Fishing Forum

[#0000ff]Windy yesterday. Supposed to be windy tomorrow. Looked like a calm morning forecast this morning so I went for it.

Launched at Lindon just after 6. Calm and clear...and no bugs. Water temp 63 at launch...65 at 11:30 return.
Water ugly shallow still. Only 2.5 feet average all the way out of the harbor.

A couple of whitie bonks around the outside points going into the lake. Kept going straight out for a looooooooong ways before I found water over 3' deep. Started working plastics and cranks on the way down to the bubbleup. Hoping to find a hungry wallie. Only found mini white bass.

Worked plastics for a while along the 3 end buoys on the bubbleup. No bubbles coming up. No fish either. Not even a whitie.

Finally put on a chub minnow on one rod to drag around while I continued prospecting with plastic on the other. Didn't get much plastic pitchin' in for the next hour. As soon as a new minnow settled down it was POW - ZING. Line popped from the clip and went streaming off behind the next eager kitty.

As I often do, I released the first couple of cats, not wanting to mess with them. But then I reckymembered I was out of smokitty and had pesky friends and relatives buggin' me about makin' some more. So I kept a few. Quit when I had six and released another half dozen or so...including two I caught on little jigs. Silly catfish.

I also brought in and released a couple of chunky little bullheads (mudders). They been eatin' good.

As I was on my way back in...early...I rigged two bait rods to drag while I munched a sandwich. Put on my last two minnows and pitched them out behind my tube. Barely got my first bite when one rod got busy. Tucked my sandwich back in the pocket and focused on the fish. But just as I was getting ready to scoop it in my net the other rod took off. I let it run, netted the first fish and sat it up on my rigid apron. Then I set the hook in the second fish and rassled it in to the tube...netting it in the same net as the first one. Already had enough for the smoker so both of those cooperative kitties got a smooch and release.

It was still only a little past 10 am...and the water was still calm. Although a bit of a breeze was starting to make ripples from the southwest. I headed inside the harbor and tried working a few "never fail" spots around the shoreline. Today, they failed. Water was just too shallow. But the carp were noticing the temp rising to the magic 65 degree mark and they were moving in to do their scaly Lambada.

As I was getting close to the ramp, to take out, I turned around to look and saw that a family of Canada geese had taken over the spot on the ramp where I had launched a few hours before. Cool. I have always enjoyed seeing baby ducks and geese. But I didn't enjoy dodging the "goose grease" landmines they left all over the ramp as I packed up to go.

Great day weatherwise. Lots of tough tugs. And now I get to get smoky wit it again.
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What a great day, look like good sized cats too. Thanks for the report. Later J
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Looks like a lot of fun! I think I'm ready to start fishing for the kitties now and reports like this goad me on!

Mike
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Sounds like the kitties treated you well. I'm glad you had a good trip and thanks for another great report.
I noticed that when you had a kitty double you just let the second fish take line rather than setting the hook. Have you tried both ways? I was guessing that the second fish might spit the bait out when it finally felt the line drag, so I did it the other way on my last one.
Either way I guess it is a nice problem to have[]
I was also surprised you didn't find the whites in good numbers. It looks like they are staging for or starting the spawn in other areas and I thought the bubble up would be a spawning area.
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[#0000FF]Hope the cat situation has stabilized a bit up there for you...after last year's water drawdown. You know the fish are still there. Just gotta find 'em and figure them out.

Looking forward to seeing some good numbers for you this year. Good luck.
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[quote Piscophilic]
I noticed that when you had a kitty double you just let the second fish take line rather than setting the hook. Have you tried both ways? I was guessing that the second fish might spit the bait out when it finally felt the line drag, so I did it the other way on my last one.
[#0000FF]Yes, I have done it both ways...quick set or delayed set. But with the Nanofil line there is virtually no drag to spook the fish. The line just flows off the reel, with no catches and jerks as with mono. And yesterday the fish were active and aggressive. They were gulp and go...and if I gave them any time they did swallow the bait.

