What a crappie weekend at Newton!

Utah Fishing Reports & Discussion Utah Fishing General
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Friday night, I jokingly said to my wife, We should go camping at Newton this weekend… Next thing I know the trailer is packed and she is ready to go. We had a prior commitment Saturday morning so we didn’t get to Newton until around 1 Saturday afternoon.

We got our camp set up and I was fishing by 2. Obviously, being the middle of the day it was pretty slow, but I did manage to pull in one crappie and one bluegill. Only fished for a little bit, then I went back for a while. I headed back out around 4:30 and this time my brother in law came out with me. It turned into a crappie fest pretty quick. Between the two of us in about 2 hours we probably caught 12 crappie, 6 bluegills and a couple baby basslings. One of the bass he caught was actually decent sized for Newton, at maybe 7". We didn’t keep anything, but a few of the crappie were pretty good sized.

Headed back out Sunday morning, and the story was pretty much the same. We would each catch a couple crappie, then a bluegill would show up, then a little bass. My B.I.L. ended up pulling in another one like the night before, but other than that no size to the bass. We ran out of worms about time to head in for lunch, but weren’t ready to be done for the day quite yet.

After lunch, with no remaining worms, I decided it was time to try the fly game. I tied a zebra midge to his spinning rod under a bobber, and I went with the wooly bugger that I still had on my fly line from my last trip. Within 3 casts, I ended up hooking up with the fish of the weekend. It was a small mouth (I think) that I estimate measured around 10". Still nothing huge, but I was entertained :slight_smile:.

I caught 2 or 3 more bass on my bugger and the bite cooled. My BIL caught a few more crappie and gills off the midge, so I figured I would switch to a nymph and see if I could start catching again. We each caught a few more after that. The most interesting catch of the day came towards the end. I was working my fly line and got it almost all the way in, so I started to pull it out of the water to recast. Apparently right as I was pulling it out of the water, a little bugger decided it was time to take it! As I started my back cast a little 3" something flew right past my head! I finished my cast so I didnt slam him into the rocks. He hit the water, tugged on my line for a few seconds but was gone before I got my slack taken care of.

All in all, it was a fun time. No pics as the shore was so muddy I couldnt get to the water to rinse my hands off enough to whip my phone out. Next time.

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Glad you got out. So is that the first camping trip for the new one? Kewl that your Mrs is keen on the outing.
So were you camping the same spot as before? And shore-fishing from right there?

So didn’t bring the boat? How low is it now - I almost took a drive up to have a look yesterday, but I didn’t have enough ice in my cooler to justify. I know last time I was there - most of the shorelines were pretty gushy - especially right at the edge.

I marked up schools of suspended fish passing by, and thought they’d be crappie, but couldn’t tempt them along the S. Dike. But up around the corner a bit I got into some, but they were dinky. (had bigger perch!)
Do you think any were over 10"?

Still wondering when/if they’re going to repair/replace the launch ramp. Though another side of me kinda hopes they don’t. . .

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Yup, it was Kinley’s first trip. That is why I was surprised she said yes, because Kinley is only 5 weeks old, I thought she would say no way! We actually stayed over on the West side this time and mostly fished right off the dam. Did fish the first point North of the dam for a while and did decent though.

Nah, didn’t bring the boat this time. Registration has expired and I think I am going to sell it next month to get a slightly bigger one to accomodate my growing family. It is VERY low. The water line is probably 20 feet past the ramp. The only people I saw in a boat said that they had carried it down (little aluminum). The edges were just as bad as you remember. My BIL is 11, so he doesn’t listen very well. I had been staying away from the edges and told him to do the same but sure enough, he lost a shoe a couple times[:p].

I have a hard time gauging the size of gills and crappie with them being so round, but I dont think any of them were over 10. There was a good mix of little ones and bigger ones, but the bigger ones were probably about the same size as that gill that you and I pestered so long that he finally bit my line that time that you had your run in with Barney.

I hope they fix up the ramp, I just hope they dont extend it any. Give us at least a little time off from those turds of bass who take those big boats out there with no respect for the 150 ft law!