Whitie-out at Utah Lake 1-13-11

Utah Fishing Reports & Discussion Utah Fishing General
1

:sunglasses:TubeBabe and I made our first hard deck trip of the winter today. Met up with Waljustia for the trek out to the “abyss”…the deep hole he found in Utah Lake a couple of years ago. Hit the ice a little after 8. Air temp a balmy 20 after the recent deep freeze. Ice was rock hard 7-8" with a skiff of snow on top. Good walking but potentially slippery if you didn’t watch your steps.

Surprisingly, us oldsters kept up with Dave pretty well as he followed his GPS instructions out into the uncharted wilderness of Utah Lake. Felt like Nanook and Nanookess as we hushed our muskies across the frozen wasteland. Not nearly as bad going out as finally coming back in. Whew!

Last year we got into the channel cats under the ice pretty good at that deep hole. Last Saturday Dave managed to land 4 or 5 kitties…between hordes of whities. So he called me and let me know it was game on for another catfest. NOT.

Found the GPS spot and started drillin’ and chillin’ about 9ish. Sun coming up good and really quite pleasant, with no wind. Dave had his gear all set up and ready to go so it didn’t take him long to bring up the first (of many) white bass. I got TubeBabe set up and some holes drilled for her and she also got a few “Utah Lake marlin”.

I finally got my gear set up and proceeded to catch up with the rest of the trio. Did my fair share of whitie whackin’, I did. My Showdown showed the bottom at 24 feet, but there were so many fish going through above the bottom that the bottom reading kept flickering from 24 to 19 to 20, etc. I could see my jig falling into the swarm of fish but could not distinguish it after that. The sonar was pretty much unnecessary. If we got anything in the “ZONE” we got action.

We all started out with different jigs, tipped with crawler. But I was doing so well and getting harder hits with my new actively worked “wobble jigs” that soon everybody was using them and we all agreed that they will be an important part of our arsenal henceforth.

As the sun got higher, the active fish moved in and out around our holes. I packed up and moved a ways to try to find some different depths and to look for catfish. Found the edge of the abyss. Bottom went from 6’ to 10’ and then to 23’…all within a few yards. Then there was a big flat area with the 23 to 25 foot depth and the whities were stacked in there from the bottom up to about 10’. If we didn’t get a hit soon after reaching the bottom we would start slowly reeling and jigging back up through the water column and often got hits at about mid depth.

I also changed up lures, trying to find something they would not hit. One lure that accounted for some of my larger whities was my “Holy Jig”…modeled after the “Hali Jig”…the one with the little chain and small hook below a larger flasher. I make mine with fine wire and have done well with them.

We all got a grundle of whities. TubeBabe and I kept about 50 between us and released at least a half a grundle back into the ecosystem. Shoulda thinned the herd a bit more or tossed them on the ice for the birds and foxes. But then someone on the board would rip us for littering or wasting resources.

Saw no other tracks…no other people…no trash and no human “downloads”. No power squadron, no carp and no skeeters. All in all a nice day on the ice with good company and good fishing. Woulda been nice to ice a few kitties but the whities kept us busy enough that it really didn’t matter. And my sister in law will be glad to help us dispose of some of the fillets.

2

Wow sounds like a fune time. Was there any times when it died off? On Saturday I’m pff to try fish lake, any good perch recipes?

3

Great post N Pics TD…looks like a great outing. That showdown shows quite a few fish, but like you said probably not needed that trip as locating willing WB was not a problem. That showdown should be great on lakes like DC and many others where location and presentation are a bit more important than at UL.

Happy Fishing

4

How much PVC and cement do you have to buy at Home Depot before they give you the bag? [:p]

Mike

5

Oh I hate it when I have to keep changing lures to find what the fish WON’T hit![;)][;)] Looks like a successful trip to me Pat. Along with “guided” fishing trips, does Waljustia do the auger work as well?:sunglasses: Oh, me and BigFishTaco put your teeny glow worms to good use. Perfect size for bluegill when they are finicky.

