Hobble Creek Pike

[LOAH]

Last week, while fishing on lunch break, I decided to try the Hobble Creek restoration area by the freeway.

The only other time I had fished it in the past was over a decade earlier, so I wanted to see the new changes and see if I could catch any fish while I was at it.

Well, my first trip out there didn't yield any fish to hand, but I saw something really interesting when a juvenile pike spooked.

That prompted a return trip, the next day. On that 2nd day, I noticed not one, but three of them! Same spot!

I reported these sightings to the DWR and I was asked by Drew Cushing to kill and submit any pike caught from that area to the Central Office in Springville.

So today I went back and actually got one! Naturally, my strangest catches tend to come on lunch break, haha.

I brought it in and continued fishing for another couple of minutes as I tried my best to get the other, larger pike I saw as well.

That didn't work, so I used the rest of my break to get the sample pike over to the folks in Springville.

From the DWR's response, they seem to really want any and all pike that are caught in this system (Utah Lake and tribs) turned in to the local field offices.

So if any of you want to help the DWR, they'd really appreciate your "samples".
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[one8sevenn]

Aww, what a cute little guy
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[doggonefishin]

What did you catch it on?
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[LOAH]

Outlaw Tube Jig - White with black flecks
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[albinotrout]

One less pike in the system. Looks like they have taken a hold there.
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[BoBooty]

I was wondering if anyone else had seen the pike in there. A few months back I caught a couple really small ones and saw some bigger ones cruising around.
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[FishMcFisherson]

Interesting. I'd really like to know how many pike are in UL. I'd imagine with the small ones showing up, they're probably doing alright. I'd really like to catch one. Maybe this summer.

I'm not familiar with the place you are talking about. How far is it from the actual lake?
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[LOAH]

It's the last stretch of hobble before entering the lake.
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[OCF]

Looks like the June Suckers and Pike like the same habitat! This might not play out well for the suckers!
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[SHAWDAWG]

QUIT CATCHING THE PIKE FROM UTAH LAKE I would tell everyone to release them but dont want to support breaking the law. Having grown up out side of Utah, I dont understand this trout loving DWR. Well in this case i dont understand this trash fish sucker loving DWR. Why not focus management on fish that are actually fun to catch and even better to eat. Utah Lake is not really suited well for pike so they will probably never do great there but why not let them try. If the whitebass were thinned out a little you might actually see some that are bigger then 6 inches. I can think of a dozen other systems in the state that would benefit from Pike. Why spend everyones license money purchasing, raising and planting tiger musky when pike do it themselves for free. We have all seen that pike can be managed with harvest as shown in Yuba. The pike numbers were high and the public figured it out and they went and caught a bunch and all enjoyed eating them. Now the numbers seem to be at a more manageable level. That seems like a much smarter plan with more satified anglers then the expensive tiger muskies that you cant even eat.
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[TyeDyeTwins]

[quote SHAWDAWG]QUIT CATCHING THE PIKE FROM UTAH LAKE I would tell everyone to release them but dont want to support breaking the law. Having grown up out side of Utah, I dont understand this trout loving DWR. Well in this case i dont understand this trash fish sucker loving DWR. Why not focus management on fish that are actually fun to catch and even better to eat. Utah Lake is not really suited well for pike so they will probably never do great there but why not let them try. If the whitebass were thinned out a little you might actually see some that are bigger then 6 inches. I can think of a dozen other systems in the state that would benefit from Pike. Why spend everyones license money purchasing, raising and planting tiger musky when pike do it themselves for free. We have all seen that pike can be managed with harvest as shown in Yuba. The pike numbers were high and the public figured it out and they went and caught a bunch and all enjoyed eating them. Now the numbers seem to be at a more manageable level. That seems like a much smarter plan with more satified anglers then the expensive tiger muskies that you cant even eat.[/quote]
^^^^^
This!
+1,000!
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[Northman]

I don't think the DWR or anyone else is really in love with the June suckers. They are native to the lake and are in decline so they are a protected species. I don't think they live anywhere else but Utah lake so any other speicies that might threaten them is unfortunatly out. But the funding we are getting to remove the carp population out of the lake comes from the feds to protect the Junes. So its not all bad.
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[Therapist]

June Suckers are protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the same deal that stopped logging for the Spotted Owl, TVA due to the Snail Darter, etc, etc. The biggest problem is that if they can't recover the junies with the current program, the ESA requires more dramatic steps, none of which we want. So even thought we as sportsman would like to catch the occasional Northern at UL, to prevent more drastic measures being taken to recover the Junies, we need to keep and kill all Northern's .