Utah Lake?

[mike_d]

<quote option="&quot;mike_d&quot; pid='1095725' dateline='1584368130'"><br />
Made it to Utah lake state park on Sunday and fished off of the north Jetty. Wind was a little chilly to start off, but it died down mid-day and it made for a beautiful warm day.<br />
Got 3 small bullheads and 1 fat perch all on worms off the bottom. Didn't get any hits on shrimp (even shrimp tipped with worms), no hits on any plastics, spinners, or anything else that was thrown, and I threw about everything in the tackle box at them.<br />
There were a number of other people out fishing, and I didn't see or hear anyone catching anything. The only one having great success was the park ranger catching everyone that "forgot" to pay the entrance fees!</quote><br />
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<b><size option="medium" style="font-size:medium"><font option="times new roman" style="font-family: times new roman;"><color option="#0000CD" style="color: #0000CD;">Glad to hear you at least got a few tugs.  This is mid March and most of the channels are still out in deeper water.  If you can find them, they will bite...but not as well as when the water warms to over 60.  Those bullheads are usually some of the first fish to get playful...especially if fishing from shore and/or inside a harbor.  Water temps will often be a couple of degrees warmer inside a protected (from wind) area and that is enough to get the bullies busy.<br />
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You have gotten some good advice on baits and rigs.  I will offer my advice as well.  Over several decades of fishing for cats in Utah Lake I have yet to find anything they WOULD NOT eat.  Well, almost.  But if you want to catch more and bigger cats consistently you will do best with "natural" baits...and fresh baits.  Nightcrawlers will always work.  Ditto for shrimp, chicken livers and prepared dough baits.   But the natural foods of most Utah Lake cats are crawdads and the fry of white bass, carp, crappies, bluegills and other species.  But they will usually chomp pieces of fish flesh cut from fresh dead carp and white bass.  No suckers allowed for bait in Utah Lake.<br />
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I like to fish with bobbers too...and do so a lot...especially in late spring and summer when the fish are cruising shallow.  They move closer to shore while spawning and then stay there for feeding on the young of other spawning species.  And, since there are usually more rocks and stickups in shallower water, a bobber can reduce snagging.  But you don't always have to have the bait right next to the bottom.  Channel cats are predatory feeders and will rise up a ways in the water column to ambush live food...or to munch a flavorful bait.  And fishing bait on a weighted jig head will help keep your offerings down if the breezes are moving the bobber around.

Keep trying and be patient.  Be grateful for whatever you can get this early in the year close to shore.  But by May it will be getting wide open.  And 24/7 by summer.

Thanks for all of the great advise. I am looking forward to the temps warming up and adding more species to my catch cards. Last year was the first year that I spent some time targeting species other than trout (still spent most of the time with trout---its what I am familiar with), and I have lots to learn!