Spring Bass Fishing Techniques in the Southeast Region

Spring time is the time for love for Largemouth Bass. In the Southeast Region when the water temps reach 57 degrees and rising, the urge to spawn switch, is flipped on for Largemouth Bass. Bass will start coming up to the shallow flats and start looking for suitable nesting areas.

Now is the best time to catch the biggest bass of your life. Large females are putting on the feedbag in anticipation of the upcoming spawn. At this time of year it is not about quantity but quality. You will not catch big numbers of fish but the chance of catching a toad is very possible.

This is the time when large profile casting and flipping jigs work their magic. The jig is designed to mimic a crawfish, which is the preferred meal for Largemouth Bass. It provides lots of protein, something the bass will need for the rigors of spawning. Jigs have been a mainstay of the bass angler’s arsenal for many years.

Although the basic design hasn’t changed, the quality and use of high tech materials in the modern jig make it come to life under the water. The silicone skirts pulsate and wave with the slightest of movement, the heads are painted to look like the real thing and the hooks are strong and needle sharp. Trailers are added to the jig in the form of soft plastic or pork.

When the jig hits the bottom the heads tip up and the trailer looks like a crawfish in the defensive position. Rocky areas in the lake catch the suns rays and warm the water around them. The warming water attracts the bass as well as the crawfish. Target these rocky areas with jigs, casting them with the least amount of splash is the best method.

If possible cast to the edge of the shore and drag the jig into the water. Crawling the jig slowly across the rocks to mimic the newly emerged crawfish is what you are striving for. Let the jig fall off the rocks and watch your line. Hits will be light or nonexistent, and many times just the tick of your line or your line moving will be your sign to reel up the slack and set the hook. Sometimes when you lift your rod to move the jig you will feel extra weight, if you do set the hook. It does not cost anything to set the hook, if it feels different, set the hook.

Jig fishing requires sturdy gear, a baitcasting rod and reel is the best gear to fish this technique with. Baitcasting reels are like small winches and give you the best control over large fish in rocky or weedy areas. With a baitcasting reel spooled with 12 to 15 lb. test line and 6 ½ to 7 foot medium to heavy action rod, you will have an rig capable of horsing a big fish out of snags or sharp rocks.

Another piece of equipment that will become invaluable is a quality pair of polarized, UV resistant sunglasses. These will enable you to look into the shallow and pick out fish that are already on the nest. Sight fishing requires stealth, proper boat position and quiet casts. If a fish is located on a nest at this time of the year it will most likely be a large female getting ready to spawn.

Casting past the nest with a tube jig or soft plastic lizard, slowly inching it toward the nest will provoke the female to pick up the threat and move it or kill it. This technique requires patients and persistence. Casting past the nest is important; any cast into the nest will scare the fish off the nest. This technique is exciting, watching the fish turn and face the intruding lure, and if properly done, watching the fish take the lure will require steady nerves and quick reflexes. Studies have shown that catching bass off the nest is not detrimental to the population. But great care and limited handling of the fish is required. If you do catch the fish, get it to the boat as quickly as possible, have your camera at the ready and limit the amount of time you have the fish out of the water. Gently put her back in the water and enjoy the moment!

The Southeast Region has some small but productive Bass waters. Down South we have Recapture Reservoir near Blanding, Moab has Ken’s Lake (you can use boats but only electric motors are allowed), The Community Fishery at the Green River State Park, Huntington Game Farm ponds and Huntington North Reservoir are all great bass fisheries to hone your skills and prepare you for the best bass fishery in Utah, Lake Powell. If you have never experienced bass fishing, this spring is the time to try it!


Walt Maldonado
Conservation Director
Utah Bass Federation

Melting Ice, Hot Fishing at Scofield Reservoir

Scofield -- Fishing that will keep your kids excited—and you pulling fish out of the water from the comfort of your lawn chair—is about to begin at Scofield Reservoir.

Scofield is one of Utah’s best trout fishing waters. And it’s less than two hours from the Wasatch Front.

The easiest way to reach the reservoir is to travel on U.S. 6 out of Spanish Fork. At Colton, turn west off of U.S. 6 and travel about 10 miles on state Route 96 to the reservoir.

