Got on the water at 0730 at the Upper Bear Access, Went up river this time. Got tangled up in the trees on the west bank of the first bend when I left my anchor line too long. But got out into the middle of the channel again, set back with a cup of coffee and enjoyed the beautiful morning and the quiet. Hooked up a small Rainbow, released without even boating him.
Headed to second bend. This time got my anchor out correctly. This spot made it a 4 species day. 1 Carp that I kept for bait, 1 baby Cat I released, and one 16" Walleye that accepted my offer to come home for dinner. At about 1100, turned around and headed down river. Got to the second bend down river, caught 1 small Carp that was released unmolested. About 1430 decided to call it a day. Got back to the launch point, no problems.
Now the interesting part of the day, decide to stop at Willard North to use the nice new fish cleaning station. Did all the messy carp cutting up for bait there. And if you hang around the boat ramps at WB on a weekend, you can witness some crazy things. When I got there, there was a small dark colored car in the water at the bottom of the north ramp. Not sure what happened there, but I passed the roll on roll off tow truck on my way out the gate.
Anyway a nice day. Perfect weather, NO Skunks today, a tasty Walleye for dinner, and thankful my day went better that the guy's with the car in the water.
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Wow way to go Forest, those trout are rare in the Benson Bear River. Glad you got an eye too, they are a little hard to find there as well. Good trip, thanks for sharing it with us. Later J
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Wow that trout must be an escapee from the fish farm west of Smithfield. Way to go on the walleye, I can't catch one on the Bear.
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Or the station along Valley View. Though the Logan river does connect, and it's got a few Bows, and I know there can be Browns in there too. Seen some of those below the dam - Lavaman caught one once.
Definitely not a normal catch along that stretch! Well done Forest - got into two of the more exotic species out there. I'd sure like to figure out the Walleye better, but it's my own fault for net spending enough effort "not-targeting" them - ha.
What did you catch the Walleye on, if you don't mind my asking?
That's kinda freaky about the car at Willard. So - no trailer, just a car? Shoulda snapped a pic! Wonder if they were unloading a toon or something, got too close? Those ramps get slicker than snot with the moss buildup. Can't hardly walk on em without taking a butt plunge. Ramp escapades can be quite entertaining.
Got a bud who says he likes to hit early season at Hyrum, put out a lawn chair, crack a cold one, and just enjoy the show. Marriages end, family feuds begin.
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Got a bud who says he likes to hit early season at Hyrum, put out a lawn chair, crack a cold one, and just enjoy the show. Marriages end, family feuds begin.
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People watching can be just as entertaining as fishing.
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Once again you have the touch. Great day on the water.[cool]
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John, I was a bit surprised to catch a Bow on the Bear. I expected Carp, hoped for some nice Cats, but the Eye was a bonus. And I don't know enough about that water to "target" anything other than maybe Cats. I was using what I've probably caught more fish on that any other bait or lure.......plain ole night crawler worms. Initially I had out one line on the bottom, and one with a worm about 2 feet under a bobber cause I saw lots of fish on the sonar at 2 - 3 feet. But they must not have been interested cause all 5 catches were off the bottom. I usually have a 1/8 oz. egg weight with a #1 Mustad bait hook on a 2 foot leader after that. Theoretically, or at least the way it's mostly worked out for me, the weight hits and settles on the bottom if the current isn't too strong, and the worm (a full worm, wrapped and hooked several times) tends to float up a bit off the bottom. If it's a slow river current, then the worm may even come up to almost the full length of the hook leader. Off the bottom like that, I don't have to watch a bobber (sometimes I loose them in the water reflections anyway) then I bring my line back to just taut, and my drag just tight enough to pretty much hold the line there. If anything hits and runs, of course the drag tells me. But sometimes (as with the walleye yesterday) the line was out, the drag was set just right, there was just the slightest side to side swing of the boat in the current, and I noticed my line going slack, coming at me slowly and it wasn't due to the boat swinging into the line. I got hold of the rod, slowly tightened up on the drag, reeled in most of the slack, then gave it a quick sharp jerk. POW, hook set, and head shake, and walleye for dinner.
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Not really much of a touch, just lucky that trip. Been LOTS of trips in my 50 years of fishin that I took home a skunk bag. So sometimes I'd rather be lucky than good.
Getting skunked used to really bug me. But in the past 10 years or so, since I bought my first boat, have learned to enjoy the trip and count anything caught as icing on the cake. Guess with age sometimes comes patience. The day on the river yesterday was just about as perfect as it gets. Great weather, not another boat or bank tangler in sight, quiet, AND I caught something.
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WERE was that car in the water? The one a WB yesterday wasn't totally under. Couldn't tell if it had a trailer on behind it. If it did, it was totally submerged..
Several years ago, my son and I were at East Canyon and noticed what looked like a black trash bag floating right at the waters edge at the north end about 100 yards west of the small north arm. We were in my first boat, and the lake was pretty low, I didn't want to risk a banged up prop to pick up the trash. But a couple guys in a pontoon boat that drafted less water than I did, got close enough to the object to see it was the back end of a car. You see the slide marks all the way down the hill from the road where it had gone over. Rangers called some underwater rescue crew that came out. The Ranger boat was already pulled for the winter, so the divers hitched a ride to the submerged car with the guys that had called it in from the pontoon boat. We sat out about 100 yards, anchored out, and ate out lunch watching them pull that car up the side of the hill. Took 2 wreckers. Was a stolen car that had been dumped as it turned out.
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