Fishing Strawberry Reservoir - Utah Kokanee and Cutthroat

Shifty and I decided we wanted to try for Kokanee and tagged rainbows this Thursday. We left the house at 4:30 am. Made it to Walsburg and got stopped by construction, made it through there and into Heber in time to pick up night crawlers. We made it to the marina by 6:30 after all the delays. We set out of the marina and started trolling immediately. The fishing was not red hot fast action. 

Shifty landed his first ever Kokanee, I enjoy being there those moments. Shifty was very happy to catch one on the dodger and squid everyone told him would work. It's a good thing when all comes together at the right time. We continued on and Shifty got a nice rainbow in the well. we made our way down Haws Point to Renegade and Horse Creek Bay. I finally landed a fish a small rainbow trout which I released immediately. We fished on and got to the old dam and I got into a nice fat Rainbow trout near 20+ inches and a couple pounds. We turned around as the wind started to kick up like it does on Strawberry. On the way back I had another hit on a flatfish and released it and then I got another hit that quick released about 10 feet from the boat.

We had a great day on the lake. Fishing wasn't great but the company was. As we loaded we talked with others coming off the lake and their success was about the same, a few more Kokanee but no filled limits.

Fishing at Jordanelle

Wednesday evening Parker and I took a run-up to the Nelle. We arrived at about 5 pm and started off in our normal pattern and pop gear. We ran the pattern twice changing colors a couple times but got nothing. So we decided to hit a secondary lane and as we turned the corner into it we got a fish. Parker caught the first rainbow of the evening.

We continued on toward the dam and got a couple hits but no hookups. We turned around and got nothing until we turned at top of the lane and landed a nice sized rainbow this time on my thumper pop gear. This one a good 2 lb rainbow. We continued to run the lane and got another hit and landed another rainbow on Parker’s pole. we made the turnaround and nothing heading North in the lane as long as we were going South in the lane we got hits and caught fish. Until I put on hard plastic and put it out 6 colors, so running deep, and going north I got a nice hit and thought I had lost the fish until it seen the boat. It stayed down and I thought I caught a chub. When it surfaced though it was a decent-sized Brown trout. We made a couple more loops and I landed another nice 2 lb Rainbow trout.

The sun had set and we were running our lights and decided it was time load and go for home. A great evening on the pond!

Catfishing with Grandsons

Saturday we decided to take the boys, Max and Harrison with us. We decided cat fishing on Utah Lake would be the perfect opportunity for the to catch some fish and maybe big ones. We launched at 7:30 am. The boys were excited to be going on the boat. Fishing was a second to the boat ride. We left the marina and the morning canyon breezes had quite the swells on the lake. First we were going to Pelican Point to see what was possible there in hopes of getting into the white bass. The swells were large enough that it didn't feel good so we turned south into the waves and headed for the rock. We arrived about 8 am and had a line in the water by 8:05 and the first catfish online by 8:15 am. Jim and I were there to bait the hooks and remove the fish as they were caught. This day belonged to the boys. Harrison landed the first catfish on a worm and shrimp setup. Harrison got the next on a mud cat and soon after Max hooked up a mud cat on hot dog.

Jim and I did our best to keep the bait on the hooks and lines in the water. The action was fast getting a hit every few minutes and the boys were in heaven catching some nice sized catfish. The catch of the day went to Max with a 5 lb channel catfish. He was elated and then Harry caught another 3 lb channel catfish. We threw them in the live well and fished on for sometime. The catching slowed down and the wind stopped blowing by 10:30 and we decided to go give Pelican Point a shot. The boys just wanted to ride in the boat as it skimmed along the water. They were happy to be riding and having a blast. We arrived at Pelican Point and put the baits out and I cast toward the rocks in hopes of landing a white bass or two. I thought on my ultra light setup the boys would have so much fun catching them. We fished for about a half hour and nothing was taking our offerings. The attention span had been exceeded and we were on the move. This time toward the marina. Jim and I cleaned and filleted the catfish at the dump station since they have removed the cleaning stations at the Provo Boat Harbor. Wish they would put them back in!

The skinning and filleting took a while and Max didn't care for it much but we all survived. We had so much fun and the day was perfect not too hot or windy. The boys got to catch some nice sized fish at a good rate of landing them so they were engaged most of the day. Hope you can get out with your kids and grand kids soon, introduce new anglers and have fun!!

Fishing Starvation Reservoir

Thursday Shifty of Shifty Outdoors joined me on a trip to Starvation. We were on a quest to complete the trifecta at Starvation, trout, bass, and walleye in one outing. I started the day at 4 am and picked up Shifty at 5 am and departed for Starvation an hour and a half from home. We stopped in Heber to pick up breakfast and some goodies. We made it Starvation by 6:30 am and was fishing by 7 am. 

