[cool][#0000ff]Had plans to hit Powell for a few days. Weather forecast for wind and thunderstorms changed that.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Headed for a rare solo trip to the Knolls this morning. Launched at 7 AM. Air temp 45. Lake like glass. Water temp 54...rising to 60 by noon. Looked good. Was good.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Started by pitching plastics. Got a thump, a hookset a few headshakes. Walleye? Nope. First of many cookie cutter kitties for the day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked several sizes and colors of plastics from shallow to about 7 feet deep. Nothin' but cookies and whities. Whities are gathering. Spawn will be starting in a couple of weeks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally put out a minnow on one rod and some carp meat on the other. Kept busy until I ran out of both kinds of bait. The kitties were on the prowl. Most were 16" to 18" cookies but I also got a couple of 2 footers and some 20 inchers. Got a couple of doubles. Much fun. Probably caught over 20. Kept a few for the grill and the smoker. Caught one small mudder early in the morning.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Quite a few white bass, but nothing over about 12 inches. No pokes that felt enough like walleyes to lead me to speculate. Can't prove it unless you net 'em and shoot 'em. Not on this board.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Had one gorilla kitty hooked for quite a while. It had mega shoulders and just swam around...pulling me and my tube behind. It finally remembered a brush pile near shore and powered its way into the structure. Professional long line release. I would have released it anyway but I would have liked to get it to pose for a picture first.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Surprisingly clean at the Knolls after a sunny weekend with lots of activity. Not THAT clean, but better than I expected. The trash bushes were still blooming and I collected a bag full of blossoms. On the way home I decided I didn't want them and put them in a dumpster.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Quite a few bank tanglers gathered along the shallow beach at the end of the access road on the lake. Nice day for fishing but none of them seemed to be doing much as I cruised slowly by an my way out. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glass all across the lake as I made the turn north at Pelican Point. Glass and grass. Spring has sprung. [/#0000ff]
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Nice catching, the walleye are in post spawn mood.
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Sounds like an awsome day to me! Beats being at work. What location were you catching the kitties? I have a map that you created for the knolls but will be in waders so not sure the safest and best spot to fish the knolls.
Any help would be great!
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[cool][#0000ff]I was fishing to the west of "road's end"...out from the POSTED area. And I was catching just about all of my fish deeper than 5 feet of water. Most were in 6 to 7 feet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There is some good wade fishing to the east of where the bank tanglers set up along the shore. You just wade out to about knee deep...out past the brush and stickups. Fish bait for cats and small jigs for white bass or walleyes. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Not likely to be red hot in close yet but as soon as the water warms another few degrees the white bass will swarm in the shallows in that area.[/#0000ff]
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Looks like a good time. Where is the Knolls?.....haven't heard of this lake yet...
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Thanks TD! I am a little hesitant to go to the knolls with the crazy individuals that go out there sometimes but I'm going to brave it out and try a week day sometime this week I'll give ya a report of how it goes. Thanks for your help!
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[cool][#0000ff]The Knolls is around the bend on the west side of Utah Lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here's some info.[/#0000ff]
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[quote mactuna]Nice catching, the walleye are in post spawn mood.[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Not quite. Most of them have finished spawning but they usually need a couple of weeks to get into a full post spawn feeding mode.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That was one of the reasons I hit the knolls. In the past it has produced some good post spawn walleyes and always has a good white bass run. I was hoping they might be as ready as I am. But they work on their schedule...not mine.[/#0000ff]
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Looks like a Knice morning[
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GREAT INFO sir
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[quote B-randon]Looks like a good morning spent[
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[#0000ff]Indeed. I always like to play with the kitties if the wallies don't show up. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was just talking with TubeBabe (who wasn't able to make it) about the super fast action. Not many trips where the cats bite that fast and there is such a high percentage of bites that turn into hookups.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad I dosed up heavily with Banana Boat (sunscreen) before hitting the water. I woulda been red...and not from blushing.[/#0000ff]
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Looks like a great day at the old hole! I was going to be there this morning as well on a solo adventure but had to stick around the house for some construction workers to patch the basement cement. They left about 12 and I hit the Jordan river for some small channels and a sucker. But still fun. Depending on the weather I will probally do a morning on the Knolls tomorrow. Question? Are those beads you use for floatation or decoration. Either way I plan on getting some as you often out fish me side by side with the lines that have the beads.
Glad you got some sun and fun.
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Very nice report. Looks like a really nice trip to have had today. I should have been sick of work today I think....
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"Question? Are those beads you use for floatation or decoration."
[cool][#0000ff]They are not glow and they are not floaters. Just plain old walleye beads for making crawler harnesses. They actually add just a teensie bit of extra weight to help keep the minnow from floating if it has an air bladder problem. But, since I usually poke a few holes in the minnows to let scent ooze out that takes care of the air bladder.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have been adding colorful beads to my bait rigs for many years. Learned it while fishing for shad and steelhead in California. Amazing how many times it DOES seem to make a difference. Also amazing how visually oriented channel cats can be and how they respond to certain colors.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good luck if you go. Looks like wind.[/#0000ff]
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Nice job TD, I had the day off and decided to hit the Provo instead of the knolls. Cant believe there was that many people down there on a monday. I might hit it later this week if its not windy.
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[cool][#0000ff]Let it settle for a couple of days after the last blow and let the water warm back up after this next storm. Could be okay next week. But anytime after the first of May should be gangbusters...for whities, cats and post spawn walleyes.[/#0000ff]
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Thanks for the vicarious Knolls experience. Your excellent details and pictures makes one feel like they were there. You picked an excellent day to go fishing. The water, weather, and "catching" were ideal. I noticed that the red chartreuse jig continues to be an excellent "go to" lure.
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" I noticed that the red chartreuse jig continues to be an excellent "go to" lure"
[cool][#0000ff]Right you are. I use it in several different styles and sizes. But that little 1 1/2" tube with the red glitter head works so well and so often that I almost always include it as the bottom jig on a tandem rig. Yesterday I rotated colors on the top jig and the only fish I caught on jigs came on the red and chartreuse...even when I switched up and put it on the top. I got 4 cats and several white bass on it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are several other guys who have also adopted that red and chartreuse jig as their number one producer...for many species...on many waters.[/#0000ff]
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In your opinion is a fishfinder a must for cats?
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[quote BearFisher]In your opinion is a fishfinder a must for cats?[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Not an absolute must. You don't really use it as a fishfinder, since you almost never see the fish you catch. The main advantage is to help you to know at what depth you are fishing when you get the most bites...and then to keep yourself positioned in the high percentage water. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you know an area pretty well, from past experience, you can still fish it effectively and probably catch some fish. But, I have had a lot of trips when my first game plan (depth) was not working and I had to prospect other places and other depths to find the fish. Without sonar I would have been lucky to catch anything...and I would not have known at what depth I caught a fish so that I could focus on that depth for the rest of my fishing. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Catfish are usually pretty easy to catch...once you find them. But you often have to work over a lot of water to find the small areas they might be congregating and feeding. Sonar makes it a lot easier to know where you have been and to keep yourself in the right zone once you find it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also...I really use the temperature feature on my sonar a lot. It helps to know what to expect of the fish according to how they act at different temperatures. It also helps to find warmer spots where the fish like to hang out during colder weather and during the transition periods of spring and fall. For example, you can be fishing in deeper water in the main lake...and not finding fish. Then you swing in closer to shore and find that the sun is warming the shallows a few degrees and that the fish are moving in to skinnier water. Just one more little thing that can help improve your catch on any given day.[/#0000ff]
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