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[#0000FF]Surprised you didn't catch any cats there. I fish the bubbleup a lot and often catch several cats while pitching plastics (with worm) for the white bass. But recently the cats have shown a preference for white bass meat. If you fillet a whitie and tip jigs with small strips of white bass meat you can catch all species. Using a larger chunk of white bass on a large bait hook will usually produce some larger cats.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Sometimes the cats are right up next to the pipe, but I generally catch more by dragging bait a few yards away from the pipe...and even well out off the end. Some days they will be in shallower water but often the larger fish come from water a bit deeper than the end of the pipe. Every trip can be different and you have to move around and experiment with different areas and different depths until you find the zone the cats are favoring on any given day.
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Thanks for the info TubeDude! I might need to move around deeper next time! Do you use a grub on your jig head or just fill it with meat, and do you drag it in or just cast it out and let it sit there? I am wondering if we were using too small of jig heads.
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[#0000FF]I fish mostly 1 1/2 inch tube jigs...usually on 1/16 oz. heads. See the attached pictures for some of my favorite colors. But there are really no colors that will not catch white bass...and most of the other species in Utah Lake too. And I generally fish a two jig tandem rig...with two different colors to give the fish a choice. I usually tip with a piece of crawler but sometimes a bit of white bass or perch meat works well too...and stays on the hook longer.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]I also throw 3" plastic twisters a lot...especially if trying more for walleyes. And for those I usually use a 1/8" head. But the silly white bass don't read the directions and I catch them on the larger stuff too. I have caught white bass on plastics that are almost as long as they are.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Whenever I fish the bubbleup, I start right out at the end. I use sonar to find where the pipe is, relative to the buoys. It seems to be different every year. The buoys may be several feet away from the pipe. Then I fish parallel to the pipe...trying different retrieves and moving up and down the length of the pipe. I also get back a few feet away and cast over the pipe, lifting and dropping the jigs back to my tube.
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[#0000FF]Sometimes the fish will be orienting to one side or the other. At other times...especially when there is water coming out of the pipe...the fish might be right on top of the pipe out toward the end. And there have been some trips where the fish bunch up right next to the anchor chain under a buoy...and you have to stay close and vertical jig them.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]I have had days when there were lots of fish all along the pipe...from the end clear down to fairly shallow water. On other days I can find them only along one short section of the pipe. And on other trips I find small schools a short distance away from the pipe. It is always a search 'em out thing. The "biblical system"...SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND. Maybe.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Here are some pictures of some of the fish and some of the stuff I use for them.
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