Fishing Forum

[#0000FF]Decided to attend the church of the 7th day Angler at Lincoln Beach on the first day of spring. Weird weather and silly schedules kept me off the water the other days of the week.

Water still low enough to access the rock shelf for launching just past the first spring. Air temp at launch a cool 29...warming to 60 at noonish. Water temp 48.3 at 7:30 launch and just past 50 at noon.

Water had been pretty muddy after all the storms. But it was a nice "walleye green" this morning. I was hoping to find a few toothy critters in a loving mood...loving my jigs. Heartless buggers. Nary a sniff. But did score a few white bass and a dozen or so channel cats. Plenty of tugs to keep me busy.

Did my usual routine. Dragged a BELHC (blue eyed left handed chub) on one rod while slinging an assortment of jigs and crankbaits on t'other. Started with plain plastic in larger sizes but got no love. So put out the bait rod and started pitching a tandem tube jig rig. The kitties were on the chew. I hardly had time to fish plastics because the cats jumped on my minnow almost as soon as it was settling to the bottom.

I caught a few white bass on small plastic tubes but no walleyes were harmed today. The cats slurped up a full bag of minnows...a "long dozen"...13 or 14. Only missed two hits and brought in cats from about 22" to about 24". Released the first few then kept 5 for the smoker and released the rest. They hit hard and some of them fought surprisingly well for the frigid conditions.

Since only a few of us heathens were on the lake today, there was not a lot of activity. Maybe a half dozen boats...some going to the island and others to the rocks off the orchard. There were a few rock hoppers and bank tanglers...and a few wading warriors. But I did not see anybody else bring in anything. Talked to one of the guys working the springs and he indicated they had been hooking a few nice largemouths in the warmer shallow water.

First batch of smokitty comin' soon.
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Nice reflection indeed. Great pics, I'm glad you got into the kitties already!
Just got back from up here at Cutler and nothing to show for it. I think it's a wee bit early yet up this direction, but maybe some other northerners are having better luck.

Tight Lines Pat!
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[#0000FF]You know I always include a Timp shot just for my HGS.

Still early. The cats will come. I didn't expect them to be so active at UL today but it was a couple of days into a warming trend and that usually helps.
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Thanks for another great report and for showing me those kitties can be caught in the cold water everywhere. I must have fished almost exactly the same area and time and even depth Saturday morning and our baits never got a sniff or chomp anyway. I remember thinking about your report from Willard a week or so ago and wonding why they were biting there and not at Utah Lake. I should have known I was just doin sumthin wrong!

I think I need lessons on how to catch your

Quote:BELHC (blue eyed left handed chub)

if I hope to get more chomping action[]

Seriously though, I'm glad you got some good action.

Pisco
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[#0000FF]I think BLK will attest to how effective chubs are for bait early in the year...and later too. Here's a pic of one I rigged...and then the results.

But I also had another secret. I found out where they planted it this week. (LOL)

At this time of year one day and a couple of degrees difference in water temp can make a lot of difference in the activity level of the fishes.
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Yep, those fat little chubs are a favorite on the cat menu. My chubs were a bit bigger than the one you pictured and I had better luck cutting them in half. Cutting a soft bellied chub in two, even with a sharp knife, makes an ugly mess of guts and gore. I cut mine in two, rig 'em up, and gently drop them in the water to drag.... leaves a scent trail the cats have no trouble tracking down. Should be good all summer.

I expected you to have a big stringer of dandy walleyes today. Maybe they are all hanging out at the island. It ain't over yet and one of these days I will eventually snag one of those walleyes.

Great report and some purty pictures. I've seen that same view of Timp a few times myself. Bummer that the weather is going back to winter next week. Can't wait for another day like today... next time with water temps approaching 60. Then we can do some serious cat fishin'.

BLK
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[#0000FF]Truth to tell, I was Hopin' for a walleye...but realist that I am I wasn't counting on it. Wierd year...AGAIN. Late ice off, fast warm up than another cool down. The temp warmed into the walleye prespawn range pretty fast and the fish were just starting to get active. Then chill time. Now the temps are going back up but still too cold for serious spawning activity. I watched a long section of shoreline known for being attractive to horny 'eyes and didn't see more than a couple of carp ripples. The wallies ain't in yet.

Another truth to tell is that I really don't enjoy fishing for walleyes during the spawn nearly as much as I do right after. The post spawn feedup can be much fun...with catching good for the bigger fish as well as the wacko younger males. I always catch more and bigger walleyes from mid April through late June than the rest of the year combined. Sometimes I score a few in late fall, but the spring fling is best. That's when we can get serious about "double indemnity"...bait on one rod and jigs on the other. And we are more likely to send you home with some toothsome white fillets.
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Nice work, TD. I was hoping to get down there myself, today, but went a little too hard last night.

What's deal with the water level? Still looking real low in your pictures. Seemed like we had a good winter, and some good storms over the last few weeks. Why isn't she fillin' up? Should we be worried?

