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.

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.

Lake Powell 2024

Fishing Time: April 25-29 (Thursday – Monday)

Weather: Adventurous with rain, wind, cold, warm, and sun.  Thursday – Saturday we had constant storms rolling through. Some hit us and others slid by us bringing breezy conditions.  Sunday was the warmest sunny day.  Temps ranged from 50s to 70s.

Moon Phase: 85% Moon

Water Temp: 64 – 69 degrees

Water Level: 3,559 ft amsl

Mudline #1 (mud to green stain): Mouth of Ticaboo

Mudline #2 (green stain to clear): south end of Good Hope Bay near floating restroom

Best Baits: Largemouth – Jig and trailer fished in brush as they were starting to bed, Smallmouth – Keitech swimbait on islands with brush, Crappie – Keitech swimbait and grub in the back of canyons near large boulders or brush, Walleye – Keitech swimbait on islands, Stripers – trolling deep diving crankbaits in 15-30 ft of water in Good Hope Bay

Who Went: Rick Everson, Josh Newton, Dunc (Zengers boat was Mike Zenger, Zack Zenger, Phil Bringhurst, and Mike Duncan)

We entered this years Lake Powell trip knowing we might be in for an adventure.  The weather forecast called for a stormy weekend across the state, but Lake Powell was just on the edge of the storm.  Would we get lucky or not?  Turns out a little of both.  We launched Thursday morning to great weather and made it to our camp spot, which was the same spot my boys and I stayed at in Red Canyon a couple weeks prior.  This time we had a few cow friends to keep us company.  The storms were scheduled for Thursday night through Saturday.

After camp was setup, we hit the water just in time for the wind to start picking up.  We hid in the back of Red Canyon and found a great little crappie honey hole at the end of a small boulder lined cove.  We also caught some nice smallmouth off a couple islands near camp. With the wind staying strong through the night, we let all our fish go and ate our mountain house dinners and went to bed.

Friday and Saturday were adventurous days with constant thunderstorm cells moving overhead.  Most of them missed us and surprisingly the fishing was actually pretty good for smallmouth and crappie, but it was breezy most the time coming from all directions.  On Friday afternoon we took a direct hit from one storm and luckily, we were close to camp.  It took us a good five minutes to secure the boat as we watched our tents get torn to shreds.  We finally got the boat secured and spent the next half hour laying on top of our tents to keep them from completely blowing away.  The gusts were 50-60+ mph.  

After the storm passed, we assessed the damage and found tent poles snapped, rain fly’s ripped, and torn pieces of tent.  We salvaged parts from both tents to make one working tent and kept on fishing.  We ended the night back in crappie cove and slayed them including a monster that Newt caught taping at 16-inches and just under 2 pounds!  

We transferred them to the filet table and ate them up the next few nights for dinner.  Friday night it rained all night but wasn’t a big deal as we were sleeping.  Saturday was a continuation of Friday minus the Wind event.  We did land some walleye and Rick and Newt landed a couple stripers.  I also landed a couple largemouth bass.

Sunday was the big tournament day.  The weather finally broke, and we were excited to get on some fish.  Last year we put a whoopin on my cousins and expected the same to happen this year.  We started off great with Everson putting a few nice largemouth in the live well with one weighing in at 3.2 pounds! 

It ended up being the big fish of the tournament, but after Everson’s good run it turned into a grind.  The smallmouth bite was completely dead and crappie canyon quit producing.  Towards the end of the day, we found a nice bedding largemouth bass that we knew would carry us to victory.  I made a good cast with a roboworm on a dropshot rig, but the bass was nestled in the brush and my line caught one lone stick as it landed perfectly on the bass bed.  The bass took the bait immediately and I set the hook.  Fish on!  Instead of trying to horse the fish in through the brush, we tried to take the boat to the fish, but before we got there the line snapped right at the stick it was caught on.  Man, that one hurt! It hurt even worse when we went to weigh in and lost the tourney! That fish would have won the tournament and taken big fish honors.  Dang!  We ended up splitting the pot though as we won the crappie/walleye portion of the tournament and the big fish, but they won the 5 best bass, which let’s be honest, was the part everyone cared about.

Monday was beautiful as we headed back to the boat ramp.  Weather is always the best the day you leave.  It was a great trip with good company.  Can’t wait for next year and the chance to get our crown back!

Conclusion:  Lake Powell is changing.  With low water levels the canyons are small, and the mudline moves south quick so some of the canyons we like to fish were blown out with muddy water by late April.  We should either go earlier in April, or fish further south to avoid the muddy water and get into the green stain that we know produces consistent fishing.  The back of Red Canyon wasn’t too muddy, but a little more stained than we like.  We had to move to the south end of Good Hope Bay to find the green stained water we like to fish. 

The Keitech Swimbaits are a new favorite.  They seem to have replaced the curly tail grub as the go-to bait on the boat.  The jig and trailer put bigger fish in the boat on average, but the Keitech caught more fish and all species.  The crankbait and spinnerbait bite were non-existent.  I threw topwater every morning and evening without a bite.  This was probably due to the inconsistent weather.