05-10-2023, 09:32 AM
Jon and I fished out of Lincoln Beach on Saturday May 6 from about 7 A.M. to 1 P.M. The water temp at 6:30 A.M. was 55 in the marina, 52 in the main lake and it warmed to about 55 by quitting time.
![[Image: First-Light.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/n9XFn9QV/First-Light.jpg)
I was trying out a spare prop I had bought and it had a bad bushing so our top speed was about 7 MPH. Not a great start, but we just stayed closer to the harbor that we planned.
There had been several reports of lots of White Bass being caught in various places on the lake the previous week when the water temps were above 60. We figured they would still be in the spawning areas, but we guessed wrong. It’s always encouraging to get humbled right off the bat on a fishing trip!
We got to a spot near the orchards and found hard bottom in 6 FOW so I tossed a flicker shad out while we used the electric to get to shallower water. Bam! A white hit almost immediately and we assumed we have found them. 90 minutes later we had covered half a mile and only found 1 other white. At least we had cat bait.
We butchered one of the whites and started dragging a mixture of small and large FLAITs at 0.5 to 0.8 MPH. We focused on the bottom transition for 45 minutes without a sniff. Seeing how murky the water was we knew there had been some wind along with the cold snap so I pointed the boat West planning to just keep going until we found them.
![[Image: pelican-racing.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/2qWXNk6p/pelican-racing.jpg)
We almost didn’t make it. We had gone at nearly a mile and had seen little on the finder and less on our rods. Finally we hooked a cat, a fat 28 inch female. She was barely measured and released when a second one hit, probably her twin sister. Just after she was released we got a double. Jon
d and said: “I think we found them!”
The next 3 hours yielded about 15 cats. One spurt we got we got 3 in row between 10 and 11 pounds. Jon’s best was just over 30 and mine 29.5”. It was shaping up to be a great morning, even with the slow start and the disappointing WB fishing.
![[Image: Jon-s-30.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/GB6zXZJM/Jon-s-30.jpg)
![[Image: Jon-s-happy.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/YLHRHYPY/Jon-s-happy.jpg)
Around noon we lost the fish or they just shut down, I suspect we lost them, so we pulled up shallow again so I could clean the 4 we had gotten under 25 inches. Jon spent the last half hour looking in vain for more WB.
We raced back to the harbor at 6 MPH and were just lowering the trailer down the ramp when Jon was approached by someone telling him his buddy was adrift out by Bird Island and needed a tow. We told him it wouldn’t be fast with my prop problem but agreed we could help. An hour later both boats were back at the dock and we headed home.
![[Image: Safely-Home.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/Ln0yqYgK/Safely-Home.jpg)
For the trip we got 2 whites and 23 cats. The cats averaged over 8 pounds and almost all had large bellies. During the cleaning it was confirmed that they were starting to swell with eggs for the spawn. All were caught in about 8.5 FOW strolling WB at 0.5 to 0.8 MPH. What a great morning despite the recent cold front!
I was trying out a spare prop I had bought and it had a bad bushing so our top speed was about 7 MPH. Not a great start, but we just stayed closer to the harbor that we planned.
There had been several reports of lots of White Bass being caught in various places on the lake the previous week when the water temps were above 60. We figured they would still be in the spawning areas, but we guessed wrong. It’s always encouraging to get humbled right off the bat on a fishing trip!
We got to a spot near the orchards and found hard bottom in 6 FOW so I tossed a flicker shad out while we used the electric to get to shallower water. Bam! A white hit almost immediately and we assumed we have found them. 90 minutes later we had covered half a mile and only found 1 other white. At least we had cat bait.
We butchered one of the whites and started dragging a mixture of small and large FLAITs at 0.5 to 0.8 MPH. We focused on the bottom transition for 45 minutes without a sniff. Seeing how murky the water was we knew there had been some wind along with the cold snap so I pointed the boat West planning to just keep going until we found them.
We almost didn’t make it. We had gone at nearly a mile and had seen little on the finder and less on our rods. Finally we hooked a cat, a fat 28 inch female. She was barely measured and released when a second one hit, probably her twin sister. Just after she was released we got a double. Jon
d and said: “I think we found them!”The next 3 hours yielded about 15 cats. One spurt we got we got 3 in row between 10 and 11 pounds. Jon’s best was just over 30 and mine 29.5”. It was shaping up to be a great morning, even with the slow start and the disappointing WB fishing.
Around noon we lost the fish or they just shut down, I suspect we lost them, so we pulled up shallow again so I could clean the 4 we had gotten under 25 inches. Jon spent the last half hour looking in vain for more WB.
We raced back to the harbor at 6 MPH and were just lowering the trailer down the ramp when Jon was approached by someone telling him his buddy was adrift out by Bird Island and needed a tow. We told him it wouldn’t be fast with my prop problem but agreed we could help. An hour later both boats were back at the dock and we headed home.
For the trip we got 2 whites and 23 cats. The cats averaged over 8 pounds and almost all had large bellies. During the cleaning it was confirmed that they were starting to swell with eggs for the spawn. All were caught in about 8.5 FOW strolling WB at 0.5 to 0.8 MPH. What a great morning despite the recent cold front!