Anyhow, I finally got my smoker set up. Only took me 3 months. First round yesterday, went with a tri tip. Oh man, it was tasty. I was hoping I could talk you into sending me some info on your smoked cat recipe. Hopefully I can get out sometime this week and pick up a few.
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Nice report... Looks like a very enjoyable trip for sure.
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[#0000FF]Yes, the water is still low. But it has come up over a foot from extreme low water last fall. And there are good flows coming in from the tributaries. There is still hope. The biggest inflow usually happens in May into June. I doubt it will hit historical high water this year but I am hoping it is at least well above last year.

I am attaching a couple of PDFs on smoking cats. The second one was written first...and is still pretty much the way I brine and smoke my cats. The first one is something I put together last year...after I refined my methods for prepping the fillets to insure best flavor and optimal even smoking.

Since most of the cats I smoke come from Utah Lake, they are generally large enough to have developed a thicker line of red flesh along the lateral line. Slicing that out before smoking will remove more oils and improve the flavor. And even though it results in more waste, I like to trim off the thinner parts of the fillet and any little "tabs" left over from the filleting process. That allows me to get more fish on the three small racks in my smoker...and helps insure that all pieces smoke more evenly...with less variation between cardboard jerky and smoky mush.

Bottom line: Be sure to monitor the process and to check the progress. If needed, move the racks around late in the procedure to help even out the outcome...so that everything comes out about the same. The rack closest to the heat source usually finishes faster so it can be rotated to the top and vice versa...leaving the middle rack in place.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
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Nice report Pat! I wish I would have had a free weekend to go after them, but some things are not in my control.

I have a question about the beads on your line. Are they floaters or are they on there to give it just a little extra bling? I just fish with either a bobber keeping it right off the bottom or I use a Carolina rig and bottom fish for them, but your pictures always seem to show beads on your line. I was wondering if you could share a little wisdom on that please?

Mike
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[#0000FF]The beads are there mostly for attraction...especially in colder and/or murkier water. Catfish are a lot more visual than some folks might believe...even becoming sight feeders and chase-down predators when the visibility is good enough. Like most fish, cats will usually hit what they can see best...even though they are heavily scent oriented and have sensitive lateral lines for picking up vibrations. Adding brightly colored beads above a bait sometimes helps the fish find the bait more easily and helps seal the deal.

I usually go out with two bait rods rigged...one with "bling beads" and the other without. There are some days when going back and forth produces as many fish on one as the other. Other days the fish seem to respond better to the one with beads...or the one without. Yesterday it was about even. But the pics are always more impressive when the fish are showing off their "lip ornaments".

I first started using the beads ahead of either a whole crawler or a small minnow...fishing for walleyes. But the cats let me know they liked them too...so I now use them when cats are the primary target. I have also caught quite a few walleyes, wipers, yellow perch and even crappies on baits dragged on the bottom with bead enhancement.

The 5 MM beads I use most I got from Cabelas. But like a lot of things I used to get from them, they have now discontinued them...and I can't find exact matches elsewhere. Not sure it matters. I use mostly the chartreuse and orange. Sometimes a couple of chartreuse only. Other times an orange bead in the middle of two chartreuse. And I also use the hot red. It works for almost all species...especially on lures with silver or white in them.

I have a (half) vast collection of beads in different sizes and colors...both for bait fishing and lure making. I haven't tried them all for my style of bait fishing but I can say that there aren't many that have not worked at least moderately well.

That's about as little wisdom as I can conjure.
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I'm thinking about maybe tubing there next week, out of curiosity how far out did you go?
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[#0000FF]I launched off the rocks at first spring. The water depth drops off fairly quickly there...compared to most places on the lake. I hit 5' within a hundred feet of the shoreline. But had to go out maybe a hundred yards to reach the 6' depths where I got the most fish..white bass and cats.

Once you reach 6-7' of water the depth remains pretty much constant clear out to Bird Island. As the water warms the fish will be moving into shallower water.

BLK and others have been fishing in as little as 3-4' of water off the mouth of Benjamin Slough. There is a fair amount of fresh water coming in there and that draws in both the walleyes and other species. That area is about 200 yards SE of the end of the boat channel.
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Sweet! I think my first dip on UL will be around the 3rd. Next week I will be heading south for some bass action for several days.
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Hey Pat, nice to see another great outing for you. Appreciate the map too, not being familiar with the lake this helps. Didn't get out this weekend other than a couple minute dough ball attempt at carp on Friday which was pretty cold and windy with no luck. But I did get my boat ready to go. So hopefully next time I get a chance I can get after them. Later J
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[#0000FF]You like maps? Here's a li'l sumpin' fer ya.
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[#0000FF]Hey mods, I am flattered that you think my report is good enough to earn a sticky. But don'tcha think it should be back in the main flow?
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Don't know how that happened but it's unstuck now.[sly]
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Hey Pat that's great!! I'm finding most of my assumptions of where you were talking about weren't correct, nice to see a map and learn better. Thanks J
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