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I bought a boat last week, and I took it out on the water for the first time this last weekend. I launched at Utah Lake State Park and fished the reed line just south of the harbor. The wind was pretty nasty, and we had no luck along the reeds. We decided to head into provo bay to try and get away from the wind a little bit. We tried a couple of spots and still no luck. I was soaking a worm about two feet below a bobber. I've never really had luck with a bobber, so I threw some sinkers on and fished the bottom. Finally, after almost 3 hours of fishing that day, I landed my first catfish of the season. It was a channel cat just over 17 inches weighing 2 pounds. Shortly after the first catch, I caught two more fish almost identical to the first one. I believe Tube Dude calls these "cookie cutter catfish". My buddy wasn't as lucky, he didn't get one bite that day. Now that we knew where the fish were at, we went back out again on sunday. We headed right back to the same spot and realized that I had left the worms that I had bought at the gas station sitting on the gas station counter. The only thing that was biting for us the day before was the worms. The conditions were perfect, so instead of calling it a day, we just threw in some salmon eggs, and I tried all of my spinners to try and pick up a white bass to use for bait. I didn't have much hope for a good fishing day. I didn't get a single hit on any of my spinners, but my buddy picked up a medium sized carp on his salmon eggs. As soon as we had that carp meat for bait, the fishing got really hot. I caught four cookie cutters and one scrawny white bass. My buddy ended up with the day-saving carp and three cookie cutter catfish. We didn't stay as long as we wanted, we only fished a couple hours so we could get back in time for some mothers day activities. The fishing was a blast! Now I just need to find out where the big ones are hiding!
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hey the tounament is about full better get in..
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Bummer about leaving the worms. Utah Lake for me yesterday was pretty slow as well. Only caught one whitey on a worm below a bobber. Cut him up as bait but no luck by Lindon. Pitched alot of plastic but the only fish we caught was the one on the worm. No kittys this time. The fish I caught seemed to be secreting what looked like sperm. Maybe the spawn is almost here.
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Just out of curiosity, does any one know why a lot of catfish are caught at the cookie cutter size? I caught eight catfish over the weekend and all of them were between 17-20 inches long. I've also noticed a lot of other posts with similar catches. Is there a reason that there seem to be a lot more catfish in this size range, or is it just a coincidence?
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"Just out of curiosity, does any one know why a lot of catfish are caught at the cookie cutter size?"
[cool][#0000ff]Channel cats are like most other species in Utah Lake. In years when they have a good spawn they produce a bumper crop of little ones...that grow up to be larger ones. The "cookie cutters" from Utah Lake are probably about 3 years old. That means there was a good high water year with abundant spawning habitat 3 years ago.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Over the past few years there has been fewer fish but larger fish. Starting last year, far more of the fish we caught were in the sub 20 inch category...cookie cutters. Lots of fun and better eating. They also are a lot more aggressive feeders and will hit all day long.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Over time, more and more of a year class of cats are removed from the lake by anglers and natural attrition. The survivors grow bigger but are fewer in numbers and are not as easy to catch. You have to fish them differently, with different bait and sometimes after dark. The very biggest fish are seldom caught by tanglers soaking a crawler. They like meat...big slabs of carp, white bass or a large whole minnow. And, the biggest fish often feed mostly after dark. But not always. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Enjoy those cookies. They provide action when there are no bigger fish around. And if you want to take some home to eat there are none better.[/#0000ff]
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Fun report, to bad about the worms though[mad]. TD is the cat man for sure, and I agree the smaller ones are the best eaters. We fished Mud Lake a few days ago and like you said a little slow, however we were able to get our first cats this year, My partner got the bigger one 6 lbs the other 3.5 lbs. Mine were 3.5 and a 2 lb'er. We fished beneath a bobber using red-siders tipped with shrimp, Had numerous hit and misses, but as you said slow.. [:/] Thinking all this crazy weather isn't helping matters to much. Oh water temps were in the 50 and low 60's. Good luck on your next trip.
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