Trapping Minnows through the Ice

[TubeDude]

. Don't know where the carp were this year...

I like to get a few carplets each year to round out my minnow stash too.  But timing is critical and the time differs almost every year.  Carp start spawning usually in late April and run through June.  The young start showing up by the first of July...or whenever.  If you can find the large schools early you can harvest a bunch.  But it usually doesn't take long for the predators to scatter them into the shoreline weeds or into other cover.  After that they are sparse.

The lower end of spawning tributaries and little creeks they run up to spawn is a good place to try to ambush some baby carp as they go downstream to the larger waters.  I used to get a ton at the mouth of the Provo River some years.  But the last good numbers I got were in fall around the edges of Grantsville Reservoir.  Again, like gold, carp are where you find them and you gotta get 'em fast before they boogie to other parts.

If you go by Echo, you will notice a temporary lakelet on the east side of Echo between the two camp areas.  When the water is high the carp go through the culvert and spawn a lot back there...leaving a bunch of babies until the water level drops and they go into the lake.  A good place to keep checking.