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[cool][#0000ff]TubeBabe and I made a speed run to Blue Lake (south of Wendover) to meet up with Leaky and Sparky this morning. We got there before they did, and hit the boardwalk out to the divers' launch area. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Had a fun time launching the tubes off the steep banks. Saw a couple of big tilapia next to shore and several largies cruising around wondering what we were all about.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I started right off with a small largemouth and then it was about an hour before we had another hit. Just about the time TubeBabe made her first (of two) conservation releases Leaky and Sparky came tromping up the bank and launched near us.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp was a balmy 73 degrees and we saw only a few fish on sonar. Leaky divulged that has fished it a lot over the past couple of years and has seen the numbers on the screen diminish greatly, especially since the end of the year last year. That is a small lake (maybe 6 acres) and cannot withstand a lot of harvest.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe did her part. She only molested two fish and released them both before having to touch them. Clever girl. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was not so good. I had to handle about 5 largemouth, between 13 and 14 inches, and 3 bluegills all about 10 inches. They all hit hard and fought well on the light tackle we were using. The last two little bass both jumped a couple of times. All the ones I caught are still swimming.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Leaky hollered across the pond that he had caught a few bluegill and a couple of bass too. We only stayed about 3 hours because we had some "puppy sitting" commitments for family back in town. [/#0000ff][#0000ff]Good to see Leaky and Sparky again. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We took the tubes out in a more shallow bank area on the south side. Nasty, foul smelling mud. Trudged along the sloppy marshy bank back to the dive area. I stepped in a "spring hole" and my right leg instantly sank clear to my backside. Lotta fun wrestling out from under my tube, rods, fins and getting out of the hole. Stinko.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As we came to the divers launch area we spied a large group of Blue Lake carp (see pic).[/#0000ff]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#ff4040]Well looks like you got your stink off. Did you hook into any of the carp? I bet they would have been a blast on that light tackle.[/#ff4040][/font]
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[cool][#0000ff]Nah. I'd never deliberately fish for one of those things. Although I hear they do put up a good fight. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I shoulda brung my bow and some arrows.[/#0000ff]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#ff4040]Yeah, I heard that flipping sticks at those type of carp was a pretty good tatic.[/#ff4040][/font]
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At least you got out and did some fishing! One day I'll make the trek out there for some warm water action. I hope the carp weren't in a spawning mood!
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[cool]Nice report, TD. That's really  at the lack of fish in there these days. I really don't think that a lot of Utah fishermen know about that lake, but prior to the last year or two a lot LESS fishermen knew about that lake. Hmmm...wonder if that's why there's less fish in there now?[crazy] That's really . A small little lake like that can't stand a whole lot of hook 'em and cook 'em withouth the DWR heavily restocking it. I've always wanted to tube that lake, but now I think I'll just stick to Mantua in a couple of months for my bluegill and largemouth floating trips...closer drive and a LOT more fishies to play with. Not too many "blue lake carp" to deal with either.
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I was out that way about a month ago and happened to have a rod with me. It was my first time to Blue lake, so I don't have any real basis for comparison, but it seemed to me like there was a healthy population of bass in there. I just fished from the divers entry area and caught a couple largies, but saw several more swimming around. I wonder if you didn't pick up alot on the sonar because they hug the bankside structure? Anyway, with the limited size of the lake, I don't think it could support a lot of fish. Just my thoughts. Maybe the bass and gills are having trouble competing with the 'Blue Lake carp'. [  ]
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[cool][#0000ff]I have fished a bajillion farm ponds and small lakes over the years. Blue Lake is no different than any other. It will only support a certain population. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think the divers affect the fish only in a positive way. They feed the fish. That kind of creates a gravitational reaction of the fish to the divers. A lot of the fish stay out in the areas the divers use most for their checkout dives, and they are not as susceptible to the artificial lures thrown by anglers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The two biggest negative influences on the fish are habitat and angler harvest. I saw small patches of weeds, but not enough for major cover. There is a ring of shoreline reeds than can serve as protective cover for newly hatched fish, but since the water is highly mineralized I doubt that there is much in the way of invertebrate food source.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]From what I have heard and observed, there is not a forage base of any kind of minnows either. The fish fry have to survive on whatever they can find and the larger fish survive on the smaller fish...and the Cheez Whiz the divers squirt out for them underwater. (Hmmmmm. Maybe a Velveeta hackle fly might work.)[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One thing I always look at is the quality of the fish. I also saw quite a few bass around the divers area, and several more cruising the shallows around the lake. None of them looked fat and healthy. In fact, they look pretty anorexic. They ain't eatin' good.