I had a rare day off today due to working Saturday. I went to East Canyon. Arrived later than I wanted, but fishing by 830. Tried cranks, dodger combos, one nice bow within a 1/2 hour on a flicker shad, then nothing. Didn't see much on the sonar either. Nearly 3 hours later with only a few short strikes, I started trolling back towards the ramp. 1/2 way back I scored a nice brown that went airborne a few times. 19" and nice colors. I then caught 3 rainbows that were around 14", all on flicker shads. That was it. I needed to be home to get a few things done, so I was in the truck heading home about 12:45.

Had around 12 student anglers at Echo last week. Planned to test out some Tubedude Hothead jigs. We fished our hearts out with Pats stuff and a bunch of mine. Just was not our day. Had a few bites. One on that got off but pretty dead. Talked to a couple boats. Similar reports. Was hoping for Walleye but nope. But it should heat up soon so we can test Pat's donations. I did see they dumped a bunch of rainbows in Rockport if you have kids that need a bite. 

Pineview is on my mind. Hearing some good reports.

On a differnt note...attached is a fun video we just did with our nieces and nephews and a celluar trail camera. Fun toy.

https://youtu.be/XbhT9Bvd_8w

Utah Lake, April 29, 31 1/2

Did not have my atomic fish stretcher with me or might have
made 32 inches.  Anyway, a good start.

We were up last Friday and the fish cleaning station at the North Marina was closed.  The office up there doesn't answer the phone.  Is the South Marina station open?  Anybody know when the North will open?  Thanks in advance.

I thought it would be nice to recognize Tube Dude for all that he has contributed to making all of us on the Big Fish Tackle site better fishermen/fisherwomen.

Because of a number of health issues he has not been able to get out in his beloved float tube and chase after the fish and make movies but he has still been helping folks improve their fishing skills.  That could mean posting maps to fishing access points, how to make lures/jigs/fligs, or teaching various techniques for catching fish.  I still have some of his “Hot Heads” to tie flies on.  He has also shared numerous recipes and preparations’ for your catch.

He has created a boat load of documents and a DVD on all things fishing and has shared them with anyone with a desire to learn.  Pat is pioneer in float tubing and has been able to modify his tubes over the years to be able to accommodate more fishing equipment than you can fit in an SUV.

I have had the pleasure to fish with Pat on a few occasions over the years and he has always been very helpful and entertaining with his humor.  I’m sorry Pat, that you can’t join me on the water anymore but we had a good run.


Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge of all things fishing with this lowly fly flinger.  I will always value our friendship and share your love of float tubing.

I haven't fished Willard for Crappie or Perch in many years.
My Grandson asked me to take him there this weekend.
We will be in a boat.

What is a good way to get him into some Crappie or Perch.
He doesn't like trolling, so we will be jigging and casting.

What area of Willard would be a good place to try?

Please PM me if you don't want to give out info to the public.

Thanks in advance.

Sooooo nice to finally get back in the boat again, fishing from 10-2pm.  47 air, 48 water, plus buddy & I had some unexpected whitecaps.  Tried some steep-slope rocks, tried some flats, tried some spines, tried the dam, threw shallow, dragged deep.  Finally got some browns & bows on jerkbaits and one 15' smallie before noon.  Accidentally found a glory hole trying to get out of the wind, yanking 8 smallies in the 13-15" range, all in that last hour.  Spitting up 2" perch, the bass fell for single-tail grubs as we spot-locked over 7', throwing up into 2-3', all 48-deg water.  Go figure.

Fished with the Student Club last week at Lost Creek. Pretty slow. Handed out some more donations from Tubedude to the lads. Plan on trying them for some walleye later this week. They did catch about 8 bows, cuts and one tiger but we had a lot of lines in the water with students that day so the action was pretty spotty. Mostly standard silver and gold bling cast from the shore and a few on Powerbait.

Also fished a few locations down south on our pie trip

Otter Creek was snowing hard so we passed by - did not have the clothes for it
Sand Hollow and Quail Creek were so crowed I did not get out of the truck (spring break is a bad time)
We did fish Gunlock for an hour with no action but it was getting hammered by others, so we moved on

Fished Bakers up above Gunlock. Very pretty place. Cookie was treated well with a bunch of bows as were the few groups around us. Our standard offerings applied. Nothing special. No real size but it was good to get those tugs after long drive. 

Finished our 5 day trip with Buckwheat. He really loved the Pie Trail. 


Last part of the trip is linked below. Includes some clips fishing Baker.  If you go that way gota try the Volcano Pie at Veyo Pies. So Good, Also loved the pies at Bryce Canyon - heck I did not have a bad pie in 8 stops - gota love it.


https://youtu.be/fJ7Jo1D2tQI?si=eO2yrpiKCsABItjc

Utah Lake

4/22/25


Channel cat - 28.5 inches

Drove up for some evening fishing and to check the ice last night. Went to the Aspen grove marina so I got a good look at the north end of the berry and all the soldier creek side. A lot of small fishable areas along the east side of soldier creek. Chicken creek and the ladders had a bunch of open water that was fishable as well. We fished Aspen grove on soldier mostly on the east side. By the time we left at dark the better part of the Aspen bay was open water or just a light skiff of slush. The fish were very active splashing around most of the night, one even popped up through the slush and landed on the ice and struggled for about 30 seconds before he found his way back in the drink. It was cool seeing dorsal fins popping up through the slushy areas during the times they were really active. Started with black maribou jigs and got a few on that, then tried some spinners and other things before switching to the old white tube style baits. Really started to do well with those the last hour of fishing. I’m guessing by the weekend there will be a lot of open water. Could’ve launched a boat at Aspen late last night if you weren’t worried about going real far out of the bay. Fishing was good, weather was good! If your thinking about it I would say just go!