Fall Colors and Good Fishing at Strawberry Reservoir

Fishing Time:  8:30 am to 6:30 pm
Weather:  Breezy, scattered rain showers, 60's
Moon Phase:  Full Moon
Location:  Strawberry Reservoir
Bait:  White tube jig tipped with worm or minnow
Water Temp:  60 degrees
Who Went:  John, JJ, Me

There’s nowhere like Strawberry Reservoir this time of year. The fall leaves are in full color and the fishing can be red hot as the lake turns over and the fish start moving to the surface to feed. This is what we experienced today as the Berry treated us very well.

Arrived at the visitor’s center around 7:30 am and stopped to observe the spawning kokanee salmon. They were there like clockwork and showing off their bright red spawning colors. Took a few photos before launching the boat at 8:30 am.

Started the day at the mouth of Mud Creek Bay where my buddy John had success the weekend before. John got off to a quick start landing 5 and JJ and I landed a couple.

Continued to move around looking for that special spot that would produce on every cast, but didn't find it all morning. We moved into the narrows and the hillsides were glowing yellow as the quakies have just turned.

 Steadily caught fish throughout the day with John out fishing JJ and me 2 to 1. He had the hot hand for sure. I had a bright red spawning kokanee follow my white tube jig all the way to the boat about 5 times, but never could get him to take. I wanted a picture of him bad, but it wasn't to be.  I caught a nice rainbow shortly after.

Late afternoon we moved to East Portal Bay near the marina and finally got on a good drift. I started landing them quick and closed the gap on John quickly to just a 2 fish lead, but he responded well and put it out of reach near the end of the day. Final fish totals were: John – 31, Me – 25, JJ – 21. None were over the 22-inch slot limit, but we did catch a few healthy 18 to 19-inch rainbows that put up a good fight!

The weather was good besides one quick hitting rain shower in the early afternoon. John toughed it out while JJ and I ducked for cover. It ended up being the difference in the ballgame as John caught 3-4 fish during that stretch. It was a great autumn day at the Berry and reminded me of why I love to fish up there. Hopefully I can squeeze in one more Strawberry outing before the ice begins to form.

Good to Feel that Fight Again

Fishing Time: 7;30 am to 7:00 pm
Weather: 90s, no wind, clear skies
Moon Phase: 99% Moon
Location: Yuba/Utah Lake
Water Temp:  Yuba - 72 degrees
Bait: Yuba - swimbaits, rapalas, spinners, spinnerbaits, tube jigs. Utah Lake - worms
Who Went: Rick, Me

I’m sick of being bombarded by all the weekend warriors hitting the lakes every weekend this summer, so Rick and I decided to take some time off work and set out for a day of fishing on a Thursday.  The location was Yuba Reservoir and the weekday fishing provided for a far more relaxing day without the crowds.  We also had good weather with no wind, which definitely helped our situation.

We arrived at Yuba around 7:30 am to calm conditions and perfect weather.  We started fishing along the southwest shoreline of the lake where I soon landed the first northern pike of the day.  

It wasn’t big, but it felt good to have something fighting on the other end of my line.  We continued fishing down the southwest shoreline and found a promising cove with good depth and lots of brush.  As we entered the cove, Rick saw a pike swirl near some brush, and shortly after I was hooked up again with another medium sized pike.  

Shortly after landing my second pike, Rick hooked up and landed one of his own.  We worked the rest of the bay and caught a couple more small pike, but still couldn’t stick a big one. 

We headed down lake and tried a few of my favorite pike haunts, but the water turned to chocolate milk south of the narrows and our confidence waivered.  We casted for an hour or so with no bites before heading back up lake to clearer water.

We went right back to the same shoreline where we began our morning and landed a couple more small/medium size pike.  

Rick had a nice follower that bumped his lure right next to the boat, but didn’t hook up.  We finished our day back in the cove where most our action was coming from and put one more pike in the boat.

By now the weather was hot and the fishing began to slow, so we packed up, left Yuba, and headed to Utah Lake.  The catfish at Utah Lake were not in as good a mood as the pike at Yuba.  We motored out to Bird Island and anchored in 5 feet of water near the island.  Set up our rods, tossed them out, and sat back and relaxed.  Ricks bobber went down and he landed the first and only channel catfish of the night.  

We both landed a bullhead catfish, but that was it for the catfish at Utah Lake.  It felt good to finally have a successful day on the water.  Even small pike will make your rod bend and are fun to tangle with.      

