Fishing Forum

[#0000ff]Had a personal and weather schedule to juggle this week to try to get in some fishing. Tuesday looked good after the front, but couldn't break free. Then Wednesday shaped up to look pretty good so I jumped on it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hit the north marina at Willard. WOW. What a difference it makes when the rugrats are back in school. My car was the only one in the lot...almost. There was a guy launching a kayak right behind me as I headed out the channel. Saw him later but he was not Rocky. Not sociable at all.
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[#0000ff]Air temp at launch a brisk 52. Water temp 70...only rising a couple of degrees by noon departure. Some color in the water from the recent wind and weather, but have seen much worse. Surprisingly there was a lot of water coming in over the baffles as I stopped by the south marina later. More on that to come.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Did not bring any LHBE minnows today. Only brought crawlers and some perch meat harvested from Echo a couple of weeks ago. Fished each separately and caught a few on each...sporadically. About mid morning I tried combining the two...for a kinda "surf and turf"...a small piece of perch meat and 1/3 to 1/2 of a nightcrawler. DY-NO-MITE! Can't say whether the fish just turned on...or if I finally found the right zone...or if that "combo plate" meal was just what the fish wanted. At any rate I caught a lot more fish in the last two hours than I did the first two.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No wipers or walleyes were harmed on this trip, even though I really wanted some ABCs...anything besides cats. But the kitties came out to play and they were lotsa fun. Oh yeah, I did catch one small bullhead cat too. I used to catch them fairly often but since the wipers came to town I suspect that slower growing and smaller bullheads add to the menu during shadless months.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I tried the usual bait dragging thing...a large piece of perch meat trailing out behind the tube. Nary a whack. I caught all the cats today on fligs...with either or both crawler and perch meat...as described. Yeah, the surf and turf delivered.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]While things were still slow in the early morning I spied a float tube with a bright orange back moving in my direction. Oh goodie. Here comes some "help", thought I. Turned out to be BFTer Burley. He wasn't swinging his sturgeon rods so he had to tell me who he was. I downloaded a few fligs for him to play with and he kicked off to other parts. I never got close enough to him again to find out how he did.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I guesstimate I caught somewhere around 20 cats all together. A couple were 2-footers and a couple more were only a couple inches shorter. Good sized kitties for Willard. And those bigger ones hit like a ton of bricks and peeled line off the drag. Then then circled way out away from the tube. I was sure I had wipers until I finally got them close enough to witness them change back into cats.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Everything I caught today was on fligs and bait. The fire tiger and pale perch colors were what I had on when I got there. And they both accounted for a lot of cats. Most of them were hooked in the corner of the mouth...just like circle hooks. But when one greedy kitty swallowed a pale perch flig I had to cut it off and I tied on a "purple fire". That one produced quite a few of the fish I caught after that.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I hadn't planned on keeping any cats today. But when another cat swallowed a flig and I also kept it for later removal at the cleaning station, I decided to go ahead and keep a few more for the smoker. My elderly neighbor has been none to diplomatic in reminding me that I haven't provided him any for a while. So, I had 5 in the basket and figured I needed about one more for a smoker full. Wouldn'tcha know it? A double when I got right outside the buoys at the channel. A fine finish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Couldn't have asked for nicer weather today. Glass calm all morning, with only an occasional light ripple. No boils. But there were some shad or other small fish working bugs on the surface...and the terns made dive bombs here and there to reward the little tykes for their foolishness.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When I returned to the ramp there were only a handful of boat trailers in the lot. Cool. But when I took my fish to the cleaning station, it was not cool. Some doofus had done what doofii do...and had stuffed the grinder with catfish before turning on the motor. Result? A grinder full of poorly filleted catfish and me having to drive south to the south marina...where the facilities were in fine working order.
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That had to be someone impersonating Burley. Not nearly enough gadgets on that tube for it to belong to Burley.[]
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Pat, you're report is a duplicate of mine the last two days. I really planned on meeting you this morning, but a friend had a different offer. Monday's fish are being brined tonight and smoked tomorrow. Tuesdays catch gets brined tomorrow and smoked Friday.
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[#0000FF]Oh...do I know you? The flake formerly known as FatBiker?[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]I expected some lame excuse like you having to attend a tea party or a book club meeting or something.
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[#0000FF]As our illustrious former president Mr. Clinton used to advise...when smoking, don't inhale.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]All is well, good buddy. I plan to hit Willard more frequently in the next couple of months.
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[quote kentofnsl]That had to be someone impersonating Burley. Not nearly enough gadgets on that tube for it to belong to Burley.[][/quote]

