Back to the Basics

Fishing Time: 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Weather: calm, no wind, 70's

Moon Phase: 91% Moon

Location: Utah Lake

Bait: Cut up White Bass, Worms and Shrimp, and minnows

Who Went: JJ, John, Me

JJ, John and I decided to leave the boat at home. Ditch all the fancy gear I have accumulated over the past few years, and try something that would actually work. You see, this year at Utah Lake has been pretty brutal to me and I think most of the reason is that I am still learning the lake with a boat! I used to catch catfish from the shore all the time, but now that I have a boat and all the fancy equipment, I can't catch catfish consistently at all! So we hopped in the truck after work on Thursday and ran down to the lone tree past Lincoln Beach and fished from shore. What do you know, it paid off! Ditch the thousands of dollars of equipment and go back to the basics that you know work. We caught channel catfish, white bass, along with some bullhead catfish! Then JJ set the hook on something different! This was a rod bender! It was zipping drag and taking him for a ride. He played it in and landed the biggest fish he has ever caught in his life. A 10 pound Channel Catfish! So the photo shoot began!As soon as the pictures were over JJ tossed back out and a few minutes later the fight was on again. This one fought as hard if not harder, but it wasn't quite at the 10 pound mark, just a feisty 6 pound kitty!After that photo shoot it was almost dark and the bugs were running us out of town, but what a trip! The night reminded me of the famous credit card commercial. New fishing boat = $20,000, New fish finder = $1,000, New top of the line fishing pole = $250 dollars, using the oldest and cheapest rod I own and tossing a hunk of meat off the shore and catching a 10 pound catfish! PRICELESS!!!