I catch walleyes in all the same places as you probably do… I am not referring to the fight or the lack thereof. I am referring to the mortality rate.
One time I caught a huge walleye and put on the boat and he was breathing air for at least five to 10 minutes, and I thought well, he isn’t gonna die, so I put it back in the water, slowly to refill his gills to breath normally once more, and he swam off without hesitation. You cannot say the same thing for trout! That’s why I used the terminology “energizer bunny”. Try it, you will see the difference between trout and eyes
I am not a trout guy… i would much rather be catching some big channels, or maybe some crapppie or large mouths but… but one thing that i cannot deny is how much i like catching those big cutts at the berry. that i mostly where i fish for trout.
JOe
I’m in Taylorsville. Wow, your right near UT Lake. Last Summer I would drive up to Lindon or AMF every other day or so for some LargeMouth action. You don’t have to go far at all. Lucky You[:)]
GEPaul>>One time I caught a huge walleye and put on the boat and he was breathing air for at least five to 10 minutes, and I thought well, he isn’t gonna die, so I put it back in the water, slowly to refill his gills to breath normally once more, and he swam off without hesitation. You cannot say the same thing for trout!
Delayed mortality is a big unknown when any fish is released. You caught a big female walleye, left it sitting in your boat for 5-10 minutes, then put her back in the water? That fish may have swum off, but you can be sure she died soon thereafter.
Tiger muskies require special care when caught to keep them healthy. But that doesn’t make them less worthy of our respect. Striped bass die within minutes of being put in a livewell, but they’re still one of my favorite gamefish to pursue. I think there are better criteria for the validity of a gamefish than heartiness.
Personally, I love the pursuit of all gamefish and regard them all with admiration. And I try to educate myself on how to treat them all so the ones I release will live to swim another day.
I’ve spent my whole life fishing for a number of species ranging from crappie to 30+ pound lake trout using various tactics and I must say fishing in all its varieties is wonderful.
I tend to fish differnt species in cycles throughout the year. During the winter I’ll be found ice fishing at strawberry or some other local reservor. Come spring time from mid-march thru April I’ll be standing in one of the local rivers (Green, Provo, Weber, Ogden…) floating flies to rising trout. Come May I’m chucking spinner baits and crankbaits to muskie or bass, with a trip or two to Flaming Gorge for hog Macs. The summer months June, July, and August, I’ll either be fishing the Gorge for Macs, Smallies, & Koks, the Green River for nice bows and browns, or some High Unitas Lake for brookies. September thru December, I’m usually hunting with an occasional fishing trip mixed in.
I like varitey! There all fun to catch!!!
However, I would agree that LMB & SMB are great fun. A few years back my brother and I were fishing for muskie when we happened to work into an area loaded with bucket mouths. We spent about an hour catching nice fish all in the 18-20 inch range. It was a fun change of pace.
In closing let me say this; large muskie are the only species of fish that have increased my heart rate to the point that my legs and arms are shacking with the sheer thrill of seeing a 40-50 inch fish on the end of my line.
“In closing let me say this; large muskie are the only species of fish that have increased my heart rate to the point that my legs and arms are shacking with the sheer thrill of seeing a 40-50 inch fish on the end of my line.”
Haven’t caught many large muskie, my largest and my smallest was only 34 inches, but it still gave me a good thrill. Having a 6 or 7 foot + white sturgeon doing tail dances gets my heart pumping and my legs and arms shaking.
i love hooking into those big brutes, sometimes i get so nervous while fighting the big brutes that my knuckles on my hands turn white, my knees start to ach, and i get goose bumps up my neck and back. i catch muskies for the thrill of having a fish on the end of my line that can have speed bursts up to 60mph. a fish that can do that is worthy in my book.
it always cracks me up that we have a threat like this at least once a week either bashing trout or a competition on the mightiest fish. i thought after so much debate we all would have came to a conclusion by now.
Twice last year up at Jordanelle, we hit for between 80-100 large mouth in a day. Unfortunately, all were in the 4"- 8" range, just west of the main boat docks. Not bad for only 2 people, but they really don’t get that fight in them until about 13"-15". If you tip your jig or spinner with a worm, it really helps up there. I’ve noticed the Largemouth like those worms, where as the bows go for the jig tipped with powerbait, pretty much without fail. Just thought I’d let you know, they are in there. Hope this helps.
As far as peoples opinion on what type of fish they like. Whoever said this was an arguement is way off. What Ive read in this thread is people stating wich type of fish they like. Nothing wrong with that. I would agree if people were arguing or being ignorant. As far as the bass go they are definitely my favorite. There are largemouth in both jordanelle and deercreek as well as alot of smallmouth. But I still love catching huge trout also. I would agree with the guy who said smallmouth are pound for pound the toughest fish next to a wiper. I am just thankful for the opportunities to fish for bass all over the state. Fish for what you like and you will be having fun. I was once a trout type of guy but once I discovered the world of bass fishing I spend more time that ever fishing. Peace and good fishing
