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Took my first real ice trip to Mantua, finally. This is a weird year. I caught one really huge perch (well over 12"), a couple at 9" and a dozen under 7". One trout about 14", I guess.
I know the bluegill are there, because I had a couple great trips this summer and fall. In past years bluegills were my dominant catch through the ice with perch a bycatch. Today, I pulled perch out of most of the places I stopped, and not one bluegill. It just feels weird.
BTW, I got the most bites when the cold wind whipped up, for whatever reason. Haven't heard many pro-bluegill reports here either.
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How was the ice thickness where you were?
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I agree that it's a weird fishery this year.I wonder if it had much to do with the toxic algae bloom this last summer.
My go-to honey holes haven't produced so far, and the slow days are really S L O W. No bluegills yet, only perch. The bite is light as always on that pond.
I bet the masses keep showing up.
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Plenty everywhere I went. 5-6 inches.
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My last trip there I got 14 gill and only 4 perch so I'd trade ya for that big boy. Looking to get a good mark for the contest. 3 of the gill were 9.5"ers some of the best I've ever caught. I think it's all spot related so if ya move you may find the gill. Good luck. J
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Well, I agree, of course. I moved several times, but at the hole that coughed up the big one I kept getting bites so it was hard to leave. But I'm a bluegill nut as it is, so I'd trade you.
14-15 or more big blue gills would be the kind of day I'm used to up there, with the odd perch thrown in. Can I ask how deep you fished? Wanna go together next time?
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The gill were 7-9.5" so they were mostly good sized. I was fishing 10' FOW right by one of the springs. I took off from the stairs and headed towards the point of the knoll then bore slightly west to the spring. Would be fun to go with you sometime. Let me know when you're going and I'll see if I can make it. Mantua seems to be the great spot for gills. With the cold last night maybe Hyrum will finally cap. Hope so be good to spread the ice fishermen out a little more. Merry Christmas. Later J
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Still weird. Yesterday should have been fantastic conditions, but the fishing was very poor for everyone I talked to. My dad and I managed maybe 8 dink perch.
One group told me they had drilled approximately 70 holes, and caught 4 small perch and a trout.
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Wednesday- Had a good day with the grandkids at Mantua today. Fishing was great until about 10:00, when it quickly died off. Nice trout and perch both hit for us. Took a small mess home to eat, and released the rest.
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Generally speaking, that place turned into a not so great lake due to a combination of DWR neglect and high fishing pressure from the masses. Just my opinion of course, but as recent as 6 or 8 yrs ago that was one great little pond. Seems it gets worse every year and not sure what the solution may be...
You still hear of some folks catching a few but it's few and far between.
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Forgot to include a picture.
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Wow, you are ahead of the game.
I talked to maybe a dozen groups of fishermen, and heard nothing like that from any of them. I got there after noon, but many of the guys I talked to had been there since early morning.
I will admit, there does always seem to be a morning bite.
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Well, I have no complaints about the spring and summer fishing, myself. Got off to a slow start with a couple dry runs, but I had a couple of great early spring bass days, with 12-20 bass/day from tiny up to 19", and May and June gave me three trips with plenty of nice bluegills and small bass. A few perch.
I hardly ever catch perch there in the spring until late June, when they are suddenly everywhere in the moss and weed beds.
I've just heard very few good icefishing reports this year, and my three trips up on the ice have been pretty poor compared to what I'm used to.
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Mantua is doing just fine. It's full of bluegill and lmb. It does get more pressure from catch and release folks and the gills are the smartest I have seen anywhere in the state of utah. Gills are usually very dumb and eat anything that u drop in the water. Not the case at Mantua. I've seen them size up and ignore everything even when u put it into their beds. These gills are as smart as lmb. The average person is highly unlikely to catch many gills at mantua on the ice. Ice is the worst season in my opinion to catch mantua gills. I've seen colonies of up to 500 9 inch gills all bedded up en masse. There's no shortage of fish in mantua. Just because people don't catch fish doesn't mean there's no fish in a lake.
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Yeah, I never said there's no fish in that pond. I just said that from everyone I've talked to it's been a poor producing fishery this winter.
Take it for what it's worth, I talked to a gentleman this morning who said a local farmer poured hundreds of gallons of chemicals like weed killer and various fertilizers in the inlet this last fall. Who knows if that is what's affecting it. I don't know if he got in trouble for that or not.
I agree the Gills are super smart and anyone can luck into the planter bows in there.
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I sure hope that farmer gets caught!!! A few years ago there was some type of petroleum spill in the inlet in the summer, they had one of the oil absorbing socks draped across the inlet flow for a month. That inlet is fairly contaminated. I heard sloshing one time years ago fishing it and it turned out the farmer had released his hogs to slosh around in it and cool down. Big big white tapeworms started showing up in bass and bluegill and I'm willing to bet it's from the hog feces that went into the lake. I wonder what other e coli and other bacteria have been introduced via that inlet. LOL
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Is the fish safe to eat
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I haven't been sick from eating the fish there and know of no one that has been sick from eating the fish. By the way, welcome to the site Splittshot.
WH2
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I went to mantua the other day for a morning fishing trip ended up catching over a 100 perch no bluegill and a couple trout one of the trout was 22 inch and the perch i kept where all over 10 inchs up
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Thanks Wiperhuter2. Beddings------ nice job and any tips you would be willing to share
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