6/29 Utah Lake Report, 3 species

[Nica]

Went to Utah Lake this morning. Got there around 8:30ish and found a carp love fest at the spot I had planned on fishing. I really wish I had taken my bow with me. I snuck up on them and managed to take a picture. A few very large rocks just happenned to find their way to some of the carp and some of them are going to have a mighty nasty back ache at minimum.

I rigged a worm under a bobber and casted it out there to soak while I got my other pole ready. Before I got my second pole going I had a LMB take the worm. Measured just a tad over 11 inches so I kept it. I sent the worm back out to soak and got my other pole going. Rigged it with a chartreuse curly tail using a 1/16 oz jig. Before too long the bobber went crazy again and when I reeled it in it was a good size white bass. Decided to keep it too.

First fish on the curly tail was another LMB, almost identical to the first, kept it too. I had never eaten any sort of bass so I decided to give them a try. Over the next several hours something kept taking the worms, but when I put my one pole down to pick up the other one, what ever was biting was gone. Was making me very . I probably would have ended up with 5 or 6 more fish if that wouldn't have happenned. next 4 fish were all white bass, smallest was about 10 1/2 inches and the largest was about 12.

I caught a little guy who took my curly tail almost as I pulled it out of the water, I'm not sure if it is a green sunfish or a bluegill, it had the coloration over the gill, but I'm not sure, maybe one of you can identify it for me.

Last fish of the the day was another white bass, he came unhooked right at the shore, so I casted back out and I think it was the exact same fish that took the jig again, I was pretty happy cuz he was the biggest one of the day at just a bit over 13 inches.

Ended up with 7 fish total, 2 LMB and 5 white bass. I sent the little bluegill/sunfish back in the water, he was a pretty little guy. That made my 3 species for the day.

The picture labeled "visitor" is of a snake swimming in, you can't see it very well in that picture, but you see him real well in the one where he's trying to steal one of the LMB from me, ambitious predator, pretty funny, but I admire his confidence.

BTW, I really enjoyed the bass. I can easily see why someone would switch from trout to bass. The white bass were ok, the LMB were better.
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[2fishon]

Nice report. The lmb when they are small will taste pretty much like the white bass- yum. I would say that's a green sunfish. Bluegill rarely have mouths that big.
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[Nica]

Thanks for identifying that, he sure was pretty. I cooked up all the fish tonight. I thought the white bass were good, but liked the LMB better. The white bass had some red meat on them that when I cooked them ended up tasting a bit strong. It was not bad, but would have been better without. I think I will cut/scrape that off next time.
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[Bass-Trackin]

Those large mouth would look better swimming in the lake then on a stringer.
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[Nica]

I can appreciate your opinion.
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[lordCrappie]

Yes and it is only an opinion.
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[fshslyer36]

Its a green sunfish for sure
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[Jedburton]

definitely a green sun=fish. They are really pretty. Also very tasty when you can get them big enough. I also like the taste of lmb and smb better than white bass, although if you remove that bloodline the white bass can taste awfully good. Most members of the bass family have a lighter taste more like panfish than do trout or salmon. I usually cook up the bass and panfish for my wife and kids to get them to eat fish. I like most fish so I love the salmon and trout as well. Sounds like you enjoyed your catch. Truth be told i love to fish, but I love to eat them just as much so don't let anyone raz you too much about it[]
jed
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[Nica]

Cool...thanks for identifying it. First one I've caught.
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[Nica]

Thanks Jed, my wife doesn't like fish either, she'd take a grilled cheese sandwich over fish.....until last night, she actually liked the large mouth and said she'd eat it again. Trout is too fishy for her, so the bass were great.
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[cat_man]

Yep, definitely a green sunfish. Bluegill don't have that mazelike blue coloring on the gillplate usually.

Very pretty little fish aren't they? Nice report. I've had a garter snake just like that try to haul off with my bluegill on the provo dike before. Funny stuff.
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[Nica]

Thanks.....I was surprised....I figured the snake was either very hungry, blind, or extremely overconfident. Pretty cool though.
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