UL White Bass @ The Knolls

[FishKillr]

Hit UL this afternoon with my kiddo @ 1:30 PM. Saw Tubedude and Tubebabe loading their catches into their car. As we arrived, they pulled out. Met up with Roghet and his son at the Knolls for some white bass fun. As the water warmed...so did the fish....moved in nice N shallow. We fished for 2 hours then called it a good "day".

Happy Fishing
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[fishing4thehog]

So what was the hot lure ?? Thinking in heading out there sun.. thanks
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[Kevin_VanDam]

Do any of you Utah Lake regulars know if there are more white bass at the knolls than other parts of the lake? I'm coming from up north so I don't want to make the trip unless there's a good chance of catching fish.

[FishKillr]

I am far from an expert but.....

White bass are in pretty much any area with the features of the Knolls....Rocks, reeds, brush and such. These spots are also found at all harbors....if the fish are around harbors...then the fishing will be great, if they are not then it will be bad...same goes for the Knolls, could be hit or miss depending on the day and time of day. I would say that if you do not know the area that well, that you would have just as good of a chance up north at a harbor as you would at the knolls.
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[FishKillr]

They liked the standard stuff...hot pink sparkle with white or black or anything chartreuse. 1.5-2" jigs, small heads to avoid snags. Location and finding fish was much more important than color and once we found them I would have bet any color would have worked just fine. During the spawn we use plain jig heads and they hammer them in all colors.
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[WingNutt]

Is AF harbor open for launching boats?

Heard rumor it's closed do to flooding...

Was planning to hit it tomorrow.
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[copple2]

Nice work FishKiller! Happy eating!

copple2
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[FishKillr]

I dont know about AF, havent visited for a while. I would just swing by and see tho.
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[1ManWolfpack]

My Dad and bro launched at the AF harbor yesterday. Didn't say anything about it being closed or having problems. Think you should be fine.
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[Jmaze]

How many hours did it take to clean all those whiteys?
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[WingNutt]

[quote 1ManWolfpack]My Dad and bro launched at the AF harbor yesterday. Didn't say anything about it being closed or having problems. Think you should be fine.[/quote]


Thanks for the info
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[FishKillr]

About 30 Mins. We have an electric knife and you can get the 2 fillets and skin them in under a minute per fish once you get rolling it is more like 30 seconds a fish.
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[WingNutt]

Anybody know what depth them kitties are in with this warmer weather?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The last two trips to the Knolls we have had the best action in about 7' of water. We tried both shallower and deeper yesterday but did not get any bites anywhere else. However, I got several cats in about 4' of water last week at Lincoln Beach, but it was in the back of a cove that had warmer water than the open lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Once the water stays above about 65 degrees the cats will move right in along the shoreline and you can catch them in about 3-4 feet of water...especially around rocks and reeds where they will be setting up housekeeping soon.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It will be a while before the cats spawn this year. Fish from the last two weeks have eggs that are still very small and undeveloped.[/#0000ff]
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[Roghet]

You sure got a knack for them whities, and your avatar name is apropos. [] I tried to get in as shallow as you with my boat and I'm sure glad I had my "Utah Lake prop" on. Got me a nice ding in it. [crazy]

(Hey TD, I wondered if that was you over there. Conman and I arrived just before Shawn, and I didn't think it would be ideal to motor over and find out fer sure. Not without me knowing if my boat had been sprayed with skunk and didn't want to share my disease or mess up any good mojo you might have goin' on! [])

Always a pleasure to fish with you FK! It never ceases to amaze me that we can cast in the same spot as you and not get as many bass just a few feet away! We ended up with enough bass for our taste buds though. [] We stayed longer after you left - as conditions changed and we did likewise with tactics.

I was disappointed that the water hadn't warmed by when we arrived (58), and just barely got to 63 when the winds kicked up to white caps and we headed home.

Anyway, to tell how we ended up, the last trip to the Knolls I had a cat pole out deeper soaking bait and it was left untouched. But this trip I pulled it in to move the boat and the bait was gone. I chucked another out to sit on the bottom and on the deep side of the boat we kept casting for bass in shallow. I got this strong pull and it didn't feel like a bass. I keep reeling and I pulled in the string from my other pole! I wondered how long he'd been swimming around with the string in his mouth, but we never saw tugs on the cat pole.

Finally, my first kitty of the year!

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So, growing weary of sporadic single (male) whites, we rigged other poles for cats and started paying attention to them. Good move. The wind seemed to carry the bait to one area and we kept getting inquiries. Boy, we really had to finesse 'em, and we missed as many as we got (4) in trying to figure out when to set the hook and when to let them run. Fortunately, my son got his first walleye ever! What a nice (20") treat for him! [cool]
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I thought it would be an unusual day, with this interesting double rainbow off the clouds from the sun.

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It was a beautiful day out. Not quite what we expected, but it did teach me first hand that each day of fishing is about figuring the fish out and having more than one plan to find out what works. We've never got us a "grand slime" of 4 species. But we got the bases loaded with a triple threat! []
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[Roghet]

[quote fishing4thehog]So what was the hot lure ?? Thinking in heading out there sun.. thanks[/quote]

I would have to concur that with the low visibility in murky water, it's tough to beat the red and chartreuse (opaque not transparent). I got some on black and chartreuse as well.
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[WingNutt]

[quote TubeDude]
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[#0000ff]Once the water stays above about 65 degrees [/#0000ff][/quote]



Wow crazy spring we are having.Water temps still low for this time of year...


Oh well,I'll still head out tomorrow.A bad day on the water is still a better than a day of yard work!

Thanks for the info
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[FishKillr]

Great to hear that your other boy got an eye as well.....now you see what is meant by "more are caught by accident than on purpose in UL". We usually get an eye about once a month messing around with the whities during the summer months.

"I tried to get in as shallow as you with my boat and I'm sure glad I had my "Utah Lake prop" on. Got me a nice ding in it. [img]../../../images/gforum/crazy.gif[/img]

Yeah, I love my little boat for getting right in there close and not having to worry at all. I think that they were following it a ton yesterday, and committing to bite once it reached the shallows and they were not doing that as much out deeper. Great to see you with a kitty and hope that the coming weeks months hold many for us! See ya next week somewhere!
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[Tyler_T]

Has anyone been down to Lincon Beach? Just wondering how the conditions were to launch a boat?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The ends of the dikes are just about submerged but plenty of ramp available...until further notice. When I was there last week there were no channel marker buoys at the ends. Hope you know the contour of the ends of the dike so you can miss the long rock ledge at the end of the south dike. A good plan is to bend to the NE at the end and head toward Provo (Timpanogos) for a few yards before changing course east or west. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You might see an ark being built in the parking lot. What's a cubit?[/#0000ff]
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