Bountiful Pond?

[AUtahManAmI]

Driving past on Legacy, I've noticed they began some sort of construction on the beaches surrounding nearly the entire south and east sides of the lake. Anyone fished there recently? Curious to see if anyone actually catches anything out of there. I've been a few times, but it was during summer and I got ran out by mosquitoes before I could ever hook anything.

[RockyRaab]

Don't know what the construction is. I've taken my grandson there three times, and have yet to get anything larger than 2" bluegills to bite for him. Disappointing to say the least.

I'm told they stock it with the ubiquitous troutlings, and that it has channel cats, bluegill, and bass. I couldn't say.

I do wonder if fishing might be more productive from a canoe, or tube. The bank areas get so hammered that maybe fish retreat to areas more than a cast away from the beach.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Hey welcome to BFT... Can't answer your question, but just wanted to welcome you to the forum... Hopefully someone else will get you the info you requested... Later J
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[Jmorfish]

I'll agree with Rocky -- I have fished it (but not this year) and have had some success out on my canoe, near the back island...have caught bass, catfish, and small bluegill in that area...grandson and I even caught a duck there that was all tangled up in someone's fishing line..We took time to untangle it, released it, and watched it swim away....if you can only bank fish, you should have some luck by the far back corner outlet bridge....good luck with the mosquitoes....most should be gone after last night....Guluk....
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[nicholas2835]

Just about every time I drive by it there's people fishing it. I've heard it has bass, panfish, carp, and the DWR stocks it with trout, though I can't see how they survive since it's incredibly shallow.

Most people I see there are people with little kids.

Lots of birds which is cool. I've seen heron/crane type birds out there which is fun.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]As with most of the community pond fisheries, Bountiful Pond suffers from sudden heavy harvest syndrome...after every DWR planting. What the cormorants don't slurp up while the newby fish are still swimming around near the surface in a daze, the local harvesters clean out within a few days. There are some folks who treat the ponds as their own private fish market...bringing the kids to increase the number of fish they can take home and then staying until they have their limits...or more.

Over the years DWR and bucket biologists have dumped in just about every species you can think of. Besides the planted trout and catfish you may also catch carp, sunfish, largemouth bass, white bass and even a stray walleye or two.

A few years ago my wife and I participated in the DWR youth fishing program on Bountiful Pond. This was in early summer...just after the trout stocking was ceased for the year and the catfish were being stocked. Our session with the kids was on Wednesday evening each week...with a fresh batch of catfish stocked each Monday. But from after the Monday stocking until the new plantings of about 500 fish were gone, the shoreline was lined with rods. There was usually only one or two adults in each group...tending the rods and putting fish in coolers. The kids were all off playing and were not even fishing. But the fish from their rods were all kept for the totals. Needless to say, by Wednesday evening our kids had a tough time catching any fish, even if they could find a spot along the bank that did not already have a rod set up on it. The good news is that we were usually able to get our kids at least a fish or two. Here is a picture of two sisters, each with their "fish du jour"...one bass and one catfish. We usually released the fish but on that trip they wanted to take one home to eat.

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[Springbuck]

As well as Harvesters, I see a lot of local teenagers catching and killing the trout and then "accidentally" releasing them, or handling them badly etc.. the stocked trout seem to wise up quickly though, ignoring PB and most traditional baits and lures. This year I caught an aquarium fish near the inlet, called an "Oriental weatherfish" or Asian pond loach. Weird little thing.

But, I have caught largies, channels, bullheads, carp, chubs, and trout from the pond, as well as bluegill and green sunfish. The outlet in fall is my is my go-to spot for ice-fishing bait like the chubs, caught on size 16 hooks or so, with bread or worms. Sometimes they don't show up, but usually.
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