Posts: 744
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2006
Reputation:
0
Currently I know very little about fishing Deer Creek, but it is very close to my house and so naturally, I want to know everything I can. Several of you have given me some general tips, but I want to know everything there is to know. I will start this discussion talking about small mouths specifically, then go through the other species, so for the next while, tell me everything you can about small mouth bass at deer creek--location patterns, baits/lures, techniques from both shore, boat or tube. All things Deer Creek Small Mouth. Ready, GO!
[signature]
Posts: 2,933
Threads: 0
Joined: Apr 2005
Reputation:
0
have fun.... that res is very very hard to figure out. i have spent 1000,s of hrs on it chasing eyes over 14 yrs and its differnt almost every yr. the water level is the key to it staying consistant. and it never stays consistant yr to yr. hope you have alot of time and money. good luck!!!!
[signature]
Posts: 3,536
Threads: 1
Joined: Jul 2003
Reputation:
0
When the water is high -- the southeast end is very good along the rocky shoreline along the main highway all the way to the weeds and the midway turnoff.
Most smallies in deer creek are runts. It does not have a LARGE population of large smallies like Jordanelle does.
There are some big largemouths in there, but not a lot of them.
When the water is low, walk out onto the 'island' (peninsula) and fish off the northwest corner of it.
Smoke sparkle senkos rigged wacky style have been awesome for me and others up there. I like 4". Worms under a bobber can catch a lot of the smaller ones. They tend to stay quite close to shore.
[signature]
Posts: 744
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2006
Reputation:
0
Time I have, money...not so much. Any others have ideas for small mouths at deer creek? what about on the north side of the lake, or maybe the rocky shoreline close to the dam, anyone have experience there?
[signature]
Posts: 36,168
Threads: 307
Joined: Sep 2002
Reputation:
62
[cool][#0000ff]There are smallmouths around the entire perimeter of the lake, at one time or another. Right now, most of the fish are still pretty deep and not available to shore anglers. After about the first week or two in June, the smallies come closer to shore and they can be easy to catch in many spots.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They are not as tough to catch as the bassologists would have you believe. You can catch them on almost any lure if it lands in the right place. Those lures include all the different twisters, grubs, shad bodies, stick baits, etc. It also includes hardbaits like Rapalas and RatLTraps. Spinners are often very effective. If you know how to wave a fly rod you can take more than a few smallies on minnow or crawdad patterns. Plain old wooly buggers in black, white, chartreuse or brown/green will get the job done...as will marabou jigs in the same colors.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As has been mentioned, smoke sparkle is a good color for plastics. So is "motor oil" or a variety of other browns and greens.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Just work around the shoreline, looking for points or rocks. Smallies prefer structure and tend to hug rocks and humps. Casting around that stuff is the best plan when they are inshore and active.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There will be reports when the fish get going, and most of the reports will include the locations and best lures. Read the reports, go catch some fish and then post your own reports. That's how it works around here.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In the meantime, do some homework. Go to past threads on Deer Creek and look for summertime reports. Also, go online and look up info on smallmouth bass. There are jillions of websites. Learn the basics on the fish and then learn the specific differences on the lakes you fish. It is amazing how different the fishing can be on two different lakes for the same species of fish. But, there are also some things that remain fairly true about smallies wherever you find them.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
Posts: 335
Threads: 4
Joined: May 2005
Reputation:
0
I love deer creek. I have caught many nice smallies there. I have won a few bass club tournaments there. I prefer to fish it in the late summer aug to sept.
[signature]
Posts: 2,084
Threads: 15
Joined: Nov 2002
Reputation:
0
Deer creek is a very fragile res. any big weather change cold fronts the bite just about shuts down. like crorrineyes said, he and I have spent 14 years chassing eyes there. while chassing eyes we have hooked a bunch of nice bass. they spawn the first week of June, normily, and can be seen in shallow water around the shorelines by structure. I've done good splitshotting small tubejigs and when the wind blows cast spinnerbaits to the wind blown points. top water also can be a blast down in the weeds on the big flat just south of the provo inlet. hope this helps, good luck on your quest.
later chuck
[signature]
Posts: 86
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2006
Reputation:
0
Fished Deer Creek for the first time this year last Friday from 0645-1700. Fished the North end trolling worm rigs for walleyes lots of brush to hang up on with bottom bouncers. Pretty calm all morning. Water temp was 53-55*F along the North end in 13-15' caught a 19" brown trolling cranks later that morning. Fished through the wind from noon onward and picked up more trout on perch colored shad raps. We ended up catching 10 trout from 14-19" but no walleyes. Will be back later in June to try again. We grafted lots fish close to the railroad tracks on the North end in the morning but no takers.
[signature]
Posts: 744
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2006
Reputation:
0
Alright, on Saturday I decided to begin my quest to become an expert at Deer Creek. Thanks to all that contributed information about small mouths. To clarify, I really only want to be the expert in my own home and in my own little universe.
