Fishing Survey

[MasterBaiter72]

Just curious, This past year in general, including Ice Fishing, has been one of the slowest I can remember...

Is it just me? or does anyone else out there have the same feeling? Even last spring and fall fishing seemed to be slower than normal.

Let me know, just trying to decide if I've lost my touch.....or if there is something in the water....so to speak...
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[a_bow_nut]

Last year was way up for me. Walleye and bass fishing was about the same but for white bass, catfish, and bulegill it was just plain crazy last year down at Utah Lake. In the fifteen years that I have finaly been fishing Utah Lake this last one was the best ever.

Hope that this year is even half as good and it will make it a great year. Getting the float tube a little more ready every day. Got new poles, reels, and line because those cats flat wore most of my stuff out.

Just waiting for it to warm up a little more so that we can go down and give them hell.
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[MasterBaiter72]

Good to hear! Maybe I need to start fishing for bass and such..

I did mostly trout fishing.... Seemed like a very off year for the local trout lakes.
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[GEEZER]

I can only comment on the ice fishing being somewhat less than stellar. I'm beginning to wonder if the stink of skunk is harder to get off than we think - and that stink, no matter how slight turns the fish off big time.
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[TroutBumDave]

Ice fishing was a little slow for me everywhere except UL -- Slaughtered every species this year. Strawberry was smoking hot for a few weeks before ice-on, and I killed most of the rivers over the last 12 months.

Overall, this has been one of the better fishing years that I can remember... Sorry that your season has been lackluster, bummer man. Hit up Utah Lake, it's a great slump buster. (but if you get skunked there, you might as well dump your rods and reels and take up hop-scotch)

[bassrods]

Better for some types of fish but way down for bigger bass and Perch..
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[fsh4fun05]

Northern Utah- I caught more and bigger largemouth than I have in years. I loaded up on smallies as well, trips of 3 lb average in the spring/summer when I didn't knew they existed in the numbers I was catching-and consistently. Southern Utah-I didn't do so well. I assumed the typical pattern would work and it didn't. By the time I got on good fish and figured out where they were it was time to go...lesson learned and I'm a better fisherman because of bad fishing.
Browns and cutt's in spring were a blast up North. I saw and caught so many I've got a good attitude going into it this year. So many small perch, trout, chubs, craws, minnows, bugs, etc. for the fish to feed on!!!
Some guys always talk about 'doom and gloom' no matter the conditions of the fishing. I've got good years and I've got bad years and so do the fish. Not because everybody is keeping all the big fish, [crazy], but because cycles are a way of life. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it just plain sucks. Adapt, overcome and defeat.
On a side note: My personal opinion (nothing to do with you MB72)-On a large body of water blaming other fishermen for me not catching big fish because everybody else is keeping them is asinine and embarrassing. Educating anglers is better than blame but education is not me giving you my opinion. Education is facts, knowledge and experience all put together to help each other. The blame game is getting old *just venting [:p]* However, I've got a good excuse if I don't catch any good fish this year (too late for that) "Everybody keeps all the big fish on this gigantic reservoir, that's why I didn't catch any".
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[a_bow_nut]

Funny thing is all of my trout from last year came out of Utah Lake also.







then later in the day I picked up this walleye while draging a chunk of white bass meat for some catfish.



Yep. utah Lake was showing me a bunch of love last year.
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[Wasatch801]

[quote fsh4fun05] Northern Utah- I caught more and bigger largemouth than I have in years. I loaded up on smallies as well, trips of 3 lb average in the spring/summer when I didn't knew they existed in the numbers I was catching-and consistently. [/quote]

I can attest to John SMOKIN' the largies last season! He was en fuego!

The pic in your avatar... Is that the big Jordie TOAD? Man, that was a great day! This season, she'll be bigger, and I can just bet that you might see her again! [sly]
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[maniac]

Higher water spreads the fish thinner in all the new habitat.
Colder temps put the fish behind normal patterns.
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[hogstalker]

ice fishing was definitely slower than most years I remember.
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[fish_fear_me2]

Speaking of skunk..How did you do over at Charleston Tom?
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[catmaster23]

+1 on the bass, I killed the bass this spring, and muskies and cats and...... the ice has been fair but nothing like last year.
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[fishkiller21]

I didn't know utah lake had trout? How long have they been in there.
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[a_bow_nut]

When people started settleing the valley Utah lake was full of trout.

Here is some of the history for Utah Lake from the Wikipedia web site.