6

Looks like u were west of AF boat harbor

7

notice you have a showdown been thinkin about getting one of those they seem to be easier to read than a vexliar how do you like and and or what is your opinion about them

8

Wow sounds like a fune time. Was there any times when it died off? On Saturday I’m pff to try fish lake, any good perch recipes?

:sunglasses:We pretty much caught fish steadily from 9 AM to 1:30 PM departure time. It did slow down for a few minutes at a time but then another school of active fish would come through and it would be busy again. Our first set of holes slowed down after about an hour and the second set of holes I drilled about 20 yards away held up for the rest of the day.

Attached are some of my favorites…but I am always messin’ with 'em. For example, on the recipe for oven-broiled fillets I now often sprinkle some coconut and some grated shrimp bouillon powder to make pseudo coconut shrimp. Finish them off under the oven broiler to toast the coconut. Yum.

Of course all of these recipes work well with white bass too.

9

How much PVC and cement do you have to buy at Home Depot before they give you the bag? [:p]

Mike

:sunglasses:You funeeee man.

**Although I own lots of stock in Home Depot I had to pay full (sale price) of 99 cents each for two bags. I say I own lots of stock…but they never send me any certificates or dividends. **

By the way, those are multi-species bags and have served well for lotsa Utah fishies.

10

“Along with “guided” fishing trips, does Waljustia do the auger work as well?”

:sunglasses:Nope. Dave’s guide service is pretty much limited to “Follow me and don’t step in no pressure ridge cracks.” Once we reach the “spot” I am on my own to find my own fish, rig my own rods, bait my own hooks, catch my own fish, etc. Fortuately, I usually manage to score pretty well all by my ownself.

As payment for the guide service I often reward him with a few “trinkets” from the stash…but only after a prescribed period of begging, whimpering and whining. Payback is a…(female dog).

11

Glad to hear you went fishing on the hard stuff again.
With DC capping late I understand why.:sunglasses:
So how do you like your showdown? I have herd they are very nice for the ice. I have wondered about there noise rejection. My Vex has it but if there is more than two Vex’s in close to each other there rejection doesn’t work well.
The Whites sound delicious. Hope you and TB enjoy them.
After things calm down on PV we should go out for a Perch search.[;)]

12

Looks like u were west of AF boat harbor

:sunglasses:Not quite due west…more southerly.

Exact location is between the north and south shores and between the east and west shores. And if you look carefully in some of the pictures you will see the exact holes from which we caught the fish. Hope that helps.

I have had several requests to divulge the exact location of the spot, but in all honesty…I can’t. Not because I am such a super guy who does not believe in divulging secret spots…but because I do not even ask Waljustia for the GPS numbers. And the truth is that without them, even HE cannot find that spot. Whenever he tries to test himself he ends up as much as a half mile off until he fires up the GPS to check his accuracy.

13

:sunglasses:First time out with the new Showdown 5.6. Had one of the old units and did not like it. So far I like this one, but did not really get to put it to the test as a fish finder. There were so many fish that I could not find my jig among them.

One of the reasons I decided to acquire a new one are the favorable reports on noise rejection. I have had other sonars that went wacko when more powerful and/or noisy units were too close. Dave had his Vexilar fairly close to me on a couple of occasions yesterday and I noticed no problems with the Showdown. About the only noise and static I got was from TubeBabe. Can’t tune that out.

PV is definitely on my dance card. Just gotta find the right “date” and time. I have everything set up and ready now, so I am ready to rumble. I am the eternal optimist and keep telling myself that there are some bigguns in there somewhere that still like my glow goodies.

14

notice you have a showdown been thinkin about getting one of those they seem to be easier to read than a vexliar how do you like and and or what is your opinion about them

:sunglasses:As has been discussed (and cussed) on the boards recently, one’s ultimate choice of sonars is going to be a purely personal thing…based upon purely subjective reasons.

I have fished with a variety of LCD sonars as well as both Marcum and Vexilar flashers. Haven’t tried the Lowrance but hear good things about them.

