05-05-2005, 02:16 PM
I've been hearing about decent crappie action at Lincoln, so I decided to take my sons (8 and 6) there on Tuesday evening. I met Doggonefishin there, and he gave me several pointers on how to fish for the papermouths.
While my sons kept busy with various activities such as frequently casting their jigs and impatiently reeling them in, skipping rocks, wading in the shallows to try and catch thrashing carp with their hands, and finding interesting places to urinate[crazy]--I watched as Doggone caught crappie after crappie. I, however, couldn't buy a bite. Using essentially the same technique and jig as Doggone, I couldn't catch even one.
My youngest son did manage to catch a bluegill, however. What a surprise! I've caught dozens of bluegill at other lakes but never in Utah Lake, so it was a first for our family.
Doggone graciously gave us a few of his crappie and one of his best jigs before leaving, which I certainly appreciated because without his crappie, our lone 'gill would have been very lonely in our frying pan later that night.
The next day, thoughts of the illusive crappie haunted me at work, so I asked the boys if they wanted to make a second trip to Lincoln in as many days. Of course they did.
After arriving at The Beach around 5 p.m., we began to fish using many of the same tactics as the evening before. Again, a big goose egg for our family. Not even a lonely 'gill would grace our stringer. (Maybe all the 'gills could sense they would become instant dinner if they accepted our offering. Boy, the 'gill the night before sure was tasty, as were the crappie.)
We pretty much stayed within the boat launch area between the boat dock and ramp for the first hour or so, but we soon decided to move around a little due to our lack of success. We eventually ended up fishing half way between the boat ramp and the points of the long rock dikes inside the channel itself where boats motor out to the lake.
Again, no hits, so I asked the boys if they wanted to go home. They said, "No," so I decided to change tactics. As I was changing the setup on one of the rods so that I could fish with minnows for bigger fish, Ocean pulled up in his car and asked how we were doing. I introduced myself, and we talked for awhile. He graciously offered several pointers and gave me a few of his spare jigs (what is it with BFTers--very nice people[cool]) and soon left to go to his son's ball game.
Shortly thereafter while my sons and I were having a rock skipping contest--having lost nearly all interest in fishing--I noticed that my nicest 7-foot rod was no longer propped up against the old piece of board I had stuck in the ground and was being tugged inch-by-inch into the murky water by something obviously quite large.
Of course, I quickly ran over, set the hook, and proceeded to fight something very big and very strong--big and strong enough that it took nearly a minute before I could get it close enough to the surface to realize what it was. Well, it ended up being a 26-inch walleye. My first ever 'eye![cool]
My sons both asked repeatedly, "Dad, can I reel it in?...Dad, can I reel it in?" because I always let them if I have a fish on, but not this time. I was so excited about my first walleye that I ignored them and reeled it in solo. I know; it was a pretty selfish thing for a dad to do[unsure], but after seeing those teeth, I didn't want to run the risk of him biting through my monofilament and escaping.
Well, just as the evening before, the eye became dinner for the three of us. My wife was so impressed with the huge walley that she even nibbled at it after it was the focus of several pictures and it was fried in butter, Old Bay seasoning, and Mrs. Dash. Tasty
]
I apologize for the extra-long post, but over the last two evenings I've experienced a few firsts--i.e., a first-ever Utah Lake bluegill, a first-ever walleye from anywhere, and our family's first crappie and walleye dinners on two consecutive nights.
[signature]
While my sons kept busy with various activities such as frequently casting their jigs and impatiently reeling them in, skipping rocks, wading in the shallows to try and catch thrashing carp with their hands, and finding interesting places to urinate[crazy]--I watched as Doggone caught crappie after crappie. I, however, couldn't buy a bite. Using essentially the same technique and jig as Doggone, I couldn't catch even one.
My youngest son did manage to catch a bluegill, however. What a surprise! I've caught dozens of bluegill at other lakes but never in Utah Lake, so it was a first for our family.
Doggone graciously gave us a few of his crappie and one of his best jigs before leaving, which I certainly appreciated because without his crappie, our lone 'gill would have been very lonely in our frying pan later that night.
The next day, thoughts of the illusive crappie haunted me at work, so I asked the boys if they wanted to make a second trip to Lincoln in as many days. Of course they did.
After arriving at The Beach around 5 p.m., we began to fish using many of the same tactics as the evening before. Again, a big goose egg for our family. Not even a lonely 'gill would grace our stringer. (Maybe all the 'gills could sense they would become instant dinner if they accepted our offering. Boy, the 'gill the night before sure was tasty, as were the crappie.)
We pretty much stayed within the boat launch area between the boat dock and ramp for the first hour or so, but we soon decided to move around a little due to our lack of success. We eventually ended up fishing half way between the boat ramp and the points of the long rock dikes inside the channel itself where boats motor out to the lake.
Again, no hits, so I asked the boys if they wanted to go home. They said, "No," so I decided to change tactics. As I was changing the setup on one of the rods so that I could fish with minnows for bigger fish, Ocean pulled up in his car and asked how we were doing. I introduced myself, and we talked for awhile. He graciously offered several pointers and gave me a few of his spare jigs (what is it with BFTers--very nice people[cool]) and soon left to go to his son's ball game.
Shortly thereafter while my sons and I were having a rock skipping contest--having lost nearly all interest in fishing--I noticed that my nicest 7-foot rod was no longer propped up against the old piece of board I had stuck in the ground and was being tugged inch-by-inch into the murky water by something obviously quite large.
Of course, I quickly ran over, set the hook, and proceeded to fight something very big and very strong--big and strong enough that it took nearly a minute before I could get it close enough to the surface to realize what it was. Well, it ended up being a 26-inch walleye. My first ever 'eye![cool]
My sons both asked repeatedly, "Dad, can I reel it in?...Dad, can I reel it in?" because I always let them if I have a fish on, but not this time. I was so excited about my first walleye that I ignored them and reeled it in solo. I know; it was a pretty selfish thing for a dad to do[unsure], but after seeing those teeth, I didn't want to run the risk of him biting through my monofilament and escaping.
Well, just as the evening before, the eye became dinner for the three of us. My wife was so impressed with the huge walley that she even nibbled at it after it was the focus of several pictures and it was fried in butter, Old Bay seasoning, and Mrs. Dash. Tasty![
] I apologize for the extra-long post, but over the last two evenings I've experienced a few firsts--i.e., a first-ever Utah Lake bluegill, a first-ever walleye from anywhere, and our family's first crappie and walleye dinners on two consecutive nights.
[signature]
] I was the guy in the Punisher T-shirt who fished the boat launch a little ways to the east of you. After watching you pull in that Walleye I was getting excited that I might finally get into some decent fish. I only ended up with 2 mud cats [
], and that monster carp.