Utikima

[lensgarage]

Any ice reports for utikima

[husky hunter]

I measured 20'' in one place last week and 15'' in other places and no decent fish anywhere...

[Brandonkop]

I heard the small skinny pike bite non stop when you're on em. But who wants small snot rockets? Maybe they'll wake up.

[RavYak]

I measured 20'' in one place last week and 15'' in other places and no decent fish anywhere...

Was there last Wed and was only 12.5 inches where we set up.

[stompit]

20" of ice every hole

[lensgarage]

Thanks gentlemen

[fishunter77]

Spent 2 days out here with my daughter. We caught a few perch all below 6 inches. Got a few small walleye in the evening and lots of small pike.

Not to sure what happened to the perch 10 to 12 inches or walleye above 2 Lbs. This lake seems to winterkill for the big guys, like most of AB lakes. I know this lake quite well and perch are gone. Only small Eyes and tiny Pike left.

My Hummingbird was sad. Did not see many fish. Tried my go to lures and bait and various Slender spoons with no luck. Did catch 3 tulibees on small jigs and
Marmish lures. Got my walleyes on rapala's and Jig head with minnows. Not a good year for Utikama. it seems to have a cycle every 4-6 years.

I would love this lake to produce like it used to :sign0176:

Lake depths are lower than what they were in the 90's. Not another good sign.

Good luck to everyone making the journey. I hope you to better than we did.

[Opa]

I suspect that the lower water levels coupled with the unregulated subsistence fishing that is taking place, have wreaked havoc on the fish populations in the lake. It used to be one of the best sportfishing lakes in the north!!! Pity to see the present state of the lake.

[husky hunter]

My theory is that since they stopped netting White Fish there are so many fry available that the fish are fat and sassy and won't bite. Same thing in Slave I think. The quota for Slave was 750,000 lb of White Fish and this is the 4th year of no netting. Has to have an changed the balance in some way...........

[Birchcraft]

Also Husky, correct me if I'm wrong, but whitefish feed on the eggs of other fish, so with no netting that's a whole Lotta extra mouths to feed.

[husky hunter]

Sounds logical....I have fished those lakes for quite a few years and something seems way out of whack....

[stubblejumper01]

My theory is that since they stopped netting White Fish there are so many fry available that the fish are fat and sassy and won't bite. Same thing in Slave I think. The quota for Slave was 750,000 lb of White Fish and this is the 4th year of no netting. Has to have an changed the balance in some way...........

Just got back from Canyon Creek. I was in 40' of water and I saw schools of whites swimming by on camera. 20-30 at a time. Never saw that many before. They were coming in to check out aggressively jigged lures. Next time I go I'm going to try a jigging spoon and minnow head as a dropper with a wire worm above. Just have to tie up a couple before I go.

[Birchcraft]

Stubble, only fished for whites a few times but it worked well to yank our hook up quite aggressively to really make it move in the water then let it fall, then once they seemed really interested started pulling it up slower and more gradually while still trying to keep the rhythm going, couldn't keep them off the hook. We were using decent sized spoons to, #00 and #0 Len Thompsons. Mind you this is much easier to see what the fish were doing as we were fishing in only about 5-6ft of water.

[RavYak]

Stubble, only fished for whites a few times but it worked well to yank our hook up quite aggressively to really make it move in the water then let it fall, then once they seemed really interested started pulling it up slower and more gradually while still trying to keep the rhythm going, couldn't keep them off the hook. We were using decent sized spoons to, #00 and #0 Len Thompsons. Mind you this is much easier to see what the fish were doing as we were fishing in only about 5-6ft of water.

I have never seen a whitefish with a large enough mouth to swallow a size 0 len thompson, sounds suspicious...

[Birchcraft]

I have never seen a whitefish with a large enough mouth to swallow a size 0 len thompson, sounds suspicious...

I was using those larger pea sized pick fish eggs you buy in little jars for bait. One of those on one of the trebles points and they just mouth the hook. Spoon is just there to creat turbulence to draw them in. I might be mixed up on my spoon sizes let me check, we're bigger than a guy would think to use though....

Edit: Yup it was the 0 and 00 that were working fine for us, they just snatched the point the bait egg is on. Again as I said I really think it only works if you have a good view of the fish and can anticipate their strike.

[RavYak]

I was using those larger pea sized pick fish eggs you buy in little jars for bait. One of those on one of the trebles points and they just mouth the hook. Spoon is just there to creat turbulence to draw them in. I might be mixed up on my spoon sizes let me check, we're bigger than a guy would think to use though....

Edit: Yup it was the 0 and 00 that were working fine for us, they just snatched the point the bait egg is on. Again as I said I really think it only works if you have a good view of the fish and can anticipate their strike.

Many guys snag whitefish using the same technique but I don't know if they use bait so that might be the key difference that you need to make sure people know when explaining it.

As long as the whitefish is actually biting and not just bumping/attacking and getting snagged you are ok.

[Birchcraft]

Many guys snag whitefish using the same technique but I don't know if they use bait so that might be the key difference that you need to make sure people know when explaining it.

As long as the whitefish is actually biting and not just bumping/attacking and getting snagged you are ok.

We'll at first I was ****ed and insulted at your suspicion of me snagging fish but then I re-read my initial post and had a good laugh, I can see where you were coming from, hahaha. But no, I found that if your quick on the draw and can get them enticed enough they almost seem to inhale to hook and you just pull them out. Have to see them and be quick though cause you can barely feel them take it and lots of times they are quick to spit it back out.

[neilsledder]

I caught a white fish yesterday in utikama using a orange blade fish hook, it was about 3" long. It bit it as the hook was in its mouth. I notice the jack in the lake were on the skinny side!


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[RavYak]

We'll at first I was ****ed and insulted at your suspicion of me snagging fish but then I re-read my initial post and had a good laugh, I can see where you were coming from, hahaha. But no, I found that if your quick on the draw and can get them enticed enough they almost seem to inhale to hook and you just pull them out. Have to see them and be quick though cause you can barely feel them take it and lots of times they are quick to spit it back out.

Glad you understood lol. You might be surprised to know how many people just try to snag them with wetaskiwin specials(and even more surprised how many of them will proudly admit it...). I prefer wire worms myself but am going to try the smallest size slender spoons next time I go out since they look tempting.

[Kim473]

I caught a white fish yesterday in utikama using a orange blade fish hook, it was about 3" long. It bit it as the hook was in its mouth. I notice the jack in the lake were on the skinny side!


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A couple years ago I caught and kept my three pike and one Walleye. Needless to say, the one Walleye had more meat on it than all 3 pike together. I won't keep a pike from there unless it's like a 20 pound-er. Just not worth it.
They need to stock some feeder minnows in that lake for the pike to eat. Like about 100 billion.