Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]Fellow tuber/tooner "pa" wanted to check out the new PVC setup on his toon...and had never fished Lindon. So, we done did it this morning.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched about 7 am in 62 degree water and 55 degree air. Clear and light breezes. Perfect storm.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fished a couple of spots in the harbor on the way out but only got a couple of taps. Ditto at the rock dike points. Moved south toward the bubbleup and started dragging a minnow after passing the end of the west dike. Pa started doing the same in a bit shallower water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water levels are down about 3 feet from the high water mark so the areas I usually fish are shallower than usual. I moved out until I found some 4-5 feet water and the fun began. Had 3 cookies in the basket within a few minutes. Called pa out to deeper water and he too went bendo a couple of times. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We kept moving and catching fish until we reached the bubbleup. 8 new buoys replaced those that were trashed by last year's ice. I exchanged a bait rod for a tandem tube jig setup and began to get badly abused by a hungry mob of white bass. Got several doubles. Changed to a single 3" plastic...chartreuse with an orange head. Munch city. Bigger whities though. Switched around through several different plastics and even threw some of my fire tiger crank baits. Whities loved them. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Took a break from the whitie fest and dragged some baits to the south of the bubbleup. Good move. Out in 5.6 feet of water the kitties were waiting. In addition to several more cookies I got a two footer, a 21 incher and a BIG MAMA. A 28 inch mama kitty whupped my behind for several minutes before she agreed to climb up on my tube and pose for a couple of pictures. Thanked her kindly and sent her back down to make more kitties. Only wanted a half dozen cookies for the smoker.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Pa also beat up on the whities pretty good. The water was boiling up good from the sixth through the eighth buoys and the whities were ganged up from top to bottom. Often we would barely hit the water with a cast before our sticks bent. But, he wanted to try inside the harbor for some crappies before we left so he rowed back to the harbor. Seems his battery or his motor died. Bummer.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had my downer too. Got a loop of line under the spool of one of my catfish rigs. Started unscrewing the spool and a kitty took off and popped off both the spool and the tightening screw. One of my favorite kitty reels too. And didn't get a hook into the fish. Bummer for me.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Shortly after pa rounded the bend of the marina and went inside the kitties turned on again. Pow, zing, splash splash. Brought in several more in quick succession. One hard hit and fast line burnoff turned out to be a match for the early biggun...only this was a big daddy cat...about the same size as the mama kitty. Pulled hard and stayed way out away from my tube for a long time. I was surprised it was not bigger than it actually was. Felt good. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By that time I had overfunned. Lee was not doing any good inside and neither of us wanted or needed any more fish...or any more abuse. So I fired up my electric trolling motor and ran all the way to the ramp where the water temp has risen to 67. Should be a good weekend and a great week next week.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Anybody who wants to get their kids into some fast fishing should anchor out to the south between the sixth and seventh buoys at the bubbleup. Jigs, spinners or a bubble and worm will get you all the action you can stand...and all the whities you want to fillet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good to fish with Lee again. His new setup seemed to work well for him and he had a when we left.[/#0000ff]
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That looked like a fun day out there. [cool]
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Wow, Great job Pat and Pa!!! That looks like a ton of fun, I can only hope Ivan and I can get into the same stuff tomorrow. We got so caught up in the Whities this year that we haven't even played with too many kitties, hope tomorrow will change that.

Nice Post,

Shawn M
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Way to go Pat you always seem to find the fish or is it the other way around? Sorry to hear about your reel but thats the kittys revenge. Heading out to lincoln beach with Lisa tomorrow hope to do as half as you did today.
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Nice job guys[cool] Glad to hear a recent report of linden thanks nice report n pics aswell.
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Nice baskets, great report. As always appreciate the details, pointers, and locations. Those white bass get pretty frisky don't they.

Seems you found some Tubebabe sized cats this time. They really do look different - so much more grey. I think I like the spots on the young pups.

You must have a lot of shelves in your smoker! [cool]
Seems you both had a good day on the water.

Got plans to hit Hyrum tomorrow afternoon. See if some trouts and 'dads wanna play this time! It does seem we are in for a stretch of good weather. Get it while it lasts!

Boy, that basket shot looks like a full bushel of fish! That's quite the flow coming out of that bubble up. I thought they tuned that flow down to almost nothing.
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If something can go wrong it will.... eventually

I hate that feeling when I'm catfishing and my line gets wrapped around my rod tip or an eyelet or tangled around the reel, or whatever... and you have to spend those few brief seconds to quickly fix the situation before a cat decides to hit your bait at 90mph and break your line.

I've never had it happen before but I always think about it when I'm trying to undo my problem.

Did it cross your mind or completely surprise you?

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Looks like you had a great trip - Nice report.
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"You must have a lot of shelves in your smoker!
Seems you both had a good day on the water."

