicken ( in weight and scared)
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Ya I'm sure the white bass population is fine. Those pictures are just amusing[
] Theres got to be tons in the Jordan River too. I've been trying to get my step son interested in fishing so I've been taking him to the Jordan cuz its so close... and we've caught some almost every time we go.
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I have heard that about the perch back a few years ago, now try to find them in any lakes..
Any fish can get fish down so low that fishing is fishing but not much catching...
Just my two cents ..
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White bass and perch are different.
If anything that will help their population not hurt it.
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Well said, according to the good ol internet(Wikipedia) White bass can lay up to 933,000 eggs per spawn while the average for perch is 23,000. No limit means no limit means the only people in the wrong are those criticizing. I think we are in about as much danger of having a carp population crash as losing the white bass numbers. As for perch, I caught them everywhere I fished for them.
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