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Two questions I'm wondering if people can help me with. First, I've been down to Utah Lake a couple of times to bowfish for carp. The water is so high I'm having a hard time finding places that I can just wade and find some fish. Can anyone tell me where I could head to just wade the shoreline and do my part to rid the lake of a few. (Also, what have people been doing with the carcasses other than bait?)
Second, I want to find some catfish. What lakes in Utah hold channel cats? I haven't done well at Utah Lake fishing from the harbors. I tried Willard on Wednesday with no success. So I want to try some other places, again that I can just work from shore (or maybe I should float tube). Maybe I can find somewhere that my suckiness will be successful.
TIA
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I was out at Lincoln Beach last Saturday mornign and had a blast shooting carp.
I went throught the barbed wire fence to the south of the boat harbor and hunted in the shallows there. In the AM there were hundreds. You'll need to wade a little, so wear shorts or waders. Water only came up to my knees.
If you haven't been there, let me know and I'll give you directions.
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I went to the Knolls last Sunday and they were everywhere along the shoreline flopping and making all kinds of racket. Stay close to any reeds and trees hanging in the water.You might not even have to get wet to get shots. I was wishing my bow was set up and had it with.
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And, if you don't know what to do with the carcasses, might I suggest that, as with most bowhunting, the stalk and the shot are the fun parts, not necessarily landing the fish (though I killed one at Willard once than hung from my waist to the ground, that I had to take home and show off.)
The biomass of the carp came from the lake; return it to the lake. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It is illegal to pile them up and abandon them on the shore,.............
but if your arrowhead doesn't hold them particularly well, you might SHOOT a lot, and LAND very few.........and the problem will solve itself.
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Read the proc.! It is also illegal to release them if they are not unharmed. Please do not leave them onshore or in the water. The poor lake already looks trashy enough from the nice people that don't think it is their job to pick up after them selves.
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[crazy] Actually, let me make a few points.
First, the DWR encourages anglers without access to a fish cleaning station to return the "cleanings" to the water from whence the fish were caught, because it helps recycle nutrients through the system. Biological trash is not nearly as bad as synthetic....though I agree with you about the littering.
Second, I have read the Proc, just like several other more respected anglers on this site. Some of them have been known to release line-caught carp with a partial or total gill-ectomy performed.
You've got the verbiage wrong.
From the Guidebook:
"• Nongame fish that are legal to take must
either be released or killed immediately
after you remove them from the water. You
may not leave them on the shoreline."
If I didn't land them (take them out of the water), I cannot release them (return them to the water). They never left the water, and swam away alive.
Since they swim away into the water they will not be left on the shoreline. They will later feed catfish (and likely other species as well), crayfish, tiny fish fry of all species, and return nitrogen and other nutrients to the base of the food chain in the lake.
I've never done it, and I don't know if I ever will, but I don't have a problem with it, and I don't ever mind playing with an idea or two....
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