[cool][#0000ff]Only 3 shelves...each about a foot square. The situation is not that I have a big smoker. Just the opposite. I smoke a lot but I get "raided" a lot too. All my "friends" and relatives think they have unlimited acquisition rights to every new batch of smoked kitties. I love the stuff myself but I have to maintain stealth mode if I want to get any for my own snackin'.[/#0000ff]
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"That's quite the flow coming out of that bubble up. I thought they tuned that flow down to almost nothing. "

[cool][#0000ff]I don't think they "tune" the flow for any particular reason. The water coming through the pipe is from natural spring inflow and that is determined by other forces. Not like the olden days when steaming hot water gushed out of the pipe right next to shore...and the fish all smelled and tasted like creosote...or badly used 30 weight oil.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I will say that the heavy inflows were the greatest I have seen in the past several years. Usually it is difficult to find any evidence of inflow at all. Sometimes there are just a few bubbles rising. But yesterday there was a heavy boil in the water all the way from the sixth to eighth buoys. And it really had the whities excited. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water temps coming out of the pipe were virtually the same as the open lake water temps but the flowing water and slightly different water chemistry was enough to bring in the fish. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Couldn't get lures through the whities to see if there were any wallies in the crowd. Upgraded to bigger lures and different retrieves but those wascally whities just banged on them until they found the hooks.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]Murphy's Law says something like "If anything can go wrong, it will...at the worst possible time".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think Murphy was a fisherman. Why else would fish always hit just as you are looking away, taking a bite of a sandwich, getting a drink...or "obeying a call of nature"? Can't begin to count how many times I have been sitting biteless for a long time and then had a smashing strike just as I was out of easy reach of my rod...or somehow otherwise occupied.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That is what happened yesterday. After fighting in a couple of large fish, there were some twists in the line. I thought I had got them all out but evidently I did not. I looked down at my reel...sitting in the rod holder...and noticed a couple of loose loops that had boiled off the reel. I picked it up and tried to straighten them out but one of them jumped up under the skirt of the reel spool. From past experience I knew that the only way to get it free was to remove the spool and unwind it. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You guessed it. As I was undoing the tension screw I had the conscious thought..."Okay, this is when a big kitty is gonna take off with my line." Then I felt a tap as it chomped the bait...and then the powerful surge as it bolted away. The coils of line under the spool jerked the spool and screw right off the reel and out into the water. Nice timing fishies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hated to lose those parts. Might not be able to find replacements. That was the first Okuma reel I ever bought...a Fina model...several years ago. No longer made and I doubt if the parts are still available. I have plenty of other reels but you hate to retire an old friend before it is ready.[/#0000ff]
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thank you TD
looks like fun.
Got me a tube at the swapmeet few weeks ago. Its just a round doughnut looking thing.hard to get into. So I havnt really used it much.
Your tube sure is decked out look like you've got as much stuff as I do on my 16 foot basstracker.[cool]
I see D rings placed round my tube. Is this where you can add things?
Is that stuff sold in kits or did you design it yourself?
Is there any thing I can do to my tube. like a rod holder or 2 maybe a place to keep a sandwich dry?
any ideas would be truly appreciated
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sweet! nice basket.
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[cool][#0000ff]Welcome to the "dark side"...or dork side (tubing). I fished from round tubes for many years before getting my first open front tube. They work and you can catch fish from them. And, there are lots of ways to "pimp" them...with rod holders, sonars, etc.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Two suggestions: 1. Go over to the [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?;category=66"]FLOAT TUBING[/url] boards and look at some of the examples over there...including a recent one by [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=614963;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]Utah float tuber Car Doctor[/url] on what he has done with his old round tube.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]2. Shoot me a PM and I will give you my address and directions (Salt Lake area) and you can bring your new toy to my tubeatorium for some "modifications". [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The D rings are definitely the best way to attach any add-ons to your craft.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]All the stuff on my ride is the end result of over 50 years of tubing and working through a bazillion different ideas for adding rod racks, tool racks, nets, sonars, motors, etc. Very evolutionary and still a work in progress.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]All tubes and toons are different in construction and every angler has their own ideas about what they want, don't want and how they want it to work for them. A few minutes explaining the options and showing what is possible will probably help you clarify in your own mind what makes sense for you.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Also, the getting in part is much simpler than most people think. You don't have to put on the fins first (like Bill Dance) and then step into the tube. You put your fins on the ground, set the tube on top of them, step into the fins and tighten the straps, then pull the tube up around you. I laughed my (behind) off when I saw ol' Bill showing the nation how (not) to be a float tuber...in his underinflated donut.[/#0000ff]
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Thank you TD.
boy guess I would have tickled your funny bone if you would have seen me trying to step into my tube with fins on. fell face first into the water once.The simplest way is always the last way you think of.[laugh] links were also helpful.
I'll see what I can come up with. If I get stumped will definitely call on your expertise
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O boy that smoked fish looks good! Tube Dude, I remember once awhile ago you posted your recipe for smoked fish. Any chance you have a link to that, or have it saved somewhere? I'm feeling the need to fire up the smoker!
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Hey TD just curious but is there rules to tubes and pontoon boats? It looks like you have registation plates on the side of yours and I was just curious if they are treated like full water crafts.

I have been interested in purchasing a tube or pontoon boat for a while and that would be good information to know before I buy one. Thanks a ton
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I am sure Pat will chip in here and there have been other posts on here about this....but from what I understand if you have a motor, you are a boat and must follow rules and such that go along with a motorized boat. Reg#'s and sticker yearly.

Shawn M
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Pat, you got extra smoked catfish??!?!!?!! haha that stuff is GOOD!!!
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[cool][#0000ff]Here's the PDF file on how I smoke the kitties. Also a pic of the six cookie cutters I took home on Friday...after losing some size and moisture during the smoking process. They end up about 25% of their original weight.[/#0000ff]
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