Utah Lake - First fish in Utah

[Johnsfolly]

I was out in Salt Lake City since the 8th for a business conference. I went in two days early to try for catching my first fish in Utah. I had some locations that I found with possible new species in and around Salt Lake. I came in Friday and due to a delayed flight was not going to have enough time to fish. So I did some reconnaisance for three sites. The first was on the Jordan river that starts from Utah Lake and runs through Salt lake. This river and location ahd possible utah suckers, carp and some minnow species. I got there and the water was running very fast and faster than I felt that I could effectively fish. The next spot was a tributary off the Jordan. Again minnow species as well as goldfish caught in that location. It turned out to be a sketchy neighborhood and just a trickle of water. I did not see any fish. The third location was a city park lake that had the standard sunfish assemblage but also a native redside shiner. This park was only 10 to 12 mins from the hotel making it a good opportunity for a lifer shiner. I get to the park and they have drained the lake. The feeder creek was trickling in and I did not see any minnows in the deepest pool that I could find 😒.

Friday night I had to reset and figure out at least one spot to catch just one fish in Utah. With help from @Ham I put together a game plan for the next day. My plan was to target a canal that was feed by a hot spring seep then go to a marina on Utah Lake to target panfish like yellow perch, bluegill, etc. With a mixup on my mapping requests, I ended up at the marina first. Regardless of the fishing I could not complain about the location with mountains on both sides of the lake.

I tried fishing small jigs and soaking worms around the boat docks for 45 mins or so without any bites. There were a couple of folks fishing near an outfall in the corner of the marina that had some luck. I fished in that corner with a 1/16 oz jig and pearl/chartreuse curly tail grub. After just a couple of jigs I got a solid thump and landed a white bass. Pretty happy with my first Utah fish (this was the 31st state with a caught fish and counting).

I fished for another 25 mins without any further bites. I packed up and headed for the hot spring seep. 

This canal was maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile long and very clear water. There were lots of folks fishing for bass that you could see cruising the weed edges and the floating mats. I tossed out a couple of bass sized baits and got no response from the bass or the skittish green sunfish. Of course I dropped down to a Tanago (go see @FishnDave post on Micro Lunkers to see the hooks) and bit of worm. I caught a few western mosquitofish on the tanago.

The sunfish were very spooky. I moved up to a #18 hook and fished tight to the cover, almost like fishing for bantam sunfish. They would dart out for the bait and you might only have that one chance to get a hook set. I did catch a couple of the small green sunfish.

As I was headed back to the car to try one last location, I spotted a cruising green sunfish. I spooked it with one cast, but it turned on the next. Though just a sunfish, I was happy to land this guy (did end up pulling in ca. a pound of weeds as well 😅).

I drove to the Provo river later that afternoon. The river reminded me of the upper Current river. Being nostalgic, I fished a jerkbait for brown trout. I didn't catch any. Maybe a Zig Jig might have been a better offering, but I had fun regardless. 

It was a short fishing trip and I did land that first fish in Utah. I'm sure that if I was was there in the summer I would have had more chances at some common species like trout and some lifers.

[Quillback]

The company I worked for had customers in Salt Lake and Provo, traveled out there many times, but never fished.  Seems to me that Utah lake was super polluted but I believe it has been cleaned up somewhat.  

[Johnsfolly]

22 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Seems to me that Utah lake was super polluted but I believe it has been cleaned up somewhat.

Jeff - I couldn't say one way or the other on being polluted. It is pretty stained water possibly from the hot springs. The Provo river that comes down from the mountains was running clear above the lake. So the staining wasn't coming from that source.

[Quillback]

Some interesting reading:

Utah Lake - Wikipedia