06-02-2019, 05:27 PM
Executive Summary:
I fished out of Lincoln Harbor May 30 from 8 AM to 4:30 P.M. with my wife, my oldest son and his two oldest boys. Water temp was 64 in the harbor and 62 in the main lake when we arrived and increased to 66 by the time we left. It was much colder near the slough mouth, dropping below 60 degrees. We caught about 16 cats and 6 white bass. All the cats came on cut white bass. The whites came on night crawler pieces and a flicker shad. We caught cats in 2 to 8 FOW but the largest numbers came between 5 and 7 feet. Slow dragging at 0.5 to 0.8 MPH worked much better than still fishing. The cats ranged from 12 to 25.5” but most were 21 to 24. Some of the larger females were starting to turn dark around the head and gills.
Full Story:
My son Bowen and his family were in town all week for the Utah Valley Marathon. On Thursday they had a few hours so I got to take the older kids fishing. We got to the Lincoln ramp about 8 A.M. and the water was a surprising 64 degrees. Another pleasant surprise was the channel depth of 4 to 5 feet and it is still rising. We started out heading south into the shallow water looking for smaller cats that the young ones could handle. We were dragging thawed WB on FLIG, a FLAIT and a non-floating rig with a couple of bling beads.
We barely got south of the jaws when a 6” white took a piece of worm and volunteered for bait. 4-Year-old William was excited to get a fish, but agreed to let us use it to find bigger ones. The second fish hit a thawed WB chunk on a red spotted chartreuse FLIG even before I had time to change all the baits to fresh cut. It was quite a battle for 7-year-old Luke, but he outlasted a 4-pound channel.
I re-baited the FLIG and barely got it back in when it got hit again. Williams turn. He and his dad battled valiantly but the cat headed south and into the reeds. I pulled the boat over it and just as it untangled the hook pulled out and it was gone. William was a bit disappointed, but Grandpa was heartbroken.
During the battle, I reasoned that since all the hits were on a clown pattern FLIG, I changed the FLAIT from white to a clown pattern. As the day wore on it proved a good move.
Since we only had 90 minutes to fish, we turned and headed back toward the dikes. About a third of the way back the FLIG rod hung on something. I tugged and tugged but couldn’t free it. I wrestled with breaking it off to save time, but I couldn’t part with that fish catching FLIG! Good choice. I turned around and was almost back to it when I tightened the line again. It was still snagged, but I could feel a fish too. I figured it was the worm hook, 2’ above the FLIG, that had snagged and knowing it was on lighter line I tugged and it broke off, but the fish was still there.
L
uke was a bit disappointed, but we gave it to William since his had gotten off. A short time later a 3-pound channel came aboard and both boys had a good fish. Just as we got underway again their mom Ashley texted and said she was at the dock with the 2-year old twins.
I was supposed to swap passengers and give them a short boat ride. We picked up the speed to about 0.8 MPH and right away another worm hook got hit. Luke landed a 10” white and we went in.
Both boys had gotten a cat and a white so things worked out well. Just as we started back, Luke said: “Grandpa, I really like fishing now.” Great day for Grandpa!
Next the twins came in and we went over to the slough mouth and looked at the Pelicans. Actually in 20 minutes we saw Pelicans, Gulls, a couple of Terns, Grebes, a Cormorant, Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds and a Muskrat. Utah Lake is a great place in the spring!
Just before returning to the dock we saw BLK’s boat coming in from his morning’s fun. I hope he had a good morning.
As we dropped the grandkids off, my wife said: “How about if you and I go back out for a while?” “Great!” I said, and away we went. She and I had a great time. We fished from about 11 until just after 4. Not the best hours of the day, but the air temp was pleasant and the clouds were just enough to mellow out the sun. We traded fish for several hours and relaxed in the ideal conditions. The fish came from to 3 to just over 8 feet. We spent some time closer to 10’ but had only one pop and drop.
Our first 8 cats all came on the clown patterns, just about evenly split between the FLIG and the FLAIT with the circle hook behind it.
We were just coming in from another try in the deeper water when we got 2 quick fish in 6.5 FOW. One of them was the best of the day at 25.5”. As we were turning around to try to find them again we saw a boat coming in from farther towards the Spanish Fork River. They picked up a fish in about the same area we had gotten the 2 and it looked like a good one. We trolled to within hollering distance to say hello. They said it was a 27 and the best fish of the day for them. I thought I had seen the boat so I asked if they were BFTer’s. It turned out to be R2u2 and Mrs J. It was fun to say hi.
When we had caught 12, I anchored the boat to clean the 6 we had kept. It was also a good chance to try stationary baits. After 30 minutes of cleaning we’d had nary a sniff still fishing.
I wasn’t convinced that the fish had quit feeding and Julie was still enjoying the trip so we started dragging again. 5 minutes later we had a fish on the FLIG. While it was coming in, another one hit the FLAIT and stuck. We each had one on and just as I lifted the first into the boat another one hit the bling rod (Thanks TD, that 25-pound leader is working great!). 3 fish in 5 minutes. They were all 21” carbon copies. I suggested we released them since I had just put the cleaning gear away but Julie said that last one is bleeding badly. Uncharacteristically, it had a 4/0 circle hook deep in its gills. They are great when they work, but really hard to remove when they get deep!
We kept that one and continued dragging and got one more on the way in. No monsters, but a great, fun trip with my wife and the grandkids.
I can’t wait to try it again.
P.S. Both sons were running their first Marathon and both finished!