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Same thing with the bluegills. They did not have nearly the thickness across the back of 'gills from Pelican, Mantua or other spots with lots of aquatic vegetation and buggy food. One female I caught was full of eggs and the distended abdomen was far wider than the rest of the fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There is a third factor that is doubtless contributing to the decline. That is the introduction of tilapia. Wherever these imports become established they compete aggressively with the indigenous species. They defend their own nests ferociously and gang up on the exposed nests of other species. In Blue Lake, all nests are completely exposed and unprotected, so I am sure the tilapia slurp up a lot of eggs and newly hatched fry from both bass and bluegills. That results in fewer bitty fish and less food for the bigger ones.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have seen divers pictures and heard reports from anglers who fished Blue Lake a lot before the tilapia showed up. That little lake used to support huge schools of self sustaining bluegills and bass. Now both the divers and the fisherman are wondering where all the fish went.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I also heard a report of a large group of anglers bait fishing around the shore, using worms and minnows and keeping every thing they caught. Apparently there is a bunch of the "work force" from Wendover that carpools down to blue lakes to supplement their food budget. There are no special regulations in force on this lake and I doubt that DWR spends much time and effort to police it. It is vulnerable to harvesters.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My bottom line feeling is that there are several other spots, a lot closer, that offer better fishing for better quality fish, and which are less susceptible to damage if I keep a few for the table. It is a unique little lake, but it sits in some of the ugliest terrain in the Great Basin. It is also muddy and stinks, and during the summer is almost unfishable due to the clouds of hungry skeeters.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think I will be leaving Blue Lake to the divers henceforth.[/#0000ff]
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You definetly know your stuff, and I'm not questioning that. I didn't know how long the talapia had been in there. It makes sense that they are outcompeting the bass and gills. Sounds like a chub/juvenille trout scenario. I think the one thing that really sets blue apart is the temp. I wouldn't drive all the way out there just to fish it, but if I'm in the area and it's the dead of winter, it's kinda neat to go fish a bass lake with water temp in the 70's.
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[cool][#0000ff]Peace and chill, Bro. I took no offense at your comments, and I never question what anyone else has experienced...or their own personal theories. It's all good.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Blue Lake will always be a novelty, with the clear warm water that you can fish comfortably even when the air temps still say midwinter. And, if I found myself in the vacinity (don't know why or how), and needed a fishing fix, I too would probably dunk my tube and wave my sticks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]To me it is now a case of "been there, done that, got better places to go."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now, let's gang up on some toothy critters in a colder lake...like Utah Lake or Willard. I'm overdue.[/#0000ff]
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I used to love to fish that place. Used to be that me, my dad and my uncle were some of the only fishermen out there. There are a few big fish there. They do not bite any artificals, though. I can say that for sure. I've chucked every jig in the tackle box at them, tried every new plastic that's come along, and they won't even look. Put a nice dead chub or minnow right in front of them and occassionally they bite.
Them fish do hold right up against the bank. I guarentee you 90% of the big fish are within 10ft. of the bank. That's why I've only fished Blue from a tube once.
The fish are still there one place or another. I know I've fished places in that general area that didn't ever get fished before. And now you can't. Their all well down into that military area right there.
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[cool][#0000ff]I heard tell you got a biggun out of there on a minnow. I know the larger fish live on the littler ones. Saw a large bass chasing a small one when I first looked over the side when we got there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I also know about the connecting waterways between the marshy areas. That "outlet" often has a lot of fish in it, but it is shallow and difficult to fish without spooking them. If you tube it you stir up the mud. Some guys "bank it" and make long casts ahead or just "dip" over the edges to finesse the fish that hang along the reeds.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One interesting tidbit I just learned is that a lot of the fish that set up residence in the other water channels are fatter because they have a food source...water boatman beetles. Those predatory bugs live on mosquito larvae and a lot of fish eat the beetles. Plenty of mosquitos out there at the bottom of that food chain.[/#0000ff]
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Well, once again the Dude has said it all! I'm glad he got out there so he could provide his insite based on his wealth of experience. I also got to meet the Babe, which was cool. I still stand by my observations of drastically reduced fish which is based on using my fish finder around the entire pond. The affect of Tilapia is interesting. I do know that they were there in good numbers last year and I just assumed they have been there for many years because of their general size. Oh well, another fishery destroyed, .[unsure][unsure][unsure] On to find new, secret/not so secret spots. Anyone want to divulge any?[sly][sly][sly]
Leaky
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