Hey guys, I’m starting channel catfish in utah lake and I want to use cut bait. The fish that I want to use are white bass, carp, chubs, and suckers. Can any one tell me what is the best way to catch a lot in little time. Abd also I fish at pelican bay marina, on the west side of the lake.
Thank you.
I use chubs a lot i get mine from scofield they are good for cats.I am probably heading up there this weekend .If you use a net you can get a years supply in one cast hope this helps.
I came across an irrigation intake “pool” off the main waters that was loaded with carplets and minnows. Fresh water flowing in - oxygenated, but also protected some from the main waters.
I’d expect you could find the same sort of thing. A cast net can load you up (filled a cooler in a couple really bad casts…) or just a dipping net with a small enough mesh (my cast net is 1/4")
TD has some good write-ups on collecting and storing minnows. If you don’t want to invest in a cast net, you can get or make a minnow trap pretty easy (even a plastic soda bottle can to it. But the lid, reverse it, tape it on - the “cone” lets them in, makes it hard to find their way out.)
Chubs are where you find them…and it is getting tougher to find them within a short drive of the Wasatch Front. Strawberry used to be a good minnow spot…both for chubs and redside shiners. But the cutties have been doing their job and it is more difficult to find harvestable chubs. Scofield seems to be the best spot widely available. But the little lakes in Deer Valley also have lots of chubs.
**Baby carp are available around Utah Lake from about the first of July…but they use the reeds for cover and are tough to find and catch. Sometimes right off the boat ramps early in the morning can be a good place to set minnow traps or cast a net. Problem is there are often some big carp in there too. Pretty well tore up my good net on one trip last year when I got three big carp in my 1/4" mesh net on one throw. **
Starting about the first of August you can catch grundles of baby white bass…3" to 4" long…all around the lake but especially inside harbors. You can see them taking midges off the top of the water on calm mornings. Use a couple of tiny flies or small jigs to catch them by the bucket full and then freeze them in packages of a half dozen for use later.
You cannot keep suckers from Utah Lake…nor can you use sucker meat for bait there. But there are quite a few Utah Rivers and lakes that have mountain suckers or Utah suckers that you can catch, freeze and use for bait where legal.