Shifty invited me on an adventure into Eastern Utah to fish Pelican Lake fog Large Mouth Bass. I always take advantage to fish with friends and this is a lake I have not fished and wanted to. The Lake is reported to hold a large number large mouth bass in it along with slab sized bluegill. We left Wednesday evening and made our way to Vernal. Arriving in Vernal about 10 pm we registered and got some snacks for the fish on Thursday. Wake up call set for 4:55 am we crashed after setting up our gear for the conditions we thought we would encounter. 4:55 am came really fast for me but we were up and ready to go to Pelican Lake by 5:05 am, being told it was about 45 minutes to the lake we thought we would arrive just perfectly, but in reality it was only about 25 minutes to the lake out in the middle of the basin desert.
The lake is a decent sized kettle lake but only 15 feet at its deepest. As we arrived the sun was breaking the horizon as we set up for launch of Shifty’s boat. Neither Shifty nor I had fished the lake before. I had been there 30 years ago but only from the bank and remembered it being over grown with grass and reeds so I didn't throw a line. We took advantage of the great sunrise and took a few pictures before embarking on our fishing adventure. The sunrise was spectacular and as we launched and readied for the day.
We pulled away from the single boat ramp and dock and made our way to our first area. Just as I recalled it was overgrown with grass and reeds but this time we were outside the line and tossing back into them. That didn't matter as we still filled our hooks with grass, moss and other plants figuring out which was going to work best for the conditions. Shifty moved quickly to top water lures and I moved to floating jerk baits. We moved around the bank trying to find an area that wasn't quite as choked with plants.
We fished for a good hour before our first hit and it was on Shifty's jig. Carefully placing it in areas that weren't totally choked out with plants he got a small, largemouth bass but it was a fish and we knew they were in there. The weather was perfect, no wind, bluebird skies and a cool desert morning. The water was stained for some reason, we couldn't tell why the water was stained, but knowing that the rule for stained water is dark that is what we threw. Shifty managed another larger fish.
I tried to imitate his jig but got no results, then I put on a lure my mom bought me some 15 years ago called the "helicopter lure" Roland Martin was marketing them back in the day. I had never used them but thought, well if they worked for him maybe. I changed colors a couple times and tied on a white helicopter and fished it top water style and the second cast resulted in largemouth bass hitting it. I was truly amazed that this lure actually caught a fish, I thought it was a gimmick from the start but it actually got a fish and I was good with that, at least we didn't travel 3 hours and get skunked. We moved about the lake and kept going to areas that looked like the prime areas for the largemouth bass but resulted in nothing.
So we returned to where we started and threw again what we had gotten hits on. Shifty got another decent sized fish and I was running a jerk bait. The jerk bait proved good for me and I landed another fish the largest of the day but not by any stretch of the imagination a lunker. We called it a day at noon having fished hard and changed style, technique, and lures multiple times in the 6.5 hours we had been on the lake. We loaded up the boat and headed for home, stopping in Roosevelt at a burger shop for lunch and a Bacon/Maple shake for the road, yep it was good. I want to thank Shifty for the invite and adventure to a new lake for fish I don't naturally fish for. Had a great day visiting and sharing stories.
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