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The last couple of weeks some friends and i have been fishing the Provo boat harbor on sunday nights. I wont eat fish out of Utah Lake, the lake is too gross. I was wondering if anyone could tell me some of the other lakes that have Catfish in them. I would really like to catch a big channel if anyone has any tips please let me know. So far i have found that night crawlers seem to catch the smaller ones and shrimp and blood dough are catching the bigger ones, all have been right on the bottom.
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What makes a lake too gross? Is it because of the silt? The fish in UTL are some of the best eating! The Silt acts as a filter to any crap in the water. It's actually one of the cleaner lakes in the state. Cleaner than Deer Creek or Jordanelle. Willard Bay has some decent channels. Other than that .. not sure.
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[cool]Ditto to UtBass on the water quality in Utah Lake. It is shallow and silted, so it gets "colored" quickly whenever the wind blows. But, since Geneva Steel quit "flavoring" the lake, there is nothing added to the taste or edibility of the fish from this water.
If your quest is for big cats, Utah Lake is probably your best and closest bet, if you live in the Salt Lake or Utah County area. If you don't mind driving, and want to learn some new waters, head north to the Bear River and Cutler reservoir above the dam. Don't know how the water flows will be this year, but the fish can grow big up there.
Willard Bay is not what it used to be, but there are still fair numbers of cats up to 20 pounds in there. The average is much smaller, and some folks have trouble catching anything over a pound. In the olden days, the average was two to three pounds, with plenty of five to tens available.
Don't know if you are a float tuber or not, but I just finished putting together a few pages on "CAT TUBIN' ON WILLARD"...suggesting areas, baits, lures and techniques for taking kitties from the Wiper capital of Utah, using a float tube. Be happy to email or PM it to you if you like.
TubeDude
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I have caught big cats in Yuba a few times. Better hurry though. I talked to a bio at Utah Lake a few years ago, and he said the cats test clean for pollutants. They are quite tasty.
Good Catfishing, Kayote
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Hey I eat the fish from Utah lake. So you know I have a surpressed immune system from an organ transplant. I have to be careful as to what I eat. Sheesh i just have to be careful. So I check things out first. That lake is way cleaner than it was 25 years ago. The fish there test cleaner than fish from the SF Bay in Calif. So go ahead and eat yer tummy full you'll like it [crazy]
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I have just always been told not to eat anything out of Utah lake so i listened, but i guess i will have to give some Catfish a try out of there and see for myself, thanks.
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What I find gross about Utah Lake and the Jordan River is that far too many people who frequent them consider them a public dump. Recently I was fishing the Jordan River, not far from Utah Lake, and on several occasions pop cans and other trash came floating down the river. The banks were also lined with trash. I have witnessed this same experience on essentially all other waters, but somehow it seems worse on Utah Lake and the Jordan River.
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I grew up in Spanish Fork and always "knew" not to eat anything from that lake. I had this discussion with a few members from NAFC on this very subject a few years ago. Most of the members from that discussion are now here at BFT. I made the comment about the report I had read from years back on how many fish you could safely eat from what area of the lake. I was told by some of these members that I should take another look. I have been finding tidbits here and there about the water quality of the lake. From what I can find, it is around 65-70% cleaner than it was 20 years ago. As TD pointed out, once Geneva (and most of Utah valley) stopped dumping everything from sewer to raw chemicals into the lake, it is making a miraculous recovery. I actually caught a cutthroat trout there about 9 years ago by the Provo inlet. If you know how sensitive they are to "additives" in the water, you know the water is OK to eat out of. Largemouth can handle fairly warm water, but not filthy water. Ask the folks at the Sprinville hatchery. They could give you a lot better info than I could.
Have fun, catch fish, and eat up!
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I have caught some decent channel cats out of Bountiful Pond recently. I don't know if I would eat them though, but they sure are fun. I caught several a couple weeks ago that were around 20 inches. Use beef liver or shrimp.
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The channels out of Bountiful Pond are OK to eat too. They're planted there, so even if the water was bad, they've only been there since late Spring.
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The channel cats in bntfl pond were actually stocked last year, there are some bullheads that have been there for as long as I can remember.
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There might be some leftovers from last year, but the DWR buys several shipments from Kansas every spring to plant in all of the Urban fisheries. Btfl Pond was getting a few netfulls a week for a little over a month this year.
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when you see trash & fishing line everywhere.