Full Moon Failure

Fishing Time:  8:30 pm to 1:00 am
Weather:  Breezy until sundown then calm, T-70s
Moon Phase:  98% Moon
Location:  Deer Creek Reservoir
Water Temp:  69 degrees
Best Bait:  Walleye- none, smallmouth- curly tail grub, deep diving crankbait
Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

The full moon fishing failures continue to mount.  We tried our hand again at fishing under the light of a full moon at Deer Creek in hopes of running our lures into the mouths of a few walleye.  Unfortunately, yet expectantly, we failed miserably.  We trolled, casted, and drifted jigs all over the reservoir and not one walleye was landed.  We washed every lure in our tackle box and fished until 1:00 AM before conceding to failure.  Luckily we did have a few “fish on” moments to keep our spirits up, and while catching smallmouth is fun, it was walleye we were after.

I just can’t seem to make it work with these fish called walleye, as I continually chase them with very limited success.  But, I will continue to push onward trying new things and hoping at some point to figure it out.  

Utah Lake Mixed Bag

Fishing Time:  6:00 pm to 9:30 pm

Weather:  Partly cloudy, T-80s

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Location:  Utah Lake (honey hole)

Best Bait:  Worm/cutbait 3-feet underneath a bobber

Who Went:  Bobber John, Devin, Dunc

My son Devin and I made a trip back down to our Utah Lake honey hole that has produced some great fishing from the shoreline this year.  My buddy Bobber John also tagged along.  It was the same story this trip except this time the honey hole provided a bigger variety of fish.  We found one spot for Devin that was within his casting range and every time his bobber landed it was fish on.  The best part is he never knew what he was going to catch.  Devin caught bluegill, white bass, and channel catfish from this spot.  Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures this trip.  We were having to much fun fishing!  

Devin and Bobber John hit it off pretty well, and by the end of the night Devin was following him around like a puppy dog.  When Bobber John told him he was going to try a topwater bait for largemouth bass, Dev was overwhelmed with excitement.  Largemouth Bass are Devin’s favorite fish to catch.  They didn’t end up catching any, but Dev anxiously followed Bobber John all evening hoping for a chance at catching a largemouth bass.

By the end of the night we had caught too many fish to count and Devin was bored with white bass and bluegill and only wanted to catch a BIG catfish.  The big catfish never came, but we did land a bunch of decent sized ones that seemed to satisfy Devin’s lust for big fish.  It’s safe to say that Devin is extremely spoiled and is already in “big fish” hunting mode.  I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.   

Huntington (north) Reservoir

Fishing Time:  8:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Weather:  Sunny, clear, slight breeze, T-90s

Moon Phase:  74% Moon

Location:  Huntington (north) Reservoir

Water Temp:  70 degrees on arrival, 72 degrees when we left

Best Baits:  Jig/trailer (light brown/olive)

Who Went:  The Trio (Bobber John, Rick, Dunc)

The self titled “Trio” wanted to go fishing this weekend, but couldn’t come up with anywhere that raised much excitement, so we took a chance and headed somewhere we have never fished before.  Huntington (north) Reservoir is located in the small town of Huntington, Utah.  The reservoir is small at just over 200 acres and is home to the following fish: bluegill, channel catfish, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, wiper, and Utah chub.  It was mainly the largemouth bass and wiper that peaked the trio’s interest.

After a slight detour up the wrong canyon we finally launched the boat around 8:30 am.  We headed to the dam where the only visible structure was located and threw an assortment of plastics and lures trying to entice some largemouth bass.  We began getting hits immediately, but quickly realized these were not bass, but green sunfish (not bluegill).  We beefed up our baits a bit to avoid the pesky little sunfish and soon after, Rick stuck a hefty largemouth bass on a jig/trailer. 

Our spirits were high and we continued to work the entire rock dam hoping to land another nice fish.  We used a variety of plastics and lures including:  jig/trailer, roboworm rigged on a drop-shot weight, Texas rigged creature baits and senkos, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits.  Unfortunately, Rick’s bass was the only fish landed, along with a few pesky green sunfish.

