Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]Couldn't stand it anymore. Had to go fishing. Headed for Utah Lake west side. Shoulda waited a couple of days for the water to warm a couple of degrees.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched near the Knolls about 7 AM. 40 degree air temp and 53 water temp. I expected cooler. No skeeters or midges. Also no carp splashing or rolling. They have gone back on hold too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Calm at launch but a stout east breeze came up almost as soon as I was in the water (naturally). Had to kick a lot just to maintain position...up and down in the chop. Put out a minnow on one rod and casted plastics with the other. Got lots of snags but no fish on either.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The wind and waves were too much to effectively fish bobbers around the shoreline brush. Stayed outside and kept donating minnows and carp meat to snags. Lots of rocks and flooded brush, if you are fishing in the right area.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The bouncy water started to settle down about 9. Got my first fish, a 24" 5# channel cat a couple of minutes after 9. Only one other runner all day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally got into an area with some white bass on the screen. Got a few hits and brought in one wiggly wittle whitie. Got another hit a few minutes later and was reeling in what seemed to be a larger white bass when it came to the top a few feet from the tube, rolled and thrashed, and spit the jig. Not a whitie but a wallie. Woulda been about 22' and maybe 3#. That's the third or fourth walleye I have had on and lost this year...and none landed.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of my main objectives was to see if the cats have moved in around the shoreline reeds and brush yet, so I rigged a slip bobber and floated a piece of carp meat around some of the visible stickups. BANG, BANG. Two mudders, but no channels. I worked quite a long stretch of shoreline and around several reed clumps. Cold murky water and repeated windstorms seem to have been keeping the kitties deeper.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had only brought one bag of minnows and a small amount of carp meat. The bottom snags ate the rest of what I had left and the fish ignored it. So, I hoisted my tube and my carcass out of the water about noon. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The good news is that the water temps are coming up fast in the warm weather. The temp rose from 53 to 57 while I was there, in spite of two hours of cool east wind. A few more warm days and the cats will be crashing the shorelines for their annual spawning thing. From early May until October those kitties will provide lots of enjoys to anglers who know how to float a bobber near shallow cover.[/#0000ff]
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half that white bass would have been under the bober if it were me. another lost eye. man they are hating on you this spring. stick them suckers and cross their eyes.
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[cool][#0000ff]I'm just a conservationist.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I'll keep shaking them off untll I get a big one...or several small ones for the table. Saves a lot of wear and tear on both me and the fish if I let them go before I have to handle them.[/#0000ff]
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Sounds like a tough day, but I bet it was nice to get on the water all the same. Too bad the eye didn't fully cooperate. [unsure]
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a 22 inch eye is ready for the skillet. mutch bigger and they get fatty. you know.
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Well, it appears maybe its a good thing I might not make it down this weekend. Money... always short on money. I hate it but this time its for a good reason. (custody attorney) [unimpressed] Anyway, if the good weather keeps up into next weekend or even midweek, I'll have to make a run just for the heck of it.
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Thanks for the update on the west side. I might get out voted by the family, but I would rather get some cats or a chance of a walleye, than a few nice bows and can't keep the perch off ( meaning Yuba ). Do you think with all this warm weather forecasted the fish will move in toward the south facing reeds, rocks and/or structure? Thanks

Hey Pat, you big meanie! Can't believe you put all those hooks in the lake without so much as an apologie! Ha ha. Nice report Monseur TubeimousDudimous.
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Won't say I'm noy envious. Haven't so much as considered wetting a line. Nice report TD and ya got to love the pics!
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[cool][#0000ff]The fish were already staging in the south facing cover before the last series of storms. The wind chased them out but they will be back after a few days of decent weather. It was glass on the lake when I left today and the green color was starting to come back...from chocolate.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I would predict cats in the cattails by the end of the weekend.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I didn't really lose all that many hooks. I use small hooks (size 4) just to reduce the incidence of snags. But the bait drops down between two rocks, or into brush, and gets torn off the hook. Really uses up a lot of bait without getting the enjoys of fighting fish.[/#0000ff]
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Thanks for the nice report and pics. If you don't mind me saying so, it's about time.

For the last two weeks or so, I've been lurking around these parts, hoping for a TubeDude fix of great story-telling and snapshots. I was starting to go into withdrawls--convulsing, the shakes, that type of thing. Good thing you went fishin' yesterday, or I don't know what condition I'd be in right now.

I'm sure you've taken note of the unseasonably warm temps scheduled for this weekend. My Lake Powell trip didn't pan out, so I believe I'll either wade UL or float SP. I'd invite you to join me for a UL trip, but I predict combat elbow-to-elbow fishing at the SF inlet this Saturday a.m. for some whitie and (hopefully) some 'eye action.
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks fer the kindly comments ol' buddy. Glad I could ward off the withdrawal symtoms. Of course that is the only reason I went fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Can't make it Saturday. Not sure I would want to join the throng at your chosen venue. My suit of armor is still at the cleaners. Takes forever to get the rust spots out after one of those combat fishing excursions.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you bring your own rock to stand on, you might just find a fish or two. After a few warm days, both the fish and the fishermen should be ganging up there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Too bad about the Powell trip. I suspect you would have found more fish and fewer fishermen. Might have had to take out a second mortgage on your house to pay for the gas, but it is only money....right?[/#0000ff]
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[cool]Nice report, Pat. Too bad the fishies on the West side weren't more cooperative with ya, but at least like usual you didn't get skunked. The last time I went out there, that's what happened to me. Got a few wacks on the plastics by some suspected whities, but the cats didn't touch my bait rig or the plastics.

I'm heading out to Lincoln (where I got skunked in my friends boat along with all other fisherman that we saw two Saturdays ago-cold stiff Northerly wind most of the day-duh!) either Saturday a.m. or Sunday afternoon. I need the stress relief, so dangit, I'm going. I may fish both days. I'll be targeting cats, but will cast plastics for the first hour or two for whities/wallies while I'm dragging bait on the other rod. I'll be sure to post even if I get skunked, but I shouldn't this time with these warmer temps (knock on wood...).

Good luck on your next trip.
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[#0000ff][cool]Good luck at LB on the weekend. I suspect the power squadron and/or other anglers will provide some company. On those shallow flats that is not always good for the kitties.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am tentatively planning a shot down there either Tuesday or Thursday of next week.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Let me know if you need some minnows, carp meat or white bass niblets. I suspect that your current freezer supply might be low. Just don't leave them on the seat of your vehicle again. Fresh bait works better than stink bait at Lincoln Beach.[/#0000ff]
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[cool]Thanks. I may have to hit you up for some bait. I plan to hit Lincoln Saturday a.m. early before the power squadron pilots wake up (hopefully anyway). I should be there at about 06:30.
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[cool][#0000ff]PM me when you know your schedule and we can work out a handoff.[/#0000ff]
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