The Southwest arm of Starvation has not been explored by either of us so we made our way to that area. Going under the bridge and into the Strawberry River inlet, I thought it would be a good area for Brown trout. As we approached the area we noticed the depth went from 50 feet to 10 feet in one giant jump. Watching the depth finder we cruised cautiously into the inlet area only to get turned back by very shallow waters. We stopped and threw some hardware because fish were jumping all around us. To no avail, the fish were not taking our offerings, Shifty had one nice hit on a spinner but that was it. We made our way to the bank and tried trolling and did so for a half hour. We pulled up the trolling motor and made our way back the main channel and back under the bridge.

We trolled alongside the west cliff line knowing that trout hung out in this area. Within a short period, I had a fish online and landed a decent Rainbow trout, on my new pop gear, I have named it “the thumper”, more on this later as I work out some details on its design. We filled the live well and continued to troll all the way into Rabbit Gulch and hitting the channel and productive lines in the bay. We got nothing! We made our way over towards the "nursery" and at the top end of the island, Shifty got slammed! He brought it in for a ways thinking not much about it. The fish seen the boat and made a break for it, Shifty was prepared and continued to fight it in for a couple minutes. He landed the nice Rainbow trout and it measures out at 23 inches and near 4 lbs. A beauty for sure. We turned around and made passes through the same line in each direction. With no action, we left the area and trolled along the north cliff lines and I got another nice rainbow trout. We fished the line until the wind got too hard to fight. We each got a few more hits but were slow on the set or let the fish jump and lost each one. We pulled the trolling motor up and went for our second species, bass.

Starvation has a nice population of Smallmouth Bass. We went to an area Shifty had been told was red hot for the smallies up on the north end of the reservoir in the flats. We pulled in and dropped the trolling motor and started throwing hardware everywhere. We fished in the area for a good spell of time and got nothing but weeds. We motored over to the rocks on the east border and started casting again. Shifty was the first to hook up on an itty bitty and got a picture for posterity and tossed it back. Shifty landed two more before I got a hit, the largest of the smallmouth bass to be caught to that point....lol. We fished that bank to the dam and had hits and a couple more hooked up. We then went to the southeast section of the reservoir with many bays.

We pulled into an area we have had success in the past. Trolling along the banks of rocks and willows we got a couple more and moving around in the area we continued to get hits and a couple hook up on the smallmouth bass. We went to our last area forgoing the walleye at this point knowing we only had a few more minutes on the lake before we had to get off and head home. We banked up against a rock wall and started casting crankbaits. Shifty hooked up first and landed a nice Smallmouth. I immediately changed my bait to match his. We fished the area for a half-hour and I ended up catching two more nice smallmouth bass.

We ended the day with a tied total of fish apiece. Always a great outing with Shifty and Shifty Outdoors.

Catfishing Utah Lake

Saturday we fished Utah Lake for Catfish. Parker, Jim, and I launched at 6 am. The weather was supposed to get bad so we wanted to get on and off as quickly as possible. We exited the marina and the swells weren't too bad but they were indicative of the day to come. We headed south trying to get into the river channel but the water level is so bad we couldn't get within 100 yards of the river mouth. So we continued south and as we did the water laid down and became manageable. We to the mouth of Mud Lake to a point we have done well on and started fishing. We used shrimp, worm, and a hot dog for bait. The shrimp worm was the hot ticket for mud catfish and as soon as I got my bait in the water I had a catfish online. A little mud cat ugly little yellow things that we through back after a photo op just to prove we caught something in case that was the only one for the day. It proved not to be, however. The boys put their lines out and I re-baited and I had another online and while I was reeling that one in my other pole got a hit, Jimmy grab it and reeled it in both mudcats and promptly returned them. This was before I could set up the video cameras. We had a blast all day long catching quite a few catfish, mostly mud cats but we did manage a few channel catfish, one of which was decent sized at 4.5 lbs.

We had one adventure where the back camera just decided to drop off the engine cowling into the lake. The water like I mentioned was very shallow especially for the time of year we were anchored up in 2.5 feet of water. Parker being the brave soul jumped in after the camera after he reeled in a nice channel catfish. He jumped in only to jump out immediately thinking something had grabbed his foot....we were busting out laughing. He got back in and felt something but stayed in and found the camera. Good thing it is waterproof. We had quite a laugh about the whole thing. It will be on our YouTube channel as a "camera incident". The second camera only picked up the audio of the whole thing but it is still hilarious to listen to.

The bite slowed down around 9 am and the wind started to kick up. We decided to give it a half-hour longer and then make our way back to the marina. We each caught a couple more but the funniest was when I caught a white bass on a bare hook. Not lying it's on the video on our YouTube channel. I cast out and the bait went flying the hook hit the water and the fish hit it. Too funny. We readied for the return to the marina as the storm was rolling in. We docked and loaded under a slight sprinkle and filleted the catfish we kept giving about 6 lbs of fillets for tacos. I got everyone home and stowed the boat just before the heavens opened and a full downpour hit.