Pineview - Where's the photos

Fishing Time: 6:30 AM to 10:00 AM
Weather: sunny, calm, T-70's
Moon Phase: 93% Moon
Location:  Pineview Reservoir
Water Temp:  64 degrees
Best Bait:  crappie colored spinnerbait
Who Went: Bobber John, Ty, Dunc

I was staying with Cari's family in a house they rented near Pineview Reservoir over Memorial Day weekend.  I told Bobber John if he wanted to bring the boat up early one morning I would drive down to the ramp and meet him.  So he did, and brought his buddy Ty with him.

We were fishing by 6:30 and began casting all sorts of tiger musky type baits and lures in hopes of landing one of the toothy critters.  We tried fishing multiple areas of sunken brush and didn't see one or get a follow. 

We moved to the narrows and my spinnerbait found a lot of action for smallmouth bass along the rocky shorelines.  Ty joined me on the spinnerbait bait and put a bunch in the boat himself.  No tiger muskies were landed, but I must have caught close to 15 smallmouth bass before jumping off the boat at 10:00 AM.  It made for a great morning, and the boat side service at the lake was awesome haha.  Jump in and jump off.

I have been in a horrible rut of not taking photos.  It's gotta stop and its my new goal for the rest of the year.  No one likes a story with no photos!  Especially with such a gorgeous morning on Pineview and we caught some awesome smallmouth.  Ugh.  Gotta do better!

Lessons Learned at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 1:00 to 3:00

Weather:  Calm at launch, terrifying 50 mph winds when we left, T-70s

Moon Phase: 36% Moon

Location: Utah Lake (AF Boat Harbor)

Water Temp: 70 degrees

Best Bait: worm underneath a slip bobber

Who Went: Anthony Schuler, Devin Duncan, Addison Duncan, Dayton Duncan, Bobber John, Dunc

Bobber John and I went on a wild adventure to Utah Lake with all four of our kids.  We had to take Cari’s 7 seater Tahoe to fit the whole gang.  On arrival everything seemed right.  No wind, warm weather, and excited kids.  We made the drive over to our secret spot and started rigging multiple rods with slip bobbers and worms.  It didn’t take long until the kids had fish tugging on their lines. 

Addison started it off with an ugly carp that she didn’t dare hold for a photo.  Big brother Devin didn’t mind and helped her out.  Devin also caught a white bass of his own.  It was constant chaos and I lost a bunch of slip bobbers and hooks within minutes.  At all times we had snags, fish on, fish off, or lines snapped from a catfish that pulled to hard.

This all happened within 30 minutes and that’s when I looked to the south and saw it.  A dark storm that covered the entire southern sky with lightning coming down towards the lake.  A cool breeze hit my face and a voice ringed in my head that this was bad. I knew we needed to get started on our 20-minute boat ride back to the ramp and get these kids off the lake. 

The kids didn’t want to leave because we were sitting under blue skies and perfect weather, but they were about to get a lesson on why being cautious at Utah Lake is so important.  As we made our boat ride back to the ramp the wind began to increase, and the waves grew bigger.  I had a horrible angle on the waves and we were all getting wet and banged around on the boat.  Four small kids in rough water is scary.  I didn’t want them to go flying and hit their head, or worse bounce right out of the boat.  I knew I couldn’t stop and needed to get to the ramp as soon as possible.  By the time we made it to the American Fork Boat Harbor the winds were approaching 30 mph and the ramp was filled with people trying to get there boat off the lake.

We were very lucky that Bobber John and myself have so much experience loading my boat.  Within minutes he had the trailer in the water and I loaded the boat with no issues.  It was a good thing.  Right as the boat hit the trailer the wind revved up to 50 mph and all hell broke loose.  Boats going everywhere, kayaks flying, and people scrambling.  It created a dust storm and visibility was only about 50 ft.  I screamed at Bobber to go and he pulled the boat up the ramp and into the parking lot.  I tossed kids out of the boat and Bobber threw them in the Tahoe.  We strapped the boat down quickly and jumped in.  It was insane. 

We pulled the car around for a minute and watched the chaos ensue at the ramp.  By now the main lake looked terrifying with 4 to 5 ft white caps.  30 minutes before we were in perfect weather reeling in fish.  Now it was dark with 50 mph winds and no visibility.  There is no chance my boat would have made it across the lake in these conditions.  As we drove out of the boat harbor there were giant 3 ft diameter trees that had fallen across the road.  Luckily there was a gap to fit the Tahoe and boat around and we made it out alive.  I don’t think the kids will question me again if we see a storm approaching us on Utah Lake.  It was a good lesson learned and I’m glad we are all still here to talk about it!

A Break Between Storms at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 6:00 to 8:00 PM

Weather:  Crazy, storms, wind, clear, calm, we had it all, T-70s

Moon Phase: 8% Moon

Location: Utah Lake

Water Temp: 70 degrees

Best Bait: worm underneath a slip bobber

Who Went: Devin, Dayton, Dunc

I noticed a break in between storms this week and for once in our lives we didn’t have baseball, scouts, dance, tutors, or anything else going on, so I loaded up the boys and we headed to the lake for some evening fishing. 

We arrived at American Fork Boat Harbor around 5:30 PM and there was a slight breeze and some unsuspected dark clouds to the south.  Just as my luck goes, I launched the boat literally right as a wind wall hit and made life miserable.  I tied the boat off and watched as the nasty storm from the south blew over us bringing winds up to 30 mph.  We waited about 45 minutes for the storm to pass and then the skies opened, and the lake calmed down. 

We jumped in the boat and scooted across the water to our secret catfish hole.  This little area is protected from wind, so I knew if we could get there then life would be good again.  We rigged up some slip bobbers pinned with an earthworm and within minutes it was game on.  It was weird how we would catch white bass for 10 minutes and then they would shut down and the channel catfish would start to bite.  This pattern continued all night.  Strange. The boys caught fish left and right and I was re-baiting, unsnagging, or retying hooks for 2 straight hours.  Oh, and getting hooks out of fingers!  It was exhausting, but well worth it.

The big fish of the night escaped us.  It was a big ole ugly catfish that gave Devin the ride of his life.  When he finally got it to the surface I reached out with the net to scoop it up just as Dev’s line snapped.  Half the catfish was in the net, but it was the wrong half and we watched in slow motion as his head slipped over the bar of the net and back into the water.  Dang it! 

As evening started to turn to dusk the dreaded mosquitos found us and wouldn’t leave us alone.  There was also another dark cloud moving in from the south, so with quite a few fish under our belts we packed up and headed back to the marina.  Dayton drove and at one point we almost died when he thought we wanted to do a donut in the middle of the lake.  My bad for not having a hand on the wheel.  

We made it in safely and luckily this round I had the boat on the trailer before another wind wall and storm hit yet again.  I guess that’s Spring fishing.