We turned our focus to trolling and tried a variety of deep diving crankbaits, rattle traps, and a kastmaster.  Bobber John had a good fish bite his crankbait, but halfway to the boat the fish spit the hook.  I’m guessing it was a wiper because of the way it fought, but rainbows can put up a decent fight to, so who knows.

 

After a few more trolling passes across the small reservoir we tried another run down the rip rap of the dam.  We washed a variety of baits and lures, but just couldn’t get any bass to bite.  So, back to Trolling. While trolling we got excited when a school of fish showed up on the fish finder.  Hoping it was a wiper school we dropped some jigging lures and Bobber John immediately hooked up.  We had found a school alright.  A school of Utah Chubs!  Disgusted with our find we called it a day.

Huntington (north) Reservoir was a fun body of water to fish and I’m sure the results can be much better than it was for us.  It’s a bit out of the way with about 2.5 hours drive time, but the scenery is nice and I would consider going back.  With the crystal clear water I can imagine the sight fishing during the largemouth bass spawn would be fun, and wipers are always fun when you can catch them.

Great Day to be a Dad

Fishing Time:  3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Weather:  Partly Cloudy, windy, T-90s

Moon Phase:  30% Moon

Location:  Utah Lake (Dad's secret spot)

Best Bait:  Worm under a bobber

Who Went:  Devin, Dunc

Its official… my son Devin is addicted to fishing.  It’s all he thinks about.  The minute I walk in the door from work he says “dad can we go to the lake?  What kind of fish should we try to catch today?”  Needless to say, it’s a fun problem to have when you compare it with playing ipads and video games all day.  There’s two species of fish he’s especially interested in catching.  The first one is a white fish with black stripes (wiper, white bass, or striper), and a catfish with a big black head (spawning male channel catfish).

 

After a somewhat failed attempt to fish with all three of my kids on my boat last week, I knew I needed to get Devin into some fish before he lost interest in fishing altogether.  I took him down to Utah Lake to one of my secret spots that usually produce numbers for channel catfish.  After arriving I began to think I failed again.  A few nibbles from suspected mud cats were all we got the first half hour.  We tried a couple different spots and finally had a double hook up on both rods producing a nice bluegill and a mud cat.  

A few minutes later this crappie took the bait.  

This didn’t hold his attention long though and soon he was off to play in the weeds.  

I started casting around trying to find a willing channel cat, and finally after tossing into a small pocket near the weed line my bobber disappeared into the muddy water.  I set the hook and Devin reeled in the first channel catfish of the day.  

Another worm went on and a cast to the same spot produced another channel catfish within seconds.  This went on for the next half hour.  I would literally cast to the spot, wait 1 to 3 seconds, and the big red and white bobber would disappear. 

On one of my hook sets I could tell it felt a little heavier, so I quickly gave Devin the rod and sent him on the ride of his life!  He would pull back on the rod and line would rip off the reel.  It was an epic battle and Devin finally landed what he had eagerly been waiting for… a big black headed channel catfish in the 5-7 pound range.  It made his day and made my year.

He was so excited and wanted 100 pictures to show mom and the rest of the world what he had caught.  One of my best moments as a dad yet!

It didn’t stop there either and who knows how long they would have kept biting, but unfortunately after about ten channel catfish we were down to one half of a worm.  I casted it out and within seconds it was fish on as usual, except this was much smaller than a catfish, and to my surprise it was a small white bass.  Devin had now landed the two fish he so badly wanted to catch.  Not to mention the light bulb went off in my head and I realized we just caught more bait!  

So, we cut up the white bass and continued the bonanza for another half hour.  No idea how many we caught in total, but it was a bunch and I had one happy six year old on my hands.  He couldn’t wait to go home and show everyone the photos of all the fish he caught.

I hope I didn’t ruin the little dude into thinking this is an every trip event, but I wouldn’t change it.  It was a blast watching him reel in all those fish, and I have a true fisherman on my hands.  Before we left he told me we should probably stay and catch a largemouth bass since that was the only fish in Utah Lake we hadn’t caught yet.  Unbelievable.  I think I smiled all the way home.  Oh and Devin wanted to post some photos of the bait and tackle we used so that others would know how to catch them.  Here are the photos taken by Devin...   

