Anybody fish Ute Lake, NM

4773 Views 11 Replies 4 Participants Last post by catmann29, Sep 15, 2005

kirbydog

Discussion Starter · Sep 12, 2005

I usually go down here twice a year for 3 days or so. I'm planning on going down late Sept. Its in Logan, NM-about 20 miles north of Tucumcari.

Anybody fish there this year or have anything to report? I've been reading all the NM fishing reports on the lake but as we all know, these can be well of the mark.

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ChrisNM

· #2 · Sep 14, 2005

I haven't been there lately, but hopefully this report from August will help you some:

http://www.abqsportfishing.com/home_weeklyreport.html

I'm not affiliated with the site and don't mean to advertise for him, but his reports are generally pretty honest and informative.

A friend of mine usually does OK on white bass there deep trolling flatfish and spinners (like they are Kokannee) but he hasn't been down there in a few weeks.

Chris

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kirbydog

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 14, 2005

Chris-Thanks for the heads up on the site-its a good one. And I never realized the Tackle Box in Logan has a site too-their both on my favorites list now. If there are any smallie guys out there this is a good lake-better average size smallies than what you'll find in CO.

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· #4 · Sep 14, 2005

kirbydog said:
I usually go down here twice a year for 3 days or so. I'm planning on going down late Sept. Its in Logan, NM-about 20 miles north of Tucumcari.

Anybody fish there this year or have anything to report? I've been reading all the NM fishing reports on the lake but as we all know, these can be well of the mark.

You fishing the Logan Open Bass tourney Oct 1-2? I will be there trying to retain or better my third place finish from last year. Its humbling to fish a bass tournament in a walleye boat especially when at the start the bass boats go zipping by like I'm standing still.

The smallies and largemouth are about all I target down there and the smallies eat primarily crawdads on that lake. Toss 3 inch or smaller craw immitations and work the main lake points/drop offs. Dont be afraid to work water as deep as 20-25 FOW for the smallies, they stay deep in the middle of the day. If the wind is blowing go shallower (8-14 FOW) and work the wind blown sides of the lake. Largemouth are generally in the muddier river arms and the backs of coves. Throw white and chart spinnerbaits. If you are on the water early try for the top water action in the same locations.

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kirbydog

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 14, 2005

dkooser-Thanks for the input-I've had real good luck there over the years throwing tubes and senkos but of course its hard to keep in contact with a senko when the winds 20MPH. Water temp there is 80-83 last I heard so it sould be low 70's when you fish it first of Oct.

I'm not going down for the tourney-in fact theres three in a row from the tail end of Sept until early Oct so I'll be headed down before or after. The Tackle Box has a couple of mobile homes behind the store they rent out for $50 a night-two bedrooms, cable and a full kitchen so its a good deal.

One thing I'm gonna try this fall is a hula grub on a football or stand-up head-I've never used it that much on Ute and everywhere I've gone I get fewer bites with it but bigger fish. Good luck on the tourney-lot of good fishermen from the Dalhart-Amarillo area fish that so if you finished 3rd last time you must know you're stuff. ;D

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· #6 · Sep 14, 2005

I have one of the trailers RufNeck rents out. Not sure you know of their site but they update the fishing reports every Wednesday and the water temp they claim to be 74. http://www.utelakefishnfun.com/Ute_Lake_Fishing_Report/ute_lake_fishing_report.html

Looks and sounds funny but I do very well using a 1/8 to 1/4 oz orange jig head with a 3 inch Pumpkin with black and green sparkles senko. Rig the senko as you would a night crawler. No natural action of that bait but I either drag it or lit and drop it.

I've used the Yamamoto version of the hula and not done well with it there.....might not be the bait though.

Post an update back here or PM me if you wanna give up your Ute reports. I have the RufNeck fishing reports for smallies and largemouth saved to an Excel sheet for the past few months, if you want/need them. I store those to predict depth ranges of the fish and to see if they are keying in on different baits. Since I only spend one day prefishing before the tourney the historical data helps to predict where the fish are.

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kirbydog

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 14, 2005

I have been throwing a senko on a jighead this year and man its been doing well. I fish them on a Mister Twister keeper weighted hook-either 1/8 or 3/16 and its been producing some good fish. I like the Mr. Twister 'cause its weighted towards the back of the hook so you keep that horizontal fall-then I just lift and drop it on the bottom like any jig. This is a great rig when it gets too windy to fish it weightless.

That website that Chris mentioned here has a fishing reports archive for the past 3-4 yrs so youi can go back and get what they were doing in Oct in years past. Again, best of luck with the tourney.

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hammer

· #8 · Sep 14, 2005

Fished a couple of CBAA bass tournaments at Ute but mostly in the spring. Smallies were on rogues, Bomber crawdad crankbaits, and amber tube jigs. Largemouths were in the backs of coves almost at the shore line on brown skirted jigs with a Yamamoto twin tail grub in cinnamon w/ green flake.
This combination works at Pueblo and Horsetooth too.
Watch the wind at Ute as it can get very nasty.
We smacked our Ranger boat right into a brand new Triton waiting to get our boat out of the water during a Tstorm.

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· #9 · Sep 14, 2005

Are there cats in this lake? If so, how big? :-\

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· #10 · Sep 15, 2005

They do catch cats in the two river arms that feed into it but I dont know that I'd eat "much" from that lake. It is under the Area 59 mercury warnings, ya know UFO's and atomic bombs, goverment conspiracies and such.

"Read here for the real info."
http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swqb/Mercury.html

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Zman

· #11 · Sep 15, 2005

Big mutant catfish with lazer beams and nuclear waste breath!

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· #12 · Sep 15, 2005

I've caught those but they are sluggish and don't fight much. Iprefer the ones with three eyes. I pluck the third eye out and use it for bait!

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