By John Olsen
Growing up, one of the people I admired most was my uncle Glenn. Uncle Glenn was, in truth was my great-uncle on my dad’s side. He and my Grandpa Olsen had grown up together fishing and hunting in Cache Valley. From the time I was six, uncle Glenn would come down the road (he only lived half a block from me) and pick me up in his old orange chevy truck and take me fishing. We fished everywhere we could get, and I spent many summer days with uncle Glenn. He did this until he got sick with cancer and passed when I was 12. our last conversation was at the veterans' hospital in Salt Lake about how we would go fishing on Hyrum as soon as he was better. He passed two days later, a week before Christmas. After he passed, I discovered he was a medic on the European Front during ww2. He was a medic on five different invasions, including in the first wave on D-day. He was a humble guy who loved the outdoors and loved me enough to help teach me about it.
One spring Saturday morning when I was nine, dad and I grabbed the boat, picked up uncle Glenn, and headed to Hyrum for spring fishing. We hit the water and hadn't gone 20 yards when uncle Glenn had his first hit. He jerked but came up empty. We trolled along, and he had six more bites, all he couldn't hook.
“What do you have on?” My dad asked.
“It’s a Malad Special." Uncle Glenn replied. A Malad Special is what we call a Jake brass with red dots. To this day, I don't know why my family called it that.
Dad and I changed to the Malad Special, and both caught a fish, while uncle missed two more. Finally, Uncle reeled in to see what was up with his lure. As his lure came out of the water, I busted up laughing. He looked at me funny and asked, "What's so funny?" I grabbed his lure and held it up. There in my hand was a Malad Speatial with no hook on it. Someone had snipped the treble hook off his lure. Uncle just shook his head and laughed.
Spring Trout are a lot of fun to catch. There are some great trout lakes in northern Utah, and they all tend to fish the same. To name a few, Hyrum, Mantua, Causey, and Lost Creek, but other lost gems are out there. I'll focus on Hyrum, but many small lakes fish similarly in Northern Utah.
On Hyrum, the state will usually plant twice a year, once around April and again around September or October. Last year, for example, they planted 4000 rainbows in April and 5000 in September. They plant heavily in September to give the ice fisherman some fish to catch through the ice. On some ice fishing years like this one, only a few fish are taken through the ice. This year on Hryum, ice fishing has been sparse because of the weather. This can make for an excellent ice-off trout season.
The ice comes off Hyrum anytime in March, depending on the weather. This winter seems to have no end, but we will see. When the ice comes off, the trout will become more active. Trout love water between 50-60 degrees, and at ice off, that's in the 1-15 foot water column. Trolling on the top of the column will be the best for the first month of ice off. Having a fishfinder helps when trolling to find depts and temps but remember, when the fish are high in the water column, they will move away from the boat, so you may not see them on your sonar. Also, running a few lines on a plainer board can be helpful as you troll. The fish will move out and away from your boat and directly into your lure.
Speaking of lures, these are some of my favorite lures for trout in spring.
#1 Jakes Spoon – Gold or Silver w/Red Dots, 1/4oz (Trout seem to favor one color over another depending on the year, so try both.)
#2 Needlefish Size 2 Gold or Silver (in darker water, try a dark green pattern)
#3 Z-Ray Gold Or Silver
# 4 Flatfish small, all different colors. (you must troll much slower with flatfish, but it can stimulate some of those aggressive ice off Rainbows.
The most critical key to the color of the lure on dark cloudy days, try darker colors like dark green or dark blue, and on sunny days you want to start with shiny or light colors, gold, brass, silver, and white with just a splash of red. Remember, in spring, trolling for trout in Utah is to keep moving and try a few different color lures.
For most of these, I will fish with one or two slit removable sinkers 3-4 oz size about 15 inches above the lure, and I will start trolling about 2 MPH then very until I find what the fish like. Later on, in spring, I may switch to trolling a small crankbait or pop-gear and worm as the fish get more aggressive.
The trout will stay in that upper water column near the shore, where the mud flats are about 15-20 feet deep—Troll across rock outcropping and at the edge of where the weed beds will be in summer. As the temperatures climb and the water heats up, the trout will seek deeper water to stay in that 50-60 degree water. In late spring and fall, the bigger trout will come to the shallows in the evening and early morning, looking for small fish to eat. Trolling in the evenings and early morning in warmer weather in the 10-15 feet of water just outside weed beds and structure can be effective for large trout. Try minnow bait like Rapala at this time.
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Good luck, and here's to dreams of a warm spring day to fish soon.
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