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!