11-15-2011, 11:10 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Plan A for today was to hit American Fork Boat Harbor...without the motor...no frills. Wanted to see if any fish have started coming inside for the winter. Switched to plan B before leaving home. Put in the motor and battery and pointed my tube toward Lindon. Figured if there was nobody home inside the harbor I could always motor down to the bubbleup. Good plan.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Launched at Lindon about 7 am. Water temp 41 and air temp 41. Not often that happens. But it was exactly the same when I came in about 10:30. Except it was a heck of a lot colder in the building wind.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Light breeze at daybreak. Worked all around the inside of the harbor dragging a minnow on one rod and pitching plastics on the other. Saw almost nothing on sonar. Like a desert inside. Nary a tweak on either bait or plastics in an hour. Fired up the big motor (Minnkota 40#) and got the tube up on plane...headed for the bubbleup. Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Wind and chop were building a bit as I reached the bubbleup area about 8:30. DANG! They had already taken in the marker buoys. But, the old TD GPS system (triangulation, dead reckoning, past experience and luck) was working fine. Watched the sonar and the shoreline features until I figured I was about on the pipeline and then fired off a cast with the tandem plastics. BENDO. First of many whities. I love it when a plan comes together...and I get lucky.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I tossed over my bright orange plastic marker buoy and as it turned out I had put it in exactly the right spot. I caught fish both east and west of it...along the pipeline...but couldn't buy a bite more than a few yards further in either direction.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There seemed to be two separate schools of white bass...one on either side of the buoy. I would work one over for a few fish and they would slow down. Then I would move my tube and harvest a few more from the other school. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Got several doubles on my tandem rig. Used mostly a orange chartreuse for one jig and a hot pink and silver for the other. I did change rods and rigs a couple of times but usually came back to that combo as being the hot rig. Even caught a "mixed double" at one point...a nasty old carp on the pink jig and an overmatched whitie on the other jig. I added the whitie to my basket before performing a complimentary gillectomy on the carp and releasing it unharmed.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As is common this time of year, in cold water, the hot pink jig probably accounted for the majority of the fish I caught. And they were gulping it down on the strike. Had to reach down in their throat to retrieve my jig on several whities.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Dragged a minnow for a short time but gave up because the building wind and waves made it impossible to hold position and keep from tangling up in the trailing line. No cats and no walleyes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Probably caught over 50 white bass before 10 am. Kept 25 to 30 for the fillet board. Most fish were healthy and at least 10 to 11 inches. Plenty of footlongs. Tossed back a bunch of fat 9 and 10 inchers.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]About 10 I could feel the wind picking up a bit more and I was getting bounced around a lot more in my tube. Plus, the wind was working on my wet fingertips in my fingerless gloves. TDC. The wind direction was also changing to a more northerly direction so I knew that the longer I waited to boogie back to the ramp the more work it would be on me and the motor to plow back through the slop. So I scooped up my marker buoy and started in. Good thing I did because the wind kept getting worse all the way back in. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Only saw a couple of bank tanglers along the shoreline between Lindon and the bubbleup. Not a single boat launched today. No married ones either. Cuts way down on the power squadron problems. Oh yeah, no skeeters neither.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With current water temps at 40 and a cold front on the way it won't be long until conditions are right for the harbors to start skimming over on calm nights. That will be when the whities come charging in and the annual whitie bash will begin. Sometimes you can do well around the docks just before ice up and while the ice is still too thin to walk on. I am sure there will be reports. But don't look for many more from me. Stick a fork in me. I'm done.[/#0000ff]
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[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Launched at Lindon about 7 am. Water temp 41 and air temp 41. Not often that happens. But it was exactly the same when I came in about 10:30. Except it was a heck of a lot colder in the building wind.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Light breeze at daybreak. Worked all around the inside of the harbor dragging a minnow on one rod and pitching plastics on the other. Saw almost nothing on sonar. Like a desert inside. Nary a tweak on either bait or plastics in an hour. Fired up the big motor (Minnkota 40#) and got the tube up on plane...headed for the bubbleup. Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Wind and chop were building a bit as I reached the bubbleup area about 8:30. DANG! They had already taken in the marker buoys. But, the old TD GPS system (triangulation, dead reckoning, past experience and luck) was working fine. Watched the sonar and the shoreline features until I figured I was about on the pipeline and then fired off a cast with the tandem plastics. BENDO. First of many whities. I love it when a plan comes together...and I get lucky.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I tossed over my bright orange plastic marker buoy and as it turned out I had put it in exactly the right spot. I caught fish both east and west of it...along the pipeline...but couldn't buy a bite more than a few yards further in either direction.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There seemed to be two separate schools of white bass...one on either side of the buoy. I would work one over for a few fish and they would slow down. Then I would move my tube and harvest a few more from the other school. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Got several doubles on my tandem rig. Used mostly a orange chartreuse for one jig and a hot pink and silver for the other. I did change rods and rigs a couple of times but usually came back to that combo as being the hot rig. Even caught a "mixed double" at one point...a nasty old carp on the pink jig and an overmatched whitie on the other jig. I added the whitie to my basket before performing a complimentary gillectomy on the carp and releasing it unharmed.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As is common this time of year, in cold water, the hot pink jig probably accounted for the majority of the fish I caught. And they were gulping it down on the strike. Had to reach down in their throat to retrieve my jig on several whities.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Dragged a minnow for a short time but gave up because the building wind and waves made it impossible to hold position and keep from tangling up in the trailing line. No cats and no walleyes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Probably caught over 50 white bass before 10 am. Kept 25 to 30 for the fillet board. Most fish were healthy and at least 10 to 11 inches. Plenty of footlongs. Tossed back a bunch of fat 9 and 10 inchers.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]About 10 I could feel the wind picking up a bit more and I was getting bounced around a lot more in my tube. Plus, the wind was working on my wet fingertips in my fingerless gloves. TDC. The wind direction was also changing to a more northerly direction so I knew that the longer I waited to boogie back to the ramp the more work it would be on me and the motor to plow back through the slop. So I scooped up my marker buoy and started in. Good thing I did because the wind kept getting worse all the way back in. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Only saw a couple of bank tanglers along the shoreline between Lindon and the bubbleup. Not a single boat launched today. No married ones either. Cuts way down on the power squadron problems. Oh yeah, no skeeters neither.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With current water temps at 40 and a cold front on the way it won't be long until conditions are right for the harbors to start skimming over on calm nights. That will be when the whities come charging in and the annual whitie bash will begin. Sometimes you can do well around the docks just before ice up and while the ice is still too thin to walk on. I am sure there will be reports. But don't look for many more from me. Stick a fork in me. I'm done.[/#0000ff]
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79122"][#63626b]HARBOR DAWN.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (193 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79123"][#63626b]EARLY RIPPLES.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (200 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79124"][#63626b]FIRST VOLUNTEER.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (178 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79125"][#63626b]NO BUBBLEUP BUOYS.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (214 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79126"][#63626b]MARKER BUOY NEEDED.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (243 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79127"][#63626b]DOUBLE UP.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (288 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79128"][#63626b]ANUDDER DOUBLE.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (392 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79129"][#63626b]MIXED DOUBLE.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (308 KB) [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=79130"][#63626b]TABLE FARE.jpg[/#63626b][/url] (496 KB)[signature]