# Otter 3/17 and Minersville 3/18



## Jeremy28 (Dec 1, 2007)

Before I submitted this report, I had a big long B.S. story about how many fish i caught so that everyone would think i was the greatest fisherman ever but then I decided to just face the facts and tell the truth....I got skunked!! Actually, I caught one fish from minersville today right before I was going to go home at about noonish.

I'm not the greatest fly fisherman out there but I would consider myself atleast decent and to not catch anything out of Otter had me second guessing myself for a little bit. I fished the popular areas by the dam along the shoreline (and deeper areas) opposite the rv park area with no luck and then I packed up my gear and went down the lake on the other side to the "eagles nest" area (about 2:00) and again had no luck. I have a pontoon boat and tried everything....3 sink, 2 sink, and camo with buggers, nymphs, chromonids, blood worms, (and lots of other patterns which I dont know the names for), fast retreive, slow retreive, and everthing in between. I know if Threshershark or El Matador was there that they would have caught numerous fish, but it was a really slow day nonetheless. Other flyfisherman were there with pontoons as well and they couldn't catch anything either. I can't figure out what it other than the fish are mostly in the deeper (warmer) areas until the lake turns over and they come in to spawn. However, other reports from last weekend showed decent fishing so who knows.

I was planning on staying the night and fishing Otter the next day, but after such a miserable day I figured I would go give Minersville a shot even though I hear its not to good this year. I was out in the pontoon at about 8:00 and fished the boat dock - dam area and finally got one good hit and a long hard fight for a pretty nice 21' cutthroat that was just under 4 lbs (shown here). I don't think I've ever went to Minersville and not landed a decent 20''+ fish. There was absolutely no "sign" whatsoever of any other fish. I didn't see one fish turnover or jump the entire time. Does anyone know or have a theory of what happened this past year? The only thing I can think of is a tough summer last year that killed all or most of the rainbows leaving mostly only the durable cutts? The only objection I would have to that is that two summers ago was worse than the summer last year and last years iceoff was great.

Anyways, it was a fun trip and good to throw some flies for the first time since midsummer last year...oh yeah, the water temp at otter was 42 for the most part. It got up too 45 in some shallow areas towards the end of the day. Minersville was 41 degrees. Oh, and although the weather forecasts showed a fairly windy day on tuesday with winds 14 mph in the afternoon, it was beautiful weather. the lake was glass all day except for some minor winds in the afternoon for a couple hours. The sun was out all day, I had my teeshirt on for most the day, same with minersville the next day.










couldn't figure out how to insert the pic directly so here is a photoshop direct link:

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z297 ... C00735.jpg


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## Flyfish4thrills (Jan 2, 2008)

It's not only you.

I fished Otter Creek this Saturday morning until about 1pm and only had 1 hookup. I could not believe the number of fisherman on the shore. There were a lot of boats out on the water as well. I did not see anybody catch a fish. A lot of people were leaving by noon.

I headed to Paiute, and people were catching fish on the shore with spinners as I was unloading the boat. They said that in the morning they were catching them almost on every single cast. Isn't that my luck! Last trip I chose Paiute first, had a poor day, and then went to Otter Creek and did well. You just never know. People were really concentrated in the bay by the boat ramp .....on the shore, on the windbreak, and in pontoons. I had a difficult time leaving due to the crowding. Anyway, I did far better there, catching 8 in about 2 hours (had to leave early).

I went to Minersville today after work without the boat. I knew it would be slow, as I had a friend that was there Saturday and was skunked. It was close, and I wanted to fish, so I decided to try it anyway. I tried all of my tried and true lures, and couldn't buy a bite. I didn't see any other fisherman catch anything either (4 on shore + a boat). I tried the boat ramp area and the shoreline towards the dam. I later tried the dam area. I stayed after dark and tried using glow in the dark spinners and tubes. Nothing worked.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Jeremy28 said:


> Does anyone know or have a theory of what happened this past year? The only thing I can think of is a tough summer last year that killed all or most of the rainbows leaving mostly only the durable cutts?


My theory is that the fish simply haven't started to bite yet. I don't think there is any reason to think that all the rainbows died. Yes, last summer was a poor water quality year -- but fall gill-netting showed lots, and lots of fish in the reservoir. It just needs a little time to pick up.


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## Tylert (Aug 6, 2008)

My dad and I went down to Otter creek last firday and got Skunked as well. We are heading down to Pitue in the morning. I hope we do better this time.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Those kind of reports are as helpfull as the reports with all the fish IMHO. It seems that O.C. has turned off and Minersville has yet to turn on. With the winds projected at being 30mph gusts and slow fishing I think I will head elsewhere this weekend. Glad you didn't get the total skunk job. Thanks for posting and keep them comming, remember no matter how good you think you are there is someone better out there and we can always get better. At least that is how I look at things...


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## catch&release (Nov 8, 2007)

If you dont want to wait for the water to warm up in the shallows and the fish to move up, move out into deeper water and look for more warmer water. I use a 20 foot cable hooked up to a tempature guage on the Huminbird 565. It works great because it gives you instant feedback as soon as the temp changes. Surface temps mean nothing so its helps to know what the tempature is in the lake at the depth you are fishing. It works great in the Fall before ice comes onto the lake when again the water gets to cold for the fish. 

I wont be able to fish Otter Creek until the middle of April and the end of April. See you guys soon!

