Short Late Report Utah Lake 5/14/2022

[Piscophilic]

Sorry this is late, but work has been hectic.

It looked like a nice warm calm day on Saturday so Jon and I headed for Utah Lake State Park. We launched a little after 3 P.M, air temp was a little over 70, water in the harbor was 68 and in the main lake 63 degrees. Winds were light until just at dark and then jumped to about 10 MPH NW.

We dragged white bass and carp chunks on FLAITS at 0.4 to 1 MPH and found fish anywhere from 3 to 7 FOW. They were scattered but fairly willing. We averaged just over 3 cats/hour. We had several really quiet stretches and also had a triple. Jon was the top rod with one at 29-3/4”. We did manage to catch 2 whites. 

One early on a spin jig and one later on a catfish bait.
The fresh WB was by far the bait of choice and small to medium sized attractors were the preference. No fish were caught on the thawed carp meat and the one carp I hooked bent the little jig hook and got off.

We didn’t see any carp splashing in the shallows, but they probably started in earnest with the warm temps yesterday (Monday).

It was a good evening and the best is still yet to come!

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the report and pics, that near 30 incher looks like a good one, any idea or guess as to how much it weighed?

[Piscophilic]

Thanks for the reply Curt! We didn't weight that one, but we did weigh a fat 28" cat and it was 9-1/2 pounds. Craig posted a "rule" for cat weights that I've found to be very good for average healthy cats. It said for cats 22 to 30" long, take the length, subtact 20 and then add 1 and you get the weight. By that rule, the one you asked about would be 10.75 pound and it was way below that I'm sure. That one was a very skinny male and I suspect it barely made 9 pounds. Most of the cats at UL this spring have been very heavy for their length. We got one several weeks ago that was 28.5. Normally that would be about 9-1/2 pounds and it was over 11-1/2. MrJ got one a few weeks back that was 29-1/2 and weighed 15 pounds!

I hope after the WB gorge earlier that all that weight converts into a (length) growth spurt. That would make for some really long ones this summer. I don't know why the 29-3/4 seemed to miss the feast of dead WB earlier this spring. Slept in maybe

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the reply Curt! We didn't weight that one, but we did weigh a fat 28" cat and it was 9-1/2 pounds. Craig posted a "rule" for cat weights that I've found to be very good for average healthy cats. It said for cats 22 to 30" long, take the length, subtact 20 and then add 1 and you get the weight. By that rule, the one you asked about would be 10.75 pound and it was way below that I'm sure. That one was a very skinny male and I suspect it barely made 9 pounds. Most of the cats at UL this spring have been very heavy for their length. We got one several weeks ago that was 28.5. Normally that would be about 9-1/2 pounds and it was over 11-1/2. MrJ got one a few weeks back that was 29-1/2 and weighed 15 pounds!

I hope after the WB gorge earlier that all that weight converts into a (length) growth spurt. That would make for some really long ones this summer. I don't know why the 29-3/4 seemed to miss the feast of dead WB earlier this spring. Slept in maybe

That is what I was thinking, it looked kind of skinny. You never know with cats, some time they eat things they shouldn't, I guess it's possible that it swallowed something that it could not digest.