Fishing Forum

[#0000FF]Is Thursday the 13th any better or worse than Friday the 13th? Is an almost full moon better or worse than a full one? I'd accept partial value on either one.

Launched at Lincoln Beach ramp just after 7. Air temp 25 and water temp 43. Warmed up to 50 and 45 respectively about noonish.

Water depth in the boat channel is just over 4 feet all the way out. Still some residual ice on the point of the south dike.

Nice calm conditions..with just a little breeze from different directions all morning. Noisy though. The geese and cranes are gettin' seasonally frisky and they were making a heckuva racket. Add in a few other waterfowl and it was a NATURE experience.

Started out throwing plastics around the point...in front of a couple of the springs and along the rock shelves. Didn't see much on sonar in the shallow water and didn't get any love on my line. No hits, no runs, no walleyes. No white bass either. The water temps are right about where the walleyes start their pre-spawn feedup but none of them showed up. Might have gone to Maverik for that new $1.99 biscuits and gravy...like I did on the way to the lake.

After a couple of hours of being ignored I took the hint and headed over to the flats between the end of the dikes and Benjamin Slough inlet. Started dragging some bait in about 3.5 feet of water and slowly S turned out into over 5 feet. I caught two cats at Lindon last week in 5.5 feet. And whaddaya know? About the time I dragged my baby white bass bait through that zone the line popped out of the clip, ran off a few yards and there was something solid on the end when I closed the bail and whacked it. Healthy 22 inch channel cat.

Figured I was gonna smoke 'em now. But worked a long ways down the lake staying in the 5.5 foot zone...with only a little variation shallower or deeper. About an hour later I went bendo on my second and last kitty. Nothing more for the next hour or so. So I moved in close to the end of the dikes to see if there might be a walleye or some white bass hanging out there. Nope. But there was one cantankerous carp that slurped up the jig, put the line over his shoulder and tried to impress me with his toughness. It worked too. I was so impressed I invited him home to participate in a major weight loss program...becoming catfish bait. Saving the Junies...one carp at a time.

I shoulda knowed the walleye were not "ON" yet. I didn't get run over by the Utah Lake tin can tuna fleet. When the fish are available you take your life in your hands if you are fishing anywhere in the path of those wackos on the way to the festivities. Only saw a couple of boats go out this morning and one of those only lasted about an hour. There were a couple more than launched as I was leaving. I am thinking that fishing might be better later in the day if the water warms a bit.
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Nice going TubeDude. Those cats look healthy, clean and tasty!

Calm conditions are always a bonus.

Hey nice to see the pics. I am thinking of heading down to UL sate park with the beast Monday for its first dip this year.
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[#0000FF]Thanks.

Those kitties have a double date with the two I got at Lindon last week. They are going to visit the smoker together. Good stuff.
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[#0000FF]Good luck.
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Thanks, I am thinking of launching at the state park and working my way up to Lindon
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No walleyes, hmmmm, I'll be out there monday looking around.
should be that time.
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[#0000FF]I'm sure they are around and active...somewhere. In the limited area I fished they were a no-show. As you well know...ya cain't ketch 'em where they ain't.

I'm betting you will find some down in your fave spot.
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Boy, that open water sure looks pretty. Glad you caught a couple, but I wouldn't have expected less. I've got to ask you about using sonar to see fish below you when the water is so shallow, under a pimped out float tube no less. What are the fish thinking, swimming directly under TD's tank, and his big ugly flippers flopping around down there?

BTW Carl's Jr. has some biscuits and gravy that are about the best dern vittles ya ever flapped a lip over, but maybe those folks aren't up yet when you're coming through their vasectomy. Under the circumcisions it looks like you had a fun day. I expect you'll get into those toothy ones on your next trip to our big puddle.
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[#0000FF]Using sonar in shallow water...like Utah Pond...I mostly watch it to maintain depth and watch for temp breaks. However, whenever I am in at least 5 or 6 feet of water I will often see fishy marks below me. If there are walleye around I DO see them. I have the Humminbird 561, with dual beam...both 20 and 60 degree cones. That makes a bigger target area, even in shallow water. But you still have to be pretty much right over the fish.

And I have caught quite a few walleye directly below me in fairly shallow water. Being above them...with fins...seemingly arouses more curiosity than fear. I have also caught lots of white bass and catfish from right beneath my tube...in less than 8 feet of water. Must be my new angler's body wash...with "Channel Cat #5".

