Hey guys, I'm a student at BYU, living close by campus. Been doing a lot of fishing this summer and I'm starting to get tired of catching stocked rainbows on powerbait, if you know what I mean.
I'd love to try going after some bluegills - where's a good place (preferably not too far of a drive?). I understand you can catch them in Utah lake, and from the research I've been doing about bluegills in general, this is about the prime time of year to go after them in lakes, but isn't there a consumption advisory on fish out of Utah lake?
Love to hear where you guys successfully catch bluegills.
Thanks,
Andrew
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If you want info on Utah Lake, Tubedude is your guy. As far as the fish consumption goes, it only applies to catfish and carp I believe. In fact i have eaten blugills out of that lake and have had no problems. Utah Lake is a good place to go for panfish. I have had my best luck for bluegills at the Lindon Harbor myself, but I'm sure no matter where you go on the lake you'll find something that isn't a slimer.
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[#0000FF]I catch a few bluegills by accident, while casting jigs for other species. But if you really want to focus on bluegills, green sunfish and crappies then fishing inside the harbors is usually the best bet. USUALLY. This is a low water year and some of the places they usually hang out are shallower than they like. So you have to prospect a bit to find them.
Best tactic is a piece of worm...by itself or tipping a small jig...under a bobber. Fish a couple of feet of line under the bobber in water from 2 to 4 feet deep. Some harbor only have about 3 feet in most areas right now.
Sunfish also like to hang out around docks and near stickups or structure...like rocks.
If you are a fly fisherman, get down there early in the morning when the fish are up feeding on midges that have died and fallen in the water overnight. But be prepared for a battle if you hook one of the big carp that are doing the same thing.
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UL is a great place for jumbo bluegills, maybe one of the best in the state. However, you have probably missed the peak of the action there for the year. Nevertheless, you should still be able to get some fishing around docks, weedbeds, and even rocky structure with a small jig tipped with worm. Use a bobber that allows detection of light strikes.
As was noted, the bluegills have no advisories on them there and are quite tasty.
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been up 3 times this month just fishin worm under a bobber at the state park docks, on the provo side, yet to catch anything other than catfish ha, imma go for some bluegills. next time
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I'll try Lindon Harbor; that's close to where I work.
Forgive my rudimentary understanding of terminology here, but when you say to "tip" the jig with a bit of worm, does that mean to fish a soft plastic on a jig and just cover the exposed part of the hook with worm, or to fish a worm just using a jig instead of a hook?
Also, what are effective artificial substitutes for worms? I don't like fishing with live bait very much. Would a piece of Berkley Gulp worm work? What about a trout magnet or other really tiny jig with some kind of soft plastic imitating a cricket or other bug like that?
Will these fish hit spinners or spoons?
Appreciate the help all.
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Tipping the jig would be using the soft plastic and placing a small piece of worm or other bait such as Glup, Perch meat ect on. I don't just put it on the tip I slide it up to the body of the jig so it is parallel to the rig body.
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Gulp 1" minnows are deadly on bluegills, as are Gulp crickets. The minnows are best fished on a small jig, while the crickets can be fished either on a jig or a plain hook with a small split shot on the line.
I have tried small pieces of Gulp worm, but have not had good success with them. Catfish will bite them, but bluegills will usually come right up to them and then back off.
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[#0000FF]Depending on who's talking and what they are fishing for, "tipping" a jig with "sweetener" can mean anything from a half a nightcrawler on a jig head to a teensie piece of worm on a tiny ice fly jig. Come to think of it, using those little ice jigs under a bobber is a good tactic for small mouthed bluegills.
The Gulp products can work very well. They sell artificial scented worms, maggots, wax worms and just little bits of bait called crappie bits. The scent is what does the job...more than the color or size of the application. Some guys get lots of fish by breaking up the tiny Gulp minnows and just using a small piece of them on a small jig hook.
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I almost exclusively use Berkley honey worms to fish for bluegill. They look like a mealworm/was worm. I hook them on the smallest salmon egg hooks I can find. You can rig them by running the hook through the top of the honey worm and pushing it up through the body of the honey worm or just hook through the middle like you would a wacky rigged plastic bass worm. The wacky rigged honeypot is my favorite way to fish it. I also put a couple of really small split shot sinkers about 12-18 inches above the hook.
I typically don't fish it under a bobber. I cast it out and let it sink. Once it reaches the bottom I jig it a couple of times and pause. Then I jig a couple of times then pause again. I repeat until I have reeled it in then repeat. This style of fishing for bluegill has always produced buckets of gills for me over the last couple of years. Hope it helps you get into some gills.
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I used to catch a lot of bluegill, green sunfish and their hybrids at Salem Pond, which isn't too far from you either. I had my best luck in the small pond on the other side of the highway from the main pond. I used flies mostly, but they also hit small jigs. There are also largemouth, channel cats and trout in there.
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[quote doggonefishin]UL is a great place for jumbo bluegills, maybe one of the best in the state. However, you have probably missed the peak of the action there for the year. Nevertheless, you should still be able to get some fishing around docks, weedbeds, and even rocky structure with a small jig tipped with worm. Use a bobber that allows detection of light strikes.
As was noted, the bluegills have no advisories on them there and are quite tasty.[/quote]
Well, actually the current Utah record bluegill comes from Mantua, and - um, er - that's up North of course. [cool] (always making mischief, that's what Coyote's do!)
You got the tips on tipping. Small is good, gills don't have big mouths, and though they can be aggressive, they can also be rather timid and finicky. BUT - that said - they are also competitive, and if there's a bunch of them - one might rush your bait to beat another out, just because...
But be sure - if you hook a full worm dangling off a hook, you'll see lots in nippers, and none for hookers. They'll grab the end, tug and pull off a piece. I've tried the ice-jig game, and it's done well - they can't help but suck the whole thing in. Sometimes a chase will do more than a still bait have had that with Crappie, they weren't dining in, but up for fast food.
The gulps, and various powerbait options will work. If you don't want to bother with live bait, you can also get "preserved" waxworms, mealworms, shrimp, and other such. Walleyworld carries some. Some are freeze dried.
It's not so close, but always heard good things about Pelican lake and Bluegill.
[quote CoyoteSpinner] (always making mischief, that's what Coyote's do!)
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Naw I think you are just bored.[:p]
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Maybe I should just go for a drive
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Yeah you definitely have too much time on your hands.
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Does Utah Lake have a fish cleaning station?
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[#0000ff]Nope. Until this spring there was one at Lincoln Beach. But they closed it and installed a burger stand. Gotta be some kind of connection there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000FF]EDIT: Just remembered that the Saratoga Springs Marina at Pelican Bay DOES have a nice fish cleaning station. Free launching for tubes and cartoppers. Only a fee if you tow a trailer.[/#0000FF]
Does that include pontoon boats? I can't believe float tubers have to pay a fee at Lincoln Beach.
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[#0000FF]Lincoln Beach is a Utah County facility. No launch fees for anybody...boats included. But they closed the free fish cleaning station because it was continually vandalized. They couldn't keep it operational.
At Pelican Bay (Saratoga Springs) the basic rule is that the fee applies only to vehicles with trailers. If you bring your toon in your vehicle...or on top...no fee. I used to take advantage of the fish cleaning station there after fishing at the Knolls. But since there is currently no public access at the Knolls I don't go over to the west side of the lake.
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I thought the state park has a fish cleaning station.
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