No Skunk Smell on My Hands

Fishing Time:  6:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Weather:  sunny, slight breeze, T-90s

Moon Phase:  4% Moon

Location:  Willard Bay

Water Temp:  75 degrees at first launch, 77 degrees when we left

Best Bait:  12-15 ft diving crankbait

Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

Bobber John and I made the trip to Willard Bay for our annual wiper skunk, only this time we didn’t get skunked!  We didn’t catch many, but pulling one fish out of that lake feels like you’ve accomplished something. 

We arrived to the lake when the gates opened at 6:00 AM.  We launched and headed to the light pole where we began trolling about 200 yards offshore.  We were running crankbaits at about 12-15 feet and the depth to bottom averaged around 15-16 ft.  Our speed was between 2.5 and 3.0 mph.  About 15 minutes into trolling Bobber John hooked up with what ended up being the biggest fish of the day.  It was a nice wiper that gave Bobber John a great fight.  

We were excited thinking maybe today was the day we finally slay a bunch of wipers.  Nope.  The next two hours were spent aimlessly trolling up and down the dikes, around the island and everywhere in between.

   

In the back of the southwest corner I hooked up with our second fish.  It didn’t put up much fight and I began thinking walleye, but it ended up being a feisty little crappie instead.  Better than nothing.  Now back to trolling.  

Somewhere between the southwest corner and the light pole I finally hooked up with our second wiper of the day.  This one didn’t fight like the first one and didn’t have much size to him.  Not the biggest wiper, but at least I was on the wiper board. 

After about another hour of trolling with no bites we made one final move to the northwest dike and tried trolling there.  Within minutes of trolling my rod was doubled over and line was zipping off my reel.  I picked up my rod and the fight began.  At least for a minute, then it suddenly popped off.  That was the only bite we had along the northwest dike and we had both hit the brink of trolling insanity, so we called it a day.  Three fish doesn’t sound like much, but for us at Willard Bay that was a successful day!

A Good Day with my Boys

Fishing Time:  10:00 am to 11:30 am

Weather:  Sunny, clear, hot T-90s

Moon Phase:  10% Moon

Location:  Daybreak Pond - South Jordan

Best Bait:  Worm under a bobber

Who Went:  Devin, Dayton, Dunc

My wife took my daughter Addison to her sister’s house to go do girly stuff and left the boys at home, so naturally I thought, let’s go fishing!  The boys were stoked about it, so we loaded the car and went.  Dayton is still only 3 so I didn’t want to drag him very far, and it had to be somewhere he would catch fish, so we kept it real close to home and went to the pond out at Daybreak.  

The shorelines are lined with small bluegill that can’t seem to resist a worm.  I was a proud dad as I watched Devin (6 years old) making his own casts, setting the hook, and reeling in his own fish.

He told me that he liked catching these little ones much better than the big 3 pound largemouth he dragged in a few days ago, because these ones you can play with and hold.  Kids are funny.

I didn’t quite get Dayton to cast, set the hook, and reel one in all on his own, but he did do all three just not in succession.  He will get there.   

The boys had fun and so did I, but the 90 degree temps wore them out pretty quickly.  Nothing like watching your boys catch fish!

One Tough Kid

Fishing Time:  7:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Weather:  Sunny, clear skies, T-80s

Moon Phase:  50% Moon

Location:  Utah Lake (Pelican Bay Harbor)

Best Bait:  Spinnerbait

Who Went:  Devin, Dunc

I fished Utah Lake with my son Devin and found out what a tough little dude he is.  When we got there the freshly hatched mayflies were swarming the brush and by nightfall they were everywhere in full force.  On first arrival Dev was a little freaked out, but once I explained that the mayflies don’t bite and are only buggy he seemed fine.  He asked me “Dad do bugs get there name because there so buggy?”

