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This question applies to times when there is no ice.
My experience with Utah Lake has been that when you are going after white bass you either find a bunch or you find almost none, which is logical because they hang out in schools. But I have also found that if you are persisant you can almost always pick up one or two here and there. That tells me that even though white bass are a schooling fish, there are some free roamers out there too.
So, has anybody ever tried just trolling for white bass like you would for trout or wipers? Instead of waiting for the fish to come to you, you travel around and pass by them? I know Utah Lake is shallow but it would seem to me that if you trolled around Lincoln Beach or Bird Island that you just might catch more when the schools aren't in. And what about the possibilities of picking up a walleye or a channel cat?
What do you think? Has anyone tried this? I have wondered about this for a long time.
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I don't fish Utah lake much but I would think trolling would be a good idea. Utahwalleye and Walleyebob troll it, maybe one of them might be able to give you an idea or two about catching white bass. I think most of the people are trying to catch Walleye when trolling but as many white bass as there are in Utah lake you would think someone would have caught them while trolling before. WH2
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I troll it all the time. I use in-line planer boards to spread out my presentation, which may be crankbaits, spoons, or even crawler harnesses pulled behind bottom bouncers.
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I know a guy that claims he would have 100 fish days trolling shallow diving rapalas in Mud Bay (when it actually had water in it). However, he's one of those people that you never know if you can trust what comes out of his mouth, so I don't know how truthful his stories are.
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TROLLING IS EFFECTIVE IN SPRING OUT AT BIRD ISLAND. UTWALLEYE AND MYSELF HAVE HAD LIMMITED SUCCESS TROLLING THOUGH. IF YOU DO CHOOSE TO TRY USE THIN FIN'S AND RAPALA'S. THE WHITE'S HAVE DECLINED IN NUMBER'S BUT THEY HAVE INCREASED IN SIZE OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS. SOLID SET'S CROSSINEYE'S
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Are you trying to say that he is a fisherman? (LOL)
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You are right icehole69. Fishing and catching are two different things. How successful is trolling on Utah Lake? And when you catch white bass, do their mouths rip out so that you get a lot of hits but few fish make it into the boat?
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[cool]While I don't have much experience in trolling Utah Lake (cause I don't have a boat yet), I have trolled for white bass in my stepdad's boat on a reservior in Northern Nevada called "Lahontan." That lake is deeper than Utah Lake, but similar in the muddy green kind of water, and also in fish species. We used to catch white bass there by the stringer fulls by just trolling. We'd get multiple hook-ups at the same time quite often. We'd use (believe it or not) Rooster tails (red, white, yellow)and also mepps spinners (especially the one with the minnow on the bottom). Those were the killers for white bass (and also walleye sometimes) on that lake, and I don't see why those wouldn't also work at Utah Lake while trolling. When we'd run into a nice school of them we'd sometimes stop the boat and just cast out to them for a while, or keep trolling but turn around and head back into the direction that we'd just nailed them at.
Hope that helps. When I get my boat, you can bet that I'm going to try this method at Utah Lake in the summertimes. I know that most people go out there in float tubes and throw out those rubber grubs and tube jigs at them and have success, but I think you could do well in a boat trolling for 'em too. Good luck!
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Hey Matador you can indeed troll at Utah Lake. My dad used to take an old rowboat or canoe out there and troll rapalas and catch white bass and even a couple of channel cats once.
I personally have trolled using a canoe, as well as in my float tube and caught lots of white bass out by the bubble-up using curly tail jigs or mepps spinners. It is quite effective.
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