03-05-2005, 11:33 PM
[cool][#0000ff]I may have outsmarted myself by changing my mind and going to Lincoln Beach instead of Willard. We'll see how the reports come in from the north.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Road and I were optimistic when all the flags we saw on the way to the lake were hanging limp. And, when we got to Lincoln Beach, there really wasn't much of a breeze. But there were small breakers crashing on shore from the north wind that had been blowing the night before. However, by the time we got our gear together and launched inside the protection of "The L", the chop had begun to subside.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were already a couple of boats on the water, both at the first spring and at the far western end of the rock shelf. There were a few waders out too, but we were the only float nuts. Within a couple of hours, though, it looked like a small city all up and down the Lincoln Beach area. Somebody has been spreading nasty rumors that the walleye were running.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As it turned out, there were far more anglers than fish. We saw no fish caught by boats or waders. Both road and myself went through a lot of different tackle changes...using a whole rainbow of lure colors and different sizes and colors of heads. We tried them with and without "sweetener", and both single and tandem rigs. We both got quite a few tentative taps, but he fish were inexperienced and did not know how to get the hook firmly in their mouths.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water was pretty murky, from the wave action, when we first got on the water. Water temp was 46 degrees at 7 AM launch...up 4 degrees from last week. After the water calmed, it cleaned up a bit and took on some of the bright sunshine's warmth. It was actually up to 54 degrees inside the L as we got out at 1:30.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About 10 o'clock, I rigged up a piece of perch strip for bait and tossed it out without weight. I wanted to soak a bait for a potential catfish, while I snarfed my sandwich. I had barely set the bait rod in my holder when I got a whack and the line pulled loose from the light catch and began to run out through the guides. Never fails, take a bite of a sandwich and...[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The line stopped, I flipped the bail and reeled down until I felt some weight on the line. I set the hook and felt the lovely resistance of a fish, rather than a rock. I was already over my limit on rocks. I shouted to road that I thought I might have a mud cat. I was pleasantly suprised when it turned out to be an 18" walleye[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After bagging the 'eye so quickly, once I went to bait, I was optimistic that we might get some more. NOT. We both dragged bait for the next three hours with only a couple more light taps. Although road got into one area where whatever was pecking at his lure got away with the plastic tails...3 times.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I seriously doubt that any of the anglers beyond our area did very well either. The boats were constantly moving and the waders did not stay in one place very long, but kept moving up and down the shoreline.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was great to finally meet road. We have carried on a PM and email correspondence for a couple of years, but this was our first meeting. He is "graduating" from his "donut" float tube and was thinking about a Fish Cat 4. I put him in TubeBabe's Fat Cat, which is similar, and I think he definitely wants to have the open front for his future craft...whatever that turns out to be.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Road and I were optimistic when all the flags we saw on the way to the lake were hanging limp. And, when we got to Lincoln Beach, there really wasn't much of a breeze. But there were small breakers crashing on shore from the north wind that had been blowing the night before. However, by the time we got our gear together and launched inside the protection of "The L", the chop had begun to subside.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There were already a couple of boats on the water, both at the first spring and at the far western end of the rock shelf. There were a few waders out too, but we were the only float nuts. Within a couple of hours, though, it looked like a small city all up and down the Lincoln Beach area. Somebody has been spreading nasty rumors that the walleye were running.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As it turned out, there were far more anglers than fish. We saw no fish caught by boats or waders. Both road and myself went through a lot of different tackle changes...using a whole rainbow of lure colors and different sizes and colors of heads. We tried them with and without "sweetener", and both single and tandem rigs. We both got quite a few tentative taps, but he fish were inexperienced and did not know how to get the hook firmly in their mouths.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The water was pretty murky, from the wave action, when we first got on the water. Water temp was 46 degrees at 7 AM launch...up 4 degrees from last week. After the water calmed, it cleaned up a bit and took on some of the bright sunshine's warmth. It was actually up to 54 degrees inside the L as we got out at 1:30.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]About 10 o'clock, I rigged up a piece of perch strip for bait and tossed it out without weight. I wanted to soak a bait for a potential catfish, while I snarfed my sandwich. I had barely set the bait rod in my holder when I got a whack and the line pulled loose from the light catch and began to run out through the guides. Never fails, take a bite of a sandwich and...[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The line stopped, I flipped the bail and reeled down until I felt some weight on the line. I set the hook and felt the lovely resistance of a fish, rather than a rock. I was already over my limit on rocks. I shouted to road that I thought I might have a mud cat. I was pleasantly suprised when it turned out to be an 18" walleye[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]After bagging the 'eye so quickly, once I went to bait, I was optimistic that we might get some more. NOT. We both dragged bait for the next three hours with only a couple more light taps. Although road got into one area where whatever was pecking at his lure got away with the plastic tails...3 times.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I seriously doubt that any of the anglers beyond our area did very well either. The boats were constantly moving and the waders did not stay in one place very long, but kept moving up and down the shoreline.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It was great to finally meet road. We have carried on a PM and email correspondence for a couple of years, but this was our first meeting. He is "graduating" from his "donut" float tube and was thinking about a Fish Cat 4. I put him in TubeBabe's Fat Cat, which is similar, and I think he definitely wants to have the open front for his future craft...whatever that turns out to be.[/#0000ff]
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