Mantua Report

[PREDATOR]

I took the wife and kids up to manuta for some planter action this afternooon. The wind was blowing pretty good, but thats ok because the fish were biting and in the end the kids had caught enough fish they didnt want to catch anymore. Must have been nap time. There was two bass boats on the water fishing the east side. A couple bank fishermen as well.

The fish we caught were all small 8 to 10 inch planters, but the kids didnt care. Thats what we were there for anyways. Good times, fast fishing.
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[rapala]

Hi Predator!

Thanks for posting! I was planning on taking my boys fishing there at Manua this weekend and I was wondering what kind of lure they were hitting on? Also, do you think the west side of Manua would be good fishing from the shore? Were these just Rainbows?

Thanks for any info!

Derek
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[PREDATOR]

They were hitting us on #2 mepps spinners. One was a Aglia in borwn trout pattern with the gold body, and the other was the standard red and white stripe blade with the silver body. We caught more on the gold brown trout pattern, but bolth worked well. As for location, we had our most consistent fishing and double hookups quite a ways off the shore in about 18 ft of water. If it were me, I would drive to the back where the inlet is and start out fishing from there. Most of the people just fish the dike near the parking lot. Lots of the tubers have discovered the inlet and launch thier tubes from there, but they tend to stick to fishing the south east corner.

Yep all we caught was planter rainbows. If I were fishing it yesterday I would have targeted bass but it was the kids day so the trout did fine.
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[PREDATOR]

Its about an hour north of salt lake. Between brigham city and logan.
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[TIBBZZ]

Hey PREDATOR, which lake do you think would have better fishing-Hyrum or Mantua- I've never fished either lake but I will be up in that particular area this summer.-TIBBZZ-
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[PREDATOR]

Better for what?

Mantua has some big gills, so does hyrum. You will get more quantity at mantua though.

Bass, Oooooh thats a tough one. Mantua was bar none the better bass fishery in my mind up until the regular trout stockings in mantua. Now its about evens. I used to get a lot of smaller bass in hyrum and more consistent size out of mantua. These days it seems like they have evened out you get lots of smaller largemouth on bolth lakes and the big ones are still in bolth lakes. The trouble is beating all the small fish off the line so the big ones have a chance at it.

Mantua is still my personal favorite, its only a couple minutes from home and is easy to fish.

Trout, they are again about even for numbers and size. Although they planted the kamloops rainbow in mantua last fall and once those get some size to them, that will be something. When it comes to trout, I think you have to look at the lake and the type of fishing you like.

Mantua has lots of weeds. In the spring, trolling spinners is an option, but as the weeds grow up and reach the surface, you need to switch lure selection. Those big trebles tend to find and hold on to weeds real easy. You spend more time dragging weeds on your lure and the fish wont touch it. So, you need to cast or use something that can be rigged weedless. Hyrum doesnt have near this much problem unless you get back in the inlet area. You can drag spinners, spoons, cranks, or whatever around hyrum all year effectivley.

Mantua has better access for the walking angler, there is a dike that goes all the way around the lake and makes shore access very easy walking if you just get off your duff. Hyrum you can get just about anywhere, but the terrain is more difficult and direct access to the shore is less frequent.

Heres an idea. Fish bolth. They are bolth good lakes. As with all anglers you will develop your own likes and they will suit your style of fishing or just meet some other desire that will suit you. Just remember, mantua is artificial only. Hyrum is not. If you are going to be living in the cache I recomend newton as well. Its a much better lake than most guys know.
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[rapala]

Thanks for all the info Predator! I live in Cache Valley and it's always nice to know what works on what lake.

Do you know how often they plant Manua, Hyrum, etc? I'm assuming all these planters you caught was a direct result of the Fish & Game planting the lake?

Thanks again,

Derek
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[PREDATOR]

Fished Mantua again tonight. Went out with skeeter2. I guess he figures he better get it out a couple more times since its for sale. [center]Anyways, the fishing wasnt so hot. We fished the east side casting jigs and cranks, just a couple hits is all. Then the wind picked up and made boat control a pain. Then it blew real hard and put white caps on the water and made fishing a pain so we left.[/center] [center]One thing I do know, you cant miss BLM coming down the road! Shoot, I was on my way up the road and I see this huge hull taking up the road and I said to my self that is without a doubt BLM. [/center] [center]So, I pulled up next to him and sure enough. We pulled over in the wallmart parking lot and checked out his new add ons. Nice, very nice. Phopper, you are gonna love the new seats he put in there. Big comfy things. [/center] [center] [/center]
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