Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]TubeBabe just got back in town and couldn't spring free for a Monday trip. So I did a solo shot. Figured the poor crappies in the north marina had all the company they needed so I would see if some of their kinfolk might have set up housekeeping in or around the south marina. Used to do pretty good there at times.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched about 6 AM in 53 degree air temp and 57 degree water temp, inside the marina. Quickly jumped to 60 when I got outside the cool inlet water. Didn't see many fish in the channel and did not get any hits on bait, plastic or crankbait before rounding the point to the north. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Almost glass, with very light breeze. A few skeeters around the ramp and a few midges in the air and on the water but nothing like they will be in a couple of weeks. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Started throwing small plastics around the point and along the rocks, where I have taken grundles of crappies in years past. Yaaaaaawnnnnn. Nada.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Moved out to about 12 feet...the weedline from the former dry years. Threw several kinds of plastics and cranks. Yaaaaaaaawnnnn. Nada some more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Kicked out to deeper water, watching the screen on my new Cuda 300 float tube sonar. I thought maybe I had a dud. It did not display any fish. Tinkered with the settings. Even tried demo mode. Saw some there, but no more when I returned to real life.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Talked to a couple of guys cruising by at a respectable distance. They were not seeing much either. Not a bite on bottom bouncers or trolled cranks. A couple of other guys roared right over my line...just because they were bigger than me in their powerful bass boat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About halfway to the feed lot I began to mark a few fish...very few. And they all had their little mouths closed and their middle fins upraised. Tough crowd.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Shortly after 8 my bait rod bobbed, the line popped out of the clip and I cranked in my first "cookie cutter" kitty...about 16". The smell of skunk disappeared and life looked better. But it was awhile before the next one.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I never got a whack on plastics or hardbaits today. And, I fished them high, low and inbetween. Thanks be to the everlovin kitties for at least bendin' my stick and stretchin' my string a few times...on minnows. I caught about 10 and kept 6 for the grill. A couple of them stole some line off the reel and I was hopin' maybe wiperinski. Nay, not so.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A few mayflies hatching today. I doubt the walleyes and wipers were full up on them. Got a pic of one on my hat brim.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Saw lots of "Willard Bay Easter Bunnies" (rock chucks) cavorting on the dikes this morning. Also saw myriads (that's a lot) of different water birds flying over. Too many cormorants and pelicans. Alas, my shot shell howitzer was not available.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Kicked leisurely back to the ramp about noon. Water temp was up to 65 in the main lake and 63 inside. Air temp was 84. Tropical.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Oh yeah, the carp thing is on, even in the cooler water of the south marina. They were starting to really get after it as I loaded up for the trip home.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hey Dawn Girl, this trip was for you. Sorry you had to sacrifice your planned happy place trip on your birthday just to appease "well meaning" fambly. Just goes to show, it might be better having friends and no family. At least you can pick your friends.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Non fishermen just don't get it. Fishing is an end unto itself. It needs no reason and no results to be enjoyable. Nice if you catch fish, but not essential.[/#0000ff]
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love the pics. It still amazes me how their is so much water to motor around in but they always gotta cruise in the comfort zone of non motorized crafts. Happened to me all weekend in a drift boat @ starvation. What do you do??? Shoot Flares at them?
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"What do you do??? Shoot Flares at them? "

[cool]I gots one of these on order.

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Now that's what all us fishermen need to protect our vicinity. Order me one up, Pat!
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I think Willard may be a little tougher to figure out this year.

Luke72 and I were up there all day yesterday in his boat mashing everything we owned looking for the Wipers and never did find them. How ever I did put 2 Walleye and a solo cat in the boat. I will get th3e post up a little after I get my camera back. Were your cats nice and fat for the cookie cutter's mine was.
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[cool][#0000ff]Willard really is hard to figure out this year with the higher water. The fish are SOMEWHERE, but you have to look for them on every trip. And, finding them is no guarantee of catching them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hopefully they will put on a good surface show later in the summer when they chase the shadlets around the rocks again...if they still remember how it's done.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have caught a BUNCH of cookies from Willard this year and they are almost always fat and healthy. Getting more over sixteen inches now than before too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nice work on the walleyes. Let's see you do it again to prove it was not just lucky.[/#0000ff]
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[#500000]Hey TD, You should have come on over to the North Marina........Not too many people over there today.....The fish were a little cantankerous, as you had to catch them as they swim by, or wait for an hour or so......I picked up these hungry buggers, but I lost a big ol dude right at my feet......Someday I'm going to have to buy a net........WW.[/#500000]
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[cool][#0000ff]Nice catch. Looks like a smallie in the mix.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those will be mighty tasty. So were the garlic butter grilled kitty fillets upon which I dined this evening.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Other venues and other species are beckoning. What a confusing time of year for us anglers. Can't figure out what tackle to load up and which direction to point my vehicle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It's all good.[/#0000ff]
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When it comes to those pesky critters it is always luck. However I did my personal best the one was 3.5 lbs on the scale.
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[#500000]Yep!.....The one is a smallie......I had another larger smallie on, but I have this long old crappie rod and I couldn't make him behave.......He dove in some weeds and give me the shake.....Just as well, I probably would have released him for seed. He gave me a good fight.[/#500000]
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[#500000]I think I will fry mine up in some Panko and make some tacos for lunch.....Then after lunch, I may be forced to go back down there........WW.[/#500000]
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[cool][#0000ff]You're a real masochist, ain'tcha?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It's a messy business but somebody's gotta do it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Right?[/#0000ff]
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In your post of the day, you alluded to a new sonar for tubes. Does that mean it is a new addition on YOUR tube, or is it designed for tubes specifically ???

