Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]This trip (the second in two days) was in honor of all you great members who have not been able to get out and go fishing. I hope you appreciate the effort I put forth as moderator of this board.[/#0000ff]
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[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][#0000ff]Met up with Flycasting at the north marina about 5:45 AM. Weather fourcrash was iffy so we opted to fish inside the marina, rather than off the north dike. Good call.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After FC showed off his "triple klutz" on the slippery ramp, we launched the tubes by 6:15. Water temp 76...down about 10 degrees from the peak of the heat spell. All was calm and there were shadlets rippling and popping in many spots around the marina. Looking good.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]FC kicked over to an area I suggested as being a good spot to start. It was. He caught our first two wipers between 6:30 and 7. Looked like it was gonna be a bananner day...or whatever. Turns out that those were his only LANDED wipers for the day. Made a couple of conservation releases but did not put anymore wipers in his basket. Saving room for some kitties, I guess.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After I spotted FC the first two fish, I settled down and got serious. Worked through several new combos of plastics and heads I have been playing with. About 9, I saw some nervous shad and powerkicked into position. As some wipers began busting the shad I had one of my new jig rigs in the middle of the action and I went BENDO. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Got the first fish in the basket and fired back out into the dwindling commotion. Got hooked up again and really messed up my face with a . Yeeee Hawww.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We saw one large and a couple of small minor boils...or simmers...after that. But, neither of us has twin 150s on our tubes so we could not get there before it was over.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Later, while dragging minnows for cats, I caught my third and largest (20.5"-3.8#) on bait. Fun, fun. Also got three channel cats, as did FC. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We ended up with five wipers between us. FC's largest wiper was just under 20" and weighed 3.6 pounds. Our other fish were all over 19" and 3#. Quality fish anytime. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hope I am not accused of "hotspotting". There are fish inside the marina, but they are not easy. Two boats trolled the heck out of it while we were in there. They were dragging large crankbaits quite fast and they did not get bit. It drove them nuts watching us catch wipers from our tubes. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One big hint. While filleting the wipers we did recover a freshly munched shadlet that was just about 3" long. Almost pure white/pearl with a deep body and no darker color prominent on the back. The plastics we fished were similar in appearance and size.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As we reviewed the day, we agreed that we were happy with our decision to stay "inside" and to avoid the power squadron and the W. The crazy wind couldn't make up its mind about which direction it wanted to blow. It must have changed around 10 times before we left at noon. At that time it was strong and from the south.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]While we were finishing up at the filleting station, FC noticed some birds working next to shore, right off the beach. There was a mini boil going on right in close. Maybe the cooling temps this week will get the boils going again.[/#0000ff]
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Alllllrightttt!

Nice Wipers guys! Not bad for four hours play. You done good. EM R nice feeshe and nice peektures.

Those poor boaters who acted surprised that you were catching fish and they weren't didn't understand what they were up against. A boater is no match for a well-positioned tuber.

z~
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[cool][#0000ff]Right you are, oh esteemed Z. Throughout my tubing career there have been many occasions when boat anglers have been miffed...nay, outraged...that such a lowly one as I was catching fish and they were not. Some are polite and respectful, graciously asking for information or assistance. Others become surly and hostile to the point of running right over the spot I have been fishing, just to put the fish down.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]These boaters were sportsmen and did not encroach upon our space nor interfere with our action in any way. But, sound carries across the water and I heard the grumblings of frustration as I was reeling in my second wiper as one of the boats was troiling by not too far away.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]An accomplished tuber/angler, in tune with both his tackle and the fish, can often do a better job of figuring out the pattern than someone in a boat who trolls all the time. I have nothing against trolling, but I find it a much less personal approach to fishing than finding the fish, figuring them out and then connecting at the end of a long and accurate cast with the right goodies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That was definitely the case today. Most trollers on Willard Bay believe that you have to troll a deep diving crankbait at a minimum of 2.5 to 3.5 MPH. That works some of the time, but not always. Today it required small plastics, on light heads, with a slow drop and a slow retrieve...at different depths...to get strikes. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In short, it was a "finesse" day. There has been a series of storms and fronts moving through and the fish are not stabilized. Most of the marks on sonar were fish suspended at mid depth. That typically indicates fish in a neutral or negative mode. They occasionally feed for brief periods, but will ignore food and/or lures when they go back to pouting. Even flashy reaction bite lures do not get the job done. It takes smaller and slower offerings to get the fish to yawn.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finesse Float Tube Fishing 101.[/#0000ff]
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[black][size 3]Hey TD,[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Ahhhh, I feel better now ! Thanx for the fishing fix ![/size][/black]
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[size 3]Looks like you had a great time. You just gotta love it when the old fashion low tech take your time and "fin"esse works to bring home the fillets while you watch the big boat trollers "happily" motor off into the sunset.[/size]
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I think one of the things that happens to trollers (it has happened to me before, too, as I troll for Kokanee) is that they fall into the trap of doing what worked yesterday - or perhaps one day last spring when fish were suicidal. They troll the same speed and depth with the same lures/baits and when the fish aren't there where they were before they conclude that they just "aren't biting." Fish have to eat to live. When their metabolism is cranked up during the summer months, they eat quite regularly unless unstable weather patterns start messing with their swim bladders and put them off for a bit. Often smaller baits, slower natural movements, more subtle colors - as you have said, finesse - is what will work. The tube is perfect for that because you can hold yourself in a static position long enough for the method to work.