Fish
[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parley_P._Pratt"]Parley P. Pratt[/url] visited Fort Utah in June 1849 and saw thousands of fish being caught by settlers and Timpanogots. He estimated that 5000 barrels of fish could be secured annually from the fishery.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-49"][size 1][50][/size][/url] The winter of 1885-1886 caused much of the livestock to die. LDS Church leaders sent members in the Salt Lake Valley to Utah Lake to obtain fish; an estimated 96,000 pounds (44,000 kg) of fish were brought back.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-50"][size 1][51][/size][/url] The first commercial fishery also started the same year. At the 1870 [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Conference_(LDS_Church)"]General Conference[/url] of the LDS Church, a committee was appointed to develop fish culture because of the declining fish harvest in Utah Lake. By 1904, it became illegal to commercially catch any fish except for non-native species.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-51"][size 1][52][/size][/url]
Of the thirteen native fish to Utah Lake, only two species still remain in the lake: the June sucker and Utah sucker.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-Native_fish_community-42"][size 1][43][/size][/url] The June sucker was federally listed as an endangered species in 1986. The lower 5 miles (8.0 km) of the Provo River is the only known spawning location for the species.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-52"][size 1][53][/size][/url] Biologists have been rearing the June sucker in Red Butte Reservoir and releasing them into Utah Lake to help build the population. During the summer of 2005, over 8,000 June sucker were released into Utah Lake.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-53"][size 1][54][/size][/url] The June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program (JSRIP) coordinates and implements recovery actions for the June sucker.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-54"][size 1][55][/size][/url] One species, the Utah Lake Sculpin, is extinct. The last specimen was collected in 1928.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-Native_fish_community-42"][size 1][43][/size][/url]
Of the ten remaining native fish elsewhere in the lake, the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_Chub"]least chub[/url] is under review to see if it qualifies for protection under the Engangered Species Act.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-55"][size 1][56][/size][/url] The [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonneville_cutthroat_trout"]Bonneville cutthroat trout[/url] was the predator fish in the ecosystem, but the lake form has become extinct. A hybridized stream form still exists in streams in four states. A review in 2008 indicates that viable populations are distributed throughout its historic range and does not merit listing as a threatened or endangered species.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-56"][size 1][57][/size][/url]
At least 25 species of fish have been introduced into Utah Lake's waters. Thirteen introductions were unsuccessful. Carp, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_bass"]white bass[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bullhead"]black bullhead[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_catfish"]channel catfish[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walleye"]walleyed pike[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_fish"]gold fish[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullhead"]bullhead[/url][size 1][[url "http://toolserver.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/dab_solver.py?page=Utah_Lake&editintro=Template:Disambiguation_needed/editintro&client=Template:Dn"]disambiguation needed [/url]][/size], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_perch"]yellow perch[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_gill"]blue gill[/url], and [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_crappie"]black crappie[/url] are found in abundance.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_lake#cite_note-57"][size 1][58][/size][/url] The [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_shiner"]golden shiner[/url] and the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathead_minnow"]fathead minnow[/url] are rarely found.

Most of the trout that I hear being caught in the lake are usually caught next to where on of the tributaries pours in but they do show up from time to time.
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[N.E.T.O.]

I had to re-read the question a couple of times, and for me it requires two answers.

First of all, last year was a flood year. Typically for me anyway, flood years are harder to fish. I know it's better for the population in general when there is an abundance of water, but for fishing, I like the drought years. That said, I still managed to do ok last year, but was definitely slower and harder than in years past.

Secondly...ice fishing this season...has been the BEST for me since I started keeping logs back in 2005. I've got a few buddies that I correspond with and I've mentioned to a few of them that this has been my best year in a long time. I think it was due to the fact that a lot of places that are normally not accessible were accessible in January and early February, which made it possible to get into those places that hold more fish.

Curiously...I went way conservative on my fishing goals this year, with no real species goals, nor counts. Really my only goals this year were:
1. Not get skunked.
2. Try to average at least 10 fish per trip.

I've been out 7 times this year so far (Starting January 1) and so far I've managed to stay within both goals. Usually my goals get ruined in the first few trips of each year.

Interesting topic. Anxious to hear everyone elses experiences.
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[GEEZER]

Partner got two nice rainbows. Don't get down wind of me.
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[gstott]

Last year was slower for me in numbers, but I also got a personal best rainbow, smallmouth and perch out of it too.

The unsettled spring with all the fish spread out over more water made it harder for me to locate them. I was also extremely busy with school until the end of June, so I missed out on most of the good spring bass fishing while in a class room anyway. However, all the food that all that high water brought made a lot of the fish I did catch very healthy. The rivers were high for most of the year up where I live, so I didn't even start stream fishing until the fall. It was good though. I'm optimistic about this year though. I'm hopeful we will have a normal spring where I can get into some good bass in April instead of May and June.
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[MisterCompletely]

I'm sure I caught fewer fish, but that's because I didn't get out as much, and I tend to remember the great trips when I caught big fish or lots of fish. This got me thinking and reminiscing about the years when we had great fishing in certain waters, like the wipers in Willard, the walleyes and big perch in Yuba, etc.... Even Powell is a different place every year. It might almost get boring otherwise!
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[bassrods]

Sense anyone ever came to this state and before..[][crazy]
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