Slick Roads, Good Company, and a few Whitefish...

Fishing Time:  9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Weather:  Snow in the morning, breezy and cloudy late morning, T-30s
Moon Phase:  85% Moon
Best Bait: marabou jig, 1/8 oz (any color)
Who Went: Bobber John, Rick Everson, Dunc

We had so much fun last December up at Bear Lake chasing whitefish and cutthroat that we decided to do it again.  The morning we left Salt Lake City it was snowing, so we traded the boat for waders.  After a slow drive through snow packed roads we arrived to a cold and slightly breezy day at Bear Lake. 

There were a few boats on the water and a couple shore fisherman.  We geared up in warm clothes and waders and joined the masses.  On Bobbers first cast he reeled in the biggest whitefish I’ve ever seen.  Then he realized his waders were leaking and quit fishing for most the morning.  Rick and I stayed with it and eventually Rick was on the board with his first whitefish of the day. 

The boats were catching a few more than us, but it wasn’t fast and furious like last year’s trip.  I struggled with snags in the shallow rocky shoreline and couldn’t find the rhythm or zone.  I had a few hits, but never did catch a whitefish.  Rick was a bit hardier and explored some shoreline.  It payed off with a few more whitefish. 

It was a short trip, but the truth is we hadn’t seen each other in so long it was more about the drive and catching up with friends than it was braving the cold waters of Bear Lake in our waders.  The fact we put a few fish on shore was a bonus.  

Family Reunion at Uncle Harry's Ranch

Fishing Time: 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Weather: Calm wind, hot, clear skies, T-90s
Moon Phase: 95% Moon
Location: Uncle Harry's Ranch
Best Bait: worm underneath a slip bobber
Who Fished: Alex Covili, Dayton Duncan, Dunc

Every year in August we have a family reunion at my Great Uncle Harry’s Ranch.  He has passed on, but his family still owns over 300 acres near Woodland Hills, Utah.  They have a pond on their ranch that’s stocked with rainbows and its fun for the kids to catch a few while up there. 

This year my young cousin Alex (13), was in need to catch a fish for a merit badge in scouts.  His family is not known to be fishermen, but hoped I could help.  Challenge accepted.  Alex had to catch a fish by himself, clean it, cook it, and eat it.  I helped with the catching and cleaning, but left the cooking and eating to Alex and his mom.  It was exciting to see how happy he was to conquer the challenge.  Good job Alex!

My youngest son, Dayton joined in on the fun and caught a few of his own, including the biggest fish of the day with this chunky rainbow…

No Bug Spray Equals No Fun...

Fishing Time: 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm
Weather: Dark, hot, T-80s
Moon Phase: 5% Moon
Location: Golf Course
Best Baits: topwater spook, and Keitech Frog
Who Went: Bobber John, Dunc

Snuck out of the house with Bobber John for a couple hours to see if we could find a good topwater bite at the golf course.  The plan was going well until we forgot the bug spray.  They were so bad you couldn’t stop swatting yourself for one second.  It would have been funny to hear us from a distance in the middle of the night yelling, cursing, and swatting at the air.  The frustrating part is that we were catching fish!  Bobber John even caught a nice sunfish on a topwater spook! We couldn’t take it long though and were out of there within an hour.  Next time we will be a bit more prepared!

Where did all the Musky Go?

Fishing Time: 6:00 am to 1:00 pm
Weather: Mostly Sunny, T-90s
Moon Phase: 20% Moon
Location: Pineview Reservoir
Best Bait: Green pumpkin curly tailed grub on 1/4 oz jighead
Who Went: Bobber John, Dunc

An early morning opportunity at Pineview had us dreaming of a large musky in our net.  Conditions seemed perfect and we were one of only a few boats on the water at first light. 

We casted swimbaits, crankbaits, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, and topwater all morning and didn’t even get a follow.  By late morning, Bobber John switched to a grub and put a couple decent smallmouth in the boat.  I continued casting, but never got a sniff.  Frustrating day to say the least!

