Deer Creek without Joni

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Flygoddess was supposed to join me at the Island on Deer Creek this morning, but a messy migraine kept her home. Bummer. But, I did not get lonely. Seems like every troutaholic in Utah was trying to get in some play after the past storms and before the next ones hit.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I launched (alone) from the beach near the island about 7:30. Talked to an early bank tangler who was ungruntled because he was unable to walk out on the island to fish. Still water separating it from the shore. He had no action and left shortly after I launched.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Air temp 35 and calm. Water temp 54 at launch and warming to 56 by noon. Algae WAY down since last week. Looked promising.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Kicked over to check out my perch honey hole and make sure there were some fish there for later, when I got tired of playing with those silly trout. Saw some on sonar but they were still not awake. No walleyes or other fishies wanted to play either. So I worked out to deeper water for slimers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Part of what I wanted to accomplish today was to try some new "Hot Bubbles" I had painted up. I save all of my old water marked and stained plastic bubbles...along with any I find along the shore. Every once in a while I paint them up into hot colors to use for attractors when fishing sunken flies. I started with one fly rigged with a clear bubble and one with a hot pink bubble. After the hot pink scored three quick trout to zip for the clear, I changed the clear to a hot orange. Then it was about even until the fish quieted down.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had barely started catching fish when the armada hit the water. A steady procession of boats, of all sizes and descriptions. And most of them had to do a "cruise by" on the silly looking guy in a float tube with a cart strapped to the back...and who had jumping trout on the end of his line. They either went behind me so close I choked on their exhaust fumes...or ran right over my easy to see lines in front of me. If I hollered at them they either ignored me or made some comment like "You don't own the lake". Tubers get no respect.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, I did catch a lot of troutskis. Only problem was that today all the kids came out to play and the adults were somewhere else. Only got one over 14 inches. The rest were chunky growning planters. They weren't over about 13 inches but they smacked my offerings and fought valiantly. All earned their freedom except a couple of greedy ones that swallowed the flies and were bleeding. One silly fish actually swallowed both the fly and the jig I was using to get the fly to the bottom in 42 feet of water. I thought the marks on sonar might be walleyes and the trout thought he could swallow both jig and fly. He did. He won't make that mistake again.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I also caught a couple of perch on flies again. One was at about mid depth in 50 feet of water. The other was on the aforementioned jig and fly rig...on a black and orange "JackOBugger". [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just about the time I was ready to go pound some perch as an end to a sorta nice morning...some tin can bozo moved in and anchored up on my honey hole. I figured they were trouters and would probably move soon, so i could proceed with my plan. But NOOOOOO. They stayed and they stayed. What's worse is that I saw them bring in a couple of toad perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I used all of my ninja skills and sneaked around them and was fishing up the shoreline toward them. Then I got a holler "Hey, we're fishin' there." I apologized and backed off...ninja style. They volunteered that they were fishing for trout but were catching some nice perch. "Man, you should see the size of some of these." they gloated. I gritted my teeth and moved off. Couldn't find any other decent perch to play with so I bagged it and headed home. The lake was still a mirror. Somebody must have broken the wind machine. I am betting it will be back in working order soon.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the other things I wanted to try today was my new Fish Grips I got from Cabelas. $12.95. These bright orange plastic grippers float if you drop them in the water, and they lock when you squeeze the handle hard...like hemostats. They clip easily to a jacket or vest for easy access and they are light but strong. They work on trout and perch. Now I need to get something with some size and teeth to put them to a real test.[/#0000ff]
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[flygoddess]

TD...head is still pounding...these happen every once in awhile. Thank Gawd they are getting farther apart since I quit smoking. Another good reason for stopping.

Hot day and I am lying on a heat pad....just ain't right.

Thanks for the pictures of the Trout... LOVE IT.

We ain't done yet!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hope you sleep better tonight.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I almost got a migraine myself from all of the flashing going on with the pop gear those bozos were using. Every time they reel up or move around with the blades flashing away it just lit up the whole lake. That's WRONG.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And, for what it's worth, I didn't see any of them bring in anything respectable either. It was a small fish day. But, as I am sure you will agree, a small fish is better than no fish.[/#0000ff]
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[albinotrout]

Forgot your RPG's again eh?
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[TubeDude]

[quote albinotrout]Forgot your RPG's again eh?[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]No, I didn't forget them. I just hate to use them at such close range. I get splattered a lot. Messy.[/#0000ff]
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[pontoonman]

[quote TubeDude][cool][#0000ff]

Enjoyed your report and pics. Interesting to see some of your rigs, like hot bubbles. Wealth of your experience under any and all conditions shows.

Ive had some of those grips for a couple of years, and they hold big fish quite well. Your hand will give out from fatigue before they let go. They dont work on very small fish with small mouths, but then you dont need them for that situation. The only thing I don't like is the orange color. Ruins the focus of any pictures when catch and release, with that bright color. I painted the jaws area with black liquid electrical tape compound to cut down on the distraction. You can open them up and throw them at boats that get too close, and they whirl around back to you like a boomarang, NOT []

Pon
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[#0000ff]One of the other things I wanted to try today was my new Fish Grips I got from Cabelas. $12.95. These bright orange plastic grippers float if you drop them in the water, and they lock when you squeeze the handle hard...like hemostats. They clip easily to a jacket or vest for easy access and they are light but strong. They work on trout and perch. Now I need to get something with some size and teeth to put them to a real test.[/#0000ff][/quote]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks for the input on the grippers. Spot on. The color is a problem if you like color-balanced pics. Tough to get it right with those babies in the picture.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also right about the size of the points. I only used them on a couple of the small fish I posted pics of to get them in the picture. Would not have used them on that size fish normally. Tough to get them in the mouths of small fish and they cause damage to wimpy species like trout. But, they will be great for handling perch. Everytime I try to grip them for a picture they wiggle and slice my fingers with the sharp edge on their gill covers. Like a razor. Much easier to control them and drop them in the basket while avoiding blood loss...with the grippers. Of course if you are going to release the fish it is even easier.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About the boaters. I am thinking of making a small version of the water balloon slingshot, using extentions of PVC...running out forward on my tube. Instead of water balloons I will use clear plastic bags full of yellow colored water (food coloring or "tuber bilgewater"). EWWWWWW.[/#0000ff]
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[idahopanfish]

tuber bilgewater now that is a thought I hope ... oh I won't go there[:p]
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[peter805]

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[#0000ff]About the boaters. I am thinking of making a small version of the water balloon slingshot, using extentions of PVC...running out forward on my tube. Instead of water balloons I will use clear plastic bags full of yellow colored water (food coloring or "tuber bilgewater"). EWWWWWW.[/#0000ff][/quote]

Hahahahahahahahahahah []
Yellow water. Make sure that it has some smell as well.
You know what I mean............

Thank you for the great report as always TD.

Peter
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[flygoddess]

You ain't right ....boy[crazy] [laugh]
Next you will be talking chocolate pudding in a paper bag.
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[peter805]

Hahhahaahahahahhhaaahahhhhhhhhhh
Now thats FUNNY !!!!!!!!!!!!!![][][][][]
Thanx for that JONI !

Peter
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[albinotrout]

My favorite is Mountain dew in a specimen cup and then you drink it in front of someone.[laugh]
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[peter805]

hehehehheeeeehheh
Funny []
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