11-21-2019, 10:19 PM
[#0000FF]That spot he featured is easy access to foot traffic. Plus, there is the structure of the new water inlet facilities. But that ain't the onliest place to catch fish inside the marina. Fishing all around the ends of the docks can be good. Just vertical jig or fish below a bobber about 4-5 feet down. And a lot of places around the whole rock dike can be productive. Use the biblical system...seek and ye shall find.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3]"I'd pay good money to take a ride in a DeLorean at 88 MPH and see what it was like to fish the river back then, and to see how different Provo, Utah Lake, and the state as a whole was."[/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Be careful when that flux capacitor kicks in. I often reminisce about those days. There really wasn't much of a marina...just a shallow enclosure with a boat ramp. And there were no high rock dikes...only a low dirt road running along the shore between the harbor and the river. Fishing for walleyes used to be good right out off the end of that road.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]I fished the river down there 12 months a year. And depending on season, water flows, etc., you could catch walleyes, largemouths, white bass, catfish and even trout. Some nice browns worked their way down from upstream in the winter. And DWR always planted a bunch of big rainbow brood stock fish about February. You could always tell when that happened by all the goobers soaking cheese and nightcrawlers...and fighting for spots to fish for those big finless freddies.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Upstream...around Madsen Bend...it was good for walleyes from the first of March to the end of April. Then the white bass came upstream to spawn and they were a hoot. In those days 12-14 inchers were average. By May the channel cats ran up the river to spawn in the rocks and undercut banks. A piece of sucker meat...from all the suckers crowding the gravel beds...was the prime bait.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Some of the cats I cleaned were full of stone fly nymphs. Yes, the lower Provo was a lot cleaner then and still had stoneflies that far down. I had a couple of spots where fast water dumped into a hole where I could dredge with a good stonefly pattern fly and catch the heck out of channel cats...along with an occasional walleye or even a trout...brown or rainbow.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]During late summer...when the water flows were low...I would stalk along the banks and find some deeper holes. A big jig dropped into the deeper shaded spots often produced largemouths up to 6#. Of course they also ate the whole crawlers I fished for catfish.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]In late fall I would fish off the big floating metal barges anchored along the lower Provo River. Soaking a dead carp minnow produced some humongo white bass, some catfish and even largemouth bass and brown trout. Like a box of chocklits...ya never knew what you was goin' to git.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Those memories of my BYU days stayed with me during the next few decades. And they helped a lot in my decision to finally retire here. Things are different now...but not all bad. Some new species and some different wrinkles on fishing for the old ones. And, of course, the Utah Lake State Park is vastly different than in the old days. Also, there are a lot more folks fishing for the non-trout species these days so you usually have a lot more company...expecially when one species or another is really active. Not all bad.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3]"I'd pay good money to take a ride in a DeLorean at 88 MPH and see what it was like to fish the river back then, and to see how different Provo, Utah Lake, and the state as a whole was."[/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Be careful when that flux capacitor kicks in. I often reminisce about those days. There really wasn't much of a marina...just a shallow enclosure with a boat ramp. And there were no high rock dikes...only a low dirt road running along the shore between the harbor and the river. Fishing for walleyes used to be good right out off the end of that road.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]I fished the river down there 12 months a year. And depending on season, water flows, etc., you could catch walleyes, largemouths, white bass, catfish and even trout. Some nice browns worked their way down from upstream in the winter. And DWR always planted a bunch of big rainbow brood stock fish about February. You could always tell when that happened by all the goobers soaking cheese and nightcrawlers...and fighting for spots to fish for those big finless freddies.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]
[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Upstream...around Madsen Bend...it was good for walleyes from the first of March to the end of April. Then the white bass came upstream to spawn and they were a hoot. In those days 12-14 inchers were average. By May the channel cats ran up the river to spawn in the rocks and undercut banks. A piece of sucker meat...from all the suckers crowding the gravel beds...was the prime bait.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]
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[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Some of the cats I cleaned were full of stone fly nymphs. Yes, the lower Provo was a lot cleaner then and still had stoneflies that far down. I had a couple of spots where fast water dumped into a hole where I could dredge with a good stonefly pattern fly and catch the heck out of channel cats...along with an occasional walleye or even a trout...brown or rainbow.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]
[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]During late summer...when the water flows were low...I would stalk along the banks and find some deeper holes. A big jig dropped into the deeper shaded spots often produced largemouths up to 6#. Of course they also ate the whole crawlers I fished for catfish.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]
[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]In late fall I would fish off the big floating metal barges anchored along the lower Provo River. Soaking a dead carp minnow produced some humongo white bass, some catfish and even largemouth bass and brown trout. Like a box of chocklits...ya never knew what you was goin' to git.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]
[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font][/#0000FF]
[#0000FF][font "Arial Black"][#000000][size 3][#0000FF]Those memories of my BYU days stayed with me during the next few decades. And they helped a lot in my decision to finally retire here. Things are different now...but not all bad. Some new species and some different wrinkles on fishing for the old ones. And, of course, the Utah Lake State Park is vastly different than in the old days. Also, there are a lot more folks fishing for the non-trout species these days so you usually have a lot more company...expecially when one species or another is really active. Not all bad.[/#0000FF][/size][/#000000][/font]
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