Fishing Forum

[#0000FF]Nope. Nuttin' to do with float tubes. S'prise.

BigDaddy84094 was in BLK's boat and I joined Picophilic in his boat. Launched through the barely damp boat channel at Lincoln Beach about 7ish on Friday...all ahead dead slow with electric trolling motors. Survived both coming and going.

Light breeze and air temp early 50s at launch. Water temp still 63 at launch...reaching 65 by midday departure. All extra layers off by 10 AM. October?

BLK and BD boogied straight for Bird Island. Pisco and I decided to hang closer to the point to try for some white bass and maybe a walleye. Mission accomplished. Got a couple of 10 inch whities and I caught a teen-incher 'eye. Big whoop.

Also got a couple of mudders and had a few more molest our catfish baits. But we also picked up our first few channels. Average seemed to be around the two footer mark. Nothing bigger there.

Mid morning we decided to go hit Captain Pisco's fave area around Bird Island. Motored slowly by BFTer IceSled...in his duck/cat boat...exchanged pleasantries and boogied for the island.

We ended up on the east side of the island, while BLK and company fished on the west side. We kept up audio harassment via walkie talkies. The goal seemed to be to bother the other guy while he was fighting a fish. And there were enough fish for both of us to keep us busy...with fish and with chatter.

Through the day we fished mostly 5-6 feet of water. With the low water conditions it is tough to find anything deeper than 6...anywhere. We used both white bass...cut up larger ones and whole small ones...and carp cutlets. The everlovin' kitties voted for whatever we served them.

We had more than a usual percentage of swing and miss hooksets...whiffs. Sometimes had to finesse them. But the bigger and more serious fish did the usual gulp and go and hookup percentages were higher. With the water temps staying above 60 the fish still had a lot of "catitude"...and they usually "fought bigger than they were". Fun fun.

BLK took top rod honors with a 29 incher. I came in second with a 27. Pisco and I both released several fish over 25 inches. Lots of bent sticks and stretched string. Beautiful flat calm weather all day and good fishing company. Can't beat that.
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Nice day. I never get tired of watching daylight creep up over those big ol' mountains. It is not very often the big pond is as calm as it was yesterday. Love it.

Had a great time with BD. He's a transplant to Utah and he talks kinda funny like some guy that grew up in Indiana... other than that, a fairly normal guy. We hit it off great.

We tallied about 16 cats with the biggest being a nice 29 incher that was supposed to be over 30 inches but fell just short. Next time.

Good company, great weather, and good fishin'.

BLK
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[#0000FF]Glad we could all "hook up" yesterday. Couldn't have picked a nicer weather day.

Purty fish. The guy holding it...not so much. But some of us want justice. Others want mercy. I think I fall into the latter category myself.

As per our email exchange, we gotta team up in the same boat together and get you some Walleye 101 lessons. Hope I can still remember the topic. As with most walleyes I catch the small one I caught yesterday was caught on white bass gear. When I sling the bigger stuff for walleyes all I get are white bass. Maybe I print the instructions too small on the lures.
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Nice to see you guys still going for the kitties.
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Well heck that looks like a mighty fine trip with friends and fish both. Hard to beat trips like that
Take care
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[#0000FF]Yeah, I read your report on HN. Bummer. Seems like we had more tugs than you did. That doesn't fire up my interest in driving all that way to smell skunk.

Maybe you should come over here and join us for a trip.
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Sounds like a very successful trip. I cant believe water is staying that warm and still hitting 80 degrees more oft than not. Thanks for sharing the pics and the report.
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With the water being so low Bird Island must be quite large. Is that the south finger of the island that you took the pictures of?
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I think I saw you post that they started closing the gates on October 1. I've been at the River and don't think it's dropped. Canals also still have water. It's crazy how shallow Utah Lake is. I actually took my float tube out on the river and it sounds like some of its parts are deeper than Utah Lake. I was really disappointed on Friday and Saturday this weekend. No channel cats. The week before I did good but the previous 2 days sucked.
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[#0000ff]Indeed it is the southeast point of the long shallow "finger". Here's another pic I took of it shooting along the length...with the island in the background.

We did not get close enough to look but I suppose there are lots of "donated" prop parts scattered along that treacherous piece of underwater topography.
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[#0000FF]The gates usually close by about October 1. I don't think there is a hard and fast rule. Because of the warmer temps this October I suspect that some of the water users still need water for some fields.

No advice to offer on the cats. But in Utah Lake they are all seeking out the deepest water they can find.
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Good fishin, great company, awesome weather ! Need I say anymore ?
Took the grandkids down again on Saturday and they did equally well. Grandpa played captain/guide. They managed to boat 21 cats between the two of them. They had a great time, grandpa did also up to the point that one of the cats they caught managed to share a treble hook with me. He gave a couple good flops after hookup just to make sure he had a GOOD hook set on the largest whitefish ever caught from Utah Lake. Lucky for me he is into catch and release. Overall a very good and memorable day for the kids.
Tight lines
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Feelings mutual Lynn. Great day, had a real good time. Was very nice of you to share the boat, good company was a bonus.
Talk funny???
I think maybe your ears are out of adjustment :-)
Naw, just teasing. I get that all the time, no harm. I've often listened to myself for the funny talk that people mention...........
I've never been able to pick up on it.
Stay in touch, have to do it again sometime.

Tight lines............
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[#0000FF]Glad you got the kiddos into some of those wascally whiskerfish. Fun Fun.

But ouch on the hooks. Hope you were able to get it out okay.
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BLK, good work as always! It was great to finally meet you and BD. As you said, good company, great weather, and good fishing!

I hope the level stays up enough to finish the fall.
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It was a pleasure meeting you too Pisco !
I'm with you on the water level staying up, as long as the temperature stays decent I'm FISHIN'

[fishon]
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[cool]Nice report and pics, Pat. The cats are also hanging around the shore again. I posted a second-hand report in the premium board today about Mike's bank tangling success from Friday night just down around the corner from where you guys were first fishing. If the "W" cooperates, I'm going to take my two little monkeys down for their first real catfish excursion on Saturday...
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I was there last night with the wadding warriors, since I am not as brave as blk to launch, I ended up with 4 wb, 1 mudder, 1 20 inc channel, 1 10inch eye, all but the mudder was on a rattle trap, stayed til dark, I seen those guys hauling in more cats than eyes, using curly tails, according to my legs the water has cooled from last Thursday, also seen a lot of wb surfacing in the last hour of light,
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