Ernie


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## jdmckell (Nov 12, 2007)

I fished Otter and Piute last weekend. Hit Otter first and got totally skunked. The water was soo nice it was hard to leave but with no fish on our lines we decided to try Piute. Piute was on but we only had a few hours on the water before it was dark.


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## Jeremy28 (Dec 1, 2007)

yeah, I've heard from a lot of people that piute is the place to go right now...should've hit it up. I always assume Otter would be better and since its so close to piute, I always neglect piute. The one time I did go there, it was windy and since the lake is so deep, the waves were freakishly huge and so I got the heck outa there in a hurry.


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

That's a nice looking cut you posted, at least you landed a nice one after the skunk.


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## myhuntingwish (Jan 21, 2009)

I went to Otter with about 4 of us. We were using worms power bate things like that. We did not even get a bite in about 2 hours and packed up a left. We were fishing a spot that we usually have grate success from. . Any way I will be heading to mill meadow today 3/21/09. Hopefully with better luck.


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## dixonha (Jan 12, 2009)

I was at Otter on 3/14 and caught a ton of fish. In about 6 hours, we caught probably 15 fish--not fast fishing, but way fun. None was smaller than 17" and the largest was about 22". All except 2 were caught trolling countdown Rapalas in rainbow trout and "gold" pattern. All were caught in the confines of the main bay. Biggest ones were caught along the north shore of the main bay. Tons of shore fishermen, but they weren't catching anything. Almost every fish we marked on the fish finder was down about 10-12" suspended. If you're not catching the fish, you're not doing the right thing. The rainbows are fat and plentiful.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

dixonha said:


> If you're not catching the fish, you're not doing the right thing.


Nothing like stating the obvious!


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## jdmckell (Nov 12, 2007)

PBH said:


> dixonha said:
> 
> 
> > If you're not catching the fish, you're not doing the right thing.
> ...


LOL no kidding! I've been on a few trips to have the fishing on fire one day, and the next day just drop off. I've fished Otter Creek (trolling rapalas, spoons and Lucky Crafts) and had awesome success! Sometimes the stars just aren't aligned right...

One time I had a 64 fish day at Electric Lake. A friend joined our group that night, excited to hear of our success and catch fish the next day. Unfortunately the next day the fishing was not the same. We caught fish but not very many and the methods used the day before were not working that day.

That's just how fishing is sometimes...


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## 1BandMan (Nov 2, 2007)

The weekend before last was better (3-14-09), but this last weekend was pretty quiet for all the bank and boat fishermen we talked to. It stayed pretty chilly and then the wind came up and it got real nasty. Most caught one or two and the rest got the big skunk. I thought it sucked for the most part, but everyone seemed jealous of our tally.
My son and I trolled it for about 4 or 5 hours on Saturday (3-21-09) until about noon when we and everyone else got blown off the lake (20-30+ mph wind). We caught 8 fish, 3 of which were puny 11 incher's and missing many if not all their fins. We kept 3 decent sized 17-19" er's for that nights dinner. We trolled everything in the box including Rapalas, spoons, spinners,.....basically the whole lot in the arsenel for the most part. Nothing seemed to work better than another.


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## dixonha (Jan 12, 2009)

Ah PBH. The bastian of all southern Utah fishing wisdom. I had forgotten these last two years that I should not mess with you. I have not been skunked at a Utah lake in probably 20 years or more. Therefore, I am entitled to state the obvious. Me and LOAH are the only ones entitled to state the obvious. LOAH just uses pictures.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

dixonha said:


> I have not been skunked at a Utah lake in probably 20 years or more.


That's quite a compliment to Utah fisheries managers.

Sounds to me like you need to challenge yourself!! I remember when I was younger and enjoyed spending time on the ski slopes (I think they're called snowboard slopes now...). Some of my buddies used to tally up the wrecks at the end of the day. Their goal was 0 crashes. Me? I wrecked all the time. I always told those guys they needed to move away from the bunny slope and start skiing hard. Challenge yourself. If you never fail, how can you ever get any better?


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## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

dixonha said:


> I have not been skunked at a Utah lake in probably 20 years or more. Therefore, I am entitled to state the obvious. Me and LOAH are the only ones entitled to state the obvious. LOAH just uses pictures.


LOL is this post for real?


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## FishMogul (Sep 8, 2007)

americanforkdude said:


> dixonha said:
> 
> 
> > I have not been skunked at a Utah lake in probably 20 years or more. Therefore, I am entitled to state the obvious. Me and LOAH are the only ones entitled to state the obvious. LOAH just uses pictures.
> ...


He must be a regular at the community ponds for the last 20 years


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

FishMogul said:


> He must be a regular at the community ponds for the last 20 years


Nope...he's just a hell of a fisherman. Just ask him; he'll tell you!


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## Jeremy28 (Dec 1, 2007)

thats funny that you said that "wyoming2utah" because I PM'd him and asked him that before you posted and he said he was just a hell of a fisherman and to take notes.


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## dixonha (Jan 12, 2009)

Community ponds???? I don't even live in Utah. I just waste your resources by catching all the fish. I will admit, though, that it is a compliment to Utah's fisheries management. They do a fantastic job. 

As for challenging myself, I'd rather just catch fish. No "moral of the story" fishing for me!


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

When it comes to fishing He is a God. :wink:


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