General Trends For The Year

[neveronsunday]

[#ff0000][size 3]Got stuck on call and glued to the phone for work today and ended up spending the day wishin' instead of fishin'. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]What were some of the general trends you have noticed this past year? Any ideas or reflections why? [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]Did anyone even see, or get to fish a Wiper boil at Willard this Year? You guys got me all worked up last winter over it and then it didn't seem to materialize. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]After a lot of wonder and discussion the slot limit at Strawberry seems to be a great thing, after just one season. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]Mantua bassing was great, except the average size seems to be shrinking, more trout than usual, and the surfacing of perch from somewhere and of course the "itch." [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]Perch fishing was hot this year at Jordanelle. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]Never even saw a perch at Hyrum Res. -unusual- must be an off cycle year there. Caught way more bass than trout, which was also a first there. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]After a year of grief; great expectations for Yuba! Water levels were average at Porcupine but the koke fishing was the worst I have ever seen it. Still hoping Chesterfield makes a comeback and Newton has all but dried up and blown away.... [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]The tigermusky fishing was good at Pineview if your name is Aquaman and likewise East canyon and P4L from what I understand. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]Bear Lake has held its usual challenges, Fishlake is always a treat, didn't make it to the Gorge, and trying Utah lake and Huntington tigers sounds intriguing. Also enjoyed the info from our friends from the south. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]Never even got the fly rod out and only hit a few streams. [/size][/#ff0000]

[#ff0000][size 3]I know this is fifteen threads in one, but just wondering what your experiences were.[/size][/#ff0000]
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[kokeking]

well i dont know about most of the places that you mentioned,but as some one that avidly fishes the gorge,i know that change.i know in the last few years that the places that i used to find fish,nothing there now.i do belive this has a lot to do the the lower water level,and higher water temps.the kokeanee this year seem to really suffer because of this.i have also noticed the koke's seemed a little bigger in the avil draw area also.fish will move to where ever they can find their comfort zone.[]
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[FishN2Dmax]

I fish the gorge on a regular basis. This year we found less kokes, but the kokes we did catch were the biggest we've ever caught. Yes, we too found the Koke migrating north above the Wyoming line in the Anvil area and north in the cliff areas . Mac fishing has also dramatically changed!!! We harvested many small 6-8 lb Mac pups, trying to find the bigger macs. The good news is there are more Macs than we've ever seen, the bad new is the big trophy lakers are getting harder and harder to come by and they're no longer in the normal areas of the past. We also fished Strawberry many times Catch and Release. Overall the Berry yeilded good fishing all year. While I agree the slot limit has made a big difference, it could have been even better! We observed many anglers not honoring the slot. We actually watched a one person boat land 16 fish and harvested everyone of them. When I called it in to the Marina via the marine radio, the DWR didn't seem at all interested? Everytime we went onto this water, we observed violation after violation. In fact most of them would clean their ill-gotten fish right at public cleaning station. Where was the DWR[unsure].......?

Lookign forward to getting on the ICE at both Gorge and the Berry. [cool]
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[FlyFishingMoose]

Trends? I don't know, but I do know I had areally great time fishing this year!

Tubing @ Pineview & Jordanelle! Catting around Utah Lake! Jigging @ the Bear, Fishing the Jordan for cats and white bass, hunting for browns on the Weber & Lower Provo, Yanking the cuts out of the streams in the Uintahs (Hayden fork area, Just knocking the bows along the Upper Provo, and pulling Albinos out of Mirror Lake. Yeah it was a good year and I'm looking forward to meeting more BFTers and having even more fun in 2004!

Thanks to all the BFTers I met this year, you made fishing even more fun than ever!
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[PREDATOR]

Heres my favorite trend, willard has been so low the past couple years, and this last season it was so low it curbed the fishing pressure pretty good.

Hooray for low water years! But the upside swing to it was the fish got fat. They started to build a bit of a hump on thier backs again, and got some guts on them.

By the spring there should be some real nice fighters in there again. None of these midgit, 8 inch wipers.

Hopefully they will drop the limit back down to two in 2005 .
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[IdahoNative]

My favorite place is Bear Lake. I live in Hyrum but seldom fish it, go figure. I also like Willard but don't go there as often as I would like. I would really like to learn the Gorge some day.

[Fishcrazy]

I hit one Boil at Willard this year from my pontoon boat(could not launch a bigger boat)The icefishing is hot a Scofield right now.
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[wiperhunter2]

There were a lot of trends that changed this year for me, I finally caught my first tiger muskie for one. This is the first year since I moved to Utah in 1976, that I've seen Willard so low and what a change it made on the catching. I still was able to get into a few boils and catch a new record number(at least for me)of wipers but the numbers were down over all. Learned to catch walleye at Deer creek and what a blast that was, can't wait for this coming spring,(thanks Walleyebob). Made my first trip to Huntington and caught some of those beautiful tiger trout. Made our annual trip to the Gorge and the kokanee fishing was the same as normal, maybe a little smaller fish for us, still need to learn to catch those macks there. It was another good year for me at Bear lake but I still haven't caught that 10lb plus mack, but the year isn't over yet. I haven't fished Strawberry much this year but the reports make me think this coming year will be one great year for some bigger trout. I hope this coming year I'll be able to make a trip to Fish lake and Redmond and learn to fish them. All in all it's been a great year, with 60 days on the water so far and meeting a bunch of BRT members. WH2
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[fishnpro40]

Many new things this year. caught my first walleye, smallmouth bass, hooked my first tiger( still haven't landed one). most of this new fishing is from info that I've read on this site and the fact that I work less than
2 minutes from hooked fishing tackle James and his crew are a great help. Next year I want to try for some of those macks on bear lake.
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