walleye/crappie help

[mattdaddy]

Ok...I've watched a ton of videos and put my time in on these two species. I spent all day at Yuba today trying to jig and troll up a walleye. I had some success in the past but if one of you knows how to teach me I would love to have someone teach me how to do it right. Honestly I'm tired of catching trout! I can't wait for Powell next May! Any help would be great! Love the forum and thank you to everyone for making me welcome!

[fsh4fun05]

The two species that I can slay outside of Utah. It's been a long time in the making but I finally came to terms that I don't have the patience to consistently fish for walleye and be successful. I'll take the lucky days and be grateful.
Good luck in your adventures bud.
[signature]

[utwalleye]

yuba has been pretty tough for walleye the last few years, it seems the pike are the more dominate fish there now. starvation might be a better choice on even deer creek.
[signature]

[LeeC]

Why don't you try associating with the Rocky Mountain Anglers. They are a multi-species club, but focus mostly on Walleye. They are great to fish with and great to give some tips and pointers. They meet on the 2nd tuesday of each month at the FOE in Murray. If interested send me a PM and I'll give you more information
[signature]

[zman2]

was in the club years back they are great guys and if you want to catch eyes the are the best at it
[signature]

[picespursuer]

I normally concentrate on other fishes and if I catch a walleye it is a great day. Utah is a tough state for reliably catching walleye.
[signature]

[badbob]

I'm no pro. but it seems to me different lakes take different presentations. plastics, rubber or worm harnesses, sometimes I catch them when I'm targeting yellow perch or wipers. The crappie are catch able at pine view but stunted, the slabs are where you find them, most people won't share, can't blame them. Small rubber or feather jigs for them.
[signature]

[wagdog]

You've been given some good walleye advice. I'm no expert on them and don't chase them too often. I do like eating them. Crappie are a different story.

I've caught lots of crappie over the years but I haven't focused on all the bodies of water where they are present. There are black crappie in Utah Lake, Deer Creek, Pineview, Willard Bay, and Lake Powell. There are other bodies of water that I have overlooked but I can't remember all the places that hold crappie (painkillers do that to you).

I focused on Utah Lake because it is close and it holds the species of fish that I like to fish for. Even though Utah Lake looks like a big mud bowl, it holds a lot of fish and there are a lot of crappie there. I know a few guys on this board who have fished Utah Lake for longer than I have been alive and I'm sure they can pull crappie out regularly. I can do that for most of the year but getting into some with size? Well I'm not there yet. Right now you can find crappie and bluegill (and probably white bass) starting to cluster up a little around docks. Small jigs under a slip bobber are a great start. Like TubeDude says, always add a little sweetener to the hook with a chunk o' crawler. I haven't met a fish yet that doesn't like worms. This time of year I switch to small stuff. The biggest jig I would use would probably be a 1/32 oz jig. Breaking out the ice flies now isn't a bad idea.

Once the harbors ice up, you can find crappie around dock structure in places like Utah Lake State Park. It helps if you have a good sonar or flasher to show where they are holding. Crappies suspend and sometimes you dang near have to put that jig right in front of their face to get them to bite. I once caught a bucketful of crappie out of Lindon Marina and the fish were holding about 2 feet under the ice. Crazy.

The size of crappie in Utah Lake (in my LIMITED experience) is usually 8-10 inches. Most of the time they will be on the small end of that range. I have caught one solid 12 inch crappie out of Utah Lake that was fat and healthy. Since there isn't a constant supply of forage like shad for crappie (i.e. a fish that stays small year round for them to feast on), they don't get the size quickly like they would somewhere like lake powell or willard. Just my two cents. Good luck.
[signature]

[Flyfishinglover]

Dude I've pulled tons of crappie in the 10-12" range during spring time out of the great muddy lake and they sure make a good fish taco's with the nice size bluegills during spawn season. Really hope utah lake freezes up soon so I can catch some of those suckers for fish tacos again [].
[signature]

[mattdaddy]

Thanks to all for the replies. My dad fishes Utah lake all the time and catches them when they are there. I've had good days on Yuba, Starvation and Powell but I'm looking to consistently catch fish. I'm going to join Rocky Mountain Anglers...sounds like a good bunch of people that I might be able to get some good nuggets of info from!
[signature]

[wagdog]

if you are around next spring, let's go get some of those. I run into the occasional 10+ during the spawn but not very consistently!
[signature]