Are You Really Gonna Launch That Boat Here?

Fishing Time: 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Weather: cloudy, 60's
Moon Phase: 26% Moon
Location: Utah Lake
Water Temp: 63 degrees
Bait: Curly tailed grubs, drop-shot, worm under bobber
Who Went: Hunt, Robbie, Dave (Robbies Uncle), Me

My buddy Hunt was in town from Portland this weekend and my other buddy Robbie Collins that I haven't seen in years wanted to hit Utah Lake this weekend, and they didn't have to twist my arm to much to get me out. Robbie has a favorite spot on Utah lake that I have fished many times in the past from shore or float tube, but never from a boat. His honey hole is in Springville where the river runs underneath the freeway and out through a huge marshland full of reeds and into Utah Lake. I questioned Robbie many times before we actually headed down there, because I've never seen a boat like mine launched from this spot. There is a small primitive boat ramp entering the marsh where many small aluminum boats launch with no problems and this is where Robbie and his uncle were going to launch there 14 footer.

He assured me that he has seen many boats launch there that are bigger than mine. Funny thing is he's never seen my boat, so already I was a little nervous. I pulled my boat down a long bumpy dirt road to the boat ramp to find about 10 boats all trying to launch at this small primitive boat ramp at the same time. Every boat that I saw was a small 14 foot aluminum worth no more than 500 dollars (as seen in the picture above)! As Hunt was backing me into the water to launch the whole parking lot stopped and turned to watch me. One guy yelled to me, "are you really gonna launch that boat here? why don't you take that thing to a real boat ramp?" Another guy ran over and started telling me that what I was doing was not the best idea and that there are a lot of underwater objects that my motor would surely hit! I don't think any of them noticed that I have a trolling motor on the front of the boat and I didn't even need to use my big motor so I wasn't as worried as they were, but they were starting to get me a little nervous. Once in the water and on my way down the small river I got even more weary because it was very narrow and you have other boats trying to pass by with shallow water as low as 1.5 feet.

We just took it slow and finally made it to the mouth of Utah lake where it was a whopping 5 feet deep. We anchored up next to Robbie and his uncle and the fishing began! During a normal year the white bass should be in total spawn mode right now and the fishing would be stellar. Like most my trips this year so far, this one wasn't to be. We threw for about an hour and neither boat landed a fish. We then got lazy and started to catfish and talk about the old days when we all used to go to college and live together. We didn't catch one catfish and the final tally for the day was Robbie's boat with one white bass and my boat with one white bass for a total of two fish! The continuing cold weather this year has put a huge damper on whats supposed to be the hottest fishing of the year! This weather is killing me! That will be the last time I launch my boat there, I marked a waypoint on my gps of where the entrance of the river is and can now reach it from the main lake. You gotta love gps!