Fishing Forum

The woman and myself have not been able to fish in over a month! But things calmed down just enough for us to sneak away for a day and do something we both love. Decided on UL. Also decided to try a place neither of us have been before. Lincoln Beach is a place I heard about but never had been before. So we hopped in ye olde truckzilla and jetted out.

After getting lost on the side streets for a little bit, we found the spot. Arrived around 12:30. A little late, but we made it out! Walked along one of the dikes, stopped about half way and started fishing. Tossed out some shrimp and worm on the bottom. Nothing. Tried jigs, spoons, krocodiles, spinner......nadda.

So we walked out to the end of the point and fished off the south side. Nothing until around 4:00 pm I would say. Got a hit on the nightcrawler and hooked him! Getting him in I saw that it was a decent sized bullhead but right as I got him to shore he did a little dance move and off he was. [frown]

Nothing for a while again, until my woman picked up a white bass in the boat channel. I decided to try a worm under a bobber and that did decent for the time we were there. I ended up with 3 white bass and she ended up with 1.

Was awesome to get out, met a really nice angler out there but didn't catch his name unfortunately. I needed this trip out for sure. With only 4 white bass to take home I have decided to try a little something something.

Cut them up into little steak chunks, separated into 4 bags. 1 with anise, 1 with garlic, 1 with both and 1 without any additions. Going to use it for the kitty fish out there. I'm hoping it's like katnip to those kitty fish, or whatever drives them crazy
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Thats what I need to do, take a day off and take my wife fishing. Unfortunatly she keeps telling me to wait until I finish the bathroom remodel. I will have to have read your post and hope she changes her mind. Good job on the whities and thanks for the report.
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[cool][#0000ff]Congrats on getting out for a "brainbroom" (my term). Glad you found a few finny critters that wanted to play too. Still early. Will get much better after the first of April. Gay-ron-teed.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About those white bass. I have experimented with "flavorings" but have found that pure natural unadulterated white bass meat is best. There is a specific scent it puts out that is MONEY for catfish, walleye and other white bass. Of course bullheads like it too. It has been my observation that adding any scents actually decreases the number of bites. That comes from fishing two rods with identical baits...side by side...one natural and one with some kind of scent. Once in a while the crawdad scent works well...and sardine or anchovy work okay too...but the anise works better for trout and garlic only occasionally for trout and someytimes catfish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also, if you do add scent, it is usually better to add it only after thawing the bait. If you add oily scents before freezing that lowers the freezing point and adds to the potential of incomplete freezing and rancidity. I prefer to thaw the bait in the refrigerator or at room temperature the day before a trip. Then I add salt and scent the night before and keep it in the refrigerator overnight. That helps the scent penetrate the bait better...after freezing has opened up the cell structure. Much better than adding before fishing while on the water.[/#0000ff]
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Does it make a difference if it's natural scent versus artificial? We didnt buy any fake scent we used real minced garlic and real anise seeds, then filled the bag with the fish about halfway with water to let it marinate and then before freezing we will dump the water out. Either way we figured it was worth a try and we'll let ya'll know how it worked out for us on our next kitty fishin adventure.
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[cool][#0000ff]The fish are always the ones who make the final decision on what works and what doesn't. The best any of us silly fishermen can do is try to realize what just happened and if there is any reason for it besides pure dumb luck...or being unlucky.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sometimes natural scents work best. Other times the chemistry lab stuff does better. It's always worth a try. Just as easy to blame a bad trip on bad chemistry as on the moon.[/#0000ff]
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Alrighty good to know. I plan on fishing them side by side. natural on one pole, then some kind of scented on the other. But I guess if neither produces the moon will be to blame.

We will report on the success or lack there of when we can get out again, hopefully soon!
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I don't know if you put a ruler on any of these or not but I just wanted to point out that these are some healthy white bass. My opinion is that we should see some bigger healthier white bass caught out of Utah Lake this year. Hopefully the average size will be a 12-13 inch white bass instead of last year's 10-11.
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That's what I was seeing, Wag. The couple ice trips I took showed me bass so much bigger on average than those I cought all summer, (which were bigger in the late summer than in May, at that).

Spring of 2010 was the first time I caught any real numbers of WB. We were keeping any over 9-1/2". In early winter this year, almost every one I got was solidly 11-12", if you don't count the 4-5" dinks that show up.

I'm excited.
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They were 11 to 12 and a half. We caught a ton ice fishing earlier this year, and almost all of them were nice big ones. I'm excited for utah lake this year for sure. Going to get a ton of fishing in hopefully. Get a boat or a couple tubes/pontoons for the woman and myself this year. Knock em dead.
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I do count the dinks...as bait! I have a dozen or so dink white bass sealed with a little water in freezer bags waiting for my next trip for catfish. I think you'll see white bass larger than 12 inches as well. I've employed the TD method of using larger plastics with bigger hooks in a tandem rig (most of the time with a smaller 1/32 or 1/16 oz jig and smaller #4 hook). A 3" plastic with a larger hook (not sure what size Pat puts on the ones I buy from him but they are huge) can keep away some of the smaller white bass but not all. I've also found using big strips of white bass meat or whole white bass minnows can usually result in a bigger white bass on the end of your line. Again, I've seen 10 inch white bass hit a big strip of white bass meat that they can't even swallow but they sure try. Can't wait for the white bass run. Should be a hoot!
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