07-29-2006, 08:20 PM
I've never caught a white bass out of Utah Lake, but then again I've never really targeted them either. Yesterday I thought I'd give it a try. I'm sure glad I did.
I made a quick stop at Sportsman's Warehouse in Provo before venturing down to the lake. I picked up some 1/32 oz. tube jig leads and plastics in varying colors and a couple 1/16 oz. Strike King chartreuse and white spinner baits. I thought going miniature might do the trick. It did.
I drove to a spot at the lake towards the northwest corner of Lake Shore where I've duck hunted before. The area has a lot of standing bullrushes and other vegetation that I believed would be a good area to try. There's a bumpy dirt road leading to the area, but I doubt it's very heavily used.
I took a cheap float tube with me that I've had hanging in the garage for awhile to use as a floating vessel to perch my second pole upon and to hold a big tackle box full of gear, a five-gallon bucket, some worms, and some refreshments.
I arrived at the spot around 6 p.m. and stepped into the bathtub-warm water wearing an old pair of boots and sweats. I dragged the float tube laden with supplies as I walked.
Now, I'm not a big fan of Utah Lake. Yes, it's a great catfishing spot, but warm, muddy water just doesn't appeal to me as much as, say, alpine lakes and flowing streams full of much clearer water. And since I've only caught a couple walleye out of Utard Lake and I wasn't targeting kitty fish, I harbored very little hope of catching anything.
As I walked and casted to the edges of standing vegetation in thigh-deep water (I'm 6'1"), I felt a little tug on the line on about my tenth cast. I though, no way. The line darted sideways in the water as I reeled in. The little fish managed to stay hooked on the 1/32 oz. chartreuse glow tube jig tipped with worm I had trailing behind the white 1/16 oz. spinner bait long enough for me to verify that it was indeed a little white bass, maybe six inches in length. It unhooked itself about three feet from my legs.
I continued to cast for about the next five minutes with only one other bump. Once I approached a promising looking stand of bullrushes, I tossed out my second pole lying on the float tube.
I read on the UDWR's Web site that a few guys had had some luck casting woolly buggers to willing white bass. On my second pole I had tied a black sparkle woolly bugger with another 1/32 oz. glow chartruese tube jig trailer, and tipped both lures with worm. Both of these I had suspended about eight to ten inches below a little balsa wood bobber.
I continued to cast my spinner bait and tube jig combo while keeping an eye on the bobber tied to my second pole floating nearby. After about another 20 casts or so I finally hooked into whitie No. 2. This time the little guy had shoulders and put up a pretty good fight. I successfully reeled him in, unpinned him, and let him swim away.
Since I caught the little guy a ways away from where my bobber was, um, bobbing, I reeled in my second pole and tossed the bobber out to where I'd gotten the strike. It was game on after that.
For the next 45 minutes or so, I couldn't keep the whities off whatever I tossed at them. They really liked the little tube jigs tipped with worm, but occasionally they'd strike the spinner bait or the wolly bugger. Possibly these larger baits (and the worms) lured the fish in and then they struck the smaller trailing tube jigs. I don't know.
I seemed to get most of my strikes off the bobber setup. They'd almost always strike the trailing jig while I was twitching or reeling the bobber in very slowly. Fun stuff. I was on whitie No. 26 when a fairly stiff wind stirred up the big muddy and spoiled all the fun.
Several-inch swells repeatedly sloshed against my waist as I continued to cast and bob in several other locations, but it was clear that the wind had shut things down. I persisted though until dark and until the buzzing knats drove me out of the water about 10 p.m.
Just before darkness prevented me from watching the sideshow of countless swallows performing their aerial acrobatics all around me, I saw one other very interesting thing. I was watching a big seagull chasing the little swallows. Very suddenly, one swallow flew too close to the seagull's beak and the larger bird snatched it. The seagull kept chomping on the helpless bird until it was dead. I watched the gull carry off its prey without dropping it, undoubtedly to go gulp it down somewhere. Sad to watch but still cool to see nature's creatures behave in their kill-or-be-killed fashion.
What a fun evening. I've had very few times when I've attempted to catch a new species and ended up catching over two dozen of them. All were released to fight again another day.
