Mountain Air and big Tiger's at Electric Lake

Fishing Time: 7:00 am to 1:00 pm

Weather: Partly Cloudy, calm (no wind), T-70s

Moon Phase:  Full Moon

Location:  Electric Lake

Best Bait: White Tube jig on 1/8 oz jig head, Trolling with pop gear and a worm

Who Went: Casey Davies, Dunc

With summer quickly coming to an end I realized that I needed to get up into the mountain air.  I talked with Casey at work, and we decided we should go up to Electric Lake and give it a try.  I’ve fished there many years ago, but never put my boat on it.  It rained hard the night before, and the lake was socked in with fog when we arrived.  It made for a cool morning, but the lake was glass, and it was gorgeous.

The first thing we did was study the contours and try to find some lake trout, we tried a couple areas that looked fishy on the map, but never did find them.  After that we started working points and bays using tube jigs.  I was able to get my active target working and it was incredible.  We started seeing fish immediately and were able to cast right to them.  It didn’t take long until I was hooked up with what ended up being the fish of the trip, and a 20-inch tiger trout.

We continued throwing jigs at them and they would come investigate, but we only hooked up a couple more times.  Once the sun came up, we switched tactics and started trolling.  I brought the downriggers which made it nice to adjust our depth as needed.  I was using a silver crocodile and Casey was using a red Tasmanian Devil.  I hooked up quick with a decent cutthroat, but then it slowed down. 

We made our way down to the dam and Casey put on the trusty pop gear and a worm and man that was the ticket!  He immediately started catching fish.  He caught quite a few tiger trout and some cutthroat.  It took me a minute, but I finally made the switch and joined in on the catching.

It was a successful outing, and the scenery and weather was incredible.  We saw deer, elk, and the biggest osprey nest I have ever seen.  On the way home we stopped to check out the water below Scofield Reservoir because the rumor is it’s littered with monster Tiger Musky that don’t bite.  We found both rumors to be true!

(Osprey Nest on Electric Lake overflow)

(I could see eight 40+ inch Tiger Musky in this hole below the Scofield Dam)

Hidden White Bass Honey Hole in West Valley City

 

Fishing Time: 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

Weather: Sunny, calm winds, T-90s

Moon Phase: 50% Moon

Location: Ridgeland Canal (West Valley City)

Best Bait: Silver Mepp’s Spinner

Who Went: Dunc

I heard about a canal in West Valley City not far from my work that held largemouth bass so I wanted to go check it out.  Upon arrival I first noticed that the canal was very shallow at around one foot deep.  It also had a moss covered bottom so that didn’t leave a lot of water column to work with. 

I first tried casting a jig and trailer, but it was to mossy to be affective.  I tied on a curly tailed grub and that started getting bites, but for whatever reason they kept nipping at the tail and I wasn’t hooking up.

Finally, I tied on a mepp’s spinner and that was the ticket.  I immediately started hooking up, but it wasn’t largemouth I was catching, it was white bass.  For the next half hour I consistently got bit and had a lot of fun.  I never did catch a largemouth though and I’d like to go back and give it another shot.

Missed Bites and Big Storms in Central Utah

Fishing Time: 8:00 am to 2:00 pm

Weather:  Cloudy, some rain and wind, cooler temps at approximately 80 degrees

Moon Phase: 25% Moon

Location:  DMAD Reservoir, Sevier River, and Gunnison Bend Reservoir

Best Bait: Green and orange curly tail grub, chartreuse & white spinner bait

Who Went: Dunc

I did a little exploring to an area I’ve never fished before near Delta, UT.  I started at DMAD reservoir, then fished the Sevier River below DMAD, and then Gunnison Bend Reservoir.  I arrived at DMAD at 8:00 am.  It was refreshing not seeing another soul at the lake or on the river below.  I started fishing the river below DMAD using a curly tail grub on an 1/8 oz jig head and immediately started getting bites. Problem was I couldn't seem to hook up.  I even had a couple of fish bite right at shore as I watched them, but still couldn’t hook up. 

After an hour of bites with no hookups I gave up frustrated and walked up to the reservoir.  I changed to a spinnerbait to target bass and northern pike and on my second cast I had a northern swipe at my bait right next to shore.  Then it happened again.  I started doing the figure 8 near shore on my retrieves and had two more bites, but no hook ups!  By now my frustration was through the roof and I decided to move on to Gunnison Bend Reservoir. 

