We’ve had a lot of activity going on at Utah Lake and I figured we should give you a quick report and update on the fishing tournament and the shoreline restoration/phragmites removal effort.
Fishing Tournament
You’ll recall that we sponsored a bass fishing tournament for the National Guard FLW College Fishing Circuit on Utah Lake at the end of last month that featured the best collegiate anglers in the west. We even had a team from our very own Utah Valley University that competed and fared pretty well. It was a great way to promote the lake, and was a really fun and classy event. Believe it or not, it’s a pretty exciting sport.
Twenty teams competed over two days for one of five spots on the third and final day. They had pretty decent weather, though some storms quickly blew through. The rules were simple. Catch up to five large- or small-mouth bass over 12 inches between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. The results for all three days can be viewed here.
The champs from CSU-Long Beach, Justin Gangel and Alex Cox bagged daily weights of 8-5, 5-14 and 7-5 to win the event. They ended with a total weight of 21-8 and a winning margin of 5-2. Rounding out the top five were:
- 2nd Place: Oregon State-Zach Macdonald & William Sparks
- 3rd Place: Chico State-Nicholas Carrico & Tony Dayton
- 4th Place: Arizona State-Jason Karseboom & Bobby Fletcher
- 5th Place: UC Santa Cruz-Chris Rhoden & Sam Sayad
UVU’s team of Russell Behlings and Aaron Warner finished in 8th place
If you missed the weigh-ins, you can stream them at this link. Click on the links just to the right of the video. Fast forward to 35:00 on Day 1 and 1:35:00 for Day 2.
The final weigh-in can’t be viewed online, as it is being edited into a one-hour show that will air on NBC Sports from 1-2 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 4. Mark your calendars!
In all, it was a great and unique way to showcase the lake. Can’t wait to see the program in November. They showed a few clips that they took and the lake looked great!
Phragmites Removal
We finished with the helicopter spray on 1,500 acres of phragmites at the end of August. It took about two weeks, but it got done. We’ll have a more in-depth look at the process later this year.
Currently, County Crews are out hand spraying areas that the helicopter couldn’t safely get to. Because it’s such a tough environment to work in, we purchased another Land Tamer to assist them. If they were to get stuck (and they haven’t yet), they could easily be rescued now, so they don’t have to be quite as cautious as they maneuver around the shoreline. There’s a lot of work to do before we get our first freeze!
We sure appreciated the cooperation of the landowners letting us access their property. They knew something had to be done about the invasive weed, and were glad we were stepping up to do something about it. In just a couple of years, they should be able to see the lake again!
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