I got him set up with a worm underneath a bobber and figured he could cast that around while I threw a spinnerbait for bass, but before I could even tie on my spinnerbait, we had a tangle.  I fixed the tangle and went to put on my spinnerbait, but another tangle.  It must have taken 45 minutes before I had enough time to even tie on a spinnerbait.  To Dev’s credit, the reel he was using did not function correctly and the poor little dude kept thinking it was his fault.  It's definitely time to upgrade his reel.

Finally I got my crappie colored spinnerbait tied on and on the very first cast tight to the shoreline I was slammed by a nice largemouth.  I quickly handed Dev my rod and he reeled the big largemouth in all by himself.

I started thinking, I might as well put a spinnerbait on Dev’s rod as well since he loves to cast and reel anyway.  I tied one on for him but unfortunately he didn’t have any luck.  I had one more fish on my spinnerbait that felt really nice, but before I could hand the rod to Dev it popped off.

 

Just before dark we watched some teenage boys go running off the docks to their car to get away from all the bugs.  Dev was pretty proud of himself that he was tough enough to stay.  In fact, he wouldn’t let me leave because he wanted to catch another fish.  We tried soaking a worm until dark, but didn’t get another bite. 

It was a fun day with my boy and I’m proud of how tough he’s getting.  Last year he definitely wouldn’t have made it out of the car with all the mayflies flying around.

I went back to Utah Lake the next day during a long lunch break, but decided to give Lindon Harbor a try instead.  I worked the entire harbor with my crappie colored spinnerbait working the shorelines out to 15 feet, but was only able to land one Largemouth.  Luckily it was a pig and put up a great fight.  It made my work day in the office almost bearable.

Early morning at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 6:00 am to 8:00 am

Weather:  Cloudy, breezy, T-50s

Moon Phase:  16% Moon

Location:  Utah Lake (Pelican Bay Harbor)

Best Bait:  Jig/trailer

Who Went:  Dunc

I had the day off today because we are heading to St. George for the weekend with the family.  I took the opportunity after waking up at 5:30 AM and not being able to go back to sleep to run down to Utah Lake and get a couple hours of fishing in.  The month of May has been extremely wet this year with rain almost every day.  We need it after the warmest and driest winter I can ever remember, but it has ruined my plans for bass fishing Utah Lake during the spawn this year.

Today was no different with rain in the forecast, but I went anyway.  It didn’t rain, but it was cloudy and cold.  I quickly realized the bass have had to brave the rain and cold to spawn anyway and found this guy doing his thing in the shallows.  He wouldn’t have anything to do with my jig/trailer, but I did get a kick out of watching him for a bit.  

I worked the shoreline around the Pelican Bay Harbor and finally got a bite along the docks by the boat ramp but didn’t hook up.  I moved on down the shoreline with no more bites before returning to the dock to make another cast in the same spot I got hit.  This time I connected and landed this chunky largemouth.  It ended up being the only fish of the morning, but a good way to start a four day vacation.

Utah Lake Bass Fishing

Fishing Time:  7:00 am to 12:00 pm

Weather:  Partly cloudy, T-50s

Moon Phase:  Full Moon

Location:  Utah Lake Harbors

Water Temp: 60 degrees

Best Bait: Jig/trailer

Who Went: Bobber John, Dunc

It’s time for the Utah Lake largemouth spawn and I want to hit it hard this year because there are some monster bass in there and it’s some of my favorite fishing of the year.  Bobber John and I got it started today by taking the boat down and making the rounds on the harbors.

Today’s weather was okay, but yesterday was cold and extremely windy, so I was hoping it didn’t affect the fishing.  Strong wind and cold weather can push spawning bass off their beds.  Unfortunately that may be what happened.

  

We launched at AF Boat Harbor and fished the entire shoreline without a bite.  We moved on to Lindon Harbor and besides a couple “phantom bites” no fish were landed.  We thought about calling it quits, but decided to make the run down to Provo Boat Harbor.  I was able to land one chunky bass right off the boat ramp in Provo, but that was the only bite of the day.  I hope the weather and fishing gets better soon.  Either way it was a beautiful day to be on the water and soak up some spring rays.

