09-20-2008, 01:15 AM
Well I couldn't face the fact that I wasn't going to catch any wipers at Willard this year (I was waiting for the boils to start but apparently it never happened), so my buddy and I decided to head to Newcastle for an overnighter. We got to Cedar City on Thursday afternoon to 20 mph winds. Never having been to Newcastle before, I feared the worst. Fortunatly when we got there it was glass!
I decided the best spot to start would be in the deepest part of the lake, which was the NW side. We marked a number of fish in this area. I was throwing a swimbait, while my buddy threw a crankbait. Just about the time I was about to change to something else, a 3 pound wiper unloaded on my lure. Man it felt good to have one of them pulling hard on the end of my line again [cool] We kept working that side and my buddy nailed one that went 2 1/2 pounds (pic 1). A little furthur down I got a hit just off the bank, but missed it. I kept reeling and about 30 feet later my lure got pounded. About halfway to the boat it REALLY started to pull..... more than normal. After several screeching runs I got a look at it, and it was a horse! It went 5 1/4 pounds, and beat my previous personal best by 1 1/4 pounds (pic 2).
The action at that spot died off, and we started to see fish crashing the minnows against the shore on the opposite side, so we headed over there. I tied on a Zara Spook, and had several boils on it very quickly, but no fish. I thought they might be smaller wipers, so I tied on a Zara Puppy, and sure enough we started connection with small wipers and smallmouth bass. My buddy did nail a smallie that went 2 pounds before it was over (pic 3). The sun set way too soon, so it was back to Cedar City for the night.
This morning we got on the water by 7 am. We started throwing Spooks at the shore again and got right into the small wipers and smallies. Its so cool watching the fish crash the shoreline and see minnows bouncing across the top in a mad dash to get away! My buddy nailed another smallie that went close to 2 pounds (pic 4). Finally I connected with a wiper with a little size, and then shortly afterwards, got another. We finished the morning with a couple of 3 pounders in the NW side (pic 6). I lost count how many small wipers and smallies we caught. In one pic you can see my well worn Zara Puppy in the mouth of a wiper (pic 5). All of the fish were returned to fight another day [
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All in all it was a great trip. The only downer was getting into an argument with a couple of knuckleheads who felt the need to troll between us and the shore less than 20 ft in front of us, and right where we were obviously casting . I couldn't believe the audacity of one of them when he accused us of hogging the school of fish (the fishing was spotty at best, there was no school). I told him he should have gotten an earlier start! I'd love to get back down there again this year, but it probably won't happen. Fred K.
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I decided the best spot to start would be in the deepest part of the lake, which was the NW side. We marked a number of fish in this area. I was throwing a swimbait, while my buddy threw a crankbait. Just about the time I was about to change to something else, a 3 pound wiper unloaded on my lure. Man it felt good to have one of them pulling hard on the end of my line again [cool] We kept working that side and my buddy nailed one that went 2 1/2 pounds (pic 1). A little furthur down I got a hit just off the bank, but missed it. I kept reeling and about 30 feet later my lure got pounded. About halfway to the boat it REALLY started to pull..... more than normal. After several screeching runs I got a look at it, and it was a horse! It went 5 1/4 pounds, and beat my previous personal best by 1 1/4 pounds (pic 2).
The action at that spot died off, and we started to see fish crashing the minnows against the shore on the opposite side, so we headed over there. I tied on a Zara Spook, and had several boils on it very quickly, but no fish. I thought they might be smaller wipers, so I tied on a Zara Puppy, and sure enough we started connection with small wipers and smallmouth bass. My buddy did nail a smallie that went 2 pounds before it was over (pic 3). The sun set way too soon, so it was back to Cedar City for the night.
This morning we got on the water by 7 am. We started throwing Spooks at the shore again and got right into the small wipers and smallies. Its so cool watching the fish crash the shoreline and see minnows bouncing across the top in a mad dash to get away! My buddy nailed another smallie that went close to 2 pounds (pic 4). Finally I connected with a wiper with a little size, and then shortly afterwards, got another. We finished the morning with a couple of 3 pounders in the NW side (pic 6). I lost count how many small wipers and smallies we caught. In one pic you can see my well worn Zara Puppy in the mouth of a wiper (pic 5). All of the fish were returned to fight another day [
]All in all it was a great trip. The only downer was getting into an argument with a couple of knuckleheads who felt the need to troll between us and the shore less than 20 ft in front of us, and right where we were obviously casting . I couldn't believe the audacity of one of them when he accused us of hogging the school of fish (the fishing was spotty at best, there was no school). I told him he should have gotten an earlier start! I'd love to get back down there again this year, but it probably won't happen. Fred K.
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] Fred.