Weather: cloudy, cold morning reaching 60 by afternoon
Moon Phase: 89% Moon
Location: Willard Bay
Water Temp: Morning = 52.8 degrees, Afternoon 55.8 degrees
Bait: Bottom bouncing worm harnesses, trolling crankbaits, casting curly tailed jigs
Who Went: JJ, Me
After landing a few wipers last year I have been itching to get back up to Willard Bay and catch more. They are without a doubt the hardest fighting freshwater fish I have ever had on the other end of my line, so I decided to give it a try this week with the weather forecast calling for temperatures in the high 70’s, hoping the water would cooperate and warm up a few degrees to get the fish active. JJ and I headed north and arrived at the North Marina of Willard Bay around 7:00 a.m. We began the morning by joining the masses of boats and shoreline fisherman inside the harbor where the crappie are currently spawning. We watched a guy fishing from the shoreline fall in the lake, but besides that, not much more excitement fishing for crappie.We left the marina and motored back into the northeast corner of the lake where I set up two bottom bouncing rigs with worm harnesses and two separate rods for trolling crankbaits. My thoughts were to bottom bounce two rods for walleye and troll the other two crankbait rods for wipers, killing two birds with one stone. I think we needed a bigger stone! We trolled at all speeds from 0.8 mph to 1.3 mph with no success. We tried deep diving cranks and shallow diving cranks, but no luck. We trolled all the way from the northeast corner southward through freeway bay and all the way to the island! I tried drifting and casting jigs all around the island without getting a single bite or seeing any fish on the finder. Then the bugs came out in full force and tried to make our life miserable.
We relocated over to the north dike where we saw quite a few boats trolling and again tried our 4 rod set up, but still couldn’t buy a bite. The most frustrating part along the north dike was there were fish everywhere! I don’t know if they were carp, wiper or walleye, but they were there and wouldn’t touch a thing. I never saw any of the other boats land a fish either. Frustrated, I started hunting down fish with my fish finder and dropping a curly tailed jig right on their heads! Unfortunately, this only scared them away as they would quickly disappear once my jig reached them. Suddenly a wall of wind hit us with no warning and we were forced to get off the lake.
We bottom bounced, trolled, casted, and jigged a wide range of depths from 12 to 23 feet with the most effective depth for seeing fish being 20-23 feet. The fish were all over in the water column with some hugging the bottom and others as high up as 5 feet below the surface. It was frustrating to say the least and I am ready for some warm weather to get these fish active. It’s approaching June and the water temps are still holding in the mid 50’s! Unfortunately I think flooding is going to hit us hard this year. We still haven’t reached runoff this year and the mountains continue to gain snowpack reaching record levels in many places. It could be scary!
My dad wanted to go fishing this Saturday before he heads back to work after recovering from heart surgery, but unfortunately most his favorite trout waters are still under a thick layer of ice. He said he was willing to go anywhere so I gave him 4 options… Willard Bay, Pineview, Deer Creek, or Utah Lake. It surprised me when he said Utah Lake, but I happily obliged and that’s where we headed.
With warming temperatures and sun in the sky, bass fishing became too tempting to pass up, and replaced our planned trip to the middle Provo River for walleye. Instead we ran down to Utah Lake to assault the largemouth bass. We arrived at Provo Boat Harbor at 3:00 p.m., unhitched the boat at the marina and drove down the airport dike road to see if we could find any open patches of water that held bass. We found one good pocket with visible bass swimming around and Rick easily plucked a couple dinks out before we moved on down the dike. We didn’t see any more holes that were irresistible so it was back to the boat ramp to launch. My cousin Phil met us there, jumped in the boat, and we were off to our new bass honey hole. When we arrived we were greeted by 3 fly fishermen that were pounding our spot for carp from the bank and completely ruined our spirits. It’s a small area and once it’s been fished it quits producing. Discouraged, but hopeful, we fished the areas around our spot where we have still had fair success for bass, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t meant to be. The weather seemed perfect along with the water temps, but the bass just didn’t seem to be there. Rick and I missed a few hits and Phil caught one chunky 2 pounder that at least made the trip bearable, but it was disappointing to say the least. Just before dark we ran over to the inlet of the Provo River and tried our luck for some post-spawn walleye. The fishing was slow, but I did luck into one small walleye that got me off the snide and Rick had a walleye hit, but didn’t get it in the boat.
Rick and I went up to the Provo River just above the Charleston Bridge in Midway to see if the walleye spawn has began yet. I can confirm that it has started, but may not be in full swing quite yet. The real issue is the amount of water running through the middle provo right now. This year has been one of the wettest winters on record and they are predicting major flooding when it finally decides to warm up. April has done nothing but rain and snow! I checked the flow data for the river on the date we fished it and I was shocked when I saw that according to the Bureau of Reclamation it was flowing at just over 600 cubic feet per second (cfs). I backdated the flow data log to last year on the same date and saw that it was 200 cfs. That means the river is 3 times the flow rate that it should be based on an average year!
