Cold Weather Put Bass on the Feed

Fishing Time: 8:30 am to 2:00 pm

Weather: Partly Cloudy, windy, cold – 39 degrees on arrival and mid 50s when we left

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Location: Newton Reservoir

Water Temp: 55 degrees

Best Baits: Spinnerbaits imitating crappies, and white lipless crankbaits

Who Went: Casey Davies, Dunc

My buddy Casey wanted to fish Newton Reservoir so we decided to plan a trip.  I thought it might be a bit early in the year and when the weather took a nose dive with the high for the day dropping 20 degrees on a post front of a storm, I started thinking of other lakes we could try.  I couldn’t think of anywhere better so we braved the cold temps and kept the plan for Newton.  It was 39 degrees when we arrived and the wind was whipping.  I didn’t have a lot of hope chasing warm water fish, but we bundled up, braved the wind, and launched the boat. Casey's dog Charlie came along for the ride and they way she sits is hilarious.  Looks like a human sitting on her butt.

The wind was bad and I couldn’t keep the boat steady on a shoreline, so we found what looked like a decent point and anchored the boat and started casting.  Casey was throwing a lipless crankbait and I threw a crappie colored spinnerbait.  It wasn't long before both of us were fighting bass.  I bet we caught 5 in the first 10 minutes.  

We started noticing that the bass were hitting right at the boat and after watching my active target it became obvious that we were sitting right on top of them. I moved the boat out a bit and started casting toward shore, but in a little deeper water.  It was game on and we probably put another 8 bass in the boat.  Most were small, but a couple decent bass snuck in the mix. It made me laugh how Charlie loved to lick the bass.  She didn't try to eat them, but just wanted a couple licks prior to us releasing them.

Late in the morning the wind died a bit and we decided to cruise the adjacent bay from the point throwing the same lures.  We caught a couple more bass in the bay and by then the wind died down to a slight breeze.  We moved to the shoreline I wanted to start the day fishing and spent the rest of our time cruising the entire shoreline and putting bass in the boat.  Most of them were average, but we did find a few that were around 3 pounds and made it fun.  Casey caught a good one that we thought would be the fish of the day.

Right before we finished the run of the entire west shoreline I hooked up and immediately knew it was a good one.  It didn’t move for a good 10 seconds.  It turned out to be the bass of the trip and we did weigh it at 4.23 pounds.  It was a good way to end a killer trip.  

We probably put more than 20 largemouth in the boat and as good as the bite was I thought we may luck into a musky. We were definitely throwing lures that work for musky up there, but we never did have any follows or see them. Today was a good example of not letting weather turn you off to fishing.  That front had them on the feed!

Spring Bass in Southern Utah

Fishing Time: 9:30 to 11:30 am

Weather: Sunny, clear, calm, warm pushing 80 when I left.

Moon Phase: 84% Moon

Location: Sand Hollow/Quail Creek

Best Baits: Sand Hollow – Texas rigged weightless senko (watermelon w/flake), Quail Creek - spinnerbait (crappie colors)

Who Went: Sand Hollow – Devin, Dayton, Dunc, Quail Creek – Cari, Devin, Addison, Dayton, Dunc

We took the kids to St. George for spring break and the main goal was golfing for the boys and catching some rays by the pool for the girls.  The boys and I played Sunbrook and Sand Hollow GC the first two days we were there, but you know I can’t go anywhere without bringing a rod and reel.  Especially, to St. George in the springtime.  The kids stayed up late one night and I told Cari if you all sleep in tomorrow then I’m going fishing at Sand Hollow.

The weather was already warm when I arrived to Sand Hollow at 9:00.  I hiked over to the rocky area north of the boat ramp and tied up a Texas rigged weightless senko.  Within seconds of combing the rocky shores I saw bass cruising the shoreline and quickly had two hits but missed them.  I finally got one to stick and then it was game on.  

I think I caught 10 bass in the 2 hours I fished and it was funny as 3 boats/kayaks started yelling what are you doing over there!  I shared what was working, but I never did see them land a fish. 

All the bass were carbon copy 1.5 pounders.  It was a great morning, and I was bummed that the boys were not with me.  I got home and told them we could try again the next day. 

That night the weather was beautiful and just before dark I told the family we should run to Quail Creek and enjoy the evening letting the boys cast for bass.  We found a parking spot north of the main boat ramp and walked down to the shoreline.  Dayton and Devin were both throwing spinnerbaits and I put on a chatterbait.  Devin landed the only fish of the night with a chunky Quail Creek largemouth.  

It was a gorgeous evening to be outside and the fish was a bonus to the evening followed by some Texas Roadhouse.

The next morning, we went back to Sand Hollow, and the weather was the same as the day before, but the bite had turned off.  I landed one small bass and that was it.  Felt bad as I wanted the boys to get into them like I did the day before. 

It was a great spring break filled with fishing, golf, and warm spring weather.  I didn’t want to come home.  If only life was one big vacation (sigh).

Small River with Big Surprises

Fishing Time: 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Weather: sunny, slight breeze, warm T-60s

Moon Phase: 87% Moon

Location: Southern Utah

Best Baits: Hare’s ear nymph

Who Went: Roger Parks, Dunc

My buddy Roger headed south last weekend and came back with good reports, so I talked him into making another trip with me this weekend.  The weather report said it would be 61 degrees, so I was excited to get out after a long winter and warm up a bit.  The weather didn’t disappoint and neither did the fishing.

