This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ryan Mosley, Project Leader or the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, sent in this reportof a great day on the water with his daughter.
Fall hunting seasons consume a lot of time from a sports-person's life, and like many, I've also been neglecting the "call of the fish" the last few weeks. It was a beautiful Saturday for the deer opener, but my family was actually craving smoked fish. My daughter and I decided to dust off the boat and head to the big pond. It's not often just her and Dad, so I was happy to have her along. Like a good fishing partner, she didn't care what we did and we tried it all - trolling, jigging, casting, and for all species. We marked a lot of lake trout in Jarvies Bay (70-100 ft), but they were tight-lipped today and we only caught two. Both were about 20-inches and came on 1/2 oz. jigging spoons (chartreuse/pink) tipped with a small chunk of sucker meat. We trolled for rainbows for about an hour while it was breezy, and we caught several in the 12-14 inch range. All came from about 25-45 ft, using a Rocky Mountain Tackle Viper spoon in Carribean Sunset running about 1.8 mph. Finally the fun part, at least if you're a kid that likes to just cast! We did really well casting for rainbows and caught several with the biggest approaching 20-inches (see pic of Kaytlin Mosley with a big Gorge rainbow trout.). Lots of stuff worked, including: Yamamoto IKAs, Zig Jigs, and single-tailed Yamamotos in crayfish colors, and even Rapala Clacking Raps. The best offering was just a 3-inch Gulp minnow rigged on a 3/8 oz jighead. Most of the hits came on the fall, with a slow jigging retrieve back to the boat. Lots of hits, lots of fish, and lots of fun! Water temps have dropped to the upper 50s, even with these warm autumn days. There were a few boats buzzing around, but for the most part we had the lake all to ourselves. Hope it helps and have a good one on the water, Ryan