Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]The current round of thunderstorms spooked me and TubeBabe from running up to Huntington Lake, as we had planned. Hit Lincoln Beach instead.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched by 5:45 AM. Water temp 75, air temp 65. Very few bugs, light south breeze. Nobody else out on the end of the south jetty where we launched.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe was the first to get launched. I was right behind her and heard her whoop as she brought in our first fish of the day, a nice white bass. It got a spine in her hand and she blew the easy layup into the basket. Lost the fish. We joked that it was always good to appease the fish gods by giving back the first one. Not this time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Besides getting a hole in her finger from the whitie, she also got a pinhole leak in the air chamber when the flopping fish hit the surface of her Fat Cat. Had to come in early to add air.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I scored two quick white bass my ownself, casting along the shoreline at the end of the dike. Thought it was gonna be a banner day. Nope. Two whites before 6 AM and then nothing else for a long time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We both kicked over to the shallow weedy water to the south of the boat channel. Noted that the water level has dropped at least 18" since its high point earlier in the summer. Our formerly hot area is now too shallow and we had to go alookin' to find the kitties. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We both missed "runners" on our "flylined" baits. She was offering carp meat, and I hooked on a half of a chub minnow. My next "inquiry" felt funny. I thought it might be a mudder. Pick up and drop. Pick up and drop, with a couple of thumps mixed in. I waited until the line came tight and WHAM. It didn't fight like either a mudder or a channel, and it wasn't. It was one of the skinniest walleyes I have ever hooked. 23" and probably wouldn't weigh more than a couple of pounds. (see pic). Poor girl hasn't been getting any groceries. Hope she is able to put on some weight by fall, when I arranged another date with her.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Saw some white bass hitting the surface, chasing some minnows...probably carplets. However, they wouldn't hit the spinners or the plastics I threw to them. I did get smacked by a feisty little channel cat though. It was about 14 or 15 inches, like a couple more I caught and released during the morning.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I finally finessed a couple of 3 pound channels. TubeBabe got one about the same size, but nothing else. I suppose she was lucky to get that one after letting the first fish go blab to the others.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I brought along one of those rubber mesh nets to try from my float tube. I have had it a couple of years but have never before used it. I like it. It fits on the top of the air chambers or with the net back in the spot behind the seat. It has a 3' handle and the mesh does not foul with hooks or fish spines. Unlike another model I once tried, it does not encourage the fish to flop out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fishing was pretty much over by 9:30, about the time the power squadron hit the water. We still kept at it though. I managed to hook one last white bass, on plastic, on the way back in. However, when I posed it on my hard plastic apron it flopped in the air. The jig went one way and the whitie went the other. I guess it was only proper that I do a "conservation release" on my last fish, since TubeBabe got to start the day off that way.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We took a drive around Lincoln Beach and to the West after getting loaded up. It won't be long until some of the access roads down onto the rock shelves will be driveable again. Saw several small boats out fishing around the mouths of the springs and the "L". Did not see any of them bring in any fish though.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Gonna have to make a nighttime shot sometime next week to prospect the possibilities for our semi planned Gorilla Flotilla on the 19th. There should be plenty of water and plenty of fish, but I hope there is not plenty of wind and lightning. Getting zapped by a gazillion volts can really mess up your day...and your hair.[/#0000ff]
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[]No more appeasing the fishing gods! The spine in the tube was adding insult to injury! I was so caught up in trying to figure out how I was going to catch the next fish, that it didn't occur to me that my rods were leaning in much too far. I thought maybe I had not secured them like I was supposed to, but when I could see it was done right ... it occured to me that I was losing air. So, I went back to the car and pumped backup to capacity. Since the boat and PWC traffic had picked up near where we launched, the fishes were turned off ... so my catching was over. Guess we'll just have to go back another day!
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[#505000]Sounds a lot like my last trip there. Not quite the action I was hoping for on my trip either. It still looks like you guys did ok though. [/#505000]
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[#505000]I had considered making a trip out this morning also, but after spending ALL DAY yesterday (on into 2am) painting a large hallway I was looking more forward to catching some serious sleep this morning.[/#505000]
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I have used one of those rubber mesh nets for about three years now, and I also really like mine. It is nice that the fish can't wrap themselves up in the net, and getting the hooks out of rubber mesh is much easier. My only complaint is that the rubber netting is much heavier than the regular netting, which in turn makes the net much heavier.
