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.