[#0000FF]I don't know him that well to make that kind of judgment. But I do recall that he seemed to be looking lustfully at all the "modifications" on my craft. Guess I'll have to not let him get too close.[/#0000FF]
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Pat, thank you for the fligs and rigging instructions. You are a kind man but without the perch meat my crawlers and fake minnows brought zero results. After leaving you, I kicked around dragging it for a hour. I brought out my second rod and attached a 1 oz. kastmaster to it. First cast brought a huge bend to my rod. I thought that the skunk was going to be replaced by a wiper bonanza. It spun my tube several times before getting in capture range. This wiper was staying close to the bottom and not wanting to rise to the surface. After another spin around the tube, it came to the surface and exposed itself. A nice catfish had replaced the wiper. I had forgotten my landing net of course, so by the time I had a good shot at grabbing him, he had me dripping wet form tail splashing. He measured 22 inches. He was released none the worst for wear.
I continued dragging the flig while casting the kastmaster for another hour and a half. One quick bite on the flig and another huge bite on the kastmaster. No hookups happened. My legs were give out by 10:30 so I headed in.

I checked the cleaning station before hitting the water this morning and it was stuffed full of cats. What is so hard about turning on the grinder before adding fish???

Kent, "not enough gadgets", I resemble that remark. After seeing Pat's floating baithouse, I now have a goal to work for.
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[#0000FF]It was good to see you out on the pond. At the time we got together I had not yet discovered the effectiveness of "surf and turf"...or I would have also shared some perch meat. First time I have tried that and happy to know that my dwindling supply of minnows can be extended.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]You covered a lot of water so I am not surprised about your legs complaining. I don't suppose you spend a lot of time in your tube. I do it regularly but I also have an electric for longer moves, etc. Even then my poor old legs get weary too.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]If you ever wanna do some pimpin' on your ride, let me know. I'd be glad to put your tube up on the table in my "tubeatorium" and slap on some PVC.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]As per our conversation, I will send you a copy of "The Monster of Willard Bay" by PM.
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Thanks for another great report! Things have been a bit busy for me with family, etc. It is always great toread your reports and get excited again.

Keep up the great work!
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[#0000FF]Hoping to be able to spend some more time down in your part of the country soon. But after reading an email from Lynn...about the abundance of green and the lack of catfish...I ain't gonna wait with bait on my breath.
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[#0000FF]But...it's gotta get better soon. Right?[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]In the meantime, I am happy to do the field research to provide reports to support your addiction.
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I did get out for a few hours last Friday with Catchinon. Not nearly as much blue/green as at Lincoln, but a significant shortage of cats. We did spen too long messing with the little wihites though.

They were all over the marina and I was really surprised the non cannibalistic predators were nowhere to be seen. We never got very far off shore.
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[#0000FF]The combination of variable weather patterns, falling water levels and wacko water chemistry has the fish unsettled. They will be roaming around looking for more tolerable conditions...and then maybe putting on the feed bag. Not good for fish or fishermen right now.
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Hey Pat, nice report again... I appreciate the details and such that help the decision making for next time out... Pretty sure I don't change things up enough when things aren't working... Need to learn better from you how to keep looking at different options till something works... Thanks J
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[#0000FF]There are two sides to that coin. The first side is that when you are not catching fish, keep changing bait, lures, depth, presentation, etc. until you find active fish. The second side is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Too many guys (myself included) have been guilty of leaving active fish to look for more.
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[#0000FF]Or, in my case, I keep trying new stuff just to find something that won't work. Sounds dumb, but it is a good way to try out new stuff. If it works as well as whatever else you have been catching fish on, then it's good. If it works better...it's a winner. But if it tanks...then don't keep it in your arsenal any more. But if you keep using a loser then you might need some counseling. Been that, done there. Or whatever.
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Boy I'm there, some days I get frustrated because I'm only catching little fish, but I won't change anything up because I don't want to not catch fish... Other days I'm in the change up mood and move from fish to try to find better ones and end up drawing blanks and think I shouldn't have moved... Guess that's all part of the fun of the game of fishing though... Trying to learn how to do better... Sometimes it's turns out and other times it doesn't, but it's usually always fun trying... Thanks Pat... J
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[#0000FF]Hey, it's all part of the fun of fishing. First of all, you have to know what your options are...choice of lures, type of tackle, location, time of day, etc. If you find out you made the right choices...good for you. If not, then you get to play fishing roulette.
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[#0000FF]That's why they call it fishing and not harvesting. I think I would not be nearly so addicted if everything was cut a dried...automatic. Ho hum.
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I think you're 100% correct there. On the one lake in the Winds this summer it became so automatic to catch fish each cast that I got bored of it and left. There needs to be a challenge to keep it fun for me. Big truth there. Crazy but true. Later J
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