Two Lakes in One Day

Fishing Time: East Canyon- 7:30 to 10:00, Pineview 11:00 to 2:00

Weather: East Canyon- cold, cloudy, T-30s, Pineview- warm, mostly sunny, T-60s

Moon Phase: 35% Moon

Location: East Canyon and Pineview Reservoir

Water Temp:  East Canyon – 60 degrees, Pineview - 65 degrees

Best Bait: Firetiger deep diving crankbait

Who Went: Bobber John, Dunc

Bobber John and I left the kids at home this trip and headed to some unfamiliar water.  East Canyon has changed a lot since I was a kid.  I remember it as a trout only fishery and my dad and I used to do well trolling up and down each shoreline for rainbows.  Since then, many more fish species have been introduced including smallmouth bass, crappie, and wiper.  I haven’t fished it much since the new species have been introduced.

The weather has continued to be filled with rain, clouds, and cold weather.  Today it didn’t rain, but dark overhead clouds and a cold front had the temps in the upper 30s when we arrived.  We fished some coves and rocky shorelines hoping for a smallmouth bite, but it never came.  

We tried fishing deeper water along the bottom with finesse baits, but still no bites.  Lastly, we turned to trolling and finally landed one rainbow trout.  

By 9:30 am the weather was still cold, and we started to have thoughts about going elsewhere.  By 10:00 am we were on the road towards Pineview Reservoir. 

We launched from Anderson cove and quickly slipped into the small bay to the east of the ramp.  This area has produced good numbers of crappie in the past.  We didn’t find the crappie, but did find a bunch of small perch willing to take a marabou under a slip bobber.  I tried my luck for musky using a firetiger crankbait, but had no luck.

We moved to Browning Point, but again no luck for musky or smallmouth, so we moved to the west side of the lake and fished the sunken brush near the marinas.  I kept throwing the crankbait and Bobber was casting a spinnerbait.  On one of Bobber’s casts he had a good musky follow it in to the boat.  The musky gave the spinnerbait an awkward kiss with its mouth closed and then headed for deeper water.  A figure 8 with the spinnerbait couldn’t lure him back. We continued down the shoreline and I started landing some decent smallmouth bass.  

The action stayed hot and Bobber soon switched over to a crankbait.  He finally had a taker and pulled this giant smallmouth into the boat…

We tried for more smallmouth back in the narrows, but the wind picked up, so we called it a day and headed home.  The musky follow and smallmouth bite made the move to Pineview worth it.  East Canyon just had that cold weather bite feel to it.  Glad we made the move and we will try East Canyon again when it’s not so cold.  Brrr!

Boys vs Big Cats at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Weather: Slight wind, cloudy, T-70s
Moon Phase: New Moon
Location: Utah Lake
Water Temp: 70 degrees
Best Bait: Worm pinned 3 feet underneath slip bobber
Who Went: John and Anthony Schuler, Chris, Devin, and Dayton Duncan

This spring has been insane with wet weather, and apparently it’s the second wettest spring on record.  It’s rained almost daily and hasn’t made going fishing easy.  Today we received a break and took advantage.  We rounded up the boys and headed to Utah Lake.  It was still cloudy, but the weather was warm and the wind wasn’t bad, especially once we got back into our secret catfish hole that is protected from the wind.

The kitties were ready to play right from the first cast, and within minutes, Devin was reeling in a big ole channel cat.  

The best part of this trip was the fish were taking it so aggressively the boys were able to set the hook and reel in all the fish on their own, although these big cats gave the boys a run for their money at times.  It was awesome watching the battle between boy vs catfish!

All the boys got in on the action and we constantly had double and triple hook ups.  I was constantly busy helping re-bait, untangle lines, and take photos.  Everything a dad could ask for when taking his boys fishing.

