Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]TubeBabe and I seldom fish on Saturdays. We reserve weekends for family and leave the water to the amateurs and the masochists. But, this week I had eye surgery on Tuesday (fine, thanks) and had to stay out of the beautiful sunshine for three days. I was more than ready to fish almost anywhere this morning, but TubeBabe said she would prefer to hit the Knolls (Utah Lake) rather than have me gross out the neighbors by fishing in the gutter.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Cool 52 air temp when we launched just before 7. Water temp 65 and murky. Water level has dropped a foot in the past couple of weeks. TubeBabe was first off the bank with me following shortly after.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I told TubeBabe on the way down that we were not going to keep any cats. I planned to prospect for walleyes and maybe score a few white bass for bait. If she caught any cats we would release them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Wouldn't ya know it. I started it off by hanging a 25 inch channel cat on a dropshot rig I was fishing for walleye. Released. Threw all kinds of plastics and hardware. A few bumps. No hookups.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked in and out from 5 feet to over 8 feet. Saw a few scattered fish on sonar, but everything seemed to be suspended at middepth in the murky water. No active fish. Even when I put on a minnow to drag on the bottom, it went a long time without being molested. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As with a couple of previous trips to the Knolls, somebody rang the fishies' dinner bell about 10 AM. Two rods at once. Lost one fish and brought in the other. A chunky spunky 16 incher. Lotsa dots on the side. Fun fun.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Caught a couple more of the "next generation" on a "bobber jig" rig...a minnow on a jig head under a bobber. Then my big minnow rig went POW, ZING. Mega kitty. Kicked my old behind. Turned out to be a 27" daddy cat...with some old fireline still hanging out of its mouth. I cleaned it off, along with mine and sent him back to play with the girl kitties.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe was smelling skunk until the "main event". Then she scored a few nice kitties too, with her biggest about 24". Skunk repellent done right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]During the catch and release mayhem, we also each caught one bullhead cat. Used to be a lot more common than they are now. No white bass or walleyes today. Had a couple of small whities on but they didn' t know how to hang on. I did get one super-speckled small kitty on a tube jig I was fishing for whities. Looks like a leopard kitty.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was kinda quiet down there for a Saturday...boatwise. Only a couple of fishing boats. One of them was a small boat that somebody trailered down and launched off the beach right after we had gone out in our tubes. He anchored up in several spots but we didn't see him bring anything in. He was too busy talking on his cell phone. As we were coming in we could hear him yelling and laughing long before we finally passed him on the way in. His net was as big as his boat. I would have liked to see him hook something big enough to need that net.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When we got back in, the GIANT SPIDERS OF DA KNOLLS were there to welcome us. Man, those big suckers are all over the trees and bushes down there. They look like they could whup you in a fair fight...but they probably wouldn't fight fair. In the pics below I included a shot of one of the spiders next to one of the purty purple wlldflowers (weeds) blooming down there right now.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did say quiet, right? I neglected to mention that it sounded like WWIII down there from mid morning on. The shooting nuts burned off a few thousand rounds of ammunition...of all calibers. We even heard a few fully automatic bursts. At least we didn't hear the sound of bullets whizzing by closely overhead like we have on some trips.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp was up to 70 when we got off the water about 1. Until it drops about 10 degrees I don't have a lot of hope to find many walleyes. But, I will hit that spot again a few times before it caps this winter...and maybe a few times afterward.[/#0000ff]
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40128"][#63626b]TIME TO LAUNCH.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (196 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40129"][#63626b]TUBEBABE FIRST AWAY.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (207 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40130"][#63626b]KNOLLS POINT.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (216 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40131"][#63626b]DROP SHOT KITTY.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (256 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40132"][#63626b]BOBBER JIG KITTY.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (190 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40133"][#63626b]BOBBER JIG 2 FOOTER.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (256 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40134"][#63626b]SPOTTED JIG CHOMPER.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (265 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40135"][#63626b]BIG DADDY.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (153 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40136"][#63626b]DADDY CAT WITH BROKEN LINE.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (189 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40137"][#63626b]UGLY MUDDER.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (270 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40138"][#63626b]CELL PHONE CAT CALL.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (218 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40139"][#63626b]TUBEBABE COMIN ASHORE.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (164 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=40140"][#63626b]BEAUTY & DA BEAST.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (337 KB)
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Super jealous of all of the dawn launches you document for us.

I'll be out early tomorrow for some brookie and cutt action hopefully. New lake for me so it'll be interesting.

BTW, I LOVE spiders. Know what kind those are?

_SHig
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Nice report and pics as usual. I can see that you guys had a pretty good time with the Kitty Whampus action.[cool]
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Nice report TC, thx for posting it.
Norm
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[cool][#0000ff]Can't say that I LOVE spiders, but I have always had an appreciation for them. I have kept several in terrariums...including tarantulas...and enjoy catching bugs to feed them. I have observed many different species in my travels around the country and down into Mexico.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The species I described around Utah Lake is a type of orb weaver...known locally as the "salt air spider". It seemingly is a social type of spider and "colonizes" large areas of the shoreline brush and vegetation around Utah Lake. Some trees and bushes have many of them on one structure. They cover all gaps in the vegetation and between the bushes with their webs, making it difficult for the abundant midges and other insects to make it through the gauntlet. They dine well at Utah Lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Their group gathering tendencies also makes for scary and unpleasant experiences for anyone walking along the banks of Utah Lake. You have to wave a stick in front of you to clear the webs as you walk between the bushes. Those who are foolish enough to park their vehicles near bushes...or who camp overnight...often find they bring home a lot of eight legged hitchhikers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There was an article recently on the invasion of a new residential development on Utah Lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=8e360842-dcc1-49aa-a965-4d06fccce436"]LINK TO ARTICLE[/url] [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]""Their group gathering tendencies also makes for scary and unpleasant experiences for anyone walking along the banks of Utah Lake. You have to wave a stick in front of you to clear the webs as you walk between the bushes.""[/#0000ff]
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[#000000]Ha, that happened to me one early morning, I wanted a red pepper from our garden and took the flash light and went out there real early in the morning. While I bent down to cut one off the plant and then went back in the house, little did I know I picked up something. While cutting the pepper in the kitchen I felt something lightly touching my back neck between the tee shirt, not liking that feeling and had to reach my hand back and make a "catch" and quickly dump that in the sink and found out it was that big spider about an inch and a half....felt creepy and I didn't need any coffee that morning![][shocked][/#000000]
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