Not knowing the area or lake I drove to the main boat ramp, which happened to be near a canal coming out of the lake.  It looked fishy, so I tossed a curly tail grub near a pump house and again got a couple bites but didn’t hook up.  Thinking this was probably crappie that were biting, I went back to the drawing board and setup a slip bobber with a marabou jig. I didn’t have any worms to tip the jig so I tried to find a bug or grasshopper, but they are only around when your not looking for them.  Needless to say I never got another bite.  I tried one more area on the lake hoping for a bass to change the feeling of the trip, but it wasn’t meant to be.

On my way back towards home I stopped again on the river below DMAD Reservoir and continued throwing my curly tail grub.  Finally I was able to hook up with a little wiper.  I was excited to finally catch a fish and as I was releasing it I heard a big boom of thunder and lightning hit very close to me.  It then started raining hard.  Today was not my day too win.  It was still a successful fun trip fishing a lot of new water, but I think I missed enough bites today to last a lifetime.

Smallies in Abundance

Fishing Time: 7:00 am to 1:00 pm

Weather: Sunny, no wind until noon, T-80s

Moon Phase: 32% Moon

Location: Deer Creek Reservoir

Best Baits: Whopper plopper, curly tail grub, and kietech swimbait

Who Went: Devin, Dayton, Dunc

We have been searching for different locations to bass fish and this week we decided to give Deer Creek Reservoir a try.  We arrived early and the weather was perfect.  No wind and a reprieve from the valley heat. 

We made our way over to the east shoreline near the dam and began casting.  Dayt was throwing a small swimbait, Dev a creature bait, and I went with a whopper plopper.  Dev quickly started getting hits but couldn’t hook up.  I think the creature was a bit big for the size of fish that were biting.  Dayt put some fish in the boat with the swimbait, and I did as well on topwater.  Dayt wanted to throw the topwater, so I gave him my rod and Dev took over the swimbait.  It was never on fire, but we consistently caught smallies all along the east shoreline.

After our east side run, we moved to the west side and Dev switched to a curly tail grub and put on a clinic.  Caught them one after the other.  Dayt was catching them on the swimbait as well, but the grub was king.  I landed a few on the creature bait.

We decided to make one more run to Wallsburg bay and try our luck there, but it was tough in the bay.  We landed a few, but we had to work for them.  Soon the wind picked up, so we changed tactics and tried our luck at trolling.  By the time we trolled out of Wallsburg bay the white caps were rolling and the recreation boats were in force.  We decided to call it a day.

I was hoping we might catch a few different species today, but it was smallies only.  We caught a few decent ones, but most were small.  The topwater bite was a blast though and we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the cooler weather. 

Chasing Bass in Dead Water

Fishing Time: 6:30 -10:30 am

Weather: Strong breeze, partly cloudy, T-80s

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Water Temp: 77 degrees

Best Bait: Texas rigged weightless Senko

Who Went: Devin, Dunc

Devin has been itching to catch some largemouth bass and I have been itching to fish new water, so we started doing a little research.  Mantua Reservoir seemed like a decent option, but it also sounds like there was a major fish kill last fall after the city hired a company to kill the underwater foliage using a chemical that was supposedly safe for fish.  Reports said the dissolved oxygen dropped to a 2 or 3 and there were dead bass and trout floating everywhere.  Doesn’t sound like the safe for fish part was true.  However, I saw some reports of fish being caught this spring and figured some must have survived. 

I guess I should have listened to my gut and chose another spot because the fishing was slooooow.  I ended up catching one bass on a weightless Senko and that was it for the day.  The lake was also inundated with weeds, so not only did they kill all the fish, but it also didn’t do anything to clear up the lake either.  Sounds like a completely failed effort and now it will need a couple years to recover.

Delaware Bass Fishing and Baseball Tournament

Fishing Time: June 29-30, 2024 (Saturday-Sunday)

Weather: Hot, humid, mostly cloudy, Temps were 90s with up to 90% humidity

Moon Phase: 35% Moon

Location: Georgetown, Delaware - Random Ponds near Sports at the Beach baseball park 

Best Baits: The only bait that produced bass was a Texas rigged senko – green pumpkin with red flake

Who Went: Charlene Duncan, Jessica Duncan, Linda Marcario, Mike Kraus, Cari Duncan, Devin Duncan, Addison Duncan, Dayton Duncan, and Dunc

My youngest son Dayton had a baseball tournament back east in Delaware, so of course my first thought was what type of fish live there.  I did some Google/YouTube research and found they produce some pretty nice largemouth bass and have a bunch of saltwater stuff being on the coast.  I wasn’t interested in the saltwater fishing, but the largemouth bass got my attention.  I researched a few ponds near where we were staying that were currently producing and made some notes in my phone.  Then we packed some travel rods and bass baits and jumped on the plane.

