Would have liked to have gone out with you all. Thanks Majja for the invite. I have yet to take my new tube out–still need to go get some fins (figured I would take TD’s advice from his many postings and get some good diving fins). Also, I think it would probably be a good idea to go somewhere like Salem pond or Tibble fork and troll around for a while to get my “sea legs,” as it were. Anyway, hope to make it to the next get-together. I don’t think someone can be a “real” member of BFT Utah until they go out on a floatilla.
No prob. I also have the dive fins and love them. I use the Mares Avanti x3’s. It was fun, I cut my very first float tubing teeth on Whitney Res. Up in the Unitas in the early 90’s on my uncles Bucks so I hear ya. the smaller waters are a good choice to start.
the mares avantis are exactly what I was going to go find. Any recommendations on a dive shop in utah county?
Sometime during the summer we will be having an official “GORILLA FLOATILLA”…a night fishing trip focusing on fishing for B-I-I-I-I-I-G-G-G-G kitties. Probably sometime in mid August would be good. Let’s all work on it.
To the best of my knowledge channel cats were planted shortly after Willard Bay first filled but have never needed to be replanted since. The lake is good habitat for kitties and they generally have good spawn and recruitment. Even in the “worst” years they seem to do okay, even when the other species are struggling.
Definitely a good idea to put your system together and do a shakedown cruise before you get serious about the fishing part. If you have never tubed before, you need to learn the basics of propulsion and turning. That is more difficult for some than others. You will be pleased to find how simple it is once you have the feel and the rhythm. After that, you can focus on fishing and not on the mechanics of motation. You will also be fishing with a lot more comfort and feeling of security.
Try to hook up with someone experienced so that your first float goes smoothly. There are lots of things most of us take for granted after awhile that are completely unknown and not anticipated by the average newbie. We were all there once and most of us are happy to help someone avoid the same prerequisite mistakes we made. If you gotta go it alone, cheer up. The worst that can happen is that you will look funny and feel worse. If you take it slow and easy, in shallow water, you can’t hurt yourself too badly.
I got mine online. I think this was it. I gave my mom the site to order them for a Christmas present.
I was just curious as I know that they use to be bigger when I was a kid. But than again everything was big than. Could the reason cats in Willard stay in the CC size range be do to the Wipers and Smallmouth? As it use to be just Walleye and cats?
Thanks
Majja
I don’t pretend to know all the answers, but I do know most of the questions. I also know that the entire ecology of the lake has undergone several potentially relevant changes.
**The attached picture was taken in the late 70’s. It was a double limit of cats taken fishing in the channel of the south marina in May. Missing are the first three fish we caught…that all weighed between 7 and 10 pounds…and which started rolling and twisting and tore up a strong metal pro bass stringer. The rest of the fish we strung on the rope. The smallest was over 3 puunds and the biggest about 15#. Most were over 5. **
In those days, as I still do today, I checked stomach contents of the fish I kept and filleted. The bigger cats almost always had several crawdads and often a couple or three bluegills or green sunfish. Sometimes small crappies or baby carp in season. The fish always had plenty of good high protein kitty chow.
Today the average cat has declined in size from about 22 inches and 3# to the CC kitties of today…about 15" and just over a pound. The good news is that this is an improvement over the 12 and 13 inchers we were getting at the end of the drought years in 2004.
When the smallmouths took off, several years ago, they became major competitors for the available crawdad population. They also either ate or displaced most of the sunfish population…bluegills and green sunfish. There are still some around, but not the swarms of them that used to line the inlet channel. So, I partially blame smallmouths for some of the reduction in food supply.
Of the hundreds of bitty kitties I have “CSIed” in the last three years, I have only found a few crawdad remnants. Nothing like there used to be. And, I have not found a single (or married) sunfish in any of them. Only rarely have I found any shad. The channels will come up higher in the water column and chase shad, but only when desperate and when the water is really clear. This year, with the low water, the clarity has often been poor because wind washes the waves against exposed mud banks and muddies the water.
What I do see a lot in the bellies of Willard kitties these days is algae. They are rooting on the bottom for anything edible, and slurping up greenery on the off chance that it contains some kind of invertebrates…like worms, snails or insect larvae. Some cats have guts so full of undigested algae that you wonder how they ever pass it all through. That does not help produce large fat cats.
It is always a matter of the balance between total fish biomass and available forage. When food is scarce, or difficult to acquire, fish expend more energy feeding than they derive in nutrition from what they eat. That’s a great weight loss program for us humans but it doesn’t make for porky kitties.
My opinion is that there is really nothing to be done. Every ecosystem establishes itself and maintains some kind of balance. With the water conditions of Willard, and the species currently in the lake, it seems unlikely that catfish will suddenly find an untapped food source to CATapult them into the heavyweight bracket.
The upside is that the smaller cats are very plentiful, and they are always on the prowl for vittles. They are also much better eating in the smaller sizes. That makes for a mixed blessing for anglers. Plenty to catch and eat, but not too many bigguns to stretch your string.
Thanks for the info TD. I think the more I can learn the better angler I may become.
I do not know many “serious” anglers who do not share that philosophy. I learned how to both fish and read at age 4. I have been doing a lot of both in the six decades since…and much of my reading has been about fishing. With the growth of the internet, and all of the information sources, I never run out of new things to research. And, I do plead guilty to being somewhat of an experimenter and an innovator myself.
Like most who thirst for more knowledge, I am humble in the belief that the more I learn, the more I find that I still do not know. And, the journey is it’s own reward. Love the on-the-water research the most.
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Sometime during the summer we will be having an official “GORILLA FLOATILLA”…a night fishing trip focusing on fishing for B-I-I-I-I-I-G-G-G-G kitties. Probably sometime in mid August would be good. Let’s all work on it.
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Oh yeah, you know I’ll be there!! If I’m still delivering pizza’s on the side at that time then I’ll just suddenly get “ill” that night, but hopefully my evenings will be free at that time. Getting towed by a large kittie (6 pounds or more) in the tube is AWESOME!!
A friend of mine owns The Dive Shop in bountiful also runs scubagearonline.com they have some good prices. I know it’s not in utah county but best I can do for ya.
Sorry for the late reply… busy busy… 
“Rojita” worked great. She treated me well, and I didn’t leave her smelling of skunk either.
I REALLY like the new sonar mount on the H3’s.
I really wish I wouldn’t have had to miss out on that one. I will definately be there next time. looks like you guys had a great time.