Roger tied up some hare’s ear nymphs that he did well on the week before, so I rigged one up and put another as a dropper and we started walking down river.  The river was shallow with low flows, so we hit mainly the deeper holes.  The first deep hole produced some small rainbows and a decent brown for Roger. 

The second hole looked very fishy and was probably the deepest hole we saw all day.  I quickly landed a couple rainbows and Roger found some fish as well, before I set the hook on something I knew was different.  It didn’t move at all with my hook set and immediately went down and stayed down.  It took me a few minutes to even get it to surface and when it did… I knew it was a nice fish.  The fight continued until Roger was finally able to put a net on it.  No measurements or weights on the nice rainbow trout, but it was a beautiful fat football.  One of the nicest fish I’ve caught on a fly rod.

We continued fishing every deep hole we could find and pulled at least a fish or two from each one.  Even doubled up a couple times. 

By afternoon it felt hot as the breeze died down and the temperatures climbed over 60 degrees.  Such a good day to be outside and wandering a river.  The good fishing just put it over the top.  We are already planning our next trip! 

Warm Water Fish and Weather in February

Fishing Time: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Weather:  Sunny, calm, and very warm, T-60s

Moon Phase: 22% Waning Moon

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

Best Baits: Blue Fox Spinner (firetiger), ice fly under a slip bobber

Who Went: Chad Fuller, Dunc

The weather forecast showed near record breaking weather, so ice fishing just didn’t feel right.  I decided to make a drive south near Delta to fish the Sevier River and I dragged my buddy Chad along for the day.

I had some pre-marked spots on google earth along the river that I wanted to try.  The first spot looked good, but we came up empty handed.  The second spot looked better, but no bites.  The third spot was called Fool Creek Reservoir, and it definitely fooled us.  We had to park and hike a short distance in only to find a dry lakebed.  The reservoir is gone. 

The fourth area was on Gunnison Bend Reservoir, and we finally got on the board with a little white bass.  

After that we were back on the river and found our best producing spot where we landed a few small pike. 

After hitting all my river spots, we tried fishing DMAD reservoir in search of white crappie but had no luck.  The weather made the day a success even though the fishing wasn’t great.  Still caught my first pike from the Sevier River, so that was cool.  Miss the days when Yuba produced some monsters.  We also saw thousands of snow geese on Gunnison Bend...

Chasing Walleye through the Ice

Fishing Time: 1 pm – 7 pm

Weather: sunny, clear, windy (constant 20-25 mph with gust up to 30)

Moon Phase: 85% Moon

Location: Starvation Reservoir

Best Baits: buckshot jigs

Who Went: Casey Davies, Dunc

It’s February and the walleye bug is starting to hit me.  Not sure why as I still can’t consistently catch them, but a little research says that people have been catching them through the ice at Starvation, which got me a little excited.  I have never caught a walleye through the ice.

Casey was dumb enough to fall into my walleye delusion and committed to going with me.  The idea was to arrive to Starvation early afternoon and hike to our spot then prep for the last hour of daylight during walleye prime time.

We did find a few rainbow trout that wanted to play in the afternoon that kept us happy, but the wind was a consistent 20-25 mph and that wasn’t fun. 

My research said the walleye will show up just before dark cruising the bottom, and the crazy part is, that is exactly what happened.  We didn’t see a fish on the bottom all afternoon, but about 30-min before dark the bottom came alive.  

Now for the annoying part… we couldn’t buy a bite!  The wind didn’t help because it was tough to detect bites, but either way we could not hook one.  This frustrates me so much because everything went as planned and I just want to know if they really were walleye!  Unfortunately, I will never know…

Big Rainbows and Wild Times at Private Ranch

Fishing Time: 10:00 am to 4:30 pm

Weather: Beautiful, sunny, calm wind, T-40s

Moon Phase: 85% Moon

Location: LC Fly Fishing Lodge

Best Bait: 2-inch yellow tube jig tipped with worm

Who Went: Rick Everson and 10 of his buddies, Dunc

Rick has a connection with the owner of the LC Lodge and invited me on a fishing trip up there for his birthday with all his buddies.  We arrived late Friday night and fished on Saturday.  There is a total of 20 different ponds, and they all hold a variety of trout.  The ice was anywhere from 6-12 inches thick depending on the pond.  Rick had a good birthday outfit for his ice adventure and the party started quickly.

Saturday morning, we fished 3-4 different ponds with only one fish to show for it before moving to the honey hole pond where we were able to land close to 15 nice rainbow trout.  They were all around 20-inches long and fat and healthy.  Ricks buddy Pulver had the hot hand and caught 8-9 himself using a yellow tube jig tipped with a worm.  We tried a few other ponds once the honey hole died down, but never did catch another fish. 

It was a wild trip with some wild dudes and the fishing came second to the partying, but still a fun experience and such a cool place.  The earthwork to create all the ponds was incredible.  I imagine it’s even prettier in the summer.  It had 3-4 different cabins on the 1,100-acre property all stocked with side by sides for your personal use.  Our cabin had 4 bedrooms and was beautifully done in dark woods and western décor.  Rick’s brother came who is a professional chef and cooked for us every meal.  We were not roughing it by any stretch.