The fun ended shorter than planned as a dark cloud and lightning started to head our way, but by then the boys were sick of reeling in fish.  Can’t say that too often.  What an awesome trip.

Lake Powell 2019

Fishing Time: March 30 to April 3

Weather: Calm with slight breeze at times, mostly sunny, T-60s to 70s

Moon Phase: 19% Moon

Water Level: 3,569 ft amsl

Mudline: First mudline (green stained) started in Piute Bay near our camp, Second Mudline (mud stain) was not found this year.  Run off hadn’t started yet.

Water Temp: Ranged from 53 degrees in the morning up to 60 degrees in the afternoon.

Best Baits (in order): Curly tailed grubs, Texas rigged plastics, spinnerbaits, jig and trailer. 

Who Went:  Rick, Bobber John, Dunc

Spring is here and it’s time for my favorite fishing trip of the year, Lake Powell.  My buddies and I have a camping list that we revise after each Lake Powell trip, and this being our decade anniversary of going, you might say we have it dialed in. 

A quick stop by the grocery store and we were on our way.  We left this year on a Friday evening and arrived at the Ticaboo Lodge at midnight.  Lucky for me, I brought a nasty cold with me that made sleeping miserable, but luckily it got better as the trip went on. 

Saturday morning we enjoyed a hot breakfast and made our way to the boat ramp only to be surprised at how low the water was.  In fact, we couldn’t even launch at the main Bullfrog Marina.  It was bone dry.  Instead we were redirected north to a service ramp to launch.

After a two hour boat ride we arrived at our camp spot towards the end of the San Juan Arm.  This year’s spot was beautiful with classic Lake Powell boulders surrounding us, in water and on land.  We were even greeted by some wild burro’s that hung out with us during our entire trip.  

We set up camp between the sandstone boulders and the 4 day fishing bonanza began. 

Saturday:

We only had the afternoon to fish, so we stayed close and fished the waters near camp.  It was a smallmouth afternoon and the fishing wasn’t fast.  We worked areas hard and caught fish, but it wasn’t as hot as we had hoped.  

Rick was throwing texas rigged plastics, John was throwing curly tailed grubs, and I was throwing a jig and trailer and spinnerbaits.  All produced, but the grub and texas rigged plastics were the main producers.  Most fish were caught off points and rocky shorelines in 10 to 15 feet of water. 

Sunday:

A much better day with a mixed bag of smallmouth, largemouth, walleye, and crappie.  I woke up early and the weather was gorgeous.  I snapped a few photos showing our view from camp, including a panorama of the glassy water and red bluffs in the San Juan Arm.

We fished all our usual haunts in the San Juan arm and fishing was good, especially for Rick.  He was close to the Lake Powell Grand Slam, minus the catfish and bluegill.  

He also busted a pretty good largemouth.

Then just before evening we were fishing a stretch of rocky shoreline and it went nuts with smallmouth bites.  We must have landed 50 of them within a couple hours, and John added one crappie.

It was a good way to end the day.  Most fish were caught off the shoreline between 5 and 15 feet of water, however the afternoon smallmouth bite was shallow near rocky and gravel shorelines.  At times we were trying to manage two rods with fish biting each of them.

We headed back to camp a bit early and filleted a bunch of fish.  We had enough fish for dinner each night we were there.  While Rick went to work filleting fish, I threw some topwater around camp and landed a very nice Crappie.  I walked over and added it to the filet pile. Yummy!

Monday:

We started the morning drifting baits in 15 to 20 feet of water.  This produced a few smallmouth, but wasn’t fast fishing.  We moved to some different areas of the San Juan arm, and caught some smallmouth and largemouth, mainly off of points and deeper water from 15 to 25 feet.  

The wind was a bit annoying forcing us to troll and hide in the back of a few select canyons.  Trolling produced a few stripers and smallmouth, but this was by far our toughest day of fishing.  Still a good day, but we had to work for them in the shifting winds.  Almost all fish were caught off points and underwater ridges.  Casting into deeper water across a known point or ridge usually produced a few fish.

