05-26-2018, 04:27 PM
Went to deer creek yesterday morning, and also last Wednesday. Wednesday was overcast, which I associate with good smallmouth fishing. We caught a couple of fairly large (for me, for deer creek) fish, including the 15.5 inch fish in the picture, ending with around 12 overall.
Yesterday morning was also good fishing (better for numbers but a little smaller average size). The water was calm and the power boats didn't get out till relatively late in the day, so it was a great day to be on the water. Early morning I caught some small males up shallow. Later I caught some slightly larger fish off deeper ledges, in around 15 feet of water. After the sun was high in the sky I was still able to pick up fish along shoreline cover in rocky areas. The combination of wood and rocks seemed to be good. A thing that impresses me about Deer Creek is there seems to be smallmouths in lots of places. Other reservoirs I've fished it feels like they will stack up in specific locations and then there is a lot of dead water. Maybe that will be more true later in the year?
Another stray observation: I started with a couple dozen night crawlers and some gulp minnows. My finding is that the gulp minnows will work almost as well, with two qualifications. I think that the night crawlers catch larger fish, and during the flat water time early I was able to observe fish spitting out the gulp minnow relatively quickly. Sometimes I would see a fish inhale the minnow completely, hold it, and then exhale it--all without registering any motion at all on my semi-slack monofilament line. In the past my experience is that smallmouths can provide some of the most subtle strikes.
Final thought: On Wednesday we also tried for trout and walleye, with no success for either. Last spring I did well on trout in Deer Creek, but this year hasn't produced in the same way. Maybe it's just me.
Very final thought: I also fly fished the lower Provo last week--but it was slow so I filed no report. With the water level now quite high, I think I might wait for the green drakes and then try the middle Provo.
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Yesterday morning was also good fishing (better for numbers but a little smaller average size). The water was calm and the power boats didn't get out till relatively late in the day, so it was a great day to be on the water. Early morning I caught some small males up shallow. Later I caught some slightly larger fish off deeper ledges, in around 15 feet of water. After the sun was high in the sky I was still able to pick up fish along shoreline cover in rocky areas. The combination of wood and rocks seemed to be good. A thing that impresses me about Deer Creek is there seems to be smallmouths in lots of places. Other reservoirs I've fished it feels like they will stack up in specific locations and then there is a lot of dead water. Maybe that will be more true later in the year?
Another stray observation: I started with a couple dozen night crawlers and some gulp minnows. My finding is that the gulp minnows will work almost as well, with two qualifications. I think that the night crawlers catch larger fish, and during the flat water time early I was able to observe fish spitting out the gulp minnow relatively quickly. Sometimes I would see a fish inhale the minnow completely, hold it, and then exhale it--all without registering any motion at all on my semi-slack monofilament line. In the past my experience is that smallmouths can provide some of the most subtle strikes.
Final thought: On Wednesday we also tried for trout and walleye, with no success for either. Last spring I did well on trout in Deer Creek, but this year hasn't produced in the same way. Maybe it's just me.
Very final thought: I also fly fished the lower Provo last week--but it was slow so I filed no report. With the water level now quite high, I think I might wait for the green drakes and then try the middle Provo.
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