Soft water again, Lindon 3-4-2023

[Piscophilic]

The weather looked OK and the camera said the ice was off at Lindon, so Jon and I loaded up the BBL and went to do a shakedown for the boat, us and the equipment. We didn’t get skunked, but it was close. We generally used significantly reduced bait sizes and went much slower, but they didn’t want to play. The sonar said there weren’t a lot of fish in the area either.




 
For info, when we got there about 8:30 the water in the harbor was about 2.5 feet deep, 38 degrees with completely chocolate milk visibility. We had decided to split the time between strolling (0.2 to 0.7) for cats and trolling (1 to 1.7 MPH) for white bass. Both were equally effective, no cats and no WB. We fished water from 1.5 to almost 5 feet deep. The temp was under 37 in the main lake. We also tossed some soft plastics around the rocks inside and outside the harbor with no love.
 
In about 1.7 FOW, 45 minutes into our first strolling period, Jon got a hit on a thawed WB chunk with a small clown wobble glo ahead of it. It seemed to hook up and then get off and then start pecking again. I said: “Oh, Jon, you’ve got a fish! Oh, I think it came off, no its back pecking again, must be a white.” He leaned back on the rod and said: “I don’t think it’s a white.” Even after the long fishless winter it only took him a few seconds to recognize that 10.5 pounds was too heavy for a white!





 
In all the years I’ve dragged WB chunks for cats I have only seen them hit by a carp once, now it is twice. It had the 1/0 circle hook and the attractor well into its mouth. But it was a fish, and a good battle! After we got it in the net, it donated a chunk of flesh for fresh bait and after it had passed on the carcass went to feed the kitties.
 
That was all the excitement we had from 9 A.M. to 2 P.M. We saw maybe 3 catlike marks on the screen the whole time and none we could entice. We had planned to stay around the harbor and bubble up for an hour or so and then go hunting if needed, but when I went to fill the carbs on the 150, gas sprayed out of one end of the fuel bulb. It would start, sputter and then die. With no gas motor we stayed close to the harbor and took what it gave us. It was a shakedown trip, so mission accomplished. The new bulb and a spare arrive on Tuesday.
 
It was really one of those days when we knew fishing would be tuff, but just had to go because we finally could. I’m excited for the start of another season and I’m sure glad we are going to see good runoff and more water in the lake this year!

[TubeDude]

Glad you were able to launch and at least do a problem finding session.  Saves a busted trip later.

I almost always start at Lindon because it is usually the first to open.  But it is also usually very stingy until water levels and water temps climb a bit.  But I am almost always able to at least score a few white bass around the bubbleup.  Wondering how that will be affected this year with the reduced white bass population.

Smelling only carp is almost as bad as smelling skunk.  But, still, they pull good and bend your stick.   And that's mainly what we fish for.  I'll betcha you do better on your next outing.  But it will be interesting to see what effect the rerouted Provo River has on fishing in that area.

[Cowboypirate]

"Both were equally not effective "

Boy that sounds familiar.

It is going to be very interesting to read the UL reports this year to see how the WB die off impacts things. Any predictions?

[SkunkedAgain]

Jim,
Congrats on a successful shake down cruise, glad you nailed a rocky mountain tarpon... Great fighters even in cool water... Kind of hard to believe you're into soft water... After all the snow, my boat trailer is so under snow I can't see the top of the tires on it anymore... Man we need a warm up in Cache Valley... Another week of the ice contest then bring on the warm... I'm sort of funned out this year... Later Jeff

[Piscophilic]

Glad you were able to launch and at least do a problem finding session.  Saves a busted trip later.

I almost always start at Lindon because it is usually the first to open.  But it is also usually very stingy until water levels and water temps climb a bit.  But I am almost always able to at least score a few white bass around the bubbleup.  Wondering how that will be affected this year with the reduced white bass population.

Smelling only carp is almost as bad as smelling skunk.  But, still, they pull good and bend your stick.   And that's mainly what we fish for.  I'll betcha you do better on your next outing.  But it will be interesting to see what effect the rerouted Provo River has on fishing in that area.

Thanks Pat,

I hadn't launched there before, it was your earlier post about the harbor there opening earlier that made me watch and try it there. 

I think there are a lot of interesting possibilities in the new "delta" area. I think it will increase panfish populations in the general area. From the map it looks like it could be a tubers dream, except a guy might get lost in all those channels! It will be interesting to watch and maybe even participate.

---

"Both were equally not effective "

Boy that sounds familiar.

It is going to be very interesting to read the UL reports this year to see how the WB die off impacts things. Any predictions?

I watched with great interest last year after the die off and it didn't seem to have a major impact on the cats, after they digested the big feast anyway. WB were harder to find, but always around enough to get a few for bait. The scariest thing was that I never saw a single young of the year whitie last year and I looked harder than usual. 

The ice fishermen found adults regularly, but not in huge numbers. I think the population is in OK shape, and the anticipated higher water levels should lead to a really good spawn. 

My biggest concern was if we had a long winter with thick ice and short food supplies. We got a short ice season, so I'm guessing we will see minimal changes in the number of predators, but they will be hungry until this years forage spawn shows up.

Also, in a "normal" winter for the past decade or so, the water level would raise about 2" a month from Nov to March or so. We would end up getting about a 1 foot increase in depth before the snow started to melt. This year it is already up over 2 feet and there is a lot of runoff coming. I think we dodged a bullet. A dry, cold winter cold have been a disaster this year.

I think it will be a good year for cats and by next year white bass numbers should look more normal.  I do always lean to the optimistic side though.

---

Jim,
Congrats on a successful shake down cruise, glad you nailed a rocky mountain tarpon... Great fighters even in cool water... Kind of hard to believe you're into soft water... After all the snow, my boat trailer is so under snow I can't see the top of the tires on it anymore... Man we need a warm up in Cache Valley... Another week of the ice contest then bring on the warm... I'm sort of funned out this year... Later Jeff

Thanks Jeff! That sounds like a lot of snow. I know there is a lot in the mountains too. I had snow on my boat until about a week ago. It hasn't been cold enough the past few weeks to keep it on the gond long though.  I suspect it will be gone sooner than you think up there. I hope it warms slowly so we don't get bad flooding.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hoping you're right about the gone soon, I keep expecting that, but the temps keep hanging below freezing even during the daytime, so it's hard to melt much...(-2 F this morning) I did see on the ten day forecast that it's supposed to get up to forty for several days towards the end of the forecast... Hope that will be the start of the melt... It's got a lot of depth to melt through this year... Probably as much as I've seen in the last 30 years since I moved down into the field... Going to be an interesting year after so many dry ones lately... Good to get our moisture, but it makes somethings a lot more difficult... Probably won't be farming until late this year, it will be a slow start to that even if things turn dry... May get more time to fish before I can go to work... Later Jeff