All Day Musky Hunting Adventure

Fishing Time:  Newton:  7:30 am – 12:30 pm, Pineview:  2:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Weather:  Partly cloudy, no wind, T-90s

Moon Phase:  14%  Moon

Location:  Newton and Pineview

Bait:  Spinnerbaits, swimbaits, musky killers, topwater poppers, small plastics

Who Went:  Rick, John, Me

Plan today was to fish Newton Reservoir in the morning and hit Willard Bay or Pineview to finish the evening.  Arrived at Newton around 7:30 am and instantly began catching small largemouth bass, sunfish, and perch, using spinnerbaits and small plastics.  Had our first tiger musky follower an hour later, but as usual it didn’t commit.  We tried trolling for an hour with no success, then went back to casting.  I had a couple more follows and then John finally hooked up with a nice 37-inch musky that made his whole day.  This was his first ever musky…

We continued casting for another hour with no success and decided that we hadn’t had our fill of musky fishing, so we loaded up the boat and headed to Pineview.  Arrived to Pineview only to be bombarded with what seemed like the whole town of Ogden on the lake.  The boat traffic was miserable and the wake made for some tough fishing.  We muscled through it and fished the mudlines approximately 20 yards off shore, created by the constant pounding of wake against the banks.  Only a few minutes after starting to fish we spotted the biggest tiger musky I have ever seen, hovering about 5 feet below the surface just off the mudline.  This thing had to be pushing 5 feet in length!  I tried throwing my spinnerbait in front of it, but it never even gave it a look as he slowly swam back down into the deep.  We saw him surface again near some swimmers and we started casting right towards them.  They told us we were casting to close to them and we told them what was swimming next to them... They couldn’t believe it.

 

We tried trolling around cemetery point while the boat traffic was still bad, but never hooked up.  We decided to jump in and swim for a bit because it was hot and the bad fishing and horrible boat traffic had our spirits down.  Towards evening the boat traffic subsided and we began casting again, but we never did hook up or even have a follow.  Rick hooked this bullhead catfish, which is the first catfish I’ve seen come out of Pineview.  

John’s 37-inch tiger was the only musky caught on this trip, and for the second trip in a row I went home with a feeling of failure.  We had a great time though, and it was good to get out on the water and finally enjoy a day when the wind didn’t blow us off the lake. 

Nature Always Wins at Flaming Gorge

Fishing Time:  Friday – Sunday

Weather:  windy, rainy, 70’s

Moon Phase: 18% Moon

Location:  Flaming Gorge

Water Temp:  70 degrees on Friday, 68 degrees on Saturday and Sunday

Bait:  7-inch tube jigs

Who Went: John, Alonso, Dustin Pelligrino, Sean Nelson

I headed to Flaming Gorge this past weekend for a three day mack fishing adventure with my buddy John and his brother in-law Alonso.  Another buddy of mine, Dustin Pellegrino, and his friend Sean Nelson met us up there to try and learn the ways of trophy mack fishing.  We arrived late Thursday night after car trouble when Alonso’s Dodge pickup overheated near the summit in Parley’s Canyon.  We carefully drove it back down the canyon and picked up my Pathfinder to start round two of the 4 hour journey to Flaming Gorge.  We arrived at 2:00 am.  Here is the day by day recap of the trip…

Friday:  Were on the water by 5:30 and began jigging the flats in Linwood Bay.  We had only been jigging for about 15 minutes when John hooked up with the first mack of the trip, but unfortunately it came unbuttoned a few seconds later.  Shortly after we moved locations over to the Swim Beach area where we snuggled up to the greatest fishing guide Flaming Gorge has to offer… Captain Jim Williams.  Seeing Jim in the area gave us confidence we were in the right place.  In a span of about 15 minutes we watched as his clients landed 4 macks and missed another.  All of this happened while my fish finder was showing no fish.  I got so frustrated that we had to leave the area so I could forget about how much better of a lake trout fisherman he is than me.  We continued to fish other locations in the Swim Beach area and John missed a couple more hits.  We decided to run north to our ice fishing spots and see what was doing up there.  John and I both missed another hit and John hooked into this hat…  

Shortly after my buddy Dustin and his friend Sean arrived and met us on the lake.  The wind came up as soon as they met us, so we went back to camp and rested in preparation for the evening bite.  The wind never really died down enough to lake trout fish (must have calm conditions) so we finished out Friday evening by catching small rainbows and smallmouth bass drifting the shores of Linwood Bay.  All fish were caught off white/silver and black crankbaits.

