Piute and Otter- 5/11 & 12

[PACMEN]

Fished Piute Fri. the 11th.  Fishing was slow.  This time last year the catching fort bows was superb.  It was our honey hole.  It was almost impossible to not catch lots of fish.  I was excited for this year .  In the past Piute has had a history of planter size fish unless there are multiple good water years.  It is drawn down for irigation.  That being said we had 2 consecutive good water years. I was figuring there would be lots of 3lbs to 5lbs fish this spring   .    This was my 3rd trip there this spring, the others were worse.  There was a boat leaving as I launched and they had not been very successful. By what they said their experience last year was similar to ours. Tons of decent fish. They also said mid summer last year there was a big fish die off. Dead fish all up on the shore. Maybe water temp.  Maybe the algae bloom.????????????  Anyway my hopes were dashed    .  Only caught 3 fish.  2 Lbs 8 Oz---2 Lbs 4 Oz --- 1 Lbs 9 Oz.

Fish Otter Sat. the 12 th.  I caught lots of bows.  All of them were planter size 11" of so to maybe 14".  The 14" might be a bit of a stretch. They were all healthy looking fish. I did see one 20" wiper in the shallows chasing minnows.
There were lots of boats.  I attribute that to good weather, Sat, and a holiday weekend.  I was a bit surprised as to the # of people.  I don't fish Sat. that often due to the crowds. The state park boat parking was totally full. The marina ramp was packed full also.

[BYUHunter]

Thanks for a rare Piute report. Very interesting. Driven past it many times, and never heard anything positive. Will have to try it one day.

Unfortunately, the quality of bows at Otter has been in decline, IMO. Sure, there are still some hogs caught, but you can say that about any body of water. Not worth the long drive to catch 11" to 14" planters, when I can catch those in the community pond down the street.

Thanks for the report!

[wormandbobber]

Gill net reports on Otter Creek were really good and the numbers of big fish was high. I have heard nothing but good from Otter Creek this spring. But, my experience at Otter Creek seems to mirror yours. However, I was there a week ago and fished for about 2-21/2 hours looking for wipers and, though I never found the wipers, there were some really big bows cruising the shorelines slurping mayflies. The mayfly hatch was incredible and exceptionally annoying--they were so thick, I had to keep my mouth closed or I would breathe them in. But, I was mad that I hadn't thrown my fly rod into the truck and sight fished for really large cruising bows...

...Piute was drawn down really low last summer again and the algae bloom was the worst I have ever seen. I boat on Piute a lot and last summer by mid July it was over. I have also seen lots and lots of carp around the boat ramp the past couple years. I can't imagine how stocked rainbows would be doing well. With that being said, I know that every year it is gillnetted, big rainbows are caught though the numbers aren't high.