That evening we fished topwater from the shoreline near camp.  It’s a bit early in the year for topwater, but we managed a couple.  Just before dark I tried to jump to a large rock to cast from shore and ended up landing on moss that put me right on my butt and onto a slippery slide that launched me into the lake!  Crazy part was I couldn’t reach the bottom and had water up to my neck!  I quickly launched my rod onto shore and got out.  My new job had just given me a new cell phone the day before I left on this trip and it was in my pocket.  Luckily I was able to get out of the water quick enough to keep it mostly dry and the phone was fine.  Whew!

Tuesday:

Another nice day and we decided to run up lake to explore Escalante Canyon.  

It's a gorgeous canyon and I have heard good things in the past, but never fished it, so we gave it a chance.  The low water didn’t help, but we didn’t find much that looked fishy.  It may be better with higher water, but for now it wasn’t too impressive.  We did find one decent cove that had some sunken trees and rock rubble.  We caught a few smallies, and I lucked into a good largemouth on a spinnerbait.  

We also found some skinny stripers hanging out in the back of one canyon that played with us for a while as we harassed them with deep diving crankbaits.  The bite was fun while it lasted.

That evening we headed back to the San Juan arm and fished some new shoreline.  One spot in particular was on fire for largemouth and Rick put on a clinic with the spinnerbait.  

A storm was blowing in and it makes me wonder if this was a pre-storm bite.  Those are the best!  John and I also got into some largemouth and I had one break off that I think could have been the fish of the trip.  It was fun while it lasted, but soon it was getting dark.  Topwater didn’t produce, so we turned on my newly installed boat lights and began drifting jigs in 20 to 30 feet of water. Bobber John and Rick picked up a couple walleye, and rick landed one catfish.  I managed one striper before calling it a night.

With no moonlight it was a scary boat ride back to camp.  I literally followed our trail on the gps all the way back.  We passed through boulder islands and underwater hazards going 30 mph in pitch black.  Totally freaky!

Wednesday:

We slept in late and by the time we had camp loaded it was time to make the 2 hour trek back to Bullfrog.  When we arrived Rick backed the trailer down the ramp and I noticed I was missing a runner board.  I couldn’t trailer the boat without it, so Rick and John headed into Bullfrog and scored a 2x4 from some construction workers.  Price was a 12 pack of beer.  A few zip ties later and a 2x4 and we were ready to trailer the boat and head back to SLC.

Conclusion:

The trip was a bit early this year, but we were lucky to have good weather.  The bite wasn’t the best we’ve experienced, but some good moments and shorelines that produced a lot of fish.  We caught a bunch of smallmouth, a good number of largemouth, and a few crappie, walleye, and stripers.  Rick picked up one catfish while drifting, so the only fish we didn’t catch was a bluegill.  We had the entire San Juan arm to ourselves for 4 days and that was one of the bonuses of doing the trip earlier in the year.  It was one of my favorite camp sites we’ve had, and the fish dinners each night were amazing. 

We had a couple evenings where the bite was shallow, but most of the trip fish were found between 5 to 20 feet of water and off of rocky points seemed to produce the best.  We caught a handful of fish on topwater, but the cold evenings seemed to keep the fish deep.  Trolling was awful and barely produced a bite.  Typically we can’t keep fish off when we troll at Lake Powell.  The spinnerbait produced some nice largemouth, but plastics were king as usual with the curly tailed grub and texas rigged creature baits producing the most fish.  The jig and trailer also had its moments.  The only fish caught on crankbaits were stripers, and I don’t recall a fish being caught on a senko or worm, although we didn’t give them much of a chance. 

The only mishaps of the trip was me taking a swim and the 2x4 runner board replacement on the boat trailer.  It was another successful trip with good memories and many fish caught.  Can’t wait to go back!