 

Saturday:  On the water with breezy conditions at 5:15.  Worked through the breezy conditions the best we could in the Swim Beach area, but only an hour or two into morning the weather took a turn for the worse and we headed into shore to wait it out.  Unfortunately we never made it on the water again, except to trailer our boats due to high wind conditions that were causing my boat and Sean’s boat to become beached later that night.

 

Sunday:  On the water around 6:30 am and again dealt with breezy conditions.  Fished Linwood Bay for as long as I could stand keeping the boat positioned over fish due to the windy conditions.  We moved locations to Swim Beach trying to find shelter from the wind and found it for another couple of hours.  I was able to land one 8 pound mack before the wind and rain came in with a vengeance!  

We trailered the boat in the rain and loaded our campsite in the rain as well.  By 1:00 we were on the road with wet clothes and gear.

Conclusion:  Once again Flaming Gorge shows that nature controls everything.  I’ve had many trips up there ruined due to the wind, but I think this trip took the cake.  We had a few hours with calm conditions, but most were during off times for lake trout.  It’s always tough fishing up there and when you have to battle the weather on top of slow fishing conditions, it can become extremely tough.  It wasn’t the trip I was hoping for, but such is life at Flaming Gorge!

Blistering Heat and Good Catfishing in Arizona

Fishing Time:  Mon.- Thurs. 7:00 pm - 10:30 pm

Weather:  HOT, 100 degrees

Moon Phase:  New Moon

Location:  All American Canal, California

Bait:  Live Bluegill

Who Went:  Jonathan, Me

I was sent to Yuma, Arizona for work again, but the beautiful 70 degree air temps I enjoyed in February have long passed and I endured blistering heat in the range of 112-115 degrees.  Worst part is the temperature never seemed to break and lingered in the mid 90s until almost midnight.  I didn’t let the weather keep me down though as its primetime for big Flathead Catfish.  I fished every night I was there and landed quite a few flatheads, but no monsters like I had hoped.  I never fished very long into the night because the alarm went off at 4:00 am every morning to beat the heat for work.  Flatheads are the most frustrating fish I’ve fished for to date.  I must have had 30 bites all week and landed only 6 or 7.  They will sit and hold the bluegill in their mouth, but never completely commit for a hook set.  They will run with it, suck on it, rip at it, but every time you try and set the hook you come up empty handed.  Very frustrating!  I was using very heavy tackle with big ocean rods equipped with Penn reels.  I used 120 pound braided line with an 8 oz weight and a monster circle hook.

Here is the recap…

Monday:  I met Jonathan at the usual spot on the All American Canal at 7:00 pm.  Quickly caught a few bluegill for bait and was flathead fishing by 8:00 pm.  The wind was whipping, but the flatheads were biting!  I took some video showing how the flatheads will sit and bite it, but never totally commit.  

Tell me thats not frustrating!  I caught one small flathead that I didn’t even know I had on until I reeled in the ocean rod that Jonathan provided me.  Using heavy gear in preparation for the bigger fish, a 3 pounder feels almost non-existent, but either way it was my first ever flathead.  We must have had 8 good bites the first night, but only landed one.

Tuesday:  Jonathan was busy so he borrowed me his gear and I was on the canal by 6:30 pm.  There was a high wind advisory and it proved to be correct.  The canal was producing 3-4 foot swells and looked like Utah Lake on a windy day.  The wind had the bluegill going nuts and I landed 8 of them in 9 casts.  I kept 4 small ones for bait, but the flatheads weren’t as active in the wind as the bluegill.  I had a few bites, but only landed one small flathead.

Wednesday:  Jonathan met me at our spot at 7:00 pm.  The wind was gone, the water was calm, and the bluegills were picky.  It took about an hour to land 3 bluegills, but again by 8:00 pm we were flathead fishing.  We had a few bites, but it seemed slow, so Jonathan took me to one of his other spots.  We probably should have stayed because we didn’t get a bite the rest of the night.

