F.F.T.T. at Willard 2-22-24

[TubeDude]

First Float Tube Trip…of 2024.  Launched at the north marina a bit before 8 am.  Air temp above freezing at 35…warming to 42 by noon departure.   Calm but cold.   Water temps varied from 36 to 38 at various spots I sampled through the morning.  Still a bit chilly for most species.
 

Was not expecting much, following a series of fronts moving through…up through Wednesday, the day before I fished.  But Thursday was the only day I could go this week and there is more weather forecast for next week.   I sometimes hate it when I'm right.  Moved around and sonared a whole lotta lake bottom that looked like a barren desert.
 
Began inside the north marina.  There were reports of a lot of shad and good catches of perch last week.  This week I only found one good bunch of shad and there were no predators hanging around it.  Stopped and dropped on a couple of single or double fish I saw on sonar with no love.
 

Motored outside the marina and checked all of the previous perch hangouts.  No shad and no perch.  Motored over to the area off Eagle Beach and surveyed water from 11’ deep, just off the sandy shoreline…out to over 20’.  Same story.  Only a few very small shad schools with nothing else hanging around.  Kept moving and watching TV almost all the way to the north dike.  An occasional single fish mark but no concentrations.
 
About 10 am…after 2 hours with no bites and no fish…I headed over to the area off Pelican Beach.  Again, I moved around…checking different depths and different areas with no visible encouragement.  However, there was one area I had gone over that showed some interesting “bottom anomalies”.  (try saying that real fast about 3 times)  So I figured I would at least give it a shot before bagging it and accepting a skunk.  There have been a few years when my first trip to Willard has turned out to be my first and only skunk of the year.
 
But, wonder of wonders.  The sun broke through the clouds for the first time all day and a few fish came out to play.  (Poetic, huh?)  I picked up three channel cats and one lonely lost perch out in 20 feet of water within about a half hour.  Then the clouds moved back in and a cold breeze came up to add to my discomfort.  Couldn’t get any more love for the next hour so I hit the ramp about noon and headed home.

   


 

[Piscophilic]

Thanks for the great report and pictures! I'm glad you found some fish and got some tugs. My first trip to UL usually results in my first skunk or the year as well. We'll see how it goes this year. I'm hopeful that if I search as much as you did I'll skip the skunk.

What's this about "Thursday was the only day I could go this week"? I thought you retired guys could fish any time you wanted

[TubeDude]

Thanks for the great report and pictures! I'm glad you found some fish and got some tugs. My first trip to UL usually results in my first skunk or the year as well. We'll see how it goes this year. I'm hopeful that if I search as much as you did I'll skip the skunk.

What's this about "Thursday was the only day I could go this week"? I thought you retired guys could fish any time you wanted

Yeah, we may have "7 day weekends" but in an extended family...and with a wife with medical problems...we often have our time spoken for before we can get the car loaded for fishing.  Most of us "non-employed" geezers wonder how we ever got anything done before we retired.

I am looking at making my first trip to UL sometime after the first of March.  Tossup between Lincoln Beach and Lindon.  I can almost always find a few cats by March and often get into some good white bass action.  The big walleyes will either be in prespawn or spawn mode then too.

Lemme know when the action warms up down there and I'll join you again.  Got some new buzz blade stuff that really works well on Santee Rigs.

[Piscophilic]

Thanks for the great report and pictures! I'm glad you found some fish and got some tugs. My first trip to UL usually results in my first skunk or the year as well. We'll see how it goes this year. I'm hopeful that if I search as much as you did I'll skip the skunk.

What's this about "Thursday was the only day I could go this week"? I thought you retired guys could fish any time you wanted

Yeah, we may have "7 day weekends" but in an extended family...and with a wife with medical problems...we often have our time spoken for before we can get the car loaded for fishing.  Most of us "non-employed" geezers wonder how we ever got anything done before we retired.

I am looking at making my first trip to UL sometime after the first of March.  Tossup between Lincoln Beach and Lindon.  I can almost always find a few cats by March and often get into some good white bass action.  The big walleyes will either be in prespawn or spawn mode then too.

Lemme know when the action warms up down there and I'll join you again.  Got some new buzz blade stuff that really works well on Santee Rigs.