On day one we made our way to the ballpark and what do you know, there were two ponds surrounding the ball fields that looked bassy.  One had a sign showing fishing regulations, so I knew something lived there.

Devin and I took the first chance we got and hit the first pond.  Within three casts I was reeling in a nice 3-pound largemouth bass. 

We fished the pond for another half hour and had a few bites, but never caught another fish.  I was itching to get to the other pond because to me it looked better, and no one was fishing it.  Dev and I made our way over there and this time it was his turn to land a nice bass that was probably over 3 pounds.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have a scale, but this was a new PB for Dev, so he was excited!

The next day we made our way back over to the pond between games and gave Dayton a chance to fish.  He ended up catching one small bass, but got on the board, nonetheless.  This was his only chance to wet a line.  He was a bit busy.

We tried a few different baits, but the one that kept producing bites was a Texas rigged green pumpkin with red flake Senko.  The bite was weird though as they would hit it and then go away.  Typically, they bite and run with it.  This made for a lot of missed fish.  I finally had one run with it and it ended up being the fish of the trip.  No scale, but it was over 4 pounds.

The heat and humidity and baseball games didn’t give us a ton of time to fish, but I was sure grateful that these ponds were so close because the beach was calling our names after each day of baseball, so we didn’t end up fishing anywhere else.  We proved there are some good bass in Delaware and can mark it off the map of states we have fished.

Back on the Kitties at Utah Lake

Fishing Time: 7:00 am to 12:00 pm

Weather: Cloudy, calm, hot, T-90s

Moon Phase: 11% Moon

Location: Utah Lake (AF Boat Harbor)

Water Temp: 70 degrees

Best Bait: Chunk of white bass 2-3 feet below a slip bobber

Who Went: Rick Everson, Dunc

The channel catfishing at Utah Lake has been good this year and the size of fish has been amazing.  I mentioned this to my buddy Rick, and he was game to go chase them.  We debated on which spot to try, but finally agreed to try some areas around American Fork Boat Harbor.  Our first spot which has been good to us in the past didn’t produce, but it did produce some good bait for the rest of the day.  We caught a white bass and cut it into bait sized chunks.  The white bass ended up producing much better than worms and the best part, if you hook it through the skin, it stays on your hook most the day.

We ended up doing the best right inside AF Harbor getting consistent bites and reeling in some nice cats.  The bite never fully turned on, but the quality of fish we were catching made up for it.  I think we are only a few days away from it going gangbusters.  We started to see them rolling near the rocky shorelines, so I think the spawn is upon us.

By noon the hot day took its toll on us, so we left happy both catching multiple channel catfish over 10 pounds.  Biggest of the day was over 11 pounds.

Chasing Kitties at Utah Lake

Fishing Time:  8:00 am to 12:00 pm

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

Moon Phase: 10% Moon

Location: Utah Lake (AF Boat Harbor)

Water Temp: 70 degrees

Best Bait: worm under a slip bobber

Who Went: Devin Duncan, Dayton Duncan, Dunc

I talked my Boys into a fishing trip, but of course we had commitments so close to home again at Utah Lake we went.  It was supposed to storm today and was cloudy and temps stayed low which actually felt really good.  The wind also stayed calm so that was nice.

We started inside AF Boat Harbor and bobbers started going under quick.  Unfortunately, it didn’t last long and then shutdown.  Luckily everyone got their turn to tangle with a good channel cat.  We moved over near Lindon Marina to see if we could find some white bass.  We found them, but they averaged 4-5 inches.

We started noticing there were a bunch of carp pods around us and the boys wanted to see if they could snag one, so the hunt began.  Dayton finally got one to stick and it was quite the fight.  You can see some of it by clicking on the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/all/gallery/2dFmfukDT4CeHEqumB5DJQ?sf=1&ref_=APH_SNPA7

Dev tried for a bit, but then it was time to go.  It was a fun short trip to Utah Lake.