05-30-2025, 02:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-30-2025, 02:25 PM by Piscophilic.)
This is a bit of a catch up post. 2 days at Utah Lake over Memorial Day weekend and a trip to Strawberry the weekend before.
First the long weekend:
On Saturday Jon and I got to the Lincoln ramp a little after 6. We saw a few dimples, so we spent a few minutes tossing small offerings trying to catch a white bass for bait. No takers, so we headed down the channel dragging our small stuff. Right at the jaws my UL rod went bendo hard. Nearly 10 minutes later we netted a carp about 12 pounds. Tired arms already and the day was just starting!
After removing a pound of flesh and a couple of gill sections, we released the carp and headed north dragging for whites. We got 2 in the next 10 minutes, both 8 inches or so. Then we picked up the gear and headed south after kitties.
Water temp was 61 when we started and got up to 65 by our 1 P.M. departure.
First stop was by goose point. It took 20 minutes or so for the kitties to find us, but then it got really hot. We spent about 90 minutes in that area and landed 14 cats from 22 to 29 inches. All came strolling about 0.7 MPH on fresh WB behind several sizes and colors of spin n glo’s.
Since this was supposed to be more of a scouting trip, looking for areas with larger fish, we picked up the gear and headed back up toward the Knolls.
At our second spot the action wasn’t as fast, and the size range more varied. We got cats from 16” to a tank at almost 33”! The best depth was 5 to 5.5’ and the speed, tackle and bait were the same as earlier.
![[Image: 32-5-JPG.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/N2DvpRBm/32-5-JPG.jpg)
After a couple of hours, we were plotting the next place to look when the phone rang. Julie needed me at home to help out about 1 P.M so we decided to finish the morning in that area. It worked out fine as Jon got a fat 31” channel a little before we headed home.
![[Image: Jon-31.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/qzG2xqnr/Jon-31.jpg)
![[Image: 31.avif]](https://i.postimg.cc/21sjqF6S/31.avif)
For the day we averaged 7 cats/hour and got 2 really nice ones!
On Monday we had arranged to start early and then pick up our wives about 9 A.M. so they could have some fun without sacrificing their beauty rest.
The water temps were about the same as Saturday. We had decided to fish out of the Provo harbor since the data from Saturday lead us to believe the cats were active just about anywhere on the lake. Bad guess!
We picked up several whites for bait going out of the harbor and headed across the lake toward the big mining scar a little north of the knolls. The water was pretty choppy and murky when we got there. We tried the same methods as Saturday. It took almost and hour to get the first cat. By 8:30 we had landed only 3.
Since things were slow, we decided to go over off of Powel Slough to find more active fish and be closer when it was time to pick up the girls. They ended up being almost 2 hours late, but the cats were even later! By the time we left that spot we had seen no channels. Only a couple of bullheads and a white bass or 2.
After picking them up, we headed south toward the airport. We put the gear in the water and within 10 minutes, Caroline (Jon’s wife) got a cat about 24”. Jon and I breathed a sigh of relief thinking we were back in the cats, but we were wrong. 2.5 hours later we had tallied one more bullhead and 2 whites.
When we left, the girls commented that this wasn’t like most of the trips we had taken them on, we usually caught good numbers of fish!
What a different day from Saturday! It has been years since I covered that much water in that many different areas for only 4 cats, but I guess that is fishing.
Belated Strawberry/SC 5/16 and 17:
Rumor had it that they had caught a few kokanee at SC/Strawberry. Since this year is light on maturing fish, Jon and I decided to give it a try before they were all gone. We fished Strawberry on Friday afternoon and SC on Saturday morning. Water temp varied from 43 to around 46 and the air from the upper 30’s to around 60.
We got to try out a lot of different gear, depths, locations, trolling speeds, colors, you get the idea. We found decent numbers on good sized cutts and fat rainbows mostly around 16”. We had plenty of tugs and a fun outing, but no kokes. The DNR officer who checked us as we were leaving Saturday said we had done as well as anyone he and talked to and that when he wants to catch kokanee, he goes to the gorge
![[Image: Jim-Cutt-1.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/5j2J2k3m/Jim-Cutt-1.jpg)
Jon was the top rod due to a cutt at almost 21”. We spent almost the whole trip pulling things that should catch kokes, but just as we were getting ready to go, the urge to toss a tube jug around overpowered him.
He said: “See the little cove over there? Can I just make one cast, just one?” “We have about 30 minutes till we told your wife we would be leaving,” I said. “I’ll just put things away and prep for the trip home while you give it a try.”
Well, you all know what: “just one more cast” means. However, he didn’t get to make more than half a dozen and he landed 3, 18-20” cutts and then hooked something bigger. I was bent over doing something when he said: “Oh, this is a good fish!” “Need the net,” I asked absent mindedly. I picked it up and looked over the side. “Wow, that is a good fish!”