Spring Trip to Lake Powell

Fishing Time:  April 16-20

Weather:  First two and a half days was rain and cold, the rest were sunny, clear, T-60s

Moon Phase:  New Moon

Location: Lake Powell - Red Canyon area

Water Temps:  First 3 days was 58 deg, last two days were 60 in the morning and 65 in the afternoon

Water Level: 3,591 ft amsl

Best Baits:  Bass - jig/trailer, Walleye - trolling crankbaits in 15 fow, and drifting jigs over submerged structure, Striped Bass - trolling crankbaits 12-15 feet deep in main channel, Crappie - marabou jig under a bobber near rocky structure

Who Went:  Rick Everson, John Bobber Schuler, Dunc

After our decision to skip our Spring Lake Powell trip last year we were eager to get down there again and chase some largemouth and smallmouth bass.  Unfortunately this report is coming two months after we went, so I don't recall the day by day recap, but will instead give an overall report of what we experienced after 4 days of fishing and camping  at Lake Powell this spring. 

It’s been a strange year for precipitation with an extremely warm winter and extremely low snowpack/runoff.  The lake reflected this as the mud lines were as funky as I have ever seen them.  There really weren’t any defining mud lines, but more of a gradual murkiness that started at the mouth of Ticaboo canyon and slowly became muddier the further north you went.  The “good stain” as we like to call it didn’t seem to be there.  The Red Canyon area, where we have always done well for bass in the past, was slightly murky and sight fishing was not possible, which totally bummed us out. 

The lake is low again this year so we launched at Bullfrog and headed north and camped in Scorup Canyon.  The drive up was eventful and should have been our omen for the entire trip.  I couldn’t get the boat to plane and we spent over an hour shifting camping gear trying to get it to plane.  Later I would realize that my boat was full of water after heavy rain storms the previous weekend and my leaking skylight in my garage!  Finally we got the boat to plane and were just about to enter Scorup Canyon when I found a submerged island going 30 mph.  It did a number on my prop and scared us to death, but luckily no serious damage was done.  I had a spare prop on board, so disaster was avoided, but I was extremely wary the rest of the trip.  Later on I would slam another rock with my front thruster motor.  Not our best trip for avoiding under water structure.

A storm came in the first day, which was expected in the forecast, but we didn’t plan on it staying for two more days.  It was supposed to move right through, but instead seemed to get stuck right over the lake and stayed for two days.  The rain came and didn’t stop.  The wind also picked up and made it hard to enjoy the campfire.  We found an overhang on the other side of our camp and built a fire underneath to get out of the elements.  This was probably the best part of the trip.  We spent two nights there, listening to music and talking around the camp fire tucked underneath the overhang away from the wind and rain.

My boat was a mud pit from getting in and out from the muddy shore.  Our tent leaked and soaked our clothes and sleeping pads, but through it all we toughed it out and continued to fish.  The bass bite was tough, but we were able to pull in some smallmouth and a few largemouth.  We also found a few nice crappie to fill the void. 

When the rain finally stopped we were left with sunshine and cool post storm breezes.  This is what totally shutdown the bass bite.  We did much better for bass in the rain then we did after the storm had passed.  It was like they completely disappeared from the shallows.  We tried fishing deeper and still couldn’t find them.  Before long we found ourselves trolling for stripers, which for us, is a last option.  It was fun though, and we did find them.  They were all healthy 3-5 pound stripers that fought hard. 

The last two days was a combo of trolling for stripers and walleye as well as drifting jigs over submerged ridges and islands for walleye.  The walleye were out in full force and we were able to catch a bunch.  None with much size, but we did find a few that made for some nice fillets.  We kept a bunch to eat for dinner one night and that was one of the highlights of the trip.

We never did find any specific patterns for bass because we just plain couldn’t find them consistently.  The walleye seemed to be everywhere with Ticaboo canyon and a submerged island off the mouth of Red Canyon producing the most consistently.  The stripers were all caught trolling the main channel from the mouth of Red Canyon all the way up to the Horn.  Any diving crankbait 12-15 ft deep caught stripers.  The weather didn't cooperate, but it's still Lake Powell and the camping was fun and the fishing was still good.  I leave you with our best catch of the trip...  

 Oh and these guys.  We watched them battle it out for a few hours then let them go...