[cool][#0000ff]Awwright, eagle eye. Couldn't slip it by ya, could I?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have been using the "low end" Eagle Cuda series sonars on my tubes for several years and have been fairly well pleased with them. They work better than I do. I bought one of the new Cuda 300 sonars for $79 at Cabelas. Hooked it up and gave it a shot. Here is a copy and paste of my report on the Float Tubing board.[/#0000ff]
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First, let me say that I have used the Cudas for several years and am fairly familiar with their functions. That helps.

On this trip I fished from shallow (8 ft) to deeper (up to 20'). I only noticed a bunch of "false signals" when the unit slipped into the auto depth mode of 40 feet. Then there were a lot of small fishy icons near the surface. I tried messing with the sensitivity but did not work with it long enough to get a satisfactory solution.

I fished most of the day in depths of 12 to 15 feet. That is where I caught all my fish. In that zone, I actually saw very few fish icons on the screen, and whenever I saw a bottom blip I usually got a bite on my minnow when I dragged the bait over it. There were not the huge schools of shad and crappies in the area today that there have been.

In the attached pics you can see that the sonar did a good job of showing bottom weeds from the shoreline being recently flooded after being dry for a couple of years. There is also one pic that shows a sudden sharp drop in bottom depth. No fish there this time, but sometimes that is a fish magnet.

Here are some pics of the installation. I also have a complete set of pics of all the cutting and fitting if anybody is interested.

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48369"][#212126]SET UP & WORKING.jpg[/#212126][/url] (298 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48370"][#212126]BATTERY REAR POCKET.jpg[/#212126][/url] (382 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48371"][#212126]TRANSDUCER UP.jpg[/#212126][/url] (273 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48372"][#212126]TRANSDUCER DOWN.jpg[/#212126][/url] (285 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48373"][#212126]PACKED TO GO.jpg[/#212126][/url] (259 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48374"][#212126]FISH - NORMAL.jpg[/#212126][/url] (263 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48375"][#212126]FISH ID SYMBOLS.jpg[/#212126][/url] (208 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48376"][#212126]SHALLOW WEEDS.jpg[/#212126][/url] (267 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48377"][#212126]ABRUPT DROP.jpg[/#212126][/url] (178 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48378"][#212126]'DUCER CONNECTION.jpg[/#212126][/url] (285 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=48379"][#212126]HOOKED UP.jpg[/#212126][/url] (266 KB)
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[#500000]I personally know Navy Seals that are jealous of that tube.........Well, I went back to Willard after lunch today and if your familiar with Joe Btfsplk in the Lil Abner cartoons........That's me........WW.[/#500000]
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i see you parked by the senior/disabled sign so which one are you?
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[quote brendo123]i see you parked by the senior/disabled sign so which one are you? [/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]BOTH. I legally display the red "Senior" parking pass in my window. The disabled I prefer to call "fishing challenged". I still get around pretty good in my advanced years, but I can't quite get my float tube up on plane...or tow a skier.[/#0000ff]
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[quote WaveWolf][#500000]I personally know Navy Seals that are jealous of that tube.........Well, I went back to Willard after lunch today and if your familiar with Joe Btfsplk in the Lil Abner cartoons........That's me........WW.[/#500000][/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Hey, I AM old enough to remember Joe. If it weren't fer bad luck he'd have no luck at all.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That's why they call it fishin' and not harvestin'. Ya gotta admit it would not have nearly the same appeal if it was an automatic thing. Makes ya properly humble when ya miss and properly grateful when ya score.[/#0000ff]
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Goes back to the old saying: The fishing is always good; it's the catching that can be tricky at times.
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