Well, my girlfriend had to run into work for a bit so I took the opportunity to go fish for a couple hours.  Caught one nice brown, lost another and then the storm hit with a vengeance.  Bailed on that spot (Seekskadee) to try and find an opening in the storm to fish another spot.  Found myself at Scott's Bottom where I hooked one more brown before heading home.  And yes....one of my pictures gives away my "secret lure". ??

The rainbow is from the Green through Green River by the rail yard yesterday.  Also caught a small Cutthroat but didn't take a picture 

Need to know how in the heck do you get to the east dike at Willard Bay. 
 Any direction will do for me. But please, I will not use a helicopter or parachute from a plane or any such thing.
 I looked at the Google satellite and it looks like there are some cattle and some dirt roads.
  
  Thanks

Got off early and hit the water about 1 water was 57 degrees still muddy coming in the south marina. Fished around the North Marina shallow for a while not even a bite headed over to the light pole and trolled a little picked up a avg. Cat and that was it for the day left at five as a thunderstorm was coming.

Hey everyone, it's that time of year again and we need to gage the interest and availability of help to put on our spring flotilla, if we have one.   I have a big problem, in that my Saturdays are committed come the first of May, so I'm not going to be available on the regularly scheduled times, so we'll need someone to step up and run the flotilla if we continue on the traditional format... So here's some questions... First would everyone like to have a flotilla this year?  Second, it is team north's year to host, assume everyone wants to do Willard, so yes or no on Willard?  Third, Are we set on a Saturday morning format?  Yes or no?  If not what day/time would you like to gather?  Forth, who would like to be part of the set up and planning?  Sorry to not be available this year... Unless we want to look at a week night gathering...  Let's hear your thoughts and see if we can come up with a plan for this year.  Thanks Jeff

I debated if I should put this in the Wyoming threads but there doesn't seem to be much action in that forum and I know there are a few on this site that wander across state line to Fontanelle.

So, we wander over the border, picked up my wife's parents and later her brother ( with his family) and headed to Fontanelle last Saturday. Ice was completely off and boats were launching. We actually started hunting petrified blue wood, and then fossils ( fish mostly) with the grandkids. Had a great time doing that. 

My brother in law got there way before us and fished the early AM on the southeast shoreline. He picked up about 5. Mix of browns and bows. Mostly on crankbait style lures. Then he meet us at the blue forest to hunt the petrified wood.

In the afternoon we went back and fished coves along the east side. Picked a few up on spinner and rapalas. Then the wind picked up so we went hunting more fossils. Wind staid high so we only fished a short time in the evening but picked up a few more. I am sure if we would have went fishing in the AM before the wind we would have got a bunch more but the kids sure had fun chasing fossil.

Buckwheat was with us but fighting a raging bladder infection and the pills they had him on made him very sensitive to the sun so you don't see much of him in the video.

Video link


https://youtu.be/puYlq-BKvDg?si=QAWAEsSD3F7K29hi

Was to sick to make it into work but amazingly I was feeling good enough to go fishing. 

Hit the water at about 1 and set to work giving the rainbows some sore lips. Brought in a dozen and missed a few more. Had a pleasant surprise when the wife landed her first walleye. Water temperature was just over 56 degrees.

I live in Provo and have been hearing about the great fishing down at Otter Creek.  My dad was in town, so we wanted to try out the great Otter Creek and catch some of those famous fat rainbows.  

We all got up early and headed out before the sun came up. We picked up my brother in Salem and started the 3 hour drive south. Since my dad and step-mom are from out-of-state, we stopped in Richfield at the local Walmart and got a 3 day license for them (can you believe they are $25 bucks now!?).

Anyhow we made it down to Otter Creek around 10am, long before the best bit at 12:30 (according to the Solunar Table).   We started scoping out a place to fish in the west side. The first place we stopped, I met a fisherman who said they caught two little rainbow planters. They had been there since sunup (around 7am).  Anyhow we needed to find a place my dad, who is 83, could safely get close to shore and sit in a chair.  

We found a decent place we could get down and by 10:30 I had Dad comfortably set in a chair and our poles baited with rainbow colored garlic powerbait.  A boat was anchored about 60 to 80 feet from us and we just watched them fight a fish and loose it right at the side of the boat. Dad said, "I can tell we are going to catch some fish today."

