10-03-2004, 10:43 PM
[cool][#0000ff]There are a few walleyes being taken around Utah Lake, but not in numbers and not by some of the more serious walleye chasers. The few that have been seen are all skinny, looking more like northern pike than well fed walleyes.
I have hit the Lincoln Beach area 5 times in the last 3 weeks. Once with walleyebob, twice by myself, once TubeBabe and today with UTWalleye. Lots of casting with lots of different lures and presentations. Have seen three fish taken (not by me or my companions) and have lost two myself.
This morning I met up with Chuck (UTWalleye) at about 7. He launched his boat and I launched my tube. We teamed up to try to find the fish and a pattern. We fished from shallow to the maximum depth of 5 feet. We fished rocks and mud flats. We fished breaklines and small humps. Nada, zip , zip.
We both had some encouraging bumps on plastics, but nothing got stuck by our hooks. Inexperienced fish didn't know how the game is supposed to be played.
About 9 AM, Chuck used the electric motor to fish slowly up the shoreline, while I remained in our basic launch area. I gave up on plastics and started pitching a double drop shot fly rig. Got several whacks...probably from white bass...but no fish. Just as I was about to call it a day, I had a hard take and fought in a very active fish. I was hoping walleye, but it turned out to be a 15" channel cat. Okay.
Thinking the water had warmed a bit in the flat calm of late morning, I started dragging some leftover perch fillets. After several mud cats, I laid the rod down to take a picture of an
cloud. The rod bent and line zipped from the spool, since I left the bail open. I almost tossed the camera over the side as I grabbed the rod and set the hook. It was a large channel cat that I had on for several minutes before the poorly set hook worked free.
A half hour later, I had a tentative tap, a couple of short runs and set the hook into a nice 23" channel. Added her to my basket and began working my way back to the launch area. I had things to do and now had the makings of a kitty dinner.
Chuck arrived back at the launch spot about the same time I did and we trailered his boat and stuffed my gear back into my Jimmy. We agreed that the fishing had been great, even if the catching (for walleye) had not been so good. We both expressed concern for the condition of the few 'eyes we have seen. We also marveled at how few white bass there were. In years past the whites have typically gathered in large schools in the area, and you could catch two at a time on tandem rigs. Not this year.
Sure hope it improves. Couldn't get much worse.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
I have hit the Lincoln Beach area 5 times in the last 3 weeks. Once with walleyebob, twice by myself, once TubeBabe and today with UTWalleye. Lots of casting with lots of different lures and presentations. Have seen three fish taken (not by me or my companions) and have lost two myself.
This morning I met up with Chuck (UTWalleye) at about 7. He launched his boat and I launched my tube. We teamed up to try to find the fish and a pattern. We fished from shallow to the maximum depth of 5 feet. We fished rocks and mud flats. We fished breaklines and small humps. Nada, zip , zip.
We both had some encouraging bumps on plastics, but nothing got stuck by our hooks. Inexperienced fish didn't know how the game is supposed to be played.
About 9 AM, Chuck used the electric motor to fish slowly up the shoreline, while I remained in our basic launch area. I gave up on plastics and started pitching a double drop shot fly rig. Got several whacks...probably from white bass...but no fish. Just as I was about to call it a day, I had a hard take and fought in a very active fish. I was hoping walleye, but it turned out to be a 15" channel cat. Okay.
Thinking the water had warmed a bit in the flat calm of late morning, I started dragging some leftover perch fillets. After several mud cats, I laid the rod down to take a picture of an
cloud. The rod bent and line zipped from the spool, since I left the bail open. I almost tossed the camera over the side as I grabbed the rod and set the hook. It was a large channel cat that I had on for several minutes before the poorly set hook worked free.A half hour later, I had a tentative tap, a couple of short runs and set the hook into a nice 23" channel. Added her to my basket and began working my way back to the launch area. I had things to do and now had the makings of a kitty dinner.
Chuck arrived back at the launch spot about the same time I did and we trailered his boat and stuffed my gear back into my Jimmy. We agreed that the fishing had been great, even if the catching (for walleye) had not been so good. We both expressed concern for the condition of the few 'eyes we have seen. We also marveled at how few white bass there were. In years past the whites have typically gathered in large schools in the area, and you could catch two at a time on tandem rigs. Not this year.
Sure hope it improves. Couldn't get much worse.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
Ended up pushing the toon and walking it out past the mouth of the old ramp. Made it but burned serious morning energy that could have been spent casting.