Any thoughts on why the early cats (water below 40 degrees) seem to be harder to find in the "golden pond?" (Or is it just me)

[Cowboypirate]

Pat did you happen to drive by and see how the south inlet channel looked? Been thinking about swinging by but have not been down that way for a while.

[TubeDude]

Pat did you happen to drive by and see how the south inlet channel looked? Been thinking about swinging by but have not been down that way for a while.

Reports are that water is coming in over the baffles and there is a flow.  I have caught cats from the bank there in February before under similar conditions.  They even hit crawlers at this time of year.

---

Any thoughts on why the early cats (water below 40 degrees) seem to be harder to find in the "golden pond?" (Or is it just me)

A combination of location and activity level.  The cats still feed in the cold water...just not as much or as often.  And they look for the warmest water they can find...which in Utah Lake is usually near a thermal spring inlet or in deeper holes.

I catch them in Utah Lake right after ice out but out in deeper water, dragging a minnow on the bottom...very slow.  They seldom chase anything at any speed until water temps warm up a bit.  As soon as spring sunshine starts warming the shallows the cats will sometimes come into fairly shallow water late in the day and hang out there until the water cools off again at night.  Have seen some good catches off the dikes at several spots around the lake in early spring...at night.

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the report Pat, you did better than we did today. After having a good day out there last week we decided to try for NBW, nothing but walleye and that did not work out for us today. We tried bottom bouncing and jigging all morning but finally gave up. Nice sunny day out there today, water temp on the West dike was 38 to 40 degrees, as we were leaving, around 1:30, going up the South marina channel, the water temp there was 42 degrees. Lots of water still coming down the channel, two cars in that little parking lot just outside the marina.

[jjannie]

Nice report Pat, glad you got some tugs and didn't get skunked yesterday. 

We went out today as well so here's our report: 

Since there has been little to no ice, we haven’t made it out on the hard deck.  This is first year we managed to get the boat out to Willard to see what we can bring home…. before we left home, we did see a bald eagle on our back hill we’re sure it was chukar hunting. 
 
Arrived at Willard North marina at 8:15. Air temp was 34 degrees Water temp was 39.9. We’ve heard some have been catching some nice perch lately here. So, we ‘d get the cobwebs off the boat and some of our ice fishing clothing and give it a try. First, we trolled around the north end near Eagle beach and never really found any fish there. Just out from the marina where we’ve caught fall perch, nothing there either so we trolled our way south toward the Pelican beach… finally, we decided to set anchor and see what happened.
 
9:55       Perch – on blue and silver snare spoon tipped with chub meat (SBSP)  13”
 
Then nothing. As we pulled lines in to relocate, we got our second fish….
 
10:15    Perch     SBSP      13”
 
We trolled around deeper, shallower, stopping here and there and never got another bite! The water was super calm, no wind to speak of. It was chilly start and just being out in sunshine was a great feeling. Only 2 nice perch, we were ok with that. More would be nice but, hey, its early fishing so getting anything on such a nice day , boat operated smoothly, park rangers inspected us and we passed with flying colors. Great day.!

[TubeDude]

Nice report Pat, glad you got some tugs and didn't get skunked yesterday. 

We went out today as well so here's our report: 

9:55       Perch – on blue and silver snare spoon tipped with chub meat (SBSP)  13”
 
Then nothing. As we pulled lines in to relocate, we got our second fish….
 
10:15    Perch     SBSP      13”
 

Happy to hear you guys got out on the water.  Also glad you killed the skunk on your first trip.

I got my only perch on a blue/silver jig also...and one of the cats.

What depth did you find your fish?

[jjannie]

Nice report Pat, glad you got some tugs and didn't get skunked yesterday. 

We went out today as well so here's our report: 

9:55       Perch – on blue and silver snare spoon tipped with chub meat (SBSP)  13”
 
Then nothing. As we pulled lines in to relocate, we got our second fish….
 
10:15    Perch     SBSP      13”
 

Happy to hear you guys got out on the water.  Also glad you killed the skunk on your first trip.

I got my only perch on a blue/silver jig also...and one of the cats.

What depth did you find your fish?

13.5-14 FOW fish were not schooled up or together at all. But happy we each got to catch one. We never saw any big shad schools just small clusters here there as we trolled around.

