Weather: Perfect, no wind, partly cloudy, 60's
Moon Phase: 80% Moon
Location: Utah Lake
Bait: Tandem rigged curly tailed grubs in all colors
Who Went: Rick, Me
My six year drought for Utah Lake walleye ended today, but was still one of the most frustrating fishing trips of my life! First of all, my boat has been in the shop since January 2nd and I just found out it won’t be fixed until early April due to some parts that the shop is waiting on to be shipped. That will make 4 months being in the shop! So my walleye chasing this spring just became a little more limited! Luckily Rick was as eager as me to get back on Utah Lake after our skunking a week ago and willing to provide his boat in order to do it. We took off from work around noon and hit the road for Lincoln Beach. As we pulled into the harbor I was in shock at how many trucks and empty trailers were sitting in the parking lot. As we launched our boat and drove around the corner to the “L” which is the popular place to fish, I counted 13 boats all huddled in the same general location. Rick asked me where we should go or what we should do and I just smiled and said “join the masses”.Now for the frustrating part… We began fishing 20 yards away from the last boat on the right in the picture below.
It was a couple Vietnamese gentlemen that were landing walleye left and right. At first it excited us because we knew there were walleye out there to be caught, but the hours passed with no bites, and these two Vietnamese guys just kept reeling them in. The only reason I’m calling attention to their nationality, is because for whatever reason, their culture just flat knows how to catch walleye! I see it every year and it continues to amaze me, and we were forced to watch them land 15 walleye right in front of our face! Then, to put us completely over the edge, another Vietnamese guy to the west of them, landed a monster female that was probably pushing 7 pounds! I have never been so frustrated while fishing! We were using the same jigs and technique that they were, but for whatever reason, they continued to catch them and we didn’t! We finally gave up on the area and tried a little shallower and that’s when Rick finally yelled fish on! It was soon followed with disappointment as we realized it was just a white bass!
As the sun began to go down, the two Vietnamese guys moved in a little shallower and we instantly boated over and took their old spot. It wasn’t long before I caught my first walleye of the year at Utah Lake ending a 6 year drought! The little male walleye was spewing milt all over me assuring us that the spawn was beginning!
I began thinking that the two Vietnamese guys just lucked out and had the right spot, but unfortunately that was the only walleye we landed. We continued to cast for another hour or so and caught a few more white bass, but that was it.
Just as it was getting dark we ran over to another popular walleye spot at the inlet of the Spanish Fork River. There must have been 15 guys wading the entrance of the river and they didn’t seem too fond of us pulling up in our boat to join them on their annual walleye spawning rituals. They started casting right at our boat and told us that we were in their "casting zone". Funny because before we got there we could see them all casting in a different direction! Needless to say we didn’t stay long, but we did hear a lot of splashing fish in the darkness and I assume there was quite a bit of catching going on near the mouth of the river. The walleye spawn has officially begun, but without a boat I am at the mercy of going in my float tube or hoping someone with a boat is willing to take me! The best part about the trip was the beautiful day with no wind and the amazing sunset! Hopefully I can get back out there and catch some more walleye this year during the spawn at Utah Lake.
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