Looking For a River Advice

[dominiconguyen]

Hi I'm new to the forum, I have lived here in Utah all my life and always went fishing with my dad and we always had our regular places but I recently got my drivers license and me and a few of my buds wanted to start fishing rivers. We use spin and reel rods and don't fly fish. I was just wondering if anyone had general areas or techniques for either the Jordan or Weber River?

[ProfessorChaos]

I've had good luck floating a worm on size 6 hook with a tiny split shot about 18"-24" above the hook on the Jordan. Caught some suckers, carp and a pretty decent channel cat. From what I hear the white bass and sunfish should be picking up there soon if we get some consistent warm weather. I hear little spinners or a worm can work for those, but I have next to no experience with that personally.
On the Weber I've had luck throwing rapalas and spinners. I once floated a fly about 5'-6' behind a bubble and did ok.
I would recommend trying any part of the Provo. I've never fished it west of the mouth of the canyon. We've done pretty well with rapalas all over the rest of it so far this year.
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[OldTroller]

I used to throw a lot of spinning gear. It's been too long to remember names of lures but almost any of what you already have will work.

Just cast them straight across from you. While you retrieve them the current will pull them down stream and back to your side of the river. After every retrieve or two make two steps down stream and repeat. That way you'll work the entire river.

If you don't have waders and cant walk down stream then cast against the far bank at a point two or three feet farther down stream and begin your retrieve. Repeat this until you can't cast any farther with any accuracy. At this point you need to change lures or find another entry point down stream.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Hey welcome to the site we look forward to your stories. Good luck. J
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[Jmaze]

The weber through town in Ogden is kind of popping right now. Cover a lot of water with various spinners. Sizes 0-2 in gold mepps, vibrax, or humble bee gold panther Martin should catch a few lurking browns. Fishing is best now just before the spring run starts. The fish are skinny usually this time of year, don't work them out to much. Beware private property.
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[LOAH]

Casting upstream with spinners also works really well as long as the water isn't moving too quickly. Just reel fast enough to keep the blade turning and you'll do alright.

Aim for areas where faster water meets slower water and try to land the lure right in that seam between fast and slow. Fish usually hang out in there and will react quickly.

When you hook one, keep your rod tip up to keep the hook in the lip.

Downstream casting with spinners hasn't been as productive for me, but it can still work. Reel slowly so you don't skip your lure on the surface.

Marabou jigs are also really good for deeper pockets on a river. When water splashes into a deep pool, you can just toss a furry jig in the cascade and slowly sweep it to the side while keeping the line tight to detect a strike. After the sweep, lightly bounce it up and down in the hole for a few seconds before pulling out. Fish usually gather under drop-offs too.

Worms can be really good on a river. Those deeper pools are perfect for the split shot weight rig that was already described. Just toss it out there, tighten the line a little bit and watch it closely. Any time the line goes against the current, it's likely a strike.

Swimming minnow imitations can be really good. If it's a Rapala or other similar crank bait, I like to throw it slightly upstream and near the opposite bank. After a couple of those, I'll work my cast farther downstream, step by step.

Make sure to use the tip of your rod to swim the lure around a bit instead of just cranking the reel the whole time. Sometimes you can swim the lure into the eddies behind rocks and logs and get lucky.

We've got some really great creeks out here, so you should be able to have a ton of fun once you get a few basics down.

Check out Google Maps and mess with the visual settings to get the terrain function, where you'll see a lot of blue lines to investigate. Those maps are likely the best fishing tool available to humans, outside of the actual gear itself. Just make sure to check the stream names vs the current fishing guidebook to make sure you don't violate any regulations.

Enjoy.
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Have had some good luck with river browns on Marabou's this spring. Curly tail grubs have been good too - later in the summer, hope to hook up more bass and curly tails. But always like me spinners.
Just cheaper to lost a jighead over a quality spinner.

Loah- you ever try the chatterbaits? The ones with a flat panel ahead of a swimbait? MAN! Those things put out some vibration and jiggle in a current.

I'd fully concur on the seam system. Finding a pocket out of the current, next to current - behind rocks, bends - there was a study I read about - how the fish USE the current to basically use swirls of current to push themselves forward, without having to work so hard. There was a "term" for the effect.
I've also found spots where I can bounce a jig off a wall, or bank, and as it falls in - they just nail it!
Places where you might find worms, hoppers, mice, frogs - falling into the water.
Connecting waters too - even hotter than current breaks if there's likely to be minnows that hold up in the side-arm, and the predators hover outside, occasional swoops in to slurp up a mouthfull or two.

[LOAH]

Chatterbaits as in Jitterbugs and the like?

I've never messed with them. Those are more geared toward bass, right? I plan on fishing for bass more often in the future and will likely need to adopt new techniques.
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[dominiconguyen]

Thank you for all the help! As for locations not looking for specifics just places I can park and find my own holes, any help in that department? I stopped by the Jordan today around the 5400 S. area and I hooked on to something red fins, red tail on a green curly tail jig. The place I fished had too fast of a current but I finally got out and it was great. It got off any idea what it was?
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