07-19-2016, 10:32 PM
I decided to celebrate my 29th *cough* birthday *cough cough* by wetting a hook at Rabbit Gulch this morning. Can't fish Utah Lake. Can't fish the Jordan River. Had to settle for Starvation.
I got into Provo Canyon a little later than I thought. The sun was just barely starting to light up everything. Plenty of action on the top of the water in the Wallsburg arm. Told myself to save some gas and time and just put in there. The reptilian half of my brain talked me out of it. I kept driving. Luckily it was early enough the work on the shoulder hadn't began yet. Same story for the construction happening past Strawberry. Figured I would pay the piper later and I did.
I got to Rabbit Gulch around 6:45 AM. Paid my fee, found a spot to launch, and didn't get my truck stuck [
][] Couldn't believe how many folks were there camping! It was an RV city! You would think it was a weekend...
I started working the area inside the rocky finger (totally submerged by the way but there are buoys out to mark it). Saw lots of activity on the sonar but only got a keeper perch and three other bait volunteers.
I decided to see if I could reproduce my success from a few years ago by working the top of the channel for walleye. No such luck. It was a barren wasteland. I worked an area that had some scattered fish on the sonar and picked up a footlong walleye. I was so excited that I missed my fish basket and released him back to the depths.
I went back to see if I could scare up any more perch around the rocks but got nothing. Lots of sonar activity. No fish biting activity. I decided to hit the center of the channel and work uphill gradually towards that "island" that is on the west end of the Gulch.
It took me about 30 minutes to kick up there since I was slowly working a wobble jig and a fly/jig tandem rig. I found where the weeds began around the outside edge of the island. I kept working along that edge in about 20-25 feet of water.
Suddenly the walleye gods
d upon me and I scored another footlong on a fly. First for me. I'll try to dig up a picture of the fly. It was a green and brown shiny wooly bugger that TubeDude ties. More moving around, a few casts to the weed edge, let the jig sink, hop it back to me, fish in the basket. I caught a few of what must be the smallest walleye ever but I got a few with some size on them. My biggest was 17 inches.
The wind started picking up and (of course) it was pushing me the wrong way. I started kicking back to my truck and kept telling myself I should really buy a trolling motor. All of the sudden the rod with my RC killer bent in half and the drag started singing. Had to stop kicking for a 18 inch rainbow with shoulders. Started kicking again to make up lost ground and I got bit again. This fish decided to let go before I could show him the net. Oh well. About 5 minutes later into my trek back to the truck, I picked up one more walleye in the 14 inch range. Had a few more hits on the RC killer and then I realized the wind had pushed me back to where I started...and clouds were rolling in. I was out of bait and out of time so I reeled everything in and gave my cadaver knee a workout like no other.
Made it right before the wind really kicked up. Took a few pics on the way out of RV city and headed back home. Got rained on a little but hey, I caught some fish. I will probably make a return trip after Pioneer Day weekend. Hopefully the crowds will disperse a little.
[signature]
I got into Provo Canyon a little later than I thought. The sun was just barely starting to light up everything. Plenty of action on the top of the water in the Wallsburg arm. Told myself to save some gas and time and just put in there. The reptilian half of my brain talked me out of it. I kept driving. Luckily it was early enough the work on the shoulder hadn't began yet. Same story for the construction happening past Strawberry. Figured I would pay the piper later and I did.
I got to Rabbit Gulch around 6:45 AM. Paid my fee, found a spot to launch, and didn't get my truck stuck [
][] Couldn't believe how many folks were there camping! It was an RV city! You would think it was a weekend...I started working the area inside the rocky finger (totally submerged by the way but there are buoys out to mark it). Saw lots of activity on the sonar but only got a keeper perch and three other bait volunteers.
I decided to see if I could reproduce my success from a few years ago by working the top of the channel for walleye. No such luck. It was a barren wasteland. I worked an area that had some scattered fish on the sonar and picked up a footlong walleye. I was so excited that I missed my fish basket and released him back to the depths.
I went back to see if I could scare up any more perch around the rocks but got nothing. Lots of sonar activity. No fish biting activity. I decided to hit the center of the channel and work uphill gradually towards that "island" that is on the west end of the Gulch.
It took me about 30 minutes to kick up there since I was slowly working a wobble jig and a fly/jig tandem rig. I found where the weeds began around the outside edge of the island. I kept working along that edge in about 20-25 feet of water.
Suddenly the walleye gods
d upon me and I scored another footlong on a fly. First for me. I'll try to dig up a picture of the fly. It was a green and brown shiny wooly bugger that TubeDude ties. More moving around, a few casts to the weed edge, let the jig sink, hop it back to me, fish in the basket. I caught a few of what must be the smallest walleye ever but I got a few with some size on them. My biggest was 17 inches.The wind started picking up and (of course) it was pushing me the wrong way. I started kicking back to my truck and kept telling myself I should really buy a trolling motor. All of the sudden the rod with my RC killer bent in half and the drag started singing. Had to stop kicking for a 18 inch rainbow with shoulders. Started kicking again to make up lost ground and I got bit again. This fish decided to let go before I could show him the net. Oh well. About 5 minutes later into my trek back to the truck, I picked up one more walleye in the 14 inch range. Had a few more hits on the RC killer and then I realized the wind had pushed me back to where I started...and clouds were rolling in. I was out of bait and out of time so I reeled everything in and gave my cadaver knee a workout like no other.
Made it right before the wind really kicked up. Took a few pics on the way out of RV city and headed back home. Got rained on a little but hey, I caught some fish. I will probably make a return trip after Pioneer Day weekend. Hopefully the crowds will disperse a little.
[signature]