Thursday:  It was my last night there and Jonathan’s birthday.  He went out with his girlfriend, but told me I could drop off his gear after I was done fishing.  I hit the water a bit earlier to try and get as much fishing in as possible, but the bluegill were more moody than ever before.  It was very frustrating as the sun began to go down behind the hills and I could see 30 bluegill along the shoreline, but they wouldn’t bite a thing.  I kept thinking, it’s my last hoorah and I’m not even going to be able to fish!  Literally just before dark I tried a different spot and was able to land 3 in a matter of seconds.  Bluegills don’t bite after dark, so catching 3 that close to dark felt god sent.  

I hooked them up and had them out within minutes.  I immediately started getting bites.  Many times I had both poles bouncing at once and was able to land a couple.  At one point I was getting hit on one rod and the other rod began bouncing hard.  The line was screaming off the reel and I knew it must be a big fish.  I stayed patient and let him run, but for whatever reason, he became bored and left it alone.  I finally had the hit I’ve been waiting for all week, only to be disappointed.  I grabbed the other rod that was still bouncing and brought in a small flathead about 4 pounds, but it just didn’t satisfy me after knowing what was on the other rod.         

I ended up catching my biggest flathead just before I called it quits for the week.  He was probably in the 7-8 pound range and at least put up a little fight.  I was disappointed I didn’t land the big one again, but catching a few this trip was a lot of fun.  Maybe I will get another chance in the future!

Unbelievable Story

Fishing Time: 7 am to 9 am

Weather:  Sunny, T-70s

Moon Phase:  50% Moon

Location:  Utah Lake (Lindon Boat Harbor)

Bait:  Jig/trailer (black/blue)

Who Went: Me 

Today started with me being unable to sleep and going into work early.  Once I was there I realized I had to wait on a document before I could accomplish anything for the day, so my mind started working...  Nice day, NO WIND, and I've got a few hours to burn.  Went home grabbed my rod and headed to Lindon Boat Harbor.  Now let the story begin...

Arrived at LBH and payed the $2 walk in fee.  Rigged up a black with blue sparkle jig/trailer and began walking the southwest dike.  Tough from shore to know where to cast (I'm used to casting from a boat) but I worked most shoreline without a bite.  I was standing on the sharp drop-off/rock where Rick hooked the monster a few days ago and I ruined his life by letting it slip through my fingertips because we had no net.  I casted out about 15 feet straight in front of me, planning to work my jig straight back to the shoreline to the monsters lair.  Midway through my retrieve I noticed a monster tail glide right along the shoreline near the drop off/rock.  It looked like a big ole channel cat. 10 seconds later I saw the same tail again.  Almost sure it was a channel cat I decided to bring my jig into him anyway just to see if he would bite.  As soon as my jig fell next to the shore where I saw the tail, my line started racing away from me!  Problem was I only had about 5 feet of line out and I had to prematurely set the hook before he pulled the rod out of my hands.  I came up empty handed and kicking myself.  Casted right back to his lair and gave myself a little more slack.  He took it again and this time I was ready.  I laid into him and set the hook.  I was able to get him close to shore when he surfaced.  This is the part you won't believe...

It wasn’t a big ole channel cat, it was the monster largmouth that Rick caught the other day!  Panic set in as the shoreline there is almost straight down.  I was in work clothes so I carefully slid down and dragged him up on the rock, but just as I was trying to lip him, that magician spit the hook again and flopped right back into the water.  Instincts took over and my mind was telling me... hell no, not again!  I slid down the rock right into the lake, my pole went flying straight into the lake, and by the grace of god I somehow managed to literally catch this largemouth in open water with one bare hand.  You could give me 10 tries to do it again and I doubt I would catch him once.  Got him on shore and sure enough it was the largemouth that Rick landed (GUARANTEED)!  Same broad shoulders, same coloring, and caught from the exact same spot.  I couldn't believe it.  The photo's absolutely stink because I had nothing to guage his size with and pictures of holding out largemouth just look dumb, I know this from all my days fishing solo at the I-80 ponds, including my monster I caught out there.  They just all look the same in pics, 5 pounders look the same as 2 pounders.  I also didn't have a scale, but my best guess is exactly what I thought, between 4 and 5 pounds.  Definitely no less than 4.  It was the only fish I landed all morning, but man what a story!  