z~
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]TD got to head up to the Lodge Sunday through Friday, and I am tired of watching everyone else catch fish...I wonder if I still know how[][/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]When I get back, I imagine I will be just about finished up at the lodge for the year, so I just gotta hook up with you for some of those wipers. As I said I have no idea where to go.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]You up for it? [/size][/black][/font]
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[cool][#0000ff]It would have been perfect today. The fish were right up against the bank, in two feet of water, inside the marina. They were chasing small shad and slurping and splashing within 30 feet of where I had positioned my tube. A size 2 white Zonker (sorry Z) or wooly bugger would have had you hooked up to a whole lot of pullin'.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The north marina probably offers some of the best shots at wipers on flies. There is a whole lot of rocky dike around that lake and very little of it holds fish at any given time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Flycasting, the BFT member I fished with, has also done well in the south marina on flies. You just have to keep on top of where the fish are and how they are acting. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If your MAIN GOAL for 2006 is to get a wiper on the fly, the next two months will offer some good chances. Be happy to "guide" you.[/#0000ff]
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SWEET!
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Alllllrightttt!

Nice Wipers guys! Not bad for four hours play. You done good. EM R nice feeshe and nice peektures.

Those poor boaters who acted surprised that you were catching fish and they weren't didn't understand what they were up against. A boater is no match for a well-positioned tuber.

z~ [/reply]

I used to work with a guy in the Marines who had all the bells and whistles. Fast bass boat. 20 rods. 5 or 6 tackle boxes. He'd run and gun, and catch some nice fish. He once told me I'd never catch anything worth a hoot tubin', and that I would lose it on the 8lb test I fished.
Then I showed him this

He almost passed out. Turns out he wasn't a member of the 10lb club. He'd never caught a bass over 8.....hhhhmmmmm I told him...I caught three 10 pounders in that hole, and about a dozen over eight....not to mention the hundreds over 5....he started taking me on his bass boat after that....
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[cool][#0000ff]One of the chapters in my (upcoming) book is about tubing and tooning being serious fishing systems...not just a "poor man's boat". After fishing from boats, banks, piers, shore and "floatation craft" for over 50 years, I still fish mostly from my tube because it is more efficient...and it is fun.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Down in Arizona I fished a boaters' bass tournament "unofficially" from my tube. That is, I had the bassers casting all around me and running over me while I fished, acting like I wasn't even there. But, I caught and released quite a few large bass that would have won the bass tournament, in plain view of the boaters. They were not doing too well.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Later, at the weigh in, I watched as each team weighed in only one or two puny bass. Just for grins, I carried my basket of big crappies up to the scales. I knew the guys who were running the club tournament and they okayed it. My smallest crappie outweighed their biggest bass, and the announcer verified that he had witnessed me releasing several bass that would have beaten their largest...and that I would have easily won the overall tournament with my total bass. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nope. There was not an "awakening". None of them congratulated me or acknowledged that I might just have a better system...or that I might be a worthy fisherman. Just a lot of grumbling. And, most of those guys were still rude and unsportsmanlike on the water whenever I encountered them out there again. And, most of them continued to fish the same way...month after month...regardless of how the patterns changed with the changing seasons. Every time I saw them they were "running and gunning" down the bank, throwing spinnerbaits or crankbaits...even when the fish had gone out into 40 feet of water for the hot summer or cold winter.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]Nope. There was not an "awakening". None of them congratulated me or acknowledged that I might just have a better system...or that I might be a worthy fisherman. Just a lot of grumbling. [/#0000ff] [/reply]

I would probably grumble too if I had that much invested in boat and tackle and some dude in a blow up tube outfished me.

Hehehe. Let 'em grumble.

z~
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Would someone give TD a HORN[][laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh]
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[cool][#0000ff]I have an air horn, but I don't use it. It does not bother boaters and it attracts "horny" bull mooses. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Actually, all I gotta do is blow my nose to make a loud honking noise. People look around to see where the diesel engine is.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Yeah, I know...too much information. You started it.[/#0000ff]
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Would someone give TD a HORN[][laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh] [/reply]

[cool]Would that be a horn as in "toot your own?"

Better get one for me, too.

z~
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