Fast fishing
Fishing at Scofield is usually best just after the ice has melted. That's when hungry trout, trapped under a sheet of ice all winter long, finally gain access to the water's surface and to food.

A fishes' metabolism surges in the spring. That surging metabolism stimulates a feeding frenzy of sorts in the fish. But the insects trout eat aren't active until early summer. So the nightcrawlers, salmon eggs and other commercial baits you toss to the trout are even more enticing to them.

From late April until June, the water temperature is comfortable near the shore, so the trout move in close to shore to school. It's a great time for lawn chair anglers to compete successfully with anglers who are fishing from boats, float tubes and pontoon boats.

Fishing from the shore is especially good for energetic youngsters who get bored easily and need to run around a bit. It's easier to entertain your kids if they're not confined to a boat!

Fishing tips for Scofield Reservoir, including the best baits to use, the best times to fish and how to create the “Scofield Special”—a bait that lures in big cutthroat trout—are available at www.j.mp/ctM5sG.

The tips are also available in a Division of Wildlife Resources news release at www.wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/news.html .

Simple equipment
In early spring, you can catch trout easily using just about any kind of tackle. A "Barbie" rod and reel tipped with a worm is as sophisticated as you need to get!

Although nightcrawlers are the best all-around fish catchers, you may want some additional insurance. Take along some PowerBait and cheese hooks. A jar of salmon eggs is a good bait to take with you.

A dead minnow is another good bait to try in the spring. You can catch redside shiners and Utah chubs at Scofield using a minnow trap. You can also catch Utah chubs on a rod and reel using small hooks and nightcrawlers.

After you’ve caught some minnows, please remember that the minnows must be dead before you can place them on a hook and use them as bait.

If you like to use artificial lures, Jake's Spin-A-Lures, Kastmasters and Triple Teasers are the best to use at Scofield. Spinners and crankbaits are also effective for the tiger trout and Bear Lake cutthroat trout in the reservoir.

The best spring fly pattern for Scofield is a brown or green sparkle leech in a size six to 10.

Fish in the morning or evening
As a general rule, you'll find more success if you fish during the early morning or late evening hours. Trout suffer from a midday slump. When the sun is high, the trout rest. Like many wild animals, trout feed most actively at dawn and dusk.

The time of day you fish is important if you want to "hook" your kids on fishing. You need to fish only when the bite is fast and frequent. Kids can develop patience elsewhere. Fishing should be non-stop fun!

The "Scofield Special"
Sergeant Stacey Jones, a Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officer who works at Scofield, says many anglers catch a lot of big fish at Scofield using a bait called the "Scofield Special."

Jones says the "Scofield Special" is an egg sack created from the eggs of a pregnant female trout. Once you’ve harvested a pregnant fish and counted it as part of your daily bag limit, you can remove the eggs and use them as bait.

To create a "Scofield Special," wrap the eggs in a small piece of netting. Then attach the netting to your fishing line with the hook buried inside the sack. (This is much like placing a chunk of PowerBait on your hook.)

Jones says it's critical that you make your egg sack the size of a marble. Anything larger is a waste and a turnoff to the fish.

Jones says the natural predatory nature of trout bring them right to this bait. It’s especially deadly for larger cutthroat trout.

If you're going to use fish eggs as bait, please remember that you must keep the fish you harvest the eggs from. It is illegal to "squeeze" a fish for eggs, and then release her. The trout will die.

The only lawful way you may use fish eggs is to keep and count the fish the eggs are removed from as part of your bag limit.

Use single hooks
An unfortunate aspect of spring fishing at Scofield is the high amount of "hooking mortality" that takes place.

Hooking mortality happens when anglers catch fish using treble hooks and then release the fish. As long as the fish is legal to keep, it’s very important that you keep and include any fish you catch on a treble or a barbed hook as part of your bag limit. Using barbed hooks greatly increases the chance that any fish you catch and release will swim off and die.

"Anglers need to understand that when they throw a fish they caught on a barbed hook back into the water, it’s the same as wasting wildlife,” Jones says. “It’s very important that anglers either change hook types when fishing with bait or egg sacks, or keep the first four legal fish they catch."

