Vi and I want to get away from the catfish for two or three days and are thinking about Panguitch Lake. We know nothing about the area but would like to give it a try.
Would anyone be kind enough to offer any suggestions: fishing and camping. What should I be looking at as far as fishing takle, anything special? Is there camping at or close by the lake?
Thanks You,
RJ
You have lots of options up there. This is a nice time of year to get up on the hill.
Fishing would be your standard trout setup, whether that be powerbait, nightcrawlers, flies, or spinners. There is quite a bit of shoreline access around the reservoir.
As for camping, what are you looking for? Primitive vs. campground?
There are two campgrounds: Panguitch Lake campground on the south west side of the like and White Bridge campground downstream (on the stream) below the lake.
If you prefer prmitive camping, you can take any number of different Forest roads from the lake and find a spot – just make sure you take a look at a map so that you know where private land is vs. public – there is a lot of private in this area. There is also a lot of public.
Great time of year to be fishing up there. We’ve gone twice in the last month, but we fly fish…100 fish days between the 2 of us, most quality at or over 20". Good thing about fly fishing is you can fish shallow between the weed beds. That’s where the big fish hang, especially the big tigers. You just can’t effectively spin/bait fish in those areas, too many snags. Our biggest fish have come in 2-3’ of water. We’ll be back up there next weekend. Good luck!
Thanks for a great post, hope your ice lasts longer than it is up here… I can’t believe how fast it is fading this year… I thought we’d be on ice till April, now I’m not sure if next weekend will be an option… Maybe higher elevations will save the season… Later J
We had slush in the Narrows but only broke thru to above the ankle. You’re right about the packed sled trails though.
Nice job Mike…sounds like a good adventure for u and the boys…for panfish, I rank crappie right up there next to perch for an amazing fish fry…a little splash of Malt Vinegar…mighty fine eatin’…
Thanks for the update. I’m contemplating one last trip myself. Maybe Fri night…
I hadn’t fished Pineview for about 3 weeks (been concentrating on perch at RP), but the crappie were calling me back. The time change helped too since I didn’t have to cut out early from work. My son and I arrived about 6:45 and were set up in 45 FOW by 7:15. Fish were all over between 20-40 feet down. My son caught 3 right off the bat while I was drilling holes and setting up the tent to get out of the RAIN. The bite was pretty good until about 8:30, then it slowed but was still fairly consistent until about 10:30. To be successful, you had to “chase” the fish. I caught them 5 feet off the bottom up to 25 feet off bottom and all points in between. If a certain group of fish were not interested, I’d drop or raise to another group and lightly jig then dead stick for a few minutes before starting the process over. This “active” fishing was far more productive then just hammering a certain depth and waiting for a fish to finally get interested. Tally was 15 for me and 8 for my son. I caught my last fish at 11pm and then pulled up stakes. Fish were still there though. Favorite lure was the tried and true silver Hali with a red spot and the glow bead on the hook. Early on my son caught them on demon spins but that tailed off too. Caught a few others on a chartreuse rat finke. Yellow crappie nibbles for bait. I tried some white nibbles but they had no interest in those.
Now for the interesting part. ice is still plenty good. Edges were solid - no water ring. Ice is 12-14” of cloudy ice over 8-9” of clear. Slush was not an issue either. This warm weather will surely change thing quickly, so if u need one last fling, best not
wait!
