Fishing Forum

[#0000FF]Whatta day! A complete food chain on view, a visit to the catfish recovery room and a pleasant visit with Boatloadofkids. Oh yeah, caught some fish too.

Launched about 6:30. A smoky sunrise on the way. Water temps beginning at 73 and rising to 76 by noon. Water level in the Lincoln Beach boat channel averaged about 3'. Gonna get lower before it comes up again.

Saw a boat working between the south dike and the mouth of Benjamin Slough. He launched before I got there. Wondered if it might be BLK. It was. He came over to chat as I was coming back in later.

Just as I passed the marker buoys at the mouth of the channel I saw the food chain in action. This year's crop of 2" baby white bass was slurping up a bunch of midges on top of the water. Larger white bass were ambushing the smaller ones. And Pelicans were swimming around and trying to eat anything they could reach. Had me worried a couple of times.

I tried pitching small jigs into the surface activity and got boinked by 9-10 inch white bass as soon as I splashed down. Got several before moving on toward the area off the first spring.

Tried fishing shallow and hitting the rock ledges. Got some "rock bass" but nothing that put up a fight. Worked out into deeper water...6-8 feet...and started dragging a "hanger shot" rig on one rod while still pitching tandem plastics on the other.

It didn't take long before my red and chartreuse dropshot tube rig got busy. The rod took a dive in the quick draw holder and I set the hook into a hard fightin' kitty. The 22 incher beat me up pretty good on the med light rod and 6# line. But I won. Took his picture, took my jig back and sent him back to the recovery room.

Oh yeah, I caught about a dozen cats today and both males and females of spawning size were both pretty banged up from the recent frivolities. Rough sex or something like that. It seemed as if I was fishing in some kind of post spawn care facility.

I switched back and forth between the red and chartreuse tube and the blue/clear sparkle like I use at Willard. The water was clear enough and there was enough feeding on small fry of several species that it was well received. Caught several cats on it and even got three crappies. Must have got lost from Willard.

Caught several more white bass way out in deeper water too. All small. Kept 4 for scampi noodles. Didn't keep any cats today. Biggest was maybe 24 inches and smallest only about 14. Nice to see a new crop coming along.

Couldn't help noticing two things. The hill above Lincoln Beach has had its annual burn. Ugly. Also noticed that Timpanogos is completely bare of snow. Must be summer.

BLK cruised up quietly behind me on my way back in. I think he was watching for me to pull a gun or something. He reported he had done well on some bigger cats fishing shallower waters in a couple of other spots. Also talked to some folks just coming back in from fishing down off the L in their boat. Nice young family from Springville. They had also hit the cats hard...with a couple up to 10 pounds.

I hit the ramp about 11:30. Just in time. The power squadron was moving in. Saw a steady line of big boats moving toward Lincoln Beach on my way home.
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Great report. Nice to see the whites are doing well.
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[#0000FF]Still small but getting thicker. You can no longer read your fishing license through them.
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I haven't made a trip down to UL yet this year. Maybe soon.... Let's hope they get a little bigger.[]
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Great report as always![]
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Good to talk to ya out there today TD. Nice day until the heat beat me off the water. Purty out there too even with the burn scar.

I did well today but nothing that would improve my contest score. My crew caught a couple of 27 inchers yesterday and added them to their contest scores. Catcarsen caught one using a mouse for bait. Someone told him a mouse would ketch a big catfish so he had to give it a try. He used a sticky-paper trap to catch 3 or 4 mice and first mouse out he caught a nice 25 incher. The cats were biting well on carp and white bass so I just stuck with the usual.

Those young-of-the-year white bass sure make good catfish bait. As soon as they get big enough to catch on a salmon egg hook and a piece of worm I'll stock up on them for bait... three to four inchers are just the right size. It looked like all the critters were feeding on them today. I watched a heron stab a couple and the pelicans seemed to be doin' well too. I caught a wb on a bare hook today... was reeling in fast to bait up again after losing a cat and a wb tagged my naked hook -- tomorrow's bait.

Anyhows, good report TD and good to talk to you on the water.

BLK

Fished without my crew today as they were prepping for a boy scout safari up in the Uinta Mtns. They intended to get away this p.m. for 3 or 4 days. I'll just have to tough it out alone for the next day or two.
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As always a great report and great pics. Glad ya found a bit of everything.
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How in the heck do you fish those jigs for the cats? Do you paddle your tube real slow or cast and retrieve? Fill me in pretty please with sugar on top.
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[#0000FF]We've shared the pond together...but apart...a time or two. Good to finally get close enough to chat. I appreciate your effort to not get too close but you could have come closer without problems. Had a guy one time that ran right across my line just as a 10 pound cat latched on. I had to really battle to keep that fish out of his motor...and he just stayed there and watched me struggle.

