Cannibals

I took out Roberto to Newton today after those elusive Tiger Muskies. My plan was to catch a perch with worms and use the perch meat for Muskie bait. The water is really low right now so i took the lesiure to take a few photos of the lay of the lake.

FYI, Anywhere there is white, was under water earlier this year, the lake was completely full.

Well, today I learned a new thing, Yellow perch are cannibals! It shouldn't surprise me I guess; once when I was in scouts, we went ice fishing at Fish Lake. My friend Taylor and I weren't catching anything so I decided to throw in part of a granola bar I was eating and sure enough, a perch! So it shouldn't surprise me to find that after catching a perch and using some of it's meat for bait, that I catch perch with it too.

I caught 4 perch and one bass, but no Muskie, however, there was a man fishing next to me that landed one right as we were packing up. Seeing the fish jump out of the water as it got hooked only invigorated my desire to catch a muskie.

Newton is Hot!

Newton is Hot! (Literally, the thermometer on my car said 104 today). I took Jaquez out to Newton again today and wanted to try a different spot for a chance at bigger fish. I threw my worm out and instantly got a hit...and then it broke, my 20 lb test line snapped just like that...It was a big fish, I know, I know, it's the one that got away...I like to think it was a Tiger Muskie :). After that, I caught a few fish along with this massive bluegill...

Here is a close up on it

For those of you unfamiliar with bluegill, it is a very tasty pan fish. A pan fish defined by Wikipedia is "an edible game fish that usually doesn't outgrow the size of a frying pan". They don't get very big at all, in fact, the state record is 2 lb 7 oz 11 1/2" long and 14 5/8" of girth. I didn't measure it but I know it was bigger than my hand, which is pretty big, and by far the biggest bluegill I've ever seen.

I caught a few more and Jaquez had only one. He kept complaining that we needed to go back to the spot we were at last time because the fishing wasn't fast enough for him. So we went back to the spot (kind of) and found the water has been dropping fast. The place we had been fishing is all but dry now. We fished near the location and it was like old times, not being able to put the poles down due to little fish, though Jaquez did manage to pull up this 13 inch Large Mouth...

Another closeup...

I tried to cast spinner baits with my second pole ( I own a two pole permit) to try and git a muskie, but between getting hits with my worm and helping Jaquez, I didn't get many flicks in.

Newton with the kids

Buoyed by last weeks success at newton with Ben, I took two of ny foster kids out there this week in hopes of giving them some different scenery and species of fish. I took Ricky out on Wednesday and the fishing was hot! We couldn't keep our poles in the water. The only reason we stopped fishing was because we ran out of worms.  We caught lots of bass and yellow perch and Ricky caught a decent blue gill as well. I took Gerard out the next day to the same spot and it was a little slower at first. I caught a few but gerard wasn't catching anything but small bites. I told him it was because he hadn't called them..." here fishy fishy fishy"... i finally convinced him to do it and by miracle, the moment he calls them, he gets a big bite and he was able to land a nice large mouth. It was all he needed because the fishing picked up and once again we only had a few moments to sit down after we cast out before we were catching fish. Nothing big, but sometimes with young kids, quantity is much better than quality.

Newton

On Wednesday, my friend Ben invited me out to go after the "fish of 1000 casts" (Tiger Muskie). I first heard of these fish when I first met Ben when we moved in January...

(Picture taken off internet)

We didn't catch one today and I have yet to catch one this year but I did end up catching a few other fish...that is, after the crazy boats decided to stop trying to sink us...a couple of big ski boats kept coming past us and close so their wakes kept almost coming over Ben's small fishing boat.

We got to one of the places we were planning on fishing at and I was able to land my first large mouth bass! It was a dinky baby but it was still my first. I also landed a nice 10 inch yellow perch. It has been years since I've caught a perch.

After that we kept catching small fish so we moved locations. We kept catching smaller fish, but i did manage this bigger sized bass.

We may not have caught that elusive muskie that I've been after, but we had a great time.

The last two weeks

These last two weeks I have been doing my two week training period with the national guard. I still took some time to go fishing though :). The first four days were in Manti so I was able to stay with my parents in Fayette. Growing up in Fayette is where fishing started in my life. I remember as a kid going out to the river and calling the catfish "Here fishy fishy fishy!". I also remember going clubbing carp during the flood season. We would go out to the flooded fields with clubs, pitchforks, etc, and walk around bashing the carp. (I know it may sound brutal to some but it was a lot of fun and carp are a trash fish in Utah). So for memory sake I dug up a very small worm out of the garden and hopped on the 4-wheeler down to the river. I threw the worm on (which was barely bigger than the hook) and cast it out not expecting to catch anything. I heard a splash over on the other side of the bridge and saw a deer crossing the river...

