Fishing The Overton Arm (January 9, 2019)

By LOREN BROOKS

The cell phone rang as we traveled northbound on I-15 near Beaver, Utah on Thursday, December 20. It was Lanny Waite. He said he and Paul Bernardo had a great day of fishing and caught a nice batch of crappie, largemouth bass, and some stripers.

A few minutes later, I received a text with a picture taken at the cleaning table at Echo Bay Marina. There were sixteen big crappie and five largemouth bass. What a catch!
These were some “slab” crappie. For crappie to reach this size it is a definite indication that there is plenty of food in the Overton Arm for these pan fish.

Lanny and Paul earned bragging rights on this catch. It may be cold, but the fishing is very good.
My first experience in fishing for crappie goes back to 1972 in Oklahoma City. Black crappie and white crappie were caught on mealworms using a bobber. We fished from a pier in roundhouse out on the end of the pier with night lights. It was a fun experience. The typical size was usually under 10 inches.

I can remember flying in a private aircraft with Jack Clark to the Bullfrog Marina at Lake Powell in 1975. I was assigned on an FBI case in Albuquerque, New Mexico and had some business with Jack. It was my first plane ride in a private twin-engine airplane.

We traveled south from Bullfrog and spent the night on the lake in a houseboat. The next morning, I sneaked out in the early morning hours with rod and reel and used a Beetle Spin on a spinning rod. I caught a two-pound Crappie. Jack was upset. Rightfully so, because the fish were biting and I failed to wake him.

The next time I caught a mess of crappie was through the ice at Willard Bay, Utah. Al Latezio, another FBI agent, taught me the trick of catching crappie using a worm on a tiny jig. The Crappie were white and the biggest was about 10-inches long. Most of them were about the size of your hand. Eight of us caught 100 crappie that night right next to the boat dock.

Then in Overton, I tied into some crappie while trolling with Roger Wood who lived in Robin’s Nest. He used a tiny jig hook baited with a tiny flesh-colored plastic twister tail. We were trolling at .9 mph in the Virgin River Narrows. (Those were the days when you could launch your boat at Overton Beach.) These were black crappie and were all about 10-inches long.

When construction workers extended the boat ramp at Echo Bay about four years ago, they fished at night and bragged about big crappie caught from the shore at Echo. I imagine there must be some good crappie fishing at Stewart’s Point.

Bill Glentz ran into me at the post office this week. I told him we were up in cold country and had to shovel 12 inches of snow on the driveway before attending a wedding in Bountiful. He reported that last week his buddy Marshal caught 10 crappie in 10 feet of water. Bill said he and his daughter went to the same place but the crappie were not biting as well. They caught some nice stripers and a few crappie.
I’m not sure when the crappie spawn, but November and December 2018 have been excellent crappie fishing in the Overton Arm.

It’s good to be back. Don’t blame me for the cold weather. It was 21 degrees in Bountiful every day, but the wedding was beautiful and we had a nice Christmas with the family. Now it’s time to bake some bread and get back out on the water. Stay in touch and send some pictures of your catch.