As a preface to my remarks I will have to say that I really don’t use an ice fishing sonar like a lot of guys. I use it mostly to check depth and to see if there are fish in the area…and at what depth. Once I find a “target rich” zone, I swiss cheese the ice and play musical holes…looking for the active fish. I seldom take the sonar from hole to hole and stay glued to the screen while praying for new blips to appear. Messes up my vision and messes with my head. And, I still catch plenty of fish without it.

That being said, when I want or need a good sonar to help me finesse the finicky fishes I want something that will “tell me true”…in real time…and in detail. There are times when being able to watch your jig and the fishes’ reactions is key to success. That’s why…after extensive research and report readings…I decided to give the new Showdown 5.6 a try. I had one of the early models and had some “issues” with it. It did not live up to the billing.

I have only had my new one out on this first trip, but I did put it through the paces to check out the sensitivity, zoom, display, etc. So far, so good. I really need to go perchin’ at Starvation to form my final opinion.

One of the big selling points for me is the vertical display…showing depth top to bottom, with digital display (numbers) as well. Much easier to see and read at a glance than trying to do the mental gymnastics of reading a circular dial with a bunch of colored flashes on it. I know guys who are masters of the Marcum, but they also like to play video games. Not me. I just wanna look and see what the reality is and not have to translate from conversational Sanskrit.

Sensitivity is another biggie with me. I like the idea of 1/2" target separation. Much better than even the most sensitive flasher. When perch or walleye are hugging the bottom that can be very helpful.

I also like the “ICE” feature on the Showdown. You can push both the UP and DOWN buttons simultaneously to turn on the internal heater to keep the LCD pixels warm and functioning at top speed. After having to fight with “frozen” LCD sonars in the past, I am appreciative of being able to use them through even up to 40 below zero. But, I usually do not even walk on the ice if it is below zero.

School is still out, but I like what I see so far. But my requirements are different than many others and I allow everybody to make their own choices. And, since I do a lot of vertical jigging from my tube, during open water, I am already working on an extended arm (PVC…what else?) design to allow me to take the Showdown out on my tube for some summer perchin’.

15

So that’s where all the fish were hiding yesterday?!? I fished UL long and hard yesterday with just a few fish to show for it. That looks like quite the haul.

16

Good heck, way to thin out the Whitie population, Pat! I think every species is nervous when you’re in the vicinity.

Good on ya not giving out that location. No sense ruining it when the masses show up. “Between all the shores”, indeed.

Now, we gotta get you up here to Cache Valley.

17

TD:

Nice report and, as always, nice pics.

I also like your lures :slight_smile: - but I haven’t won any of the “wobble” variety yet. The ones in my proud collection have caught white bass, trout, perch, and walleye, and candidly most not in ice fishing conditions.

I’m pretty confident of where you were to find such depth on UL, but were you fishing the same to catch catfish as the whities? Was ice thickness (or lack thereof) a concern?

18

:sunglasses:We were fishing exactly the same place and the same way as we did LAST YEAR’S KITTY POST . In short, we lowered small jigs tipped with worm to the bottom and then raised it only about 6" off the bottom and set the rods in holders. Last year we only caught a few white bass but several cats each. This year the whities would not leave the baits alone long enough for the kitties to find and munch them. But, we fished in the same depths and the same way. And Dave DID catch a few kitties last Saturday.

Last year the ice was about a foot thick. This year it was about 7"…but rock hard new ice. I doubt that made much of a difference in the action.

19

GET TO SAY THANX… FOR THE PIC,S. THAT WAS JUST WHAT CHUCK AND I NEEDED. THANX AGAIN.

20

:sunglasses:Hey, you know that the only reason I go fishing and post reports and pics is to make you happy, Bro.

Glad you enjoyed them. Wish the fish coulda been some with some teeth and funny looking eyes. But, oh well. There were a lot of smaller whities coming through the holes too and all I could think every time I put one back was “WALLEYE CHOW”.