days that make you work for your fish are the ones that can teach you the most.
BAIT FOR THE SCENE
Once we settled into the marina circuit, Hawk stuck with crankbaits – chartreuse Spro Fat John a shad colored Jackall Bling squarebill crankbait that he had accented with a dorsal stripe of translucent green nail polish. His key motivators: matching local forage profiles and working with the limitations of low visibility.
“I’m just trying to use a bait that they can see – something that’s bright white or chartreuse,” Hawk said. “This is really off-color water. I can only see my crankbait 3-4 inches under the surface.”
Now, some might opt for audible appeal in the off-colored water, but Hawk took a different view.
“I’m not a big fan of rattles in general,” he said. “I’d rather put the bait where the fish is, instead of drawing the fish over to me. There are times when rattles work, but I’d rather have something that displaces water.”
MARINA ROUNDS
Starting at Lindon Boat Harbor, the Hawks’ cranking efforts yielded only a plump white bass. Next stop was American Fork Harbor at the lake’s northeast corner where reeds overhanging rocks added shade to the manmade structure. Also, with lots of winged insects keeping opportunistic bluegill and white bass close, Hawk noted a definite uptick in the potential.
Running his squarebill over the rocks brought several whites and a keeper largemouth to the boat in short order. Another five minutes into the marina and the day-maker decided it had a taste for crankbait. As Hawk eased around a modest point punctuated by a small paved ramp, the 3 ½-pounder blasted the bait in water barely dorsal deep.
“This (harbor) has a little more depth and it has some really good rock around the edge with a little bit of vegetation and a little bit of wood,” Hawk observed. “That (big) fish was right on the edge of
SUMMER 2015
that ramp, about a foot deep. This water’s a little more stained than the other marinas we fished and the fish are in inches of water.”
Over the next couple of hours, we’d hit a few different marinas with surprisingly lean results. By mid-afternoon we were heading back to American Fork. Returning after giving this facility a breather turned out to be the right call, as Hawk’s crankbait found a flurry of activity with the predictable white bass gluttony, a ballsy bluegill and a handful of largemouth – including the finale fish right back at that little paved ramp.
LESSONS OF THE DAY
Persistence would fairly top the list of game plan elements for this hot summer day on Utah Lake. Hawk believed in the potential of the lake where he had spent many a summer day in his youth. He just knew that results wouldn’t come on silver platter.
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