Anyway, taking Catman's advice, I went parked just before the Charleston turnoff and headed down to the rocky shoreline. I wanted to try everything I had read about both here and elsewhere and wanted to try some techniques I picked up at the ISE this year. I started out throwing a spinner bait with a power worm. I didn't really expect to catch anything--and I didn't--but it was heavy and I was trying to warm up the bait caster and I knew I could throw it a long way.
Next I tried a small weedless jig with a Rapala floating minnow up about 18 inches on a three-way swivel. They talked about this set-up at the ISE. I was surprised how easy it was to cast and how it didn't hang up or get tangled on itself--still didn't catch anything.
I then started throwing a texas riged 4inch yamamoto watermelon curly tailed grub and on my second cast a got a good hit, but didn't get the hook set. I am fairly certain I was using too big of a hook in that I had two other hits, but could not hook up (I'll blame it on the hook and not my technique).
I then tried drop shotting a 4in watermelon senko, I looked good in the water but I am pretty much convinced that drop shotting would be a lot more effective from a tube or a boat as I can't really get the "verticle" presentation that I was looking for from the shore.
Next I tried throwing a strike king rocket shad spinner bait , but nothing
Next, I tried a Rapala DT16. This was a bad choice in that it dives way too deep for shore fishing and I was pretty well fighting to keep it from hanging up on the rocks the whole time.
I was getting pretty discouraged (still having fun though) when I put on a firetiger Shad Rap shallow diver and on my first cast WHAM! Caught my first small mouth ever. I can definitly see what all the fuss is about. I thought I had a big ole fish, but it turned out to be about a 15 inch smallie. It definitly fought every bit as hard as the 5lb stripers down at Powell. It was awesome. The only trouble I had was as I was pulling it into shore I looked down and right at my feet was a freakin' snake!!! Probably about 20 inches long, very non-venomous looking, but being as I turn into a little girl when I see snakes I had to run away. Luckily, the fish was cooperative and I got him in anyway. I thought about keeping him (as it was my first smallie and I didn't have a camera) but decided that that was a stupid idea and I threw him back to make babies.
I did notice that there were lots of little baby perch swimming around, often trailing my lures. I wonder if the bass are eating them and therefore less interested in fake food. It also probably explains why I had success with the shad rap in the fire tiger. I am eager to get a perch pattern and try it out. I also wonder if same similarly sized swim baits would be effective.
Anyway, there is my report, the quest has begun. Thanks again to everyone, and I am always happy to get more info.
[signature]
Posts: 3,536
Threads: 1
Joined: Jul 2003
Reputation:
0
Hey trollboy great report and Welcome to Bass fishing!!!!
By the way, it's good that you let that bass go, because if you'll check the fishing proclamation on the "Provisions for Specific Waters" section, under Deer Creek, you'll note that it states that all bass over 12 inches must be immediately released. You can only keep bass under 12 inches at Utah Lake, Deer Creek (I think Jordanelle too).
[signature]
Posts: 744
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2006
Reputation:
0
I knew there were restrictions on bass, wasn't sure exactly how big. Truth is that I never really considered keeping it, other than to avoid going down and being attacked by the anaconda down by the shore. I pretty much only keep stripers from powell, where they want you to take them. As I have mentioned in other posts, I don't even really like fish--except to catch them. Catman, did you go to Salem Pond this week?
[signature]
Posts: 3,536
Threads: 1
Joined: Jul 2003
Reputation:
0
Not this saturday no. I went a week ago and caught a nice little channel cat that became a yummy sunday dinner, but 2 days ago I spent planting flowers and veggies in the garden.
[signature]
Posts: 744
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2006
Reputation:
0
I should also mention that I try to make a point of reading through the Proclamation every so often and always have it with me. Of course, this trip I didn't have it. As you could imagine, this was the one time I have ever been asked by another angler about regulations along the Provo, and I, of course, didn't have my proclamation to give him the exact rules. I did, however, refer him to BFT and the DWR.
[signature]
Posts: 3,536
Threads: 1
Joined: Jul 2003
Reputation:
0
Nice work. The more the merrier around here. [cool]
[signature]
Posts: 6,353
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2006
Reputation:
0
Nice job on the smallie! Wait till you get a biggun!
Alright, i have a confession to make. It might sound far fetched or even silly, but i too am deathly afraid of snakes. I hate them so bad i can't even watch them on tv or look at them in a magazine. Ask yper how the handfull of stainless 3" screws felt in the face when he chased me with a dead water snake. I will go out of my way to kill them or render them immobile. Laugh it up guys but i can't help it.
Anyway, i am going to pineview next week to check on the tigers and smallies. I will post a report hopefully with some fish being caught.
[signature]
Posts: 744
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2006
Reputation:
0
Yeah, I hate snakes. I am really interested in your Pineview report and what you do to ket the muskies. Can't wait for your report.
[signature]
Posts: 6,353
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2006
Reputation:
0
Keep watchin. When it's time, i'll take ya if ya want.
[signature]
Posts: 744
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2006
Reputation:
0
Sounds great. And I promise not to dangle a dead snake in front of you.
[signature]
|
