New Moon Topwater Action

Fishing Time:  10:00 PM to 1:00 AM         
Weather:  cloudy, calm, dark, T-80s
Moon Phase:  New Moon
Location:  Golf Course Pond
Best Baits:  Topwater Popper
Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

For a long time Bobber John and I have wanted to fish this pond at a nearby golf course for some topwater largie action.  We finally made it happen and the night seemed perfect.  The pond was glass with no wind and fish were rising and hungry.  With the new moon it was tough to see the hits.  We relied on the sense of sound and feel instead, but occasionally the fireworks from the Pioneer Day celebration would light up the sky enough to get a look at your topwater lure plunking along through the calm water. 

Soon after we began casting, Bobber was yelling fish on and landed a nice chunky largemouth. 

It was tough pulling the fish up onto the bank because of the ten foot ring of moss surrounding the ponds entire shoreline.  We made it work, but we never knew if the fish were big until we pulled 10 lbs of moss off them to see. 

After a few more casts I got on the board with a clone of Bobbers…

We caught a few largies and missed a few bites, but it wasn’t red hot fishing.  It was fun though and scratched our fishing itch for the week.  I think this pond could really produce some great topwater action a little earlier in the summer before the moss becomes too thick.  We will have to try it again a bit earlier next year.  The moss was pretty bad this trip.  I leave you with Bobber trying to put on his "this is lame" face after catching the smallest bass of the night... 

Bad Omens Equal Poor Success

Fishing Time:  6:00 AM to 2:30 PM
Weather:  Partly cloudy, calm wind, T-70s
Moon Phase:  Full Moon
Location:  Fish Lake/Johnson Reservoir
Best Baits:  Lake Trout- tube jigs, Tiger Musky- jointed J-13 rapala
Who Went:  Bobber John, Rick, Dunc

Following the most frustrating planning for a fishing trip in my life we finally agreed to bite the bullet and make an extreme day trip to Fish Lake.  To make the trip happen my wife had to babysit Bobber Junior while we were gone.  Not too big of a deal, except we left at 2:30 AM.  The things my wife does for me and my addiction!  We should have known after all the hurdles to make this trip happen that we were doomed for poor fishing. 

Rick, Bobber, and Bobber Junior arrived to my house and we loaded the boat, got Junior settled in, and hit the road.  Once we arrived to Fish Lake the wind was calm and the temperatures were chilly.  It felt good after weeks of no reprieve in the hot Salt Lake Valley.  The wind was calm and there were only a few boats around.  It looked primed for good lake trout fishing.
 
The morning brought two bites, but no hook ups.  However, it did keep our confidence high and in return we gave it our full attention until about noon.  Unfortunately there weren’t that many fish around the hump we usually fish and no big fish were landed.  Right before we called it quits we found a shallow hump (50 ft) and the fish finder screamed at us showing multiple fish.  We all missed a lot of hits until Rick finally landed the only lake trout of the day.  It was about 15 inches and he wouldn’t even hold it up for a photo.  After seeing proof of the size of the fish on this hump we called it quits and once again conceded to the almighty trophy lake trout.

We loaded the boat and headed down the road to Johnsons Reservoir.  The wind was still calm (not normal) so we launched the boat and work the SE shoreline for muskies.  Rick threw a spinnerbait and the perch wouldn’t leave it alone.  I was throwing a jointed perch rapala size J-13 and hooked up on what I think was a musky, but it came off shortly after so we will never know.  We worked the shoreline back to the boat ramp and once again admitted defeat, this time to the almighty tiger musky. 

It was a long trip with no big fish to show for it.  To make matters worse, Rick got pulled over in front of the Fish Lake Lodge on the way home.  We thought a ticket was going to cap off one of the worst fishing days we’ve had in a long while, but the sheriff was very lenient and let him off with a warning.  That was the only successful part of the trip.  Until next time…      

Slurping Carp and Hungry Kitties

Fishing Time:  8:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Weather:  Hot, clear, no wind, T-100s
Moon Phase:  63% Moon
Location:  Utah Lake
Water Temp: 79 degrees
Best Bait:  cutbait under a slip bobber
Who Went:  Rick, Bobber John, Me

My fishing buddies and I wanted to get out and fish over the long holiday weekend, but with most of the weekend devoted to family time, we took a small window on Sunday morning and headed somewhere close.  We launched the boat at the Lindon Boat Harbor at Utah Lake and immediately headed south to the bubble up.  We were surprised to see carp rising all over the surface and Rick just happened to bring his fishing bow, so we made the most of it for a couple hours.

Rick received a phone call from his buddy Tim Duke from The Rocky Mountain Anglers Association announcing he was on the lake and had found a catfish hotspot.  We met up and followed him into a narrow slough that I have never fished before on Utah Lake.  It was refreshing to fish a new spot on Utah Lake and it immediately went into the gps for future reference.  When we arrived to the spot there was another boat in there with two of Tim’s buddies fishing.  They reported catching around 25 channel catfish prior to us arriving.  Sweet!  We found our own space and began putting a few of our own into the boat.  The action had slowed a bit since the morning, but we were still able to put ten 3-5 lb channel cats into the boat.  Bobber wanted to keep some for dinner so we loaded the live well until it was overflowing with ugly whiskers.  By 1:00 it was pushing 100 degrees with no wind, so we called it a day.