As I type this, I'm trying to convince my 9-year-old to join me again tonight to see if we can't catch a few more.
[signature]
I made a quick stop at Sportsman's Warehouse in Provo before venturing down to the lake. I picked up some 1/32 oz. tube jig leads and plastics in varying colors and a couple 1/16 oz. Strike King chartreuse and white spinner baits. I thought going miniature might do the trick. It did.
I drove to a spot at the lake towards the northwest corner of Lake Shore where I've duck hunted before. The area has a lot of standing bullrushes and other vegetation that I believed would be a good area to try. There's a bumpy dirt road leading to the area, but I doubt it's very heavily used.
I took a cheap float tube with me that I've had hanging in the garage for awhile to use as a floating vessel to perch my second pole upon and to hold a big tackle box full of gear, a five-gallon bucket, some worms, and some refreshments.
I arrived at the spot around 6 p.m. and stepped into the bathtub-warm water wearing an old pair of boots and sweats. I dragged the float tube laden with supplies as I walked.
Now, I'm not a big fan of Utah Lake. Yes, it's a great catfishing spot, but warm, muddy water just doesn't appeal to me as much as, say, alpine lakes and flowing streams full of much clearer water. And since I've only caught a couple walleye out of Utard Lake and I wasn't targeting kitty fish, I harbored very little hope of catching anything.
As I walked and casted to the edges of standing vegetation in thigh-deep water (I'm 6'1"), I felt a little tug on the line on about my tenth cast. I though, no way. The line darted sideways in the water as I reeled in. The little fish managed to stay hooked on the 1/32 oz. chartreuse glow tube jig tipped with worm I had trailing behind the white 1/16 oz. spinner bait long enough for me to verify that it was indeed a little white bass, maybe six inches in length. It unhooked itself about three feet from my legs.
I continued to cast for about the next five minutes with only one other bump. Once I approached a promising looking stand of bullrushes, I tossed out my second pole lying on the float tube.
I read on the UDWR's Web site that a few guys had had some luck casting woolly buggers to willing white bass. On my second pole I had tied a black sparkle woolly bugger with another 1/32 oz. glow chartruese tube jig trailer, and tipped both lures with worm. Both of these I had suspended about eight to ten inches below a little balsa wood bobber.
I continued to cast my spinner bait and tube jig combo while keeping an eye on the bobber tied to my second pole floating nearby. After about another 20 casts or so I finally hooked into whitie No. 2. This time the little guy had shoulders and put up a pretty good fight. I successfully reeled him in, unpinned him, and let him swim away.
Since I caught the little guy a ways away from where my bobber was, um, bobbing, I reeled in my second pole and tossed the bobber out to where I'd gotten the strike. It was game on after that.
For the next 45 minutes or so, I couldn't keep the whities off whatever I tossed at them. They really liked the little tube jigs tipped with worm, but occasionally they'd strike the spinner bait or the wolly bugger. Possibly these larger baits (and the worms) lured the fish in and then they struck the smaller trailing tube jigs. I don't know.
I seemed to get most of my strikes off the bobber setup. They'd almost always strike the trailing jig while I was twitching or reeling the bobber in very slowly. Fun stuff. I was on whitie No. 26 when a fairly stiff wind stirred up the big muddy and spoiled all the fun.
Several-inch swells repeatedly sloshed against my waist as I continued to cast and bob in several other locations, but it was clear that the wind had shut things down. I persisted though until dark and until the buzzing knats drove me out of the water about 10 p.m.
Just before darkness prevented me from watching the sideshow of countless swallows performing their aerial acrobatics all around me, I saw one other very interesting thing. I was watching a big seagull chasing the little swallows. Very suddenly, one swallow flew too close to the seagull's beak and the larger bird snatched it. The seagull kept chomping on the helpless bird until it was dead. I watched the gull carry off its prey without dropping it, undoubtedly to go gulp it down somewhere. Sad to watch but still cool to see nature's creatures behave in their kill-or-be-killed fashion.
What a fun evening. I've had very few times when I've attempted to catch a new species and ended up catching over two dozen of them. All were released to fight again another day.
As I type this, I'm trying to convince my 9-year-old to join me again tonight to see if we can't catch a few more.
[signature]