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+--- Thread: Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist (/showthread.php?tid=1070114)
Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist - Matador - 04-19-2019
I took my 8 yr old son fishing at Utah Lake this morning. We launched from Lindon around 7:30am. We have a small row boat. After leaving the harbor we headed south toward the pipe. We were slow trolling cut tilapia fillets, on the bottom, in about 3 feet of water.
At one point I hung up on the bottom and my line broke off. Shortly after, my son hung up too. I told him to keep reeling in hopes of getting close enough to break it free. All of a sudden a big channel cat rolled on the surface next to the boat and I scrambled for the net. We got it in the boat, and my son and I exchanged high fives and cheers. It was a VERY nice, heavy cat, by my standards, rivaling my biggest. I would guess 28 inches. It was a pretty specimen. Often when they are that big they are all scarred up. Not this one. A real beauty. But that stinker wouldn't open its mouth so I could get it on the stringer or get the hook out. I ended up breaking the line off just so my son could fish again, and I finally got it on the stringer.
By then we had drifted closer to the reeds than we wanted to be so I started to row back out. All of a sudden that cat made a couple loud splashes next to the boat, and then it was gone. It had straightened out the metal hook of the chain stringer and escaped. My son was heart broken. That by far was his biggest fish ever, and we never even got a picture. I feel bad about that.
We ended up with a skunk for the rest of the day. We fished near the pipe, near the reeds, out from the reeds, the mouth of Battle Creek, out from Battle Creek. Not even a white bass or bullhead. We left about 12:30.
There were a few other boats out, and some folks on the bank. I saw no other fish caught. I suspect the full moon and clear skies had them feeding all night.
It was fun and disappointing. I had expected a good day of catching given the last few days of good weather. There was only enough W to ripple the water. In that regard it was a perfect day at Utah, and the company was awesome.
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Re: [Matador] Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist - Kent - 04-19-2019
Too bad you lost the fish. He needs to catch an even larger one right away.
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Re: [Matador] Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist - RockyRaab - 04-20-2019
For your future dining pleasure, buy an inexpensive plastic (not foam) cooler. Put in a bag of ice or a few frozen water bottles. Put your fish in that instead of dragging them around on a stringer. Chilled fish are easier to clean and they'll taste infinitely better on the table.
The downside is that the cooler is now "fish only" because you'll never get the fish slime smell out of it.
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Re: [Matador] Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist - gripy111 - 04-20-2019
I also use a cooler but I have a home made stringer made of nylon rope and a piece of a hanger. I have had to patch holes inside the cooler many times, flopping cat fins are like nails. 2 two liter pop bottles work great to keep them cool. Chain stringers won't even hold small cats.
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Re: [RockyRaab] Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist - Matador - 04-21-2019
Yes, I learned my lesson. I never considered a cooler. Good idea. Our boat is very small, so I might not be able to use a full sized cooler, but thanks for the idea. I will see if I can work it out.
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Re: [gripy1] Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist - Matador - 04-21-2019
We are definitely going to change tactics on how to keep cats. At minimum, a new stringer design will be in the works, but a cooler is probably the way we'll go. Thank you for the suggestion. I'm usually catching trout of the smaller persuasion (Uintas), so a chain stringer has worked fine up until now.
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Re: [Matador] Utah Lake - 04/19 - Escape artist - Cowboypirate - 04-21-2019
You wont remember hardly any of those high Unitas Trout, but you and your boy will tell that cat fish story for years to come. ( I still fish for Unitas trout too cause a 4 " brookie thinks its jaws when it hits a Elk Hair caddis)
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