Mixed Bag @ Deer Creek

Utah Fishing Reports & Discussion Utah Fishing General
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This week has been a pretty fun one. With my ‘vacation’ withering down to its bitter end (picking up my wife tonight - working tomorrow), every free second has been viewed as an opportunity to drag the kids out to another fishing hole.:sunglasses:

After Yuba on Monday, I picked James up from school on Tuesday and hit the Provo for an hour at the Murdock diversion while the kids played at the park. I caught three little browns and missed a few more. That was fun.

Yesterday (Wednesday), James got out of school early and after some lunch, I readied our gear and we went to Deer Creek Reservoir. Hoping for some quick rainbows, we were disappointed by a little bay I usually have better luck at.

After getting skunked for a couple of hours, I consulted the kid committee about moving to another spot and they were just happy to change the scenery. We pounded boots and went to plan B, where my first cast landed a tiny largemouth:

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While releasing that, another angler asked how we were doing. To my surprise, we weren’t alone in this tucked away spot and a fellow forum member (Nice to meet you, jamon_negro!) greeted us and was more than happy to share the spot.

He had been catching some perch, rainbow, and even a couple of crappie. Excited to get in on the fun, we started casting.

My initial luck had run out and I didn’t get any fish to hand for a little while, but eventually started getting bit. A good sized perch took a worm off the bottom and met its fate:

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Soon after, I was getting into the crappie, which I hadn’t caught since I was probably 6 years old. Most were released, but a couple were hooked deeply and I figured some bite size fillets would be fun to try.

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A splash to my peripheral right prompted me to let some air into my bubble and hang the worm closer to the surface, which got eaten quickly by 2 rainbows and a few more crappie. The rainbows were mean and fought energetically. At least, that’s what it seemed like to me, after catching perch and crappie.

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We stayed for awhile, releasing quite a few crappie, but trying for more perch. Long after my daughter was ready to leave, I finally gave in and we marched back to the car with a healthy dinner on the stringer.

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Some pics of the prepared fillets was something I had in mind, but the kids snarfed them down too quickly (okay I helped). I was sneaky and breaded the fillets from one of the trout in little strips and they didn’t even notice.:laughing:

We ate well and it was great to find a crappie hole in DC. Had I known they were so easy to fillet, I would’ve kept a lot more! Maybe next time, if I can find them.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

2

sounds like a great day! I never have good days at DC unless its on the ice.

3

Cool! Had no idea there were crappie in DC, probably the only fish species from there I haven’t caught. Oh, browns…I haven’t caught browns in DC yet.

So glad you had a fun day with the kids!

4

Great report LOAH…nice to see some crappie and perch being brought out of DC…as well as some “from shore” Rainbow Trout. Crappie taste great…same with perch. Nice stringer shot BTW. With the mixed bag you got there, if it were just pictures, people would think you were at Utah Lake! Thanks for posting.

5

Thats one fat perch!

6

Can anyone tell me when the crappie first showed up in DC I didn’t even know they were in there ?

TubeDude ?

7

they crappie have been in east canyon for atleast 5 years but they have just started to get caught a little more than usual in the last year, year and a half. I was catching rainbow trout in 2008 ice fishing that had been gorging on silver dollar crappies. not sure where they came from but im sure its the bucket biologists, but jordanelle has them aswell as East Canyon, maybe theres someone going around putting them in all these lakes cause it sure beats me i have no clue where exaclty

tightlines

8

So there in Jordanelle also ! Freaking bucket biologists are out of control lol.

9

yep ive seen o few on this site out of there and a friend of my dad caught a ton one day a few years back, its only a matter of time till DC booms with the crappie like East canyon has, cause in the last year they are sure showing up more and more, but i wouldnt mind that, and it surprises me that the white bass in deer creek havnt done much but the crappie are compared to the WB, wierd man

tightlines

10

I started catching crappie out of deer creek about fifteen years ago. Will pick up one or two every now and then but they have never really took a foot hold in there.

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It was great to finally meet the legand that is LOAH! That is definately a fun little fishing hole. I was surprised by a few things yesterday; catching so many crappie and catching the skinny dippers when I first got there. I wound up with six 8-10" perch and one crappie for dinner. Hope to meet you again while wetting a fishing line.

12

Nice to meet you too! Thanks for the hospitality as we invaded your spot.:laughing:

13

…maybe theres someone going around putting them in all these lakes cause it sure beats me i have no clue where exaclty

tightlines

The DWR put them in Echo.

14

so the DWR planted all the crappie in say EC, DC jordanelle and echo? thats crazy i had no idea about echo except for perch. cool though.

tightlines

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I doubt that DWR is the source of the Crappie in both Deer Creek and East Canyon. Deer Creek has been one of the traditional Rainbow fisheries, one they stock heavyily to allow a large harvest. In additon, you already have perch, walleye, LMB and SMB in Deer Creek, and no forage species, so adding Crappie would not be a move they would make. Both of these are Bucket Biologist moves as are the Bullheads and White Bass in Deer Creek.

16

“Biologists at the DWR that I have talked to about the bass in EC have all said that they were illegally stocked in there. The DWR goes farther to say that they will not do anything to protect the bass in EC because they don’t want them in there.
This also applies to Crappie”

So they were illegally stocked in East Canyon…although they were purposefully stocked in Echo Reservoir. Of interest…I did read a report of a Kokanee coming out of EC…wonder if that is like the BS report of a Laker in Utah Lake?

17

there have been kokes in EC years back but i havnt heard anything being caught in a while. when i was a kid i used to go to the inlet and watch them come up the river in a red mass, pretty cool.

tightlines

18

I believe that East Canyon was one of the original stoking sites for Kokes, but when the SMB and Crappie showed up, they quit stocking Kokes. At one time it was a pretty good fishery for the Kokes and they also would take eggs during the fall spawning run. All that is shot to hell now. I believe the only places they take eggs now is Strawberry and Flaming Gorge

19

We caught crappies and blugill both from dc in the early 80s.

I think the warm water fish of the last few years are a direct result of high water and good habitat for them. Those crappies and especially the lmb need some brush/vegitAtion