Chubmeat !!

[rahmaster]

Where can a person get some chubs near Salt Lake ??? Thanks for some help !![]
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[johnnycake]

My err, friend, uhhh likes to hit to golden corral Tuesdays at happy hour
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[FlavorDave]

Sportsman's Warehouse should have some.
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[rahmaster]

I mean to catch !!! Where can a person go to catch some chubs . They seem to be getting harder to find . Thanks
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[FlavorDave]

Scofield is my go-to, although that is a bit of a drive.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]You are right. It is getting harder to find any to catch. I got a few earlier this year and they were the first I have been able to find in three years. The drought has dried up some spots and made the chubs move elsewhere in others. No guarantees.

Not only that, you will have a tough time getting anybody to tell you about their fave spots on a public forum...or even person to person. There are some spots many people know about (like Scofield) but the little creeks and ponds that sometimes hold chubs are kept secret by those who know them.

I know from personal experience that all you have to do is tell ONE person...who swears to never tell anybody else. Then the next time you go the area is trashed and there are no chubs left to catch.

Then there are the "sleeper" spots...like Farmington Bay. In years past there would be truckloads of chubs and carp minnows available when they dropped the water levels in the fall. But with the lower water overall they just poisoned it all. No more minnows.
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[Old_Coot]

[quote FlavorDave]Sportsman's Warehouse should have some.[/quote]

But they don't!
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[gripy111]

The Cuts are no where near cleaning them out of the Berry.
There's tons of them in late spring on the east side of the lake.
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[SkunkedAgain]

I've noticed even regular rivers that used to have way too many of them, don't seem to have any, any more. Just when we learn how to put them to use they disappear. Wonder if that will ever happen to carp? Wish the carp minnows were as preferred as the chubs. Hey I also noticed my fathead minnow spots are totally vacant of fatheads last fall and this spring. I usually find thousands this time of year and I don't see a single one this year. Oh, no married ones either. I know you don't like the fatheads that much, but I found crappie sure do. Is this something that runs in cycles, even if the water levels are about the same? I didn't used to pay attention to minnows like I do now days, so I'm trying to build some history here. Smallmouth have also come on stronger in the same timeframe, can they wipe out minnow populations to the point they won't recover? That fishery balancing act is a tough thing to figure out. Later J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Minnows fluctuate with water levels and weather patterns. When there is plenty of water and plenty of food they explode in numbers. But when water levels drop they are more subject to predation from birds and other critters...including human minnow hunters.

The good news is that it only takes a very few survivors to completely repopulate a minnow depleted area. Over the course of several decades I have seen multiple boom-bust cycles...including some lakes where the minnow populations were completely eliminated by predators.

Smallmouths are one of the biggest predators on small fish. They pretty well wiped out the population of chubs in both Starvation and now Jordanelle. Both of those lakes once had so many chubs you couldn't catch anything else. Ditto for Flaming Gorge. All of these lakes went through a cycle of losing all of the young of the year chubs to predation. Eventually you only saw a few huge survivor chubs...which kept spawning each year until they too died out.

I suspect that if you see a drop in minnow numbers and a corresponding increase in smallmouths there might be a connection.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Pat,
So hopefully there will be a rebound coming soon... Looks like water levels should be better this year, hope that will help... Later J
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[BULLOCK9]

I haven't seen chubs at Sportsman's in over a year!! just shiners.
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[HD7000]

Farmington Cabela's will probably have some on Thursday but I bet they are sold out by the 22nd!
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[rahmaster]

WOW !!!! Lost Creek had some a few years back but now even they are gone . Who would have thought that Chubs would be hard to find . Thank goodness for Scofield !!! Strawberry has them but not when you are looking for them. I have send schools of big chubs at Strawberry but small ones seem to getting eaten by the Cutthroat's . Thanks for all the comments !
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Probably one of the closest spots to get chubs near Salt Lake is Deer Valley. There are several small ponds up there that sometimes have lots of chubs and small pond carp...and goldfish. Always hit or miss for me. I have had some good trips and some zip trips.

The one thing that could complicate things this year is that they are being made a part of the community ponds program...with a 2 fish limit. Might have to get some clarification on whether it is still legal to harvest chubs there....and with a cast net or minnow trap.
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[Snowman1013]

I have to agree that Scofield is probably your best bet. Last year trying to catch ice off down there me and a friend probably caught 50+ chubs in a couple hours tops, just dangling a worm under a bobber, even when the sun was going down we threw out some light up bobbers and they were still taking it just as fast as we could get it out there! Could have fished all night catching those little suckers!
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