Utah Lake Report 5/28/2007 (LBH)

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I woke my son up this morning at 550am and we headed down to Utah Lake. I was expecting a fleet of boats at the Lindon boat harbor since it was memorial day, but lo and behold not a single sole. We had the whole marina to ourselves. The wind was moving pretty good, but I was determined to catch something out of this huge lake. (I had been a few times before to Utah lake only to catch nothing, so I was determined to finally prove to myself that there was something living in this water.) With the advice of TubeDude & Dog-lover I was ready with the proper bait and locations. I first headed south to the pipeline only to find the wind howling. We anchored and fished this pipline for about 45 minutes with no luck. I was impatient and decided to try plan B. We headed North and looked for a small creek channel from TubeDude's writeup. We fished an area that looked like the creek and caught one catfish, but then nothing. At this point it was about 830am and I was bummed with only one fish. The good news was the wind died. I was still determined to catch more than just one fish so we headed further North. I finally found the creek and you could see the water coming into the lake was clearer than that of the main body of water. We anchored up and then the fun began. One after one we started catching catfish. They loved the fresh shrimp we had. The next two hours my son and I caught 23 bullhead catfish. At one point I had a fish hooked up and the other rod took off. I handed it to my son and told him to hang on. He pulled and pulled and brought it in all by himself since I was busy with a fish of my own. Boy was he excited to use Dads pole to bring in the fish. (Dad was a little nervous letting him use his $200 rod and reel, but he proved himself and didn't let go.) He is 2 1/2 years old by the way. At around 1045am we ran out of shrimp with the fish still biting, so we decided to call it a great day and head in.) Back at the harbor the fleet finally arrived and the entire marina was full of boats and cars. Yikes! Glad I left early. What a great day of fishing and we were home before noon! (Oh yeah, all of the fish were released in case you were wondering.)

Special thanks to TubeDude & Dog-lover for their advice. I really appreciated it and so did my son.

-Cory
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[ironworker]

great report and pictures. thanks for sharing. [cool]
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[ice_sled]

Nice report. It is nice to see the little ones fishing. It is a time that they will never forget. A note of caution. Fish that are placed in a live well can not be legaly returned to the water. You never know who is looking at our website.
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[element]

"Fish that are placed in a live well can not be legally returned to the water."

I didn't know that. Where in the proclamation does it show that? Technically it isn't a real live well, just a water reservoir for engine back splash. Not sure if that matters. Thanks for letting me know.
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[kastmaster]

To clarify, this rule only applies to trout, salmon, or grayling. If these fish have been placed on a stringer, livewell, fish basket or any other device, they cannot be released back to the water. You were probably OK releasing the cats back. Good job with the cats!!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Well done. I'll bet you don't have any trouble getting the kids to go again next time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One suggestion though. Shrimp and crawlers seem to appeal more to the bullhead cats (mudders). MEAT (carp or minnows) often produces more of the larger channels. But, for keeping kids busy and happy you can't ask for more than a willing bunch of the smaller guys. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, those bullheads are mighty fine eating.[/#0000ff]
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[ice_sled]

Castmaster is dead on with the rules. My bad.
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[Fowl-Hook]

Nice pictures from your trip. Nothing Better than the Kids having fun Catching fish with the rest of the family.
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[Carp_Punisher]

[#505000]Kastmaster is right. Those wimpy "troutski type" fish can't handle the stress. Other species do just fine, that being said I would recommend immediately releasing anything you don't plan to keep. I do understand though. I've had a trip or two I didn't catch enough to make it worth the while and have paroled a white bass or two.[/#505000]
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