If a fish has been deeply hooked, Jones says it’s better to clip the fishing line and leave the hook inside the fish. “Hooks that are left inside a fish will quickly rust and disappear,” she says. “Clipping the line greatly increases the chance the fish you catch and release will live to be caught again another day.”

Three kinds of trout
Rainbow, cutthroat and tiger trout are the three trout in Scofield Reservoir.  DWR biologists introduced tiger trout to the reservoir in 2005. Some of these fish are five pounds or larger now. The DWR stocks 80,000 seven- to nine-inch rainbow and Bear Lake cutthroat trout, and 120,000 four- to five-inch tiger trout, every year.

Please remember the trout limit at Scofield:
- You can have four trout in any combination. But not more than two of those fish can be cutthroat or tiger trout less than 15 inches long. And not more than one can be a cutthroat or tiger trout over 22 inches.

- All cutthroat and tiger trout from 15 to 22 inches must be immediately released.

- You can keep rainbow trout of any size.

- You may not fillet fish, or remove their heads or tails, until you get home.

- The tributaries flowing into Scofield Reservoir are closed until the second Saturday in July to protect cutthroat trout that spawn in them.

Take your family fishing
When was the last time you took your family on a fishing trip? For most of us, it's been too long.

“A family retreat to a lake, pond or stream is a great way to strengthen family ties and ease tension,” Jones says. “We live in a hustle-and-bustle society. Often times, we get so busy that we put off having fun.

“There are so many obligations that seem to take a higher priority,” she says. “But time slips away. Kids grow up and leave home.

“Give your kids some of childhood's sweetest memories. Take them fishing!”

Southeastern Region Fishing Report

Electric Lake Photo by Randall Stilson

ABAJO MOUNTAINS: (March 30) Sergeant J. Shirley reports that Recapture Reservoir, Blanding #3 and #4 and Lloyds Lake were frozen during the weekend of March 27–28. However, the shoreline ice may recede enough for bank fishing during the upcoming week.

GIGLIOTTI POND: (April 08) Last week, this Helper area pond was stocked with retired brood trout from the Egan Hatchery. The trout averaged about a pound in size, although some two-pound fish were planted. These large rainbows were used at the hatchery for spawning purposes. Aquatics Program Manager Paul Birdsey described fishing as fair over the weekend. He recommends baits or spinners, such as Kastmasters. At Gigliotti Pond, the limit is two fish.

HUNTINGTON GAME FARM POND: (April 08) By mid-April, this pond at the DWR's Huntington Game Bird Farm will be stocked with 1,000 catchable-sized (8–10 inches) rainbow trout. You should find some good fishing after the pond is stocked.

HUNTINGTON NORTH RESERVOIR: (April 08) State Park Manager Dan Richards reports that the reservoir is now ice-free. Aquatics Program Manager Paul Birdsey encourages anglers to fish along the rocky face of the dam when the water temperature reaches 50 degrees or higher. At that time, largemouth bass will become active and may be taken on plastic baits. On April 3, Aquatics Technician Ryan Leonard fished with spinners, but he couldn't get a trout to bite. He concluded that the water was too cold.

HUNTINGTON RESERVOIR: (April 08) Lieutenant Carl Gramlich attempted to fish last weekend and found the ice too thick to drill.

JOES VALLEY RESERVOIR: (April 08) Fishing at Seely Creek Cove is extremely hazardous. Drowning is an imminent danger. Ice conditions elsewhere are unknown. Please observe ice-fishing safety precautions. At last report, anglers had success using a gold flasher above a chartreuse jighead tipped with chub meat. The limit at Joes Valley Reservoir is four trout. Only one may be over 18 inches.

LA SAL MOUNTAINS: (April 08) On April 4, Conservation Officer T.J. Robertson checked anglers at Kens Lake. Fishing was slow, despite the recent stocking of trout.

MILLSITE RESERVOIR & STATE PARK: (April 08) The ice is weak, unstable and breaking up. The ice-fishing season is over. On March 29, State Park Manager Dan Richards reported open water around the inlet. The shoreline should thaw quickly. As the shoreline opens, you'll find good bank fishing.

