Sunday Drive

Bobber and I snuck out of the house for a few hours to take a drive and look around at some old haunts and look for some possible new ones.  At the end of the day not many casts were made, except at one small tributary into Utah Lake that has previously produced a lot of fish in years past during this time of year.

However, Utah Lake was tough this year, due to extremely low water and I'm afraid it may have caused some long term damage to the fishing.  The water is still extremely low and our honey hole did not produce like it has in the past.  I didn't fish Utah Lake much at all this year due to low water and it started growing algae that actually affected the secondary water for many residents of Riverton City, including me. I couldn't water my lawn for a few weeks.  Hopefully we get some good snow pack this year to refill the lake, but the damage may already be done.

Musky Fever

Fishing Time:  8:00 to 2:00 PM

Weather:  Mostly sunny, slight breeze, T-50s

Moon Phase:  99% Moon

Location:  Pineview Reservoir

Water Temp:  52 degrees

Best Bait:  Perch and crappie imitating Lures

Who Went:  Bobber John, Rick, Dunc

With Muskie Fever still in full swing, Rick, John, and myself headed back to Pineview to harass some more tiger musky.  We hit up the crappie and perch fishing first thing again, just in case we didn’t land a muskie, we could go home with some pride.  The crappie and perch were right where we left them last week, and just as willing to bite.  We played with them for an hour or so, and then moved on to musky fishing. 

We approached the musky fishing using the same approach as last week hitting all the underwater ridges along the narrows, concentrating on the tops of the ridges in 24 to 30 ft of water.  We didn’t see as many fish today as we did a week ago, but they were showing up here and there on the fish finder.

Not long into fishing we had a fun experience that reminded me of lake trout fishing at Flaming Gorge.  Rick was reeling in his lure from the bottom and I told him I could see it coming up on the fish finder.  Soon after I saw a fish show up on the fish finder and start racing up towards his lure, just like lake trout do.  I told him to get ready and sure enough his rod instantly doubled over.  When lake trout do it we call it the reel and chase.  Bobber called this one the reel and chomp due to the teeth of a musky.  It was an epic fight and Rick won the battle landing a beautiful 40-inch musky.  They have to be one of the coolest looking fish ever.

After releasing Rick’s nice musky we were right back to it.  We had a few drag bottom errr bites that were unconfirmed, but no other muskies made it into the boat on this trip.  We searched a few different areas trying to find more musky, but it seems like all the life is in the narrows this time of year.  However, any day you land even one 40-inch musky is a good day in my book!

10,001 Casts Finally Pay Off

Fishing Time:  7:30 to 3:00 PM

Weather:  Mostly sunny, slight breeze, T-50s

Moon Phase:  39% Moon

Location:  Pineview Reservoir

Water Temp:  54 degrees

Best Bait:  Perch imitating Lures

Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

The weather this fall has been unbelievably dry and warm.  Most days you can’t find a cloud in the sky and the day time temps are reaching the upper 60’s.  It’s not good for our current drought situation, but it makes for some comfortable fall fishing.  Bobber John and I took advantage and hauled the boat up to the land of muskies at Pineview Reservoir.  Reports have been good for crappie suspended in the narrows, and where there are crappie, there are muskies nearby. 

We were the first boat on the water and the lake was glass and covered with fog.  We made our way to the narrows and as soon as the boat came to a stop the fish finder began to show the treasures below.  Crappie were suspended everywhere just above the bottom in 50 ft of water.  We decided to give it a go for a bit and quickly started catching some 8-10 inch crappie and a few decent sized perch.  It wasn’t on fire, but it was consistent.  Soon the pan fish brigade showed up in numbers and we decided to move on from the crowds and search for some toothier critters. 

We focused on underwater points where the lake contours would jump up to about 20-30 feet and then drop back down to 50 ft.  We would drift across the points running perch imitating lures right across the tops of the ridges.  If your lure ticked the top of the ridge as you drifted by then you were in the right zone.  The fish finder proved this to be true as most ridges held fish on top that we felt were tiger musky.

Muskies are called the fish of 10,000 casts, and I know because I think I’ve made about that many casts since I last caught one, but today the fishing gods decided to shine some light on me.  We were crossing over a ridge in 30 ft of water and I felt the tick of my lure touching the bottom just as we made our way across the ridge into deeper water, and then my rod went bendo.  I laid back with a good hook set and it was musky on!  The fish came to the surface for some aerial acrobatics, but then quickly went back underwater.  Muskie don’t usually put up long fights, but they are ferocious to the bitter end.  Bobber did an excellent net job and we had our first musky of the day taping out at 40-inches.

After the celebration we went right back to it, continuing to focus on underwater points.  We were seeing musky on the fish finder every time we hit the crest of these ridges in 20-30 ft of water, and on the second ridge we passed it was Bobbers turn to hook up.  He fought the heavy fish for about 10 seconds before his line went limp and the fish was gone along with his leader.  Bobber was heartbroken to say the least.  You just don’t get many chances to catch these awesome fish, however, it gave us a lot of confidence in our technique and we started down the bank of underwater ridges once again. 

We made a few more passes over each ridge with no bites, but on our last pass on the last ridge in 24 ft of water just as we passed the crest of the ridge and started heading to deeper water, my rod slowly doubled over.  I told Bobber that I was snagged, but I set the hook anyway.  Again I confirmed to Bobber that I had a snag and started to pull upwards to set it free, but the rod started bouncing!  Sure enough I had another musky on.  This musky did not come to the surface, but instead went to the bottom peeling line off my reel.  I told Bobber this could be the big one.  It was the hardest fighting musky I’ve caught to date, but ended up being just another nice musky at 38 inches long with a bit more girth than the previous one I had caught.  Either way I was ecstatic!

I’ve never caught two musky of that caliber in one day, so I was totally stoked.  No better way to start your work week on Monday with the memory fresh on your mind of two monster musky landed the day before.  Needless to say, Bobber and I both have a major case of musky fever!