We netted it and it was a bow about 3.5 pounds. It was dark and colored from the recent spawn. A great looking fish. He was excited when he said, “it’s a rainbow,” but as I took it out of the net, I showed him the gill slashes. “Here, we have to call it a cutt.” However, it’s over 22”, so you can do whatever you want with it, keep it or let it go.
![[Image: IMG-4733.avif]](https://i.postimg.cc/GHZnz31M/IMG-4733.avif)
It was a cool way to end the trip.
First the long weekend:
On Saturday Jon and I got to the Lincoln ramp a little after 6. We saw a few dimples, so we spent a few minutes tossing small offerings trying to catch a white bass for bait. No takers, so we headed down the channel dragging our small stuff. Right at the jaws my UL rod went bendo hard. Nearly 10 minutes later we netted a carp about 12 pounds. Tired arms already and the day was just starting!
After removing a pound of flesh and a couple of gill sections, we released the carp and headed north dragging for whites. We got 2 in the next 10 minutes, both 8 inches or so. Then we picked up the gear and headed south after kitties.
Water temp was 61 when we started and got up to 65 by our 1 P.M. departure.
First stop was by goose point. It took 20 minutes or so for the kitties to find us, but then it got really hot. We spent about 90 minutes in that area and landed 14 cats from 22 to 29 inches. All came strolling about 0.7 MPH on fresh WB behind several sizes and colors of spin n glo’s.
Since this was supposed to be more of a scouting trip, looking for areas with larger fish, we picked up the gear and headed back up toward the Knolls.
At our second spot the action wasn’t as fast, and the size range more varied. We got cats from 16” to a tank at almost 33”! The best depth was 5 to 5.5’ and the speed, tackle and bait were the same as earlier.
After a couple of hours, we were plotting the next place to look when the phone rang. Julie needed me at home to help out about 1 P.M so we decided to finish the morning in that area. It worked out fine as Jon got a fat 31” channel a little before we headed home.
For the day we averaged 7 cats/hour and got 2 really nice ones!
On Monday we had arranged to start early and then pick up our wives about 9 A.M. so they could have some fun without sacrificing their beauty rest.
The water temps were about the same as Saturday. We had decided to fish out of the Provo harbor since the data from Saturday lead us to believe the cats were active just about anywhere on the lake. Bad guess!
We picked up several whites for bait going out of the harbor and headed across the lake toward the big mining scar a little north of the knolls. The water was pretty choppy and murky when we got there. We tried the same methods as Saturday. It took almost and hour to get the first cat. By 8:30 we had landed only 3.
Since things were slow, we decided to go over off of Powel Slough to find more active fish and be closer when it was time to pick up the girls. They ended up being almost 2 hours late, but the cats were even later! By the time we left that spot we had seen no channels. Only a couple of bullheads and a white bass or 2.
After picking them up, we headed south toward the airport. We put the gear in the water and within 10 minutes, Caroline (Jon’s wife) got a cat about 24”. Jon and I breathed a sigh of relief thinking we were back in the cats, but we were wrong. 2.5 hours later we had tallied one more bullhead and 2 whites.
When we left, the girls commented that this wasn’t like most of the trips we had taken them on, we usually caught good numbers of fish!
What a different day from Saturday! It has been years since I covered that much water in that many different areas for only 4 cats, but I guess that is fishing.
Belated Strawberry/SC 5/16 and 17:
Rumor had it that they had caught a few kokanee at SC/Strawberry. Since this year is light on maturing fish, Jon and I decided to give it a try before they were all gone. We fished Strawberry on Friday afternoon and SC on Saturday morning. Water temp varied from 43 to around 46 and the air from the upper 30’s to around 60.
We got to try out a lot of different gear, depths, locations, trolling speeds, colors, you get the idea. We found decent numbers on good sized cutts and fat rainbows mostly around 16”. We had plenty of tugs and a fun outing, but no kokes. The DNR officer who checked us as we were leaving Saturday said we had done as well as anyone he and talked to and that when he wants to catch kokanee, he goes to the gorge
Jon was the top rod due to a cutt at almost 21”. We spent almost the whole trip pulling things that should catch kokes, but just as we were getting ready to go, the urge to toss a tube jug around overpowered him.
He said: “See the little cove over there? Can I just make one cast, just one?” “We have about 30 minutes till we told your wife we would be leaving,” I said. “I’ll just put things away and prep for the trip home while you give it a try.”
Well, you all know what: “just one more cast” means. However, he didn’t get to make more than half a dozen and he landed 3, 18-20” cutts and then hooked something bigger. I was bent over doing something when he said: “Oh, this is a good fish!” “Need the net,” I asked absent mindedly. I picked it up and looked over the side. “Wow, that is a good fish!”
We netted it and it was a bow about 3.5 pounds. It was dark and colored from the recent spawn. A great looking fish. He was excited when he said, “it’s a rainbow,” but as I took it out of the net, I showed him the gill slashes. “Here, we have to call it a cutt.” However, it’s over 22”, so you can do whatever you want with it, keep it or let it go.
It was a cool way to end the trip.
