May 12- Three trips to report on. The weather has finally turned my way and it has been absolutely georgous this whole week so I decided yesterday to give Utah Lake another chance. I got to Lincoln Beach at around 5:00 p.m. and fished with waders from the farthest north-east point on west mountain. I threw the original Walleye jig in chartruese and bright orange for 30 min. before giving up. I decided to put on a silver blue fox spinner to see if the White Bass were biting at all. 2nd cast and WHAM! Man those things fight. from there I continued to catch a White Bass every 5th cast until I got to around 14 fish. The weather was perfect and it was great to finally get into fish at Utah Lake, but with the weather so nice I couldn't resist leaving the for sure catch on White Bass and trying for the elusive Largemouth of Utah Lake. I threw a drop shot with a gulp black shad minnow up and down along the tree sunken shoreline and had two bites which felt like small bluegill. I guess the Largemouth catch on Utah Lake will have to wait for another day.

The White Bass fishing was so good the night before that I thought it would be fun to take Cari down to Lincoln Beach and let those little fighters drag her around the lake a little. We got there around 6:00 p.m. and the wind was whipping right along with the waves. I told her we would brave it for 15 min. and if we didn't catch anything then we would go home. 2nd cast and WHAM! I have one on so I let Cari fight it and she gets it in. Thats fun to watch! I catch about three in four casts while Cari caught nothing and I realized that I had on a copper colored blue fox while she had on a silver and blue. Silver and blue is usually the better choice for White Bass but not today. I handed her my pole and she had one on in under 4 casts. She caught another in 4 more casts, and thats when the wind got unbearable so we decided to call it a night. On our way back to the car Cari hit a rock and went face first into the lake. Her waders filled up about half way and she hit her knee hard on the rock, she also dropped my pole right into the lake! I recovered it and the reel and pole is fine! Oh yea and Cari is to!

May 14- On friday I was working around Goshen and decided to walk down to the warm springs and see if there were any Largemouth Bass left in it. It has been closed for the past 2 years due to mine tailings leaching into the water. This means it has not been fished for two years! There are three small ponds all right next to each other. I got to the first one and it is crystal clear and very small so if there are fish in there I would be able to see them. I saw one small Largemouth and two decent sized Bluegill but thats all I could find. The next pond is a little bigger but you could still see every inch of it. I saw about 20 carp, 1,000 Bullfrogs and no bass or Bluegill. I walked over to the third pond which is quite a bit larger than the other two and started roaming the shoreline. Instantly I saw carp everywhere but I also saw two small bass right next to shore eyeing me down. I continued to see a few small bass and then there she was! There was a monster Largemouth sitting right next to shore sitting on her bed. This was one of the most exciting things i've seen in awhile. When the bass are on there beds they are guarding their eggs or their young ones, which in return, makes them very aggresive! I knew I had to get back and see if I could catch her so I decided to go this morning real early so no one would bother me due to the fact that it is still closed.
I got there early and the sun wasn't quite out so I couldn't see into the water. I set up a drop-shot rig with a watermelon green, storm worm. On the second cast I hooked up with a 10 inch bass. On the fourth cast I landed another one a couple inches bigger, but they were both very fat and healthy. After these two fish it started to slow down so I started casting across to the other shoreline hoping to catch one of the big mamas guarding her bed. Every once in awhile a fisherman throws a cast that is "the perfect cast" in which he is about 99% confident that he will catch a fish. I experienced this cast that day! I threw one that landed in what looked like a perfect bedding spot for bass and it landed about two inches from the reeds. As soon as it hit the water it sank for about 1 second and WHAM! Now I was on the ride of my life, it took me left then right, then left again almost tangling me into the reeds. I finally saw her and she was a beauty! All I could say since I was all by my lonesome was C'mon Chris you have to get this fish in. I finally did and it was a dinner plate! It was probably 15-16 inches long but very fat. I took pics but until I get my digital camera I can't post pics yet. Don't worry I'm getting one soon! I ended up catching 7 Largemouth total with one more close to the size of the big mama. Both of the nice ones though were not as big as the one I saw the day I was working, she was the real big mama! I caught four off of the drop-shot rig and 3 on a buzzbait spinner, white in color. What a great trip and I didn't get caught either which made it even better.

A few more fishing trips to write about starting on April 27. I got a free day so I decided to head up to Jordanelle and try for some of the monster Brown Trout that start to hit after ice off. I got a late start and got to the rock cliff arm around 9:30 a.m. I hiked down the north side just past all of the dead trees that lie along the shoreline. I put on a drop-shot with a gulp minnow in black shad color. It was tough fishing due to snags but I finally landed a 15 inch rainbow. After that I had the curse of not being able to hook up again. I had around 4 more on but never could get them to the shore. I think I had on to big of a hook, but didn't have any smaller. I had one more hard hit as I was walking back tossing into the trees and it was probably a bass but the curse continued and I did not hook up.

April 29, I just got my boat back again! The carburetor was jammed and kept flooding the engine. So I dragged my dad out to Jordanelle to try the boat out and get a little fishing in. We got to the lake about 8:15 a.m. and launched from the PWC ramp. The boat fired right up and we were off. We headed to the end of the rock cliff arm where the Provo River comes in and tried there. My dad put on the traditional worm and power nugget, while I tried the same drop-shot in black shad color. I had a couple dink bites but nothing in the boat. My dad didn't get a bite. We then tried various spots up and down the rock cliff arm on both sides without getting a bite. We made our way back to the Provo River outlet around noon and I tried drop-shotting a crawler. My dad finally hooked up and the first fish of the day was a sucker. I then hooked up with excitement only to find out that I also had a sucker on. We had continuous sucker bites for around a half hour before we gave up. We hit the area just south of the PWC ramp for a half hour before taking off. It was a sucker of a trip! Ha Ha!!! Then of course after the boat ran perfect all day it had to sputter out on us at the end of the day, making it so I will be weiry taking it on the next trip!

May 4, I am sick of not catching fish so I went somewhere I knew I would not get skunked. The ice is finally off Scofield so I headed up there for an evening trip. I got to the lake at 5:30 p.m. only to find a hurricane going through Scofield. I waited it out in the truck for about a half hour until conditions calmed down. I started out using a black curly tailed jig underneath a bobber. Nothing! I tried using a white foxy jig underneath a bobber and nothing! I then tried using the same black shad drop-shot rig that I used at Jordanelle and got snagged everytime. Finally I used my brain and put on a silver blue fox spinner and started casting it along the shorelines. I immediately started catching fish. I caught 7 fish in the span of about an hour. 5 rainbows, one that came out of the water about 4 ft. man those guys fight hard, then 1 cutthroat, and even a small tiger trout that the DWR planted in Scofield for the first time last fall. It was only about 9 inches long. If I would have used the spinner earlier I'm sure I could have caught a lot more. I had around 12 bites that were not hook ups. Either way it was a good trip and I needed it to help my confidence. A huge storm came in just before dark and the fishing died so I left, and had to drive down Spanish Fork Canyon in pouring rain. I hydroplaned a couple times but I'm still here to tell about it! Scary though!!!