Recently I had a couple of okay days fishing Utah Lake for Channel Catfish over the Memorial Day weekend. On that Saturday, I went with an old fishing buddy and we caught 4, the biggest being 10 pounds and on Monday I went with another fishing buddy and we caught 2; a 5 pounder and a 12 pounder.
Then I went on Saturday with my brother and we got skunked.
Is this just the time of year to hang up the catfish gear as the catfish are nesting? I need some help figuring out when to head back to the lake.
Here are the videos:
First Catfish trip video
Second trip on Monday
Our two biguns.
Matthew, OutFishing13
Those are some nice cats. You would need to talk to some of the Utah lake pros for an answer to your question but I really doubt that you need to hang it up, just change locations. Find out where they are nesting and fish those areas. At Willard, where the cats are much smaller, you can catch them this time of the year, close to the dike by trolling cranks very close to the dike, using side planners to get the lure close. When we use this method, we only put out about 3 or 4 ft of line, between the board and the lure and get the planner board, 3 or 4 ft from the rocks.
I didn’t see this for a while, but it isn’t time to hang up the cat gear! I fish UL about 20 times a year and the biggest fish come early spring or in the fall. Fall is usually more consistent.
Kent’s last post about UL Cats is typical for right now. They are in transition and moving away from spawning areas. You can now have very good days, but you have to hunt for the concentrations, just like he described. For me, the most consistent areas are deeper water and farther from shore. When you hit a bunch and get two or more quickly, cover that are really well before you move on.
Keep after em!
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Thanks for the information. I will hang it up until the middle of August at least and go after something else.
One year we had great fun fishing near the shore the end of April into May. I would like to do more shore fishing for Channel Cats this fall.