Nothing bit and 12:30 came.  Nothing.  Fishermen trolled by and we asked if they had caught anything. Nothing.  Soon around 1pm, all the boats started zooming in and lining up at the launch ramp to pull their boats.  Around 1pm another fisherman drove up and asked how we were doing.  He had fished 3 hours and nothing. He was farther south by the dam and nobody in those groups had caught anything. No bites. Nothing.  We fished till 2pm and then put our rigs away.  Not a single bit.  

We went over to the state park and saw people fishing near their camping sites.  I saw one person who had their boat parked and clean on decent fish (about 16 inches) that was stiff. Obviously caught many hours ago.  

So, what happened. Why on a 4 star da did these big fat trout at Otter Creek have lock jaw?  Turning their noses up to the best recipe that Berkley had?  

Well, this is my theory.  I noticed as soon as we got there and were setting up our rigs the huge buzzing swarms of Buffalo gnats (black bodies and white wings).  Did these gnats just come out and the fish were full to their gills and were not hungry? That is the only explanation I have. 

I heard, through the grape vine and from a nice person in Richfield, that last week and two weeks ago, the fishing was great at Otter Creeks.  Something had happened...  The huge swarms of gnats may be the culprit.  The fish have fed well for several days and are not hungry.  

My suggestion..  If you are going to Otter Creek in the next week, try fishing early in the morning as the sun is coming up or in the evening as the sun goes down. Watch to see if the fish are surfacing and eating bugs on the surface.  Then find a black gnat pattern or a royal coachman and fish from shore or a boat with a fly and bubble or troll really slow with a fly pattern and a single split shot and see what bites.  

We only made the day trip. We didn't get skunked though. We stopped on the Severe River below Piute and landed a nice Tiger Trout and some super fat rainbow planters.  All in all, we had a good time and I learned where to go when I head down there again, which I will.  

Hope you all have a great time next time you go.

Outfishing13
Matthew: The Zebco guy

Jon and I did another Friday "evening" trip to Utah Lake on the 19th. Water temp varied between 52 and 55 degrees and the air only a little warmer. Launched at Lincoln about 2 P.M. and got back to the ramp about 10:40 P.M. 

We dragged small offerings around the harbor because there were decent numbers of marks down 2-4 feet, but they were not having anything we offered them. Headed over to the mouth of the slough and got a white casting the same offerings. Spot locked for 30 minutes or so and still had only one white plus a bullhead that discovered that a chunk of white bass under a bobber had a hook in it. 





Headed out by the Island with fresh bait and optimism. The wind was steady at about 10 MPH out of the NW and there were decent sized waves, but no blowing spray. The water was REALLY churned up, like proverbial chocolate milk. Must have been some bigger winds a day or two before.

In honor of the dark water, we changed a couple of rods to bigger than springtime baits and attractors and went to work. An hour of dragging them in 11 FOW at around 0.5 mph had produced nothing and I was just starting to talk about looking elsewhere when one of the bigger bait rods went down. Hooray, a kittie! It fought like a 10 pounder and when I saw it I was surprised. It looked about 27 or 28 in the murky water. It was both, a little shy of 28 with a huge gut and the scale said 9.7 pounds. Most surprisingly in the cold water, it had completely inhaled the bait. 





I went to work trying to get the hook out since Jon has a medical boot on one foot and wasn't able to get down on the floor. While I was still working on that, Jon's back rod went bendo with another good fish (and on the other big bait). I need to remember to put one of those on each side of the boat 

This cat turned out to be 29" and a solid 10 pounds. We thought we had found them, but an hour later we had not had another twitch other than a couple of white bass like rattles on the small offerings I was still dragging. They all got off.







Next we headed about halfway to the airport hoping that the fish were just relating to anywhere far from shore, an hour later we still had only the 2 nice cats.

Last, just before dark, we headed south to the same transition we got fish on back in March. It was a better choice, I got two smaller cats (26 and 28 ish) and lost 2 others before we got tired and called it a night.