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I fished out of Lincoln Harbor May 30 from 8 AM to 4:30 P.M. with my wife, my oldest son and his two oldest boys. Water temp was 64 in the harbor and 62 in the main lake when we arrived and increased to 66 by the time we left. It was much colder near the slough mouth, dropping below 60 degrees. We caught about 16 cats and 6 white bass. All the cats came on cut white bass. The whites came on night crawler pieces and a flicker shad. We caught cats in 2 to 8 FOW but the largest numbers came between 5 and 7 feet. Slow dragging at 0.5 to 0.8 MPH worked much better than still fishing. The cats ranged from 12 to 25.5” but most were 21 to 24. Some of the larger females were starting to turn dark around the head and gills.
Full Story:
My son Bowen and his family were in town all week for the Utah Valley Marathon. On Thursday they had a few hours so I got to take the older kids fishing. We got to the Lincoln ramp about 8 A.M. and the water was a surprising 64 degrees. Another pleasant surprise was the channel depth of 4 to 5 feet and it is still rising. We started out heading south into the shallow water looking for smaller cats that the young ones could handle. We were dragging thawed WB on FLIG, a FLAIT and a non-floating rig with a couple of bling beads.
We barely got south of the jaws when a 6” white took a piece of worm and volunteered for bait. 4-Year-old William was excited to get a fish, but agreed to let us use it to find bigger ones. The second fish hit a thawed WB chunk on a red spotted chartreuse FLIG even before I had time to change all the baits to fresh cut. It was quite a battle for 7-year-old Luke, but he outlasted a 4-pound channel.
I re-baited the FLIG and barely got it back in when it got hit again. Williams turn. He and his dad battled valiantly but the cat headed south and into the reeds. I pulled the boat over it and just as it untangled the hook pulled out and it was gone. William was a bit disappointed, but Grandpa was heartbroken.
During the battle, I reasoned that since all the hits were on a clown pattern FLIG, I changed the FLAIT from white to a clown pattern. As the day wore on it proved a good move.
Since we only had 90 minutes to fish, we turned and headed back toward the dikes. About a third of the way back the FLIG rod hung on something. I tugged and tugged but couldn’t free it. I wrestled with breaking it off to save time, but I couldn’t part with that fish catching FLIG! Good choice. I turned around and was almost back to it when I tightened the line again. It was still snagged, but I could feel a fish too. I figured it was the worm hook, 2’ above the FLIG, that had snagged and knowing it was on lighter line I tugged and it broke off, but the fish was still there.
L
uke was a bit disappointed, but we gave it to William since his had gotten off. A short time later a 3-pound channel came aboard and both boys had a good fish. Just as we got underway again their mom Ashley texted and said she was at the dock with the 2-year old twins.
I was supposed to swap passengers and give them a short boat ride. We picked up the speed to about 0.8 MPH and right away another worm hook got hit. Luke landed a 10” white and we went in.
Both boys had gotten a cat and a white so things worked out well. Just as we started back, Luke said: “Grandpa, I really like fishing now.” Great day for Grandpa!
Next the twins came in and we went over to the slough mouth and looked at the Pelicans. Actually in 20 minutes we saw Pelicans, Gulls, a couple of Terns, Grebes, a Cormorant, Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds and a Muskrat. Utah Lake is a great place in the spring!
Just before returning to the dock we saw BLK’s boat coming in from his morning’s fun. I hope he had a good morning.
As we dropped the grandkids off, my wife said: “How about if you and I go back out for a while?” “Great!” I said, and away we went. She and I had a great time. We fished from about 11 until just after 4. Not the best hours of the day, but the air temp was pleasant and the clouds were just enough to mellow out the sun. We traded fish for several hours and relaxed in the ideal conditions. The fish came from to 3 to just over 8 feet. We spent some time closer to 10’ but had only one pop and drop.
Our first 8 cats all came on the clown patterns, just about evenly split between the FLIG and the FLAIT with the circle hook behind it.
We were just coming in from another try in the deeper water when we got 2 quick fish in 6.5 FOW. One of them was the best of the day at 25.5”. As we were turning around to try to find them again we saw a boat coming in from farther towards the Spanish Fork River. They picked up a fish in about the same area we had gotten the 2 and it looked like a good one. We trolled to within hollering distance to say hello. They said it was a 27 and the best fish of the day for them. I thought I had seen the boat so I asked if they were BFTer’s. It turned out to be R2u2 and Mrs J. It was fun to say hi.
When we had caught 12, I anchored the boat to clean the 6 we had kept. It was also a good chance to try stationary baits. After 30 minutes of cleaning we’d had nary a sniff still fishing.
I wasn’t convinced that the fish had quit feeding and Julie was still enjoying the trip so we started dragging again. 5 minutes later we had a fish on the FLIG. While it was coming in, another one hit the FLAIT and stuck. We each had one on and just as I lifted the first into the boat another one hit the bling rod (Thanks TD, that 25-pound leader is working great!). 3 fish in 5 minutes. They were all 21” carbon copies. I suggested we released them since I had just put the cleaning gear away but Julie said that last one is bleeding badly. Uncharacteristically, it had a 4/0 circle hook deep in its gills. They are great when they work, but really hard to remove when they get deep!
We kept that one and continued dragging and got one more on the way in. No monsters, but a great, fun trip with my wife and the grandkids.
I can’t wait to try it again.
P.S. Both sons were running their first Marathon and both finished!
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]. You sure made up for it.