The river was flowing so fast that it made throwing any type of lure or jig almost impossible. I found one small spot that seemed fishable and began throwing a rainbow pattern rapala. I Caught 4 small rainbow trout, but no walleye and was ready to give up. Rick talked me into driving down to the Charleston Bridge to see if the flow was any better there, and it was. We had about 45 minutes left of daylight so we started casting curly tailed jigs into the main channel and bouncing them back down along the rocks towards us. We lost a lot of jigs to a submerged tree that wasn’t far off shore from us, but I was lucky enough to land one small walleye on a fire tiger colored curly tail with a ¼ oz jig head. The small male walleye was spraying milt, confirming that spawning is in process. No more walleye were landed and the fast flowing river was frustrating to say the least. We will hit it again next week to see if we can beat our one walleye outing.
Thursday: We launched at Bullfrog and headed 25 miles north to Good Hope Bay where we set up camp on the south side of Blue Notch.
After unloading our gear, we got on the water and started pounding the banks near our camp working spinner baits, curly tail jigs, and drop shot plastics. We hammered the smallmouth, but mostly small ones under 2 pounds.
We also caught a few largemouth bass, a few nice crappies including one 15-inch beast, one striper, one bluegill, and one nice walleye.
It seemed like you could hit all the species with a curly tail on a jig, while spinnerbaits were bass-only. The water near Blue Notch was slightly stained, but more on the clear side compared to some of the other bays. Afternoon water temps were around 58 degrees and the action was non-stop from about 2:00p.m.-dark. We ended up taking a mixed bag of all species back to camp where John filleted and cooked them for us to enjoy around the campfire. We worked the shorelines after dinner on foot near camp before we went to bed trying to find the walleye, but it never happened.
After trolling, we went into Ticaboo Canyon, but the water was crystal clear and we didn’t give it much hope. We did catch a few small bass, but the real excitement came when Rick pulled out his fishing bow and arrow! There were carp everywhere and it didn’t take long for Rick to slay his first victim.
After the seaside burial, Rick lost one of his arrows and we were down to one left. I only got a few shots in before it was gone! No more carp funerals were performed. After that we cruised over to one of the small canyons in the northeast part of Good Hope Bay and things started picking up, at least for Rick and John. They started nailing smallmouth, largemouth, and crappie from about 3:00p.m.-dark.
I caught a few, but missed and lost more fish during this stretch than the rest of the trip combined. Water was right around 60 degrees and slightly stained. Most exciting part is when we saw big bertha swimming around some sunken brush. I'm talking a 7 or 8 pound largemouth! She was huge and uninterested in anything we put in front of her. It was awesome just to observe her for a while.
We ventured back into Ticaboo Canyon across the channel from Good Hope and temps were up as high as 63.5 degrees. That got us excited and we absolutely dominated the bass. Mostly smallies, and most under 2 pounds. Got a few of them over 3 pounds, but generally smaller.
Highlight of the trip: In the far back nook of Ticaboo Canyon we got on a school of monster crappie hanging out around some large dead tree stumps that were sticking out of the water in about 7-10 feet. Literally every cast we got hit, with most of which were over 11 inches and some breaking 15 inches! Caught and released about 40 of them pigs. It was incredible!
Suddenly that action shut off so we headed back out working the banks and continued to slay the bass. We saw a few people trolling that canyon and were hooking stripers, crappies, and walleye left and right. None of us were in the mood to troll, plus there isn't a ton of room for multiple boats to troll, so we opted out of that. The best producing bait of the night was the jig and trailer. I have always had my doubts about them, but figured there was a reason all the diehard tournament bass fisherman used them, and that evening it proved them right. It helped me land the biggest bass of the trip at over 3 pounds.
Just before dark we talked to a group of guys camping in Ticaboo Canyon and payed them on the water pricing for some extra gasoline. We were a little worried that we might not have enough to make the 25 mile jaunt back to Bullfrog the next morning. I think it came out at $6.00 a gallon, but was well worth it! We worked the shorelines one last time before bed, but once again the walleyes were nowhere to be found.
The trip was incredible and I wish that one of us could have hooked big bertha swimming around, but oh well. It ended up being a numbers trip with a ton of fish being caught and mixed bag of all different species. Best Crappie trip I’ve ever had down there and the most walleye as well. Next year it’s big Bertha that I’m after! Just for fun here is a list of all the species caught; Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Striped Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Walleye, and a carp.
Needless to say the fishing was awesome and even though we didn't land a lot of bass, we managed to put 10 in the boat on a day with 45 degree air temps and on and off snow throughout the day! The best part is that almost all of them were pigs, with a couple pushing four pounds, like this one Rick caught.
