Hunting Largemouth - Spring 2024

Fishing Time: March-May (random days and hours)

Locations: Ponds around Salt Lake and Utah Counties

Best Baits: Keitech Swimbaits rigged weedless, Jig and trailer, drop shot rig

Who Went: Devin, Dayton, Dunc

Instead of a writeup for each fishing event this Spring I decided to wrap all my random 1–3-hour fishing trips into one post.  Time is limited lately with kids sporting events, so I basically always keep a rod and some gear in my car and when I get a 1–3-hour break, I find the nearest pond to fish.  Mainly targeting bass, but all fish are welcome to play.

I had more success in March this year than I can ever remember.  I’m starting to think I never gave it enough chances in the past.  The bass were biting!  Slower presentations using the jig and swimbaits were the ticket in March.  I had the most success in March on the Keitech swimbait, but I fished it differently to get bites.  Instead of cast and retrieve, I would use it like a jig and bounce it back to me.  The bites typically came when the bait landed after giving it a good pop.

April was when the drop shot rig became king.  I was still picking up fish on the swimbait, but the drop shot starting out producing it.  Most the ponds I fished have thick brush or moss, so the drop shot was key to keep the bait in the right bite zone just above the grass.  I used Berkley minnows, flukes, and roboworms on my drop shot rigs.  Some of these fish became our new pond friends at home.

May was when I found bass on beds, and it was interesting to watch what worked and what didn’t.  It changed for every bass, but I found the most success with a Ned rig.  I figured it out while drop shotting a worm across a bed with no success.  After multiple passes across his bed, I watched the bass take a swipe at my drop shot weight, so this prompted me to try the Ned rig.  On the first cast he immediately picked it up.  It became my go to bait for bed fishing.

I was able to catch quite a few bass this spring, but I noticed the waters in Utah are becoming extremely pressured.  There seemed to be people everywhere I went hunting bass.  It’s hard to watch a state where you grew up finding solace at many of these hidden ponds and now show up to people lining the shorelines.  Not much I can do about it, but it does make me sad.

One day I found the June Suckers spawning in the river at American Fork Harbor and was able to entice one with a curly tail grub.  They are a really cool looking fish.

Saw a lot of turtles and cool things as usual when you get out in Nature.  My favorite was watching a bass about eat a duckling as it chased a family of ducks away from its bed.  Nature is cool!

Bird Island Kitties

Fishing Time:  11:00 am to 4:00 pm

Weather: Calm, cool, no wind,- T-70s

Moon Phase: 81% Moon

Location: Utah Lake (Bird Island, Powell Slough, and Provo Boat Harbor)

Water Temp: 69 degrees

Best Bait: worm under a slip bobber

Who Went: Chad Fuller, Dunc

Chad called me and wanted to get out.  It was a late start so we decided to keep it close at Utah Lake.  The day before was a down pour so my confidence wasn’t high, but the weather was cool and calm which made for a nice day to be on the water.

Due to the calm conditions, we made the run out to Bird Island.  We set up some worm and slip bobber rigs and it didn’t take long before it was bobber down.  The fishing wasn’t hot and fast, but it was consistent. 

We moved to Powell slough to try for hotter action, but only landed one in there.  After that we moved inside the Provo Harbor and Chad tried for more cats and I tried for largemouth bass.  Neither of us caught any there so we headed home.  The cats are just warming up and should really get going in the next couple weeks.