Musky Hunter's

Fishing Time: 6:00 am to 6:00 pm

Weather: Partly cloudy, windy, T-60

Moon Phase:  57% Moon

Location:  Pineview

Bait:  Swimbaits, spinnerbaits, spinners, musky killers

Who Went:  Rick, John, Me

The fishing trio was at it again this weekend, hunting for the sought after Tiger Muskie that lurks in Pineview Reservoir.  We arrived just as the sun was coming up and the air was a brisk thirty degrees.  We launched the boat and immediately began casting towards the bushy shorelines.  It didn't take long before we had a few followers and our confidence began to grow.  Then like a light switch, the wind turned on and didn't let up the rest of the day.  The follows shut off and we searched for any sheltered shoreline we could find.

 

We found a hideout in a bay that gave us a little relief from the wind, but couldn’t find a musky in there.  Rick and John caught quite a few smallmouth, but nothing with any size.  We had that feeling that the wind was here to stay, so we started heading towards the marina to trailer the boat when we noticed a fairly protected shoreline that didn’t seem as windy.  We ended up spending the rest of the day working that same shoreline and had multiple followers on every pass.  It definitely seemed like the wind affected the follows as one pass would be windy and we wouldn’t have any followers and the next pass not as windy with multiple followers.  Even with the follows we still couldn’t convince one to bite.

 

It wasn’t until John tied on a spinnerbait with no steel leader that we finally enticed a hit, and what a hit it was.  Out of nowhere we noticed a musky near the boat.  Could have been a follower that just stuck around or something, either way John tossed his spinnerbait next to him and immediately he hammered it!  Unfortunately with no steel leader the bite was about all we had to be excited about.  The line snapped soon after and it’s now just a good fish story.

 

We continued casting until our arms and backs couldn’t take it anymore and left with no muskies on the board.  It was disappointing with as many followers as we had.  You would think out of that many (15-20) that one would make a mistake, but they definitely got the best of us today.  I literally casted non-stop all day long and that’s the reason no pictures were taken.      

Harbor Jumpers

Fishing Time:  4:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Weather:  Clear, no wind, T-70's
Moon Phase:  85% Moon
Location:  Utah Lake
Bait:  Jig/trailer, spinnerbait
Water Temp:  70.5 degrees
Who Went:  Rick, Me

I Cut work short today and headed to Utah Lake with Rick for some bass fishing.  The idea was to start at American Fork Harbor and work south hitting all the harbors and honey holes along the way.  Some spots were successful and others not so much.  I also forgot the net, which ended up being a fatal mistake!  We launched at American Fork Harbor and worked the entire shoreline.  AF Harbor was a bust except for a brave bullhead catfish that decided to take a swipe at Ricks spinnerbait (never seen that before).

We moved on to the sewer outlet and found a school of white bass that were willing to play, and started pulling them out on every cast, but got bored quickly and decided to move on.  Our next stop was Lindon Boat Harbor and by far our most successful harbor.  It didn’t take long for Rick to land the first largemouth of the day with this chunky little guy.  

A few casts later he snapped his line on another hook set and we watched the bass for the next 5 minutes sloshing around in the shallow water trying to spit the hook.  I was finally able to set the hook on a fish and brought in another bullhead catfish on a jig/trailer (never seen that before either).  

We continued working the shoreline and Rick laid into a nice largemouth that looked to be in the 4-5 pound range.  As I tried to land the fish (no net) the hook slowly slipped out and she swam away!  Needless to say, I felt horrible about it, but Rick took it pretty well.  We finished out the shoreline of Lindon and Rick had quite a few bites, but the fish just didn’t seem to commit.  I finally had one bite, but it was just one thump and gone.

 

We decided to keep moving on and then come back to Lindon just before dark.  Next stop was back in the reeds to our secret honey hole.  Unfortunately the lakes water levels must be dropping because I could barely get my boat back in there without bottoming out.  The fishing was horrible and we wasted a good hour getting my boat in and out of there.  We finished the run by fishing Provo Boat Harbor and again Rick had a few hits, but just couldn’t put one in the boat.  I couldn’t buy a bite.  We headed back to Lindon since it was by far the best bite of the day.  Once we arrived and started fishing again, we realized very quickly that the bite had completely shut off.  We finished fishing the harbor anyway and hit the shoreline at AF Harbor as well, but no more bites came.

To most anglers this would seem like a rough day on the water, but we had so many bites that it just felt like a successful day.  Largemouths don’t come often or easy on Utah Lake, but are very rewarding, especially when you catch one of the big ones that can come out of there.  Kind of like the one Rick caught and I couldn’t get a handle on… my bad!