I didn't come very prepared for bass fishing due to the fact I planned on spending the day walleye fishing, and my 6 foot medium light rod with 8 lb test reel wasn't ideal for dragging bass out of the thick cover. I lost two big bass with one that I felt would have been the big fish of the day. There was just no way to keep him from going into the stick-ups with my light rod and reel, and when I tried to force him out anyway, it resulted in my line snapping! Frustrating, but fun all the same! After a few hours we all felt we had beat the area to death and decided to go back to the Provo River Inlet to see if we could top off the already successful trip by landing a walleye. When we arrived at the river inlet two fishermen showed us two very nice walleye they landed earlier in the day and soon after we talked to them we watched them land another. We also saw two shore fishermen catch a couple nice fish. This boosted our confidence and Rick and I felt that with a little work we were finally going to land a few walleye! Unfortunately, the curse continued and we casted for 3 straight hours without even getting a bite! I'm still scratching my head and can't figure out why! Jason has had many good days on Utah Lake catching walleye, and after two fishless trips with Rick and me, he finally admitted that we must be cursed! It was still an awesome trip and I will definetely be fishing that bass spot again, but I think the pro walleye tour at Utah Lake is over. Supposedly the walleye will begin spawning at Deer Creek soon and I will probably shift gears and try my luck up there. Someday the stars will align and I will catch a decent walleye in this state!!!
My six year drought for Utah Lake walleye ended today, but was still one of the most frustrating fishing trips of my life! First of all, my boat has been in the shop since January 2nd and I just found out it won’t be fixed until early April due to some parts that the shop is waiting on to be shipped. That will make 4 months being in the shop! So my walleye chasing this spring just became a little more limited! Luckily Rick was as eager as me to get back on Utah Lake after our skunking a week ago and willing to provide his boat in order to do it. We took off from work around noon and hit the road for Lincoln Beach. As we pulled into the harbor I was in shock at how many trucks and empty trailers were sitting in the parking lot. As we launched our boat and drove around the corner to the “L” which is the popular place to fish, I counted 13 boats all huddled in the same general location. Rick asked me where we should go or what we should do and I just smiled and said “join the masses”.
It was a couple Vietnamese gentlemen that were landing walleye left and right. At first it excited us because we knew there were walleye out there to be caught, but the hours passed with no bites, and these two Vietnamese guys just kept reeling them in. The only reason I’m calling attention to their nationality, is because for whatever reason, their culture just flat knows how to catch walleye! I see it every year and it continues to amaze me, and we were forced to watch them land 15 walleye right in front of our face! Then, to put us completely over the edge, another Vietnamese guy to the west of them, landed a monster female that was probably pushing 7 pounds! I have never been so frustrated while fishing! We were using the same jigs and technique that they were, but for whatever reason, they continued to catch them and we didn’t! We finally gave up on the area and tried a little shallower and that’s when Rick finally yelled fish on! It was soon followed with disappointment as we realized it was just a white bass!
As the sun began to go down, the two Vietnamese guys moved in a little shallower and we instantly boated over and took their old spot. It wasn’t long before I caught my first walleye of the year at Utah Lake ending a 6 year drought! The little male walleye was spewing milt all over me assuring us that the spawn was beginning!
I began thinking that the two Vietnamese guys just lucked out and had the right spot, but unfortunately that was the only walleye we landed. We continued to cast for another hour or so and caught a few more white bass, but that was it.
Just as it was getting dark we ran over to another popular walleye spot at the inlet of the Spanish Fork River. There must have been 15 guys wading the entrance of the river and they didn’t seem too fond of us pulling up in our boat to join them on their annual walleye spawning rituals. They started casting right at our boat and told us that we were in their "casting zone". Funny because before we got there we could see them all casting in a different direction! Needless to say we didn’t stay long, but we did hear a lot of splashing fish in the darkness and I assume there was quite a bit of catching going on near the mouth of the river. The walleye spawn has officially begun, but without a boat I am at the mercy of going in my float tube or hoping someone with a boat is willing to take me! The best part about the trip was the beautiful day with no wind and the amazing sunset! Hopefully I can get back out there and catch some more walleye this year during the spawn at Utah Lake.
Rick Everson and I joined the Rocky Mountain Anglers Association for one reason only... because they are the supposed experts at walleye fishing. Today we put them to the test by going with the president of the club Jason Willard to his backyard playground, Utah Lake. We knew it was a little early in the year for great success, but figured we might have a decent chance with Jason as our guide. Unfortunately that wasn't the case! Jason did get two hits and I pulled in the only fish of the trip with a 6-inch tiny mud cat, but that was it! We drifted jigs, casted jigs, trolled crankbaits, and even baitfished all with no success. My frustration for walleye continues into 2011, but Jason assured us that if we put in the time the bites will come. I sure hope so because I can only take so many walleye skunked trips in a row! Below is a picture of Jason at the helm with a couple guys closing in on our spot.
Walleye fishing can get crowded with only a few spots on the lake that give up any real success. Rick and I have made it a personal goal to hit the walleye hard this spring and not give up until we catch one, so stay tuned!