SCOFIELD RESERVOIR: (April 08) The ice thickness varies from 18–24 inches, depending on your location. Due to recent cold weather, there hasn't been slush on the surface, but that could change quickly. Fishing has been good for smaller trout (around 12 inches), with a few ranging up to 18 inches. The most popular rig continues to be a jighead tipped with chub meat or a nightcrawler. Some anglers find improved success by placing an attractor 12–18 inches above the jig. Spoons and Kastmasters have been the most popular lures. Scofield has special regulations. The limit is a combined total of four fish. No more than two may be cutthroat or tiger trout under 15 inches, and no more than one may be a cutthroat or tiger trout over 22 inches. All cutthroat and tiger trout from 15–22 inches must be immediately released. Trout may not be filleted and the heads or tails removed in the field or in transit. Any trout with cutthroat markings is considered to be a cutthroat.

Fishing Report for Southeastern Utah

A tiger trout and three rainbow trout at a fish cleaning station at Scofield Reservoir.

Photo by Randall Stilson

ABAJO MOUNTAINS: (October 28) A week ago, Conservation Officer Paul Washburn reported good fishing at Lloyds Lake with a gold or silver Jakes Spin-A-Lure. Caught rainbows ranged from 7 to 13 inches. Try fishing the area around the dam.

BOULGER RESERVOIR: (October 28) Fly-fishing is good with a floating line and a midge or caddis pattern.

ELECTRIC LAKE: (October 28) The lake was sampled by the DWR on Oct. 15. Nets contained a fairly even balance of tiger and cutthroat trout, indicating good survival of stocked fish. Most trout ranged from eight to 18 inches. More fish were netted this year than the last time sampling occurred. Trout appeared healthy and well fed. Fortunately, no zebra mussels were found during this year's sampling. The primary prey species is the redside shiner. Anglers should try using dead minnows, lures or crankbaits that imitate the three-inch baitfish. Good lure choices include silver/red Kastmasters, or the silver/red Rapala X-Rap or Husky Jerk.

HUNTINGTON CREEK: (October 28) Try a size 10 beadhead Montana nymph with one split shot 12 to 18 inches above the fly. The catch in this creek will consist mostly of brown trout with a few cutthroat trout. Most fish are smaller than 14 inches.

HUNTINGTON RESERVOIR: (October 28) Fly-fishermen should try sinking line with a black and green soft hackle fly on a size 8 hook. Spincasters should use a silver spoon or Jakes Spin-A-Lure. This water has special regulations. It is closed to the possession of cutthroat trout.

JOES VALLEY RESERVOIR: (October 28) Joes Valley Reservoir is closed to fishing to protect spawning splake from Nov. 1 until Saturday, Dec. 12. The largest splake are more vulnerable during the spawn, so the temporary closure will be implemented to protect these voracious chub predators. A week ago, Aquatics Program Manager Paul Birdsey reported fair fishing. He fished the rocky east shoreline with a black and silver three-inch Rapala. Birdsey's catch consisted mostly of 15-inch tiger trout.

LAKE POWELL: (October 28) For an in-depth look at Lake Powell fishing conditions, read this week's full report from Wayne Gustaveson, the DWR's Lake Powell project leader.

LA SAL MOUNTAINS: (October 28) Aquatics Biologist Darek Elverud fished Kens Lake on Oct. 19. He used black and brown plastic worms to catch several 10-inch bass. The trout limit at Kens Lake has been increased to eight with no size restrictions. This increase allows anglers to harvest trout that would otherwise be lost when the lake is drawn down to 100 acre feet of storage by Nov. 1. There is no change in the daily limit for bass.

SCOFIELD RESERVOIR: (October 28) Tom Ogden reports good fishing from a tube on the west side. In five hours, he caught 26 fish. His biggest fish was 22 inches, but most were cutthroats in the 12- to 14-inch range. He used slow sinking line in 6 to 12 feet of water with a black and green tinsel soft hackle fly in sizes 2 and 4. Boaters also report good success trolling gold or silver lures with red spots or stripes. The best bait choices are worms, dead minnows or chartreuse PowerBait. Boaters report the best luck around the island. Most shoreline anglers have been fishing in the dam cove or along the east side. Scofield Reservoir has special regulations. Please see page 28 in the Utah Fishing Guidebook for details.