Last year was the first year I’ve ever fished the UL. I’m originally from Layton so I hit the northern lakes much more often for Walleye and Cats. We’ve done very well for cats at Willard and wanted to try UL a little more this year as well. We caught a few good ones last year but we wanted bigger! So I talked to TD for some info and he was very helpful. I circled the whole lake, about 100 miles on my odometer, and got some nice fishing spots I’ll hit hard in the next month. Here’s the results:
Started at LB and caught about a dozen WB and five cats.
Moved down around Goshen and poked around the reeds and landed a couple 4-8 pound channel cats with tons of hit and misses.
Tried the knolls and got bored off the masses of WB and caught a few small channels and quite a few muds.
Tried north-east around the bubble up and caught some good channels and a few WB.
One area I was fishing I was marking a few larger fish on my sidefinder. I usually don’t trust my sidefinder and there are tons of carp so didn’t think anything of it. After an hour of them passing through I finally decided to try for them. I was using a tandem walleye rig tipped with some white bass just hoping it was a nice cat or walleye. I got a few bumps and quick hits but my jigheads were too heavy so I switched to normal hooks and beads for the head. I slowed my retrieve and on the second cast got pounded. Ended up with a nice walleye. Didn’t get weight or length because it was too hot outside to find the measure and scale. Just released it.
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The wobbly release
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Anybody know where I can find these at the UL?
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Caught early May
That’s a nice walleye bud!!! There is plenty of big cats in u/l. But like any fish you just have to put in your time to figure out their patterns .. I’ve caught several cats out of that lake that went over 30lbs.. it sounds like you covered alot of water and that’s a great start. Once you find a couple bigger fish that start hitting the 15lb mark you’ll know your in the right area!
I have see this question posted a few times and allot of good information has been given. I have not seen allot of techniques put down in replies. Tubedude lays it out pretty good most of the time. But for the Walleyes at Utah Lake there is still not much written on technique. I am a Walleye guy so I know how tight lipped most walleye fisherman are. On top of that there is always much ado about “spots”.
I know most peeps on here are more interested in catching the fish then they are in keeping the fish, so I figured I could loan a little bit of what has worked for me.
In Utah lake in particular and the Walleye, it helps to keep some info handy about what they eat and why. It is really simple if you give it some thought, but here goes. First off the bait source for 99% of Walleye is white bass. Walleyes will eat dang near anything that they can swallow but even a 4-5 pound Walleye can fit an adult whitey down it's gullet. That being said when and where they feed has a ton to do with weather, temperature, etc.
Technique usually means matching the hatch. If walleye eat white bass then you should use a lure to match. I use plugs and lures of different variety, but concentrate on bigger lures. I like 4-8 inch Rapalas in silver almost exclusively. I use the floating variety almost exclusively. I can always put them on a bottom bouncer to get them as deep as I need. I love bottom bouncers because they put my bait on the bottom where it usually belongs.
Second by using a bigger bait you keep the white bass off your lure. This is the most important thing you can do at Utah lake. Even then I have caught several 5 inch white bass on a 6 inch lure. Thirdly since that is one of the most important techniques to keeping the whitebass off your lure you can just apply that lure to where you catch the whitebass since this is the same place the walleye are going to be. On top of that you will catch the occasional catfish as well. I like bottom bouncers and bait and spinner combo's but at Utah lake the whiteys, mudders, and channels are tough to keep off.
Once you keep the other species off your lure and make a good presentation to your target species in the appropriate fashion it gets better.
Now with all that info if you rush out to Utah lake and apply some of these techniques you will find that there are less walleye than other species. But if you are targeting the walleyes plan on less fish because there are not a ton of walleye in the lake to start with and they do not come easy. A ton of walleye get picked up fishing for everything else, same as tiger muskie. But hold true to the bigger bait tactic and try a few different spots and it usually pays off.
To summarize use a bigger bait first off. Spend time targeting a species with the appropriate sized and patterned bait and it should pay off. Never happens over night though. Hope that helps.
The state record for channel cats in Utah is 32 lbs and change. It was caught in 1978. It is possible there are fish that size in there. If you are catching 30+ lb cats with any regularity you should get one weighed, you might be catching a new state record. I have seen quite a few 10 lbs, personally have never seen a 20 lb. I cant even imagine what the head on a 30+ lbs catfish looks like. 12 inches between the eyes I am guessing that the sight of a 30 lb cat might reduce water ski activity and cause mothers to keep toddlers away from the water[;)]
Yep that is a a big channel cat. A channel cat over 20lbs is a trophy in my book.
What do some of you think? Is Willard better than Utah lake for giant catfish? (near or over 20lbs).
I have a feeling there are more or at least you have a better chance of catching one out of WIllard… I’m sure Utah lake has its bigguns too but they don’t seem as common?
A lot more BIG cats in Utah Lake (over 20#) than in Willard. But they don’t hit crappie jigs in the middle of a hot summer day. As with most trophy fish you have to fish the right place at the right time with the right baits.
My personal opinion is that there are a few fish in Utah Lake that would be the state record. I also believe that they will die of old age.
The good thing (for the fish)/bad thing (for the fishermen)about Utah Lake is its sheer size. There are trophy fish in there that attained their trophy size by eating big meals. They probably pass on snacks the size of common “bait,” and prefer instead something they hunt down and kill themselves. They might only eat once every three or four days, which makes them even more elusive to us fishermen.
the biggest channel I have caught from UL was 12 lbs, biggest I’ve seen was bigfish22’s 14 lb’er from about ten years ago.
just my opinions on big cats! [:)]
I think there is probably more food for big kitties in Utah lake. Sure Willard has shad, but it doesn’t have the #'s of sunfish, gills, crappie, white bass, etc… tons of food in Utah Lake.
I am guessing that the sight of a 30 lb cat might reduce water ski activity and cause mothers to keep toddlers away from the water[;)]
A lot more BIG cats in Utah Lake (over 20#) than in Willard. But they don’t hit crappie jigs in the middle of a hot summer day. As with most trophy fish you have to fish the right place at the right time with the right baits.