On other trips the fish have been more tentative so I will loosen the drag on the first rod...with the fish already hooked...and put it in a SECURE holder. Then I pick up the second rod, flip the bail and set the hook. If the second fish feels heavier, I may opt for fighting it in first and letting the partially weary smaller fish wander around by itself...using my fins to keep tension and the line and position my tube to keep it under control. If I fail to hook the second fish, or if it does not feel heavier, I will loosen the drag on that reel and put that rod in a holder...for future followup.

Using this system I have landed many doubles. On one trip off the Knolls both fish turned out to be over 30 inches. Over-funned.
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I was also surprised you didn't find the whites in good numbers. It looks like they are staging for or starting the spawn in other areas and I thought the bubble up would be a spawning area.[/quote]

[#0000FF]Ya cain't ketch 'em where they ain't. I did catch several...when pitching close to the rocky shoreline. But most of my fishing was well away from where spawning white bass will be right now. There are several small inlets in the area and the spawn is on. That's where most of the whities are right now. Both fish I kept for bait were ripe and ready...one male and one female.

The bubbleup DOES act as a whitie magnet. Other species too. But it is better when there is flowing water from the pipe to create current and attract the spawners. After the spawn it does serve as "structure"...for structure loving fishies. Sometimes it is occupied. Other times not. And with the water still being so low it is not the major draw it is during higher water. The depth at the end was only 4 feet...as opposed to about 12 feet in better times.
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Looks like you had a decent day and beat the wind as well. I cant believe the water is coming up faster after a pretty normal water year. I will keep hoping but since the spawns are on or over for both walleye and whities and still not a lot of flooded cover I am not as optimistic as I was a couple months ago. Great report as always. Thanks for sharing.
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[quote SkunkedAgain]What a great day, look like good sized cats too. Thanks for the report. Later J[/quote]

[#0000FF]The size of the "cookie cutter" cats on Utah Lake has been going up. The predominant size this year seems to be about 22 - 24 inches. The ones I kept were all in the 23-24 inch range...and healthy. I only caught one "small" 19 incher. That would have been a biggun at Willard.

For what it's worth, I released a couple that were two to three inches over the cookie cutter mark...maybe 26 to 27 inches. If they eat well this year they may be over 30 in a year or two. Things are looking good for numbers of larger fish in the coming years. Of course, it will be better if we get more water and the lake gets healthier.
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[#0000FF]Hard for a lake to fill when they are dumping water out of it faster than it is coming in. And it is not just for farmers. The Jordan is roaring past where I cross at 54th south...and goes right down into Salt Lake. I wonder how many feet of Utah Lake it takes to raise Salt Lake 1 foot...so the sailboats can use the marina again.

I was pleased to see that the water level had risen enough to cover most of the pipe at the Bubbleup. It was exposed almost all the way to the end for a while. I remain optimistic that there is still enough runoff left to bring it up a few feet...if the water wizards are motivated to try to save Utah Lake for the many who use it.

It will be good for all the fish currently spawning to have some flooded cover for their new hatchlings to survive a while. Last year there were very few small whities in the late summer. I suspect that most of the younguns were "cycled back into the ecosystem" before they got very large.

With the current water levels, about the only species benefiting are the carp. Low water and exposed banks are ideal for their broadcast spawn mode. This is the time when a SINCERE carp eradication program would include methods to capture and/or kill the millions of carp collected in small areas...instead of waiting for them to complete their spawn and add to the biomass.
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You're probably tired today after yesterday's battles. I've been finding the cats are really pulling hard this year. Been a blast to tangle with em. I've been on garden and yard duty this week and can't sneak out fishing so Im going nuts.

Your tips on the smoker were dead on. I cranked the temp up a little and it smoked just fine, now I want to get another batch ready and try it. Well the graduation should be over in a week so hopefully after that I can get back after the cats. Later J
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