I didn't catch anything at the river but one night my friend Taylor and I went out to Yuba Reservoir for old time sake. Taylor and I have fished this stretch of the res for years on end. I remember one summer the cat-fishing was particularly good and he pulled out a 16 lb catfish. The res was drained for repairs on the dam and the cat-fishing has never been the same. In fact, on the DNR website it has catfish being in Yuba but in parenthesis it says something like "though they may not be there anymore" We didn't catch any cats but there were still plenty of carp! and a cool sunset too! We braved a small storm but it passed quick and we had a fun night.

Later in the week we had to travel to Camp Williams near Lehi UT. Taylor and I and a fellow soldier Andy Jones (from here on out I will call him Peeta because he reminds me of Peeta from Hunger Games) took a few trips to the Jordan river and Utah Lake. The first spot we tried along the Jordan turned out to be the best of all the spots we tried. Peeta hadn't fished in a long time so he bought a license and stuck first with this wopper of a fish!

Later Taylor struck with this decent Channel (it was the biggest cat of the two weeks).

Peeta landed his second fish and first ever mudcat! (man I really hate those things)...

We caught a few more fish then headed home. The next day Taylor had to leave and so some errands so Peeta and I decided to try Utah Lake at the American Fork Harbor. ( A guy suggested this to me on a fishing forum I use ) We didn't catch any cats but I caught my first ever White Bass! I may be wrong but I think in Utah the only place to catch them is Utah Lake and maybe Willard Res...either way I wasn't expecting to catch them but really wanted to...

Another species of fish to tack onto my list! (Now if I could only catch a Tiger Muskie)... Both Peeta and I caught white bass that night and that's all that wanted to bite. A couple of days later, Tay, Petta, and I went down to where the Jordan River first starts at Saratoga Springs. We caught a few white bass but they were all small. Overall the week was fun. Its always fun to get a chance to try new waters or go back to old ones. Interesting fact about the Jordan, it received its name because it flows Northward from a fresh water lake, and empties into a Salt water Lake just like the Jordan River in Israel where Christ was baptized.

"Ricky's" second fish!

I took Ricky out again yesterday and was determined to get him to catch something better than a mud cat. We used worms again and after about an hour or so I finally was able to land my first and only fish of the day ...

I know, I know, it was a GIANT! That's why I had to take a pic! (I almost think the worm was bigger than the fish lol). While we were looking at my fish and releasing it back into the waters, we didn't notice Ricky's pole bending pretty hard. I reached down and set the hook and it was on, Ricky had a fun time pulling it in, it fought good and hard, taking the drag a couple of times. We finally managed to bring it in and this picture says it all... :)

I couldn't resist taking another nature shot, it just looked really nice, I love being outdoors!

July 3/4

On the third of July, my friends Ben and John decided to do a late night trip to Cutler Dam. I have always wanted to head that way and I wasn't disappointed in the scenery.

We fished right at the dam next to a small rocky island for a while and while both Ben and John caught some mudcats early on to get rid of their skunk, it took me a while to catch one as well. I finally landed a baby carp and it was fish on from there. The only problem was we weren't catching anything but mudcats. I was using marshmallow on my hook to help it float off the bottom, and added worm to it for a tasty meal for fish. Ben was using I believe worm and beef liver and John I believe was using shrimp and worms. Ben finally got a big one on his line. In his own words "It was by far the biggest fish I have felt on my pole this year" (And he has caught some pretty big fish already. Unfortunately he said he could feel the line running against rock as he was trying to bring the fish in and before he could maneuver his position the line snapped. Now I know that fisherman tend to exagerate their "fish that got away" stories, but Ben is an honest man and had no need to lie to us. That fish was big, and one of these days we will probably go after him again. The action from there turned to just mudcats so we decided to switch places and head back up the canyon a ways. By that time the sun had set and night had come but the moon was so bright it lit up the canyon quite nicely. We settled near a rocky cove and I cast my line into the cove. I landed my biggest fish of the night there...

He wasn't a monster but was okay sized. From there I kept my line in the cove for a while and pulled a few more channels, though they progressivly got smaller. I cast out the other side of the boat into deeper water and changed one of my poles to a minnow. The minnow was a big hit, but only for more mudcats. Ben pulled out the biggest of the fish (20 inches) but he was in his own boat so I didn't get to snap a picture. We stayed there for a while longer then headed home. It was a great night out, it stayed about 70 degrees the whole time. JULY 4th... My brother Ben and his wife came up our way for the 4th. We went to a parade, had a nice BBQ and finally convinced our wives that it was a good idea to head up the mountain a bit to fish. We went up Blacksmith Fork canyon a ways and started fishing. We couldn't get the fish interested in any of our flies at all but it sure was some nice scenery.

All the scenery reminded me of why I love fly fishing. I've been so consumed with cat fishing lately because of a contest I'm in that I forget there are other fish in the sea (pun intended :))