The wind had continued to build a little through the evening and the larger waves were making the Garmin screen look like a bright yellow sawtooth. I should have taken a picture of that.

No catfish were harmed on this outing. It was great to get a few cats in what I would call "marginal at best" conditions. They are feeding, but we can't seem to get a good weather day on the weekends. The most interesting thing was that 3 of the 4 cats had completely inhaled the baits. Apparently they were aggressively feeding but with all the waves and turbidity they were struggling to find food. It will get better and more stable as we move from April into May.

Just like my last trip, I hadda go fishing Tuesday instead of a better forecasted Wednesday.  Launched at Willard south marina…after a go-round with a boat doofus.  I pulled in to the last parking spot next to the water at the north ramp.  With the high water, it makes it easy to unload and launch my tube right where I park.  But as I was starting to unload my vehicle a boat trailer backed down only a couple of feet from the back of my car.  A whole ramp open and he chooses to launch right on top of me. So I told him I was in the process of launching my float tube and he was blocking be from doing so.  After a couple of unkind remarks he said they would only be a minute.  Turned out to be over ten minutes as they needed to finish loading the boat from the truck, etc.  Hadn’t even prepped for launch.
 
When my blood pressure subsided, I finished launching…about 7:30 am.  Air temp 50…only getting up to about 65 by noon departure.  Cloudy with a cool breeze most of the morning.  Water temp inside the marina was only 50.  A couple of degrees warmer in the main lake…getting up to about 54 by the time I left.  Muddy inside.  Stained outside.

 
Cruised around from shallow (12’) to deeper (22’) looking for love while dragging a succession of crawler rigs in different sizes, shapes and colors.  Saw very little on TV and even less on my line.  Ya cain’t ketch ‘em where they ain’t.  Once I find fish I can usually fish them efficiently and catch a few from my float tube.  But I am limited in how far and how fast I can go to cover more water to find more fish.  Have heard reports of a few anglers finding a few fish in the past few days so I was hopeful.
 
Not even a sniff until I found an area with some bottom anomalies in about 21’.  First bite was a walleye…just like on my last trip.  No cheers yet.  The 18 incher was inexperienced and didn’t know how to hang on.  Arranged his own release for bad behavior a couple o feet from the net.  Had a couple of other bites later that I’d like to think were walleyes.  And a few “perch pecks”.
 
But…as is often the case for me at Willard…the everlovin’ kitties killed the skunk and stretched my string a few times.  No matter what my targeted species for the day, the kitties usually pay no attention to the directions and bite anyway. But I always appreciate the tugs and enjoy them on the table. Ended up bringing in about 7…up to maybe 22 or 23 inches.  Kept the first two for the fillet board and released the rest.

 
Quite a few boats out on the water today but did not see evidence of much success.  Nobody stayed in any defined area.  Several boats hit the island zone briefly and then left.  And of the ones who chatted with me…on the water or back at the ramp…none reported any success.  So I was happy I had at least got some "hand to fin" combat.


Had another absurd boater vs float tuber encounter back at the ramp.  I pulled my tube back up next to my vehicle…at the very edge of the ramp…leaving the rest of the ramp open for boat launching.  As I was unlocking my car I noticed a big power cruiser backing down….at an angle…directly toward me and my tube.  I made some noise and they stopped, pulled forward a little and finished backing down to launch.  WITHIN A COUPLE OF FEET OF MY RAMPED FLOAT TUBE.  Three empty launch ramps and this joker has to almost run over my float tube to launch.


The rest of the story?  After the boat was off the trailer the truck driver gunned it and sent a big wave washing up over the ramp…washing my float tube back out into the marina.  I was still wearing my waders so I was able to wade out deep enough to grab my tube before the stiffening breeze carried it across the lake.  But my fins that had been resting on the tube were gone…under the muddy water somewhere.  Took me a long time to probe around with the end of my net to find both of my fins.  Some peoples kids!

Want to get pissed off?  Check out the story about how great the algae fix was at Mantua... Not a mention that it killed all the fish...  I tried to comment but KSL wouldn't accept my comment telling them this was not a good thing to be promoting... Maybe you should try to express your thoughts with less emotion than I did so they see the truth... Sorry this one really didn't sit well with me... Later J