I am fairly confident I will find some toothy ones on a few trips this year. But the good thing about Utah Lake is that there is almost always something around, even if the wallies wanna play coy. If ya can't catch the one you're after...catch the ones that shows up...or something like that.

On the food note, yes, I do like Carls Jr...for several of their menu items. But (as you guessed) they do not keep anglers' hours (for me). And I have a bit of an "in" with Maverik. My stepson, Ron Duncombe, drives their Monster Truck and is part of their promotions group. And I have a black card. They still charge me full price though.
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I totally believe you of course, but that just blows me away that the fish hang around under your tube that way, if only for a second, in very shallow water, like 6 feet or less. I've wondered about that every time I've read one of your posts and you said you were looking for fishy marks on sonar even in shallow water. Now I know!

(I go for the Steak Bundles at Maverik.)
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[#0000FF]There have been so many times that I have caught fish right under my tube that I suspect it is sometimes perceived (by the fish) as floating structure. This is especially true when I am just casually drifting and not actively kicking a lot.

One time on Pineview I was absorbed in rerigging and then looked down into the clear water to see a whole bunch of fish...bluegills, small bass and crappies...all looking up at me. For a moment, I got the impression that they were saying "Okay guys, on three we pull him under." Glad there weren't any tiger muskies in Pineview back in those days.

Another time...on Willard...I was pitching small plastics to a hump that often held crappies at that time of year. Neither me nor my fellow tuber fishing buddy had been doing much...but it was a sunny afternoon and the crappies were inactive. Then, after dropping my jig straight down to work out a loop of line on my reel, I flipped the bail to reel it back in and got munched by a crappie. Hmmm. I dropped down a few feet again and got another one. Then I noticed that the fish were hanging in the shade of my float tube...about six or seven feet down...over about 15 feet of water. I managed to catch three or four more before I had either caught them all or educated them. My fishing buddy was freaking out and didn't believe my story. Never duplicated that again.

There have been other times that fish have moved in behind me as I kicked across a shallow area. They seemed to be attracted by food items the turbulence of my fins kicked up. Even had a big ol' largemouth almost jump into my tube with me once as it chased a fleeing crawdad. Wouldn't come back for my plastic though.

These days, one of my most effective prospecting techniques is to vertical jig a tandem rig right below and slightly behind my tube as I move slowly across a given area...trying to find active fish. Some of my best fish of the trip often come on that close-in, short-line method. And...in keeping with the subject question that started this discussion...the fish I catch seldom show up on sonar first. They just zip in from the side...not visible on sonar...and smack the jigs. But...being the open-minded guy I am...I accept their intrusions.

Here's a pic I posted last fall of a walleye I caught that way at Willard...virtually right under my fins...in about 8 feet of water...while fishing for perch.

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I know what you mean about the fish coming right in on you at times. A number of years back while at newton reservoir, my brother had a small stringer of crappies floating between his legs while he fished from his inflatable pontoon boat. I was in mine about 20' away when I looked over to look at another crappie he caught when all hell broke loose right between his legs. A BIG Muskie slashed into his stringer of crappies and relieved him of a few of them. It was quite the sight to see!! I've also never before or since seen or heard a grown man make such a panicked high pitched shrieking noise! He actually tried smacking it with his pole as he attempted to levitate above his toon! Ruined his fun and made my day
As for the question about using sonar in such shallow water, ive often wondered the same. Aside from knowing depth, I thought it was worthless, but now I see your point and will give it a go again.
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[#FF0000]As for the question about using sonar in such shallow water, ive often wondered the same. Aside from knowing depth, I thought it was worthless, but now I see your point and will give it a go again.

[#0000FF]There are many trips on Utah Lake when about the only function of value from my sonar is depth reading. When we are slow dragging minnows or other catfish baits it is common to find active fish in very specific depths. If they are biting best in 4.5 feet of water we might as well not be using bait if we are in more or less than a foot either side of that. But it can and does change through the day, as the sun gets higher or the wind picks up or whatever. The hard part is guessing which way the fish will move. Sometimes they move out much deeper. Other times they cruise in to warm shallow water only a foot or two deep. When we stop getting bites at the previous productive depths we start making big S turns to go shallower or deeper until we find them again. That's an advantage to having a couple of other knowledgeable folks in the floatilla...with walkie talkies...so we can use alternate prospecting methods and share the knowledge.

I enjoyed the TM story. Had a buddy that had something similar happen...only with a big snapper turtle. Just about did a Polaris missile launch out of his tube.

Some sonars do not even give good readings in water less than about 5 or 6 feet deep.
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