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[cool][#0000ff]I give those nets a big "thumbs up" for float tubers after the first trial. You are right though. They are heavier. That is not a problem for tubing if you can drive up and launch, without having to carry your gear very far. I would leave that net in the car if I went hiking/fishing with Leaky and Sparky.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the motivations for trying the net was that I just ripped a hole in my nylon mesh net, trying to free it from a hangup on a D ring on my tube while attempting to net a large fish. I think all anglers (boaters, bankers, tubers and tooners) have their own "fond" remembrances of times when a net was snagged or tangled when it was needed for its intended purpose. Most of us also have stories about fish that arranged their freedom by snagging the hooks of a lure in a net and then twisting free.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My observation was that the soft rubber seemed to cradle and calm the fish more quickly than when they are snared in a rough tangle of netting. It might have just been wishful thinking, but it really did seem to make them easier to control and to handle. I am sure that the smooth rubber is less harmful to the protective coating and scales on fish too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My next project will be to work out a snap release type of holder for the net, that will keep it safely out of my way but make it easy to reach and detach for quick use. I think I feel another PVC attack coming on. OOOH. OOOH.[/#0000ff]
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I also like that net too.I used to have one till bruce tore it up.I probably will see ya there sometime next week because i plan on fishing lincoln after work.
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[cool][#0000ff]I can probably make it Thursday evening. Let me know by PM and I will bring some carp meat for ya. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The weather forecast says that the afternoon storms are due to go away about mid week so that might work well.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I can also bring my bow, and if there are some shootable carp I can make them "holey" for you.[/#0000ff]
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I hope that you let that little snaky wallace keep your bait! Man that thing is puny!
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Thursday sounds good to me unless i have to work ot and even then the latest i would stay is till 7pm.I will pm you on wednesday evening.I havent used carp meat yet but am anxious to try it.
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Oh !! that poor little walleye, (sick looking little bass turd). looks just like the ones we caught in yuba a few years ago. 26in. 2 3\4 lbs. just sick looking, the meat is milky white and taste bad, worse than trout. wonder whats up with the walleye this year, I caught some nice big fat ones and 3 snakes and I seen alot of the same for other people this year. later chuck
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[cool][#0000ff]Actually, the bait pulled off the hook during the fight. But, when I saw the puny condition of that poor snaky fish, I took pity on it and shoved a large whole chub minnow down its throat, before releasing it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I know you are going to find the next part difficult to believe, but I am a fellow fisherman, so I know that nobody is going to challenge the truth of this. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You see, that silly anorexic fish did not boogie when I tenderly released it back into the water. It swam several feet away, staying near the surface and just followed me around. It watched where I made my next cast and then dove down and swam toward my bait. Within seconds of putting my rod in the holder, there was that silly fish, holding my head-hooked minnow crossways in its mouth, right in front of my tube.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]People in a boat nearby must of thought I was deranged when I started laughing. That desperate walleye had actually reasoned that I was a source of food, and that I would not harm it. So, I DID remove the hook from the bait, still held firmly in the wallie's jaws. Once the hook was out, the fish turned the minnow around and gulped it head first. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just to see how many minnows that starving fish would eat, I emptied my remaining minnows into its open mouth, one by one. Each disappeared after a couple of chomps and a gulp. Kinda like feeding Flipper at Sea World.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When I was out of minnows (I only brought a dozen), I tried feeding Wallie a piece of carp meat. I would never have thought it possible, but that ungrateful fish actually spit the carp meat right back in my face. (I know, walleyes don't have lips to pucker with, but it makes a good story.)[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Realizing that the feed was over, the now well fed walleye burped (go with me on this one), turned around and disappeared back into the murky water of Utah Lake. Only then did I realize that I had missed a great "photo op". My digital camera remained unused, hanging around my neck, during this whole ordeal. I am truly sorry that I was so caught up in the unusual behavior of that fish that I completely forgot to shoot any pics.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You DO believe me, don't you?[/#0000ff]
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It sounds to me as if the doors are still rusted shut and the head lights are still flashig on and off. []
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[cool][#0000ff]Careful Don, you're getting your species . Only cats are smart enough to use old cars for sactuary. E-shines usually ain't sharp enough to be trainable.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Ever hear about the school for Macks that teaches them how to braid anglers' lines together under the ice?[/#0000ff]
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That's crazy Pat! It's a good thing you weren't at the zoo, cause they would have slapped you up side of the head for feeding the animals. Now that poor fish will probably forget how to forage for itself, and will be anxiously awaiting the super fat cat for it's next meal[] I hope you're little gift will give that fish enough strength to kick it in gear and eat some of the new small fry from this years abundant spawn. Kinda strange that she turned her nose up at your carp offering.
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Thats surprisingly true about Cats. Their certainly not just a pretty face and a nice tail.... Eyes on the other hand,,,lol..

Well without doubt some Mac have been schooled in that fine art. [laugh]
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