10-16-2022, 03:49 PM
I suppose catchinon and I should have a fancier name for our partnership, like "two bros fishing" or "two cool cats" or? Anyhow, we should have been elk hunting Saturday but the balmy weather did not portend well for those pursuits. So we skipped the mountains and went to Utah Lake after some channel cats.
We launched about 7:30 am at Provo harbor/UL State Park and headed out and then south. We went quite a bit further south than we usually go. We turned and trolled with the wind (and sun) at our backs, generally in a N-NW direction. We had lines in the water a little before 8:00, with the first fish on right at 8. Fishing was steady, with some bursts of doubles and triples. Once we had all four rods either empty from just having a fish on, hooked to a fish on the floor, hooked to a fish in the net, or hooked to fish still in the water. Not technically a quadruple but as close as we wanted to get to one with one net.
We caught about 25 fish before noon and another 17 after noon, with the final count even at 21 apiece in 8 hours of fishing. I had the hot lure in morning, catching 16 by noon. Craig had the hot hand in the afternoon outfishing me 12 to 5. As for length, many were in the 25-27" range. I think we may have caught two smaller than 25", and a handful over 28". Craig caught several contest bumpers in the 29-29.5" range. About 9 am I caught my personal best at 31.5". I added a 29.5" fish less than 10 minutes later, giving me a couple of good bumpers as well.
Air temp was cool in the morning, becoming quite warm by the time we left at 4 pm. I didn't track water temps real well, but think it was mid to upper 50s at the start, moving into the lower 60s.
We seemed to have our best luck in an area that was 5 to 5.4 feet deep, compared to the usual 4-4.5 feet. From the margins of that "hole" and across that deeper area, we caught many fish. It was so good, we cycled back across it several ways.
As for rigs, Craig used a santee rig, but seemed to have his best luck on a spin-n-glo rig (in various green/chartreuse configurations). I also used a couple of different santee rigs with minor success. I caught at least half of my fish on a white glow spin-n-glo rig, with an added "noisemaker" (see photo). The noisemaker is simply a small clear bubble with a few No. 6 split shot added inside to make it rattle. I attempted to seal the ends of the bubble with hot glue, but apparently it wasn't waterproof and it slowly took on water throughout the morning. It still rattled, even wet. By afternoon, my white rig quit producing, and UV-based spin-n-glo's seemed to have better catch rates.
For bait, we used chunks of fresh white bass. Although we had other bait, we didn't need to try it as we seemed to do very well on fresh white bass.
It was a great day of fishing, where two brothers could enjoy a little peace and quiet on the lake, at least when the fish weren't hitting two or three at a time. And we didn't have to hike around the mountains or pack out an elk.
![[Image: IMG-0211.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/xqkGkP3V/IMG-0211.jpg)
We launched about 7:30 am at Provo harbor/UL State Park and headed out and then south. We went quite a bit further south than we usually go. We turned and trolled with the wind (and sun) at our backs, generally in a N-NW direction. We had lines in the water a little before 8:00, with the first fish on right at 8. Fishing was steady, with some bursts of doubles and triples. Once we had all four rods either empty from just having a fish on, hooked to a fish on the floor, hooked to a fish in the net, or hooked to fish still in the water. Not technically a quadruple but as close as we wanted to get to one with one net.
We caught about 25 fish before noon and another 17 after noon, with the final count even at 21 apiece in 8 hours of fishing. I had the hot lure in morning, catching 16 by noon. Craig had the hot hand in the afternoon outfishing me 12 to 5. As for length, many were in the 25-27" range. I think we may have caught two smaller than 25", and a handful over 28". Craig caught several contest bumpers in the 29-29.5" range. About 9 am I caught my personal best at 31.5". I added a 29.5" fish less than 10 minutes later, giving me a couple of good bumpers as well.
Air temp was cool in the morning, becoming quite warm by the time we left at 4 pm. I didn't track water temps real well, but think it was mid to upper 50s at the start, moving into the lower 60s.
We seemed to have our best luck in an area that was 5 to 5.4 feet deep, compared to the usual 4-4.5 feet. From the margins of that "hole" and across that deeper area, we caught many fish. It was so good, we cycled back across it several ways.
As for rigs, Craig used a santee rig, but seemed to have his best luck on a spin-n-glo rig (in various green/chartreuse configurations). I also used a couple of different santee rigs with minor success. I caught at least half of my fish on a white glow spin-n-glo rig, with an added "noisemaker" (see photo). The noisemaker is simply a small clear bubble with a few No. 6 split shot added inside to make it rattle. I attempted to seal the ends of the bubble with hot glue, but apparently it wasn't waterproof and it slowly took on water throughout the morning. It still rattled, even wet. By afternoon, my white rig quit producing, and UV-based spin-n-glo's seemed to have better catch rates.
For bait, we used chunks of fresh white bass. Although we had other bait, we didn't need to try it as we seemed to do very well on fresh white bass.
It was a great day of fishing, where two brothers could enjoy a little peace and quiet on the lake, at least when the fish weren't hitting two or three at a time. And we didn't have to hike around the mountains or pack out an elk.
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j.o.a.t.m.o.n.
jack of all tackle, master of none
j.o.a.t.m.o.n.
jack of all tackle, master of none
