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Went to Bountiful Pond this morning with my son from about 6:45 to 9:30. Caught three SM between the two of us; each would have been great size for an easy-bake oven. There's gotta be bigger ones there, but I've not figured out how to get into them.
Fish were rising like crazy during that time between first light and sunrise; but I couldn't entice them to hit anything. Some of the fish would do this lazy roll (that's what I call it) on the top of the water. Slow and bulky, and I suspected they were cat fish, maybe. Didn't seem like the same type of surface action you see from a trout.
Then, all of a sudden I see this fish rise out of the water, just like Shamu: straight up until his entire body was out of the water. I'm not that great at fish identification, but I do know it had a huge girth, and was probably about 20-24 inches. Didn't see any striping, and it looked light gray to me. Do catfish jump like that? And stupid me, they must have been hungry, I just couldn't figure out what was on the menu!
Perhaps I'm not patient enough. If the fish don't hit on what I'm throwing after about 5-10 casts, I switch it up. Tried some spinners, jigs with twisters, jigs with worms from my backyard, fly and bubble with various types of flies, a roadrunner jig with a chartreuse twister, and a wacky rigged senko on a drop shot. Also tried a bunch of stuff below a bobber. We only fished in two areas, and I noticed it was rather shallow--north side about a hundred yards west of the parking area.
It was a beautiful morning for fishing. Wanted to stay longer, but also wanted to get home to conference. I love the destination--only about 20 minutes form the house and big enough to not feel crowded. Maybe next time.
Next trip will be to Silver Flat Res (and perhaps a hike to Silver Lake) next weekend with the scouts. Never been to either; and hoping the weather will treat us well. Gotta reel in something big enough to eat; actually lot of somethings big enough to eat!
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[#0000FF]My guess is that most of the surfacing fish you saw were carp. Bountiful Pond is full of them...and some bigguns too. They are often near the top and make a lot of splashy rolls and flops.
But, catfish DO jump and roll at times as well. Besides taking small fish and large bugs off the top when feeding they also seemingly leap just for the heck of it. Or, they may be trying to find better water chemistry or temperatures. Never asked one.
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Keep on trying and you'll figure them out eventually. Personally I have yet to pull a fish out of there.
As for Silver Lake above Silver Lake Flat Res in American Fork Canyon....I doubt you'll get anything worth eating up there. I'd almost classify the brook trout up there as minnows! The hike and views are good though. If you still take a rod a good place to start would be the inlet.
Silver Lake Flat Res will have bigger fish.
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Carp jumping? Hadn't thought of that!
There were a ton of SM minnows swimming in the rocks at our feet. And other small types of fry also. Those bigger SM gotta be somewhere. Perhaps I wont' get to them until I bring a kayak. Never fished from one before, but I'm thinking it may be fun to try, as my cousin has a bunch that would fit in my van.
Plan to hit the Res at night after we pitch tents, then take the boys on a hike to the Lake in the morning. Perhaps I'll be feeling lazy, though, and want to stay at the Res--especially with the info that the fish up there are tiny. . .we'll see.
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I'd agree with TD about the carp doing the swirls on the surface, with the cats clearing the surface. Especially in the shallower areas I've seen the carp ball up and disturb the ground with their tails which makes all the bugs and such float up and they will have a mini frenzy. Toss a fly or piece of bread directly into the area the carp swirls and you will likely get slammed. They hate weight though so prepare for a light bite.
I've done quite a bit of fishing there and the only place I've found carp the same size is Utah Lake. Bountiful has some seriously large carp. Which, if you are not anti-carp like some of the guys on here, put up a fight on par with more sport fish in Utah. Throw out a smallish treble weightless with a piece of bread molded to it (barbs exposed) and you will likely find a new favorite fish to target there!
There are also a good number of cat fish in there as well, but there is a pretty strong group of harvesters that line the banks when they are stocking the cats. They'll have rods lining the water and keep everything they catch...They like to have all their kids there so they can use 6+ rods while the kids run around playing.
Also if you go just east of the parking lot but before the second dock there is a deep spot in that area that holds a lot of decent fish. Good luck!
This is the size of nearly every carp I've caught at Bountiful.
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And just FYI if you take a kayak out be aware that when they made the pond they left several fence lines of barbwire along the bottom. I'm guessing it was to grow structure on it but not sure. I've lost several rapalas and rigs on it. There is a channel that runs from the inlet at the parking lot to the middle island that usually holds a decent amount of fish. Good luck!
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Every hear Doobie Bros "[url "http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/doobiebrothers/blackwater.html"]Black Water[/url]"?
Catfish are jumping, that paddle wheel thumping...
though - I think it's usually carp I hear slapping the surface. They seem to have a tendency for double jumps too.
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[#0000FF]Wonder what size hook you'd have to use to tie a "pigeon emerger".
Those wels cats were actually small compared to how big they really get. But it looks like they have some "learned behavior" that might get them some fresh squab once in a while. Not impressed with their success ratio however.
When I lived in Denver I got to fish Chatfield Reservoir a few times. There were some big cats in there and they would sometimes cruise the banks in late summer...watching for rodents or big hoppers flopping in off the weeds around the lake. I used my old Fenwick 9010 (a 9' for 10 weight line) to serve up some big nasty floaters and got to battle quite a few cats between 5 and 10 pounds. They did not clear the surface but when they hit a noisy presentation on top it was like a pig falling into the water. And in the shallows they screamed line off the drag like bonefish.
Down in southern Texas there are places where both bass and catfish hang out under bird rookery trees that extend over the water. When baby birds fall out of the nests they quickly disappear into an open mouth...bass, cat...or gator.
Not sure I'd ever wanna try noodlin' those big wels. The hunter could easily become the hunted.
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Dumb birds![laugh]
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I have seen catfish jump at Utah Lake and I even had one that jumped when I hooked it. That really surprised me and with all of the catfish that I have caught it only happened one time.
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[#0000FF]I'm guessing that you hooked that jumping catfish in fairly shallow water. I have seen them jump several times when hooked in the shallows. Their natural instinct is to dive to the bottom...but they bump their noses and turn around...rocketing to the top.
That catfish didn't have a long spiky nose and a big dorsal fin did it? Most folks don't know about the rare "sail catfish" in Utah Lake. They are as common as the blue cats and the flatheads.
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Are you saying those dang bucket biologist have dumped in gafftopsail catfish? I hate getting into a group of those fish in the Gulf. The hurt like the dickens if you're spiked and they know nothing will eat them so could care less about being caught.
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[#0000FF]The gaffies are bigger and more fun than hardheads. But you are right. Getting stuck by either one is bad.
Nope. Didn't mean to impugn our righteous and law abiding fisher citizenry of Utah. If those fish somehow showed up in Utah Lake it would be because of divine intervention...and a livewell. Doubt they could make it in that pristine fresh water lake however.
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I would love to see some of those goofy, TV rednecks go after some real big catfish myself. Prove yourself Bubba, go noodle yourself a 200 pound Wels!
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