Happy to hear you have been getting the younguns into some good fish. They have been active this year even with the lower water.

I too will try to accumulate some little whities when they get some more size on them. Everything in the lake likes them for a snack.

No surprise on the "cat and mouse" thing. There are lots of rodents living around the lake and cats love them whenever they get a chance to munch one. Used to see a lot of voles inside cats at the Knolls. (hey, it rhymes) Here's a pic of a cat CSI showing a vole inside. I have caught them with as many as 3 rodent remnants.

[inline "CAT EATS MOUSE.JPG"]
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[#0000FF]I started using that rig at Starvation a couple of years ago...for perch and walleyes. Caught some good sized fish on them. The idea is to keep a nice worm tipped jig waving just up off the bottom...above the weeds and rocks.

They work on cleaner bottom lakes like Willard and Utah Lake too. So far this year I have probably caught more cats on those jigs than on minnows or fish meat. And I have also scored walleye, wiper, crappies and white bass on them.

I rig them with a dropper leader of about 6-8 inches, rather than a traditional Palomar knot tie directly to the line. I like to let the weightless tube flutter and wave behind me rather than being knotted to the line. The fish seem to like it fine and I don't have a problem with feeling light biters. Just the opposite, the fish usually haul the rod tip down and hook themselves.

I use about a 3-4 inch piece of clothes hanger wire for the weight. I put a tight loop on one end with pliers...to tie on to the line with a knot that will pull loose on tough snags. The hanger wire is cheap and it slides up and over rocks and through weeds without hanging up much. Seldom lose one.

I leave about an 18 - 24 inch leader between the little swivel and the hanger wire...with the dropper for the tube also coming off the swivel. I either just drop it to the bottom...almost vertical jigging...or leave about a 45 degree angle of the end of the rod while dragging it slowly behind the tube. It sometimes helps to stop and wiggle-jiggle the rod to give it some additional appeal. But a lot of my hardest hits come while it is almost deadsticked while I am casting jigs on the other rod.

Yes, I do tip with worm. But I also use a small Gulp minnow at times...or a piece of craft felt soaked in Gulp juice. As you can see in the pics, one of the weightless jig insertions I use is a chenille wrapped hook that soaks up liquid attractants well. The other heads are made with hot-melt glue to hold the tube on the hook without adding weight.

I believe that one of the factors in the effectiveness of these weightless tubes is the custom paintjobs, with eyes, glitter and/or spots...as in the pic of the box of tubes attached. I have been adding sexy eyes to my jig heads for years and have proven to myself that they work better than plain colors. Predators often key in on eyes.
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Wow you sure have some unique ways of catching cats and walleyes. Maybe some day I'll give that a try.[fishon]

Yes he does and they all work. He gave me a few of his creations and I still need to get out and try them out. Actually I just need to get out.[]
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[#0000FF]I still use the old tried and true stuff but I'm always tinkering with new ideas. And some of it even catches fish.[/#0000FF]
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The Improvisation Master strikes again! []

I can see it's time to get the glue gun out.

I constantly learn new things from your posts and greatly appreciate the wealth of knowledge you share with all of us. You really should consider putting together a "Tackle Craft Bible" and publish it. You already have the material ready to go minus a few edits.

Please put me down for a half dozen signed copies if you ever do go for it.

Great Stuff as always, thanks.
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[#0000FF]Thanks ol' buddy. You are becoming a pretty fair tackle crafter your own self.

As you observed, I already have hundreds of pages of pictorial writeups on subjects related to making your own stuff...jig making, painting, glittering, eyes, glow, spinner making, hardbait making, fly tying, rod building, etc. Also, just finished a major rewrite (with pics) on my old treatise on Jig Fishing...from 55 pages to 8 chapters, 186 pages and 331 pictures.

I have put all that together not to make money but to share with those in need...who will appreciate it. Plus, I have ly found that the anglers in Utah do not believe in paying for additional fishing education. No way I am going to pay for print on paper again. But I will continue to give it away in bits and pieces.

The main problem right now is being able to send it to those who want any of it. BFT has had ownership changes and system changes. Under the current PM system structure we can no longer send files with it. Used to be able to send even the large PDF files on my maps and writeups. Now every time I try to attach even a small picture I get an error message "Exceeds maximum file size of 27 kb". I have been addressing that problem on the moderators board since last fall but can't seem to get any concern from the owners or admins.
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