[TubeDude]

Nice report Pat, glad you got some tugs and didn't get skunked yesterday. 

We went out today as well so here's our report: 

9:55       Perch – on blue and silver snare spoon tipped with chub meat (SBSP)  13”
 
Then nothing. As we pulled lines in to relocate, we got our second fish….
 
10:15    Perch     SBSP      13”
 

Happy to hear you guys got out on the water.  Also glad you killed the skunk on your first trip.

I got my only perch on a blue/silver jig also...and one of the cats.

What depth did you find your fish?

13.5-14 FOW fish were not schooled up or together at all. But happy we each got to catch one. We never saw any big shad schools just small clusters here there as we trolled around.

That's pretty much what I found.  Only small clumps of shad and the perch were scattered.  I tried dropping to some individuals and small scattered groups in the shallower water but couldn't get bit.  Only perch I got was out in 20 feet while catching catfish.  That's a switch.  I usually catch a few catfish while fishing for perch.  

I suspect that the perch will not be schooling up again very much until they are getting ready to spawn.  And then they are usually harder to find and harder to catch.  Like the walleye...their big cousins...they don't feed much during the spawn and then take a while to get active again.  But, also like the walleyes, they will have a big post spawn feedup beginning in late May to June...after the water warms over 60 degrees.  Last year there were a lot of perch caught by anglers dragging bottom bouncers or pulling cranks for walleyes.  I'm guessing we will see more of them this year.  And knowledgeable perch-jerkers can probably score well on the perch if they hunt them down.

Are you gonna play around in your new float tube this year?

[jjannie]

Nice report Pat, glad you got some tugs and didn't get skunked yesterday. 

We went out today as well so here's our report: 

9:55       Perch – on blue and silver snare spoon tipped with chub meat (SBSP)  13”
 
Then nothing. As we pulled lines in to relocate, we got our second fish….
 
10:15    Perch     SBSP      13”
 

Happy to hear you guys got out on the water.  Also glad you killed the skunk on your first trip.

I got my only perch on a blue/silver jig also...and one of the cats.

What depth did you find your fish?

13.5-14 FOW fish were not schooled up or together at all. But happy we each got to catch one. We never saw any big shad schools just small clusters here there as we trolled around.

That's pretty much what I found.  Only small clumps of shad and the perch were scattered.  I tried dropping to some individuals and small scattered groups in the shallower water but couldn't get bit.  Only perch I got was out in 20 feet while catching catfish.  That's a switch.  I usually catch a few catfish while fishing for perch.  

I suspect that the perch will not be schooling up again very much until they are getting ready to spawn.  And then they are usually harder to find and harder to catch.  Like the walleye...their big cousins...they don't feed much during the spawn and then take a while to get active again.  But, also like the walleyes, they will have a big post spawn feedup beginning in late May to June...after the water warms over 60 degrees.  Last year there were a lot of perch caught by anglers dragging bottom bouncers or pulling cranks for walleyes.  I'm guessing we will see more of them this year.  And knowledgeable perch-jerkers can probably score well on the perch if they hunt them down.

Are you gonna play around in your new float tube this year?

 I might, but Jeff likes to fish too, so it can be odd to not fish together as we do enjoy each other's company.  

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat, great to see another season kick off for you... Nice effort to avoid the skunk... I was trying to hit the pond that same day, but got over come by events again, and since the priorities outranked the potential for a great trip, I succumb to do the mundane... Thanks for getting me a fishing fix for the weekend... Later J

[TubeDude]

Hey Pat, great to see another season kick off for you... Nice effort to avoid the skunk... I was trying to hit the pond that same day, but got over come by events again, and since the priorities outranked the potential for a great trip, I succumb to do the mundane...  Thanks for getting me a fishing fix for the weekend... Later J

My pleasure.  Literally. Glad you could share vicariously.

[SkunkedAgain]

Yes sir didn't fix my twitchy finger, but at least I got to hear the story so I didn't think the weekend was a complete bust... Looks like the storms are landing on next weekend, so probably won't get out this week either... Guess I should get my taxes done while the weather is nasty so i can fish when the cats are ready to play up here in April... Oh but that sounds really painful... better not punish myself too much... Later J