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[#0000FF]I talked to Danny...manager at Lindon Boat Harbor...this morning. He advised that the road closure due to construction will be open "within 10 days"...as per the road crew supervisor. Until then it is still advisable to use the Vineyard road access because the one line opening is subject to frequent closures while working.
He also advises that there are very few white bass showing up around the harbor and that those he has seen have all been skinny. That corresponds with my own catches and those of others from whom I have had reports. And the skinny fish are not producing eggs or milt and are not schooling up for a spawning run.
In talking with DWR folks at the open house in Riverton last night I also heard that there are few if any white bass going up the Provo River to spawn. That is almost unheard of. They are usually thick in the lower river this time of year, but there are none showing up in the catch nets placed there for the returning June suckers.
Last year's low water in Utah Lake...and poor runoff...really hit the white bass spawn. Fewer young and no reeds in deep enough water to provide cover. Tough on the bluegills and crappies too. Little food and harder to find it meant that the white bass did not feed well.
The TEMPORARY upside is that the walleyes and catfish have been well fed...with the ailing white bass throughout the lake. But if the white bass crash...like they did in the drought about 10 years ago...then the predators will suffer too. I still remember catching walleyes that had big heads and skinny bodies...hammer handles.
There will be some healthy whities that develop eggs and milt and bring off some kind of spawn. And it does not take many to keep up a population. But the lake would be healthier if the water levels could come up a couple of feet.
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The weird thing is, and what I don't understand, is that water levels have been waaaay lower than this in many past years yet the whities were not even close to as skinny and spawned nevertheless. Granted the lake is low but not incredibly so as I have seen in past decades. Something really went wrong with whitie forage and I can't pinpoint it. There was a good spawn last spring. Millions and millions of 4 inch whites at the provo mouth last august. Just as many off the boat ramps in every harbor. Should have been plenty of little whites to munch on. Bluegill and crappie were quite healthy throughout the winter, good girth on them so plankton counts must be okay. Lmb on the skinny side, some of them. Walleye.....extreme obesity! There is a HUGE year class of 2 yr old fish in the lake now at about 8 inches but if food doesn't appear quick they will die. Sad. A good snowpack next winter may be too late if food doesn't miraculously grow over the summer. Maybe too much spraying for midges by the developments who knows.
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[cool][#0000FF]You probably catch more white bass than any other ten Utah Lake anglers. So you are in a position to observe conditions and to make reasonable evaluations. I make my observations based upon my own lesser take of white bass and what I see and hear from other sources.
My read on the poor feeding was that it was the first year in the last several years that the shoreline phrags and reeds were left exposed so early in the season. That messed up the "buffet" usually created by the fry of all species crowding in for protection...and the predators being able to use that cover as a grocery store.
Young white bass were scattered out in the open water and the water was made murky a high percentage of the time by wind blowing on the exposed mud banks. So it was harder for the sight feeders like white bass to make a living.
The fish that had grown to footlong sizes were big enough to be able to feed on the smaller white bass. Those fish maintained their health and some grew to 14 inchers. Any white bass less than 10 inches seemed doomed to a bleak existence.
Plus, the fertile mud bottoms that produced midge larvae and leeches were also dried out early. Less food for everything up and down the food chain.
A lot of whities were in poor condition going into winter and they had no more food under the ice. A lot of stunting and shriveling going on. Plus the extra long ice cover resulted in winter kill in shallow areas like Provo Bay. Even around Lincoln Beach I observed stressed white bass floundering on the surface immediately after ice out.
I don't claim to have all the answers but I have sure learned a lot of new questions.
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I am not edumacated enough to say what has happened but I can say this is the first year in many, many years I have not seen whities do the spring fling thing. I have manged to catch a couple but not many. As noted last fall they were skinny, this spring they aint no better. Hope it dont last like this. We all turn into kids when the whities run[laugh]
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Did you do any fishing this morning?
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How about the Jordan River Whities far away from Utah Lake? Last year I was slayin them but now I haven't caught any. I wonder where they are cause my spots are still deep and there's tons of coverage.
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[#0000FF]Only by telephone. My line wasn't long enough.
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[quote FishingLunatic]How about the Jordan River Whities far away from Utah Lake? Last year I was slayin them but now I haven't caught any. I wonder where they are cause my spots are still deep and there's tons of coverage.[/quote]
[#0000FF]The white bass in the Jordan River did much better this past year than those in Utah Lake. More food and shelter for them.
You are not as likely to find them in the holes right now because the healthy ones are moving upstream to spawn in the faster running water below dams and at stream inflows. There have been quite a few good fish coming from below the control gate at inlet park. They will return to the best holding spots after spawning.
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Got into some white bass the other day and they were as big and healthy as I've seen. There's still plenty to catch.
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[#0000FF]There are areas around the lake where the feeding has been better and the white bass have survived and fed well. But generally, the larger they are the better they are able to feed on their own stunted young. It's the ones that did not feed well early in the year that are now the stunted 8 inchers...with skinny bodies.
Below is a picture of the first white bass I got this year, back in March...at the bubbleup. I only got six but they were all between 12 and 14 inches...and healthy. Two of them had smaller white bass in their stomachs.
[inline "SIX FER SUPPER.jpg"]
Since then all the white bass I have caught in and around Lindon have been much smaller. But I have had reports of healthy fish...spawners...in a couple of other areas. Glad you found some.
In previous years there were large schools of the healthy fish...all around the lake. Not so much this year.
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Nice BSU hat on the kiddo! I hope to find some whities from the bank this evening.
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It's just weird cause last year I was catchin them before this. Should you be able to see them in this fast running shallow water? I haven't been able to see any even. I've even tried fishing for them in that ause I suspected they were spawning and would be in that but I haven't found any.
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[#0000FF]Not always easy to see white bass...unless they are active and moving around. Most of the time they hold near the bottom in moving water. Even if the water is fairly clear their color makes it hard to see them. But one thing is certain...you won't see them if they are not there. How's that for fisherman's logic?
They seek out their preferred areas for their own reasons. And on any given day that could be different...according to water depth and flow, water temperatures and a few other things. Always good to have several different spots to check and a variety of lures to throw at them.
It has been a weird year for most of us. Be thankful when you find some healthy and active fish. Don't beat yourself up if you don't.
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I went to the lake yesterday and battled the wind all day but fishing was decent got 6 channels a couple dozen bull heads and later on in the afternoon tried my hand at jigging for whities and we hammered them catching easy 50 in an hour all small with the biggest being around 12'' but a good time despite the wind
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