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I haven't ice fished Utah Lake yet this year so I ran down there saturday with my buddy and his son.
What a treat, we couldn't believe the number and size of blues we caught!
In just barely over 2 hours we figured we caught right around 40 bluegill and one crappie.
All fish came from an ice fly below a Kastmaster or a Rattln Flyer. Bait of choice was a waxie.
Are they normally this size? Years ago all we caught were little 3 and 4 inchers.
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Thanks for the report. That is a nice lookin gill there.[cool]
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Most have been small this year. You found a good spot. I would love to catch a bunch that size. I have been fishing mostly for the white bass this year and they are small too. If you don't mind me asking, what harbor? If you don't want to tell the world where you were I understand. Looks like a great day. Those pan fish are a lot of fun through the ice.
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Fatty gills anywhere! Some great eating. Dunk in corn meal and fry. Def jealous and would love to put some gill and crappie in the freezer. Great catch and great photos. Congrats!
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Just barely outside of AF harbor. Action died abruptly at 11:30.
All fish are still swimming, we didn't keep any.
Have fun.
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No kidding? Well I have to say respect for letting them go. Most people wouldn't. I can say with honesty that I probably would have kept a few for a meal but have a lot of respect for anyone that's let's them go as well. Good on ya!
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Nice report, Shane, and nice catch. A sight for sore ice fishing eyes this winter. 40 gills like that, and you didn't even have to drive to Pelican. Good for you.
How thick was the ice? And deep were you?
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Lucky. I haven't seen that kind of action on utah lake for a long time.
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Ice in the harbor area lately is 13-16"
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[quote Flyfishinglover]I haven't seen that kind of action on utah lake for a long time.[/quote]
+1
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Like others have said, it depends. I think we have been spoiled because of the good water levels in years past. I caught a 10 inch male gill a couple of springs ago. That isn't the biggest gill I've seen out of Utah Lake either but it is the biggest male I have ever caught. I watched what may have been the new Utah record bluegill get put back into the water. It was over 11 inches (I think the record is 11.5) and took a spinner bait my buddy was using to catch bass. I would have to say that last summer was only ok as far as size of gills during the spawn. I like to keep gills that are 7-8 inches long and put back the females that are 8+. I believe there are still a lot of good gills in Utah Lake. The trick will be finding them with low water.
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Great work. Much nicer than Pelican's skinny parasite-infected 'gills. Hat's off to releasing them. I would have been frying them up for sure!
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[quote brookieguy1]Great work. Much nicer than Pelican's skinny parasite-infected 'gills. Hat's off to releasing them. I would have been frying them up for sure![/quote]
I'm sure it may happen, but I've never found parasites in UL bluegills. UL is definitely underrated for jumbo gills.
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Mike, I didn't measure exactly but my guess was ice was closer to 18 or 20 inches. I think the flutes on my auger are 24" tall and there was only 4 or 5 inches sticking out when I punched through. Of course there is the small pile of ice chips around the auger that could have thrown my guess off a little.
We were in 4-4.5' fow.
Bites were fairly lite, a spring bobber was necessary for detection on most of the fish.
It sounds like we got lucky, the three of us almost tripled a couple of times.
I was running two poles and missed multiple fish while trying to babysit both poles.
We must have drilled right on top of a school.
One thing I know helped our success is we were very quiet.
I think being quiet is underrated by a lot of ice fisherman.
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[quote brookieguy1]Great work. Much nicer than Pelican's skinny parasite-infected 'gills. Hat's off to releasing them. I would have been frying them up for sure![/quote]
+100 [  ][ ][ ]
Bluegill have to be one of my favorite to release into the grease...
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Boy you must have got lucky! Tried all over south of the harbor mouth as well as just east of the harbor mouth and not a bite! It was very shallow, 4ft like you said. Was there a pressure ridge when you were there? Some really thin ice too near the ridge, and shoreline, plenty of places to get wet lol. I measured the ice at only around six inches in most of the holes I checked, I figured the ice pack would be like 2 ft thick but looks like ice out sooner than I thought! It will start moving in a few days seems like what with this wind and warmth.
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[quote Fin_Addict]No kidding? Well I have to say respect for letting them go. Most people wouldn't. I can say with honesty that I probably would have kept a few for a meal but have a lot of respect for anyone that's let's them go as well. Good on ya![/quote]
Generally panfish populations will benefit from harvest and thinning. Hence the liberal limits. C&R has its place in fisheries mgmt, but so does selecfive harvest.
Matter of choise, and I will always respect an anglers right to choose.
Just saying, keeping some panfish can actual benefit the quality of a fishery.
Nice gill, must have found a good school
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Shane one thing most aren't saying and you never would, is you are one heck of a good fisherman and I'm still benefitted by the pointers you offered freely at Willard years ago... You're kind of like TD, one of the guys that can catch fish when no one else can... Nice job.... J
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[quote CoyoteSpinner][quote Fin_Addict]No kidding? Well I have to say respect for letting them go. Most people wouldn't. I can say with honesty that I probably would have kept a few for a meal but have a lot of respect for anyone that's let's them go as well. Good on ya![/quote]
Generally panfish populations will benefit from harvest and thinning. Hence the liberal limits. C&R has its place in fisheries mgmt, but so does selecfive harvest.
Matter of choise, and I will always respect an anglers right to choose.
Just saying, keeping some panfish can actual benefit the quality of a fishery.
Nice gill, must have found a good school[/quote]
I get how harvest is used as a conservation tool and can be good for panfish populations. What I was referring to is my experience in many parts of the country with people catching and keeping as many as they can and then throwing meat out later after not eating them. It happens more often than it doesn't. That's why I was saying good on him for releasing them although I would have kept 5 or ten for a meal but no more than I could eat.
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Skunked,
That was a very kind compliment, thank you!
Shane
P.S. I still count on luck a lot!
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