05-15-2015, 08:34 PM
I grew up fishing GBR and the surrounding area. There are lots of fish in there, but being a primarily irrigation reservoir, it isn't managed for fish. I've always had good luck along the dam for everything from carp to walleye.
I haven't fished gunnison bend itself for quite a few years, but my usual method of fishing there was to catch a carp and fish with carp meat, either under a float or on the bottom. That almost always paid off with channel cats, white bass, or the occasional LMB. When I figured out what lures were at about 15, I was able to catch (almost) everything in there including Sacramento Perch. (just one). I had good luck with curly tail grubs in chartreuse, yellow, or white, rapalas, white or silver spinners, crappie jigs, and a floating frog. The best bait by far, for some reason, was called a lipstick jig. It's made by northland tackle and looks similar to a tube jig. I went through those like potato chips in lots of different colors.
With the weather this weekend, fishing might be a little slow. I'd plan on using two rods, one with bait and the other with some sort of more finesse lure, something like a light tube jig.
For the record, the only fish that I know is in there that I never caught there is a northern pike. What I know is in there:
Largemouth bass
Smallmouth bass (but mostly upstream of DMAD)
Black Crappie
White Crappie
Channel Cat
Bullhead (not sure which color)
Perch
Walleye
Sacramento Perch
Bluegill
Green Sunfish
Northern Pike
Cutthroat trout --
Brown Trout -- | Both caught in late november not long after the dam was repaired in the mid 80's.
White Bass
Sucker
and of course---
Carp.
In short, fish it like you would Utah Lake. [cool]
It's not a bad fishery and I've always considered the entire Sevier River system from Yuba to south of Deseret to be a very underrated fishery. If there was a way to manage both DMAD and Gunnison Bend so the water fluctuation wasn't so extreme, it would help immensely.
Matt
[signature]
I haven't fished gunnison bend itself for quite a few years, but my usual method of fishing there was to catch a carp and fish with carp meat, either under a float or on the bottom. That almost always paid off with channel cats, white bass, or the occasional LMB. When I figured out what lures were at about 15, I was able to catch (almost) everything in there including Sacramento Perch. (just one). I had good luck with curly tail grubs in chartreuse, yellow, or white, rapalas, white or silver spinners, crappie jigs, and a floating frog. The best bait by far, for some reason, was called a lipstick jig. It's made by northland tackle and looks similar to a tube jig. I went through those like potato chips in lots of different colors.
With the weather this weekend, fishing might be a little slow. I'd plan on using two rods, one with bait and the other with some sort of more finesse lure, something like a light tube jig.
For the record, the only fish that I know is in there that I never caught there is a northern pike. What I know is in there:
Largemouth bass
Smallmouth bass (but mostly upstream of DMAD)
Black Crappie
White Crappie
Channel Cat
Bullhead (not sure which color)
Perch
Walleye
Sacramento Perch
Bluegill
Green Sunfish
Northern Pike
Cutthroat trout --
Brown Trout -- | Both caught in late november not long after the dam was repaired in the mid 80's.
White Bass
Sucker
and of course---
Carp.
In short, fish it like you would Utah Lake. [cool]
It's not a bad fishery and I've always considered the entire Sevier River system from Yuba to south of Deseret to be a very underrated fishery. If there was a way to manage both DMAD and Gunnison Bend so the water fluctuation wasn't so extreme, it would help immensely.
Matt
[signature]