04-17-2017, 02:11 PM
[#0000FF]'Bout had it with the old guys joke about being able to hide my own Easter eggs. So I didn't hide any this year. Never find them all anyway.
Made a last minute decision to take my newly modified PVC craft to Lindon...to try to collect enough Easter "eggs" (fish) for the smoker. Good move.
Not much of a sunrise for "sunrise services". Kinda cloudy...but a nice 43 degree air temp at launch. Water temp inside the harbor was 54 and water depth was a solid 3' all the way out. Water warmed up to 56 by the conclusion of services about noon.
First "egg" found was a carp. Didn't want to put him in my basket to crowd all the other eggs I planned to catch so I perforated him, gave a complimentary gillectomy and released him unharmed.
Water levels are rising but I still had to get quite a ways offshore to find water deeper than 3'. Used the electric motor to get up on plane (yeah, right) and roostertail down to the bubbleup.
Water depth at the end of the buoys was just under 5 feet. Only a few feet at the shore end of the pipe still out of water. Still need a lot of water.
I optimistically worked a whole bunch of plastics and some cranks along the pipe...from deep to shallow along one side and then back to deep along the other side. Nary a nudge from fishkind. Began to wonder if I might be getting "punishment" for worshiping at the Church of the Seventh Day Angler. But I've backslid before and usually do ok.
No white bass or walleyes were harmed during the duration of this trip. I finally broke out the bait and rigged for cats. I rigged one rod with one of my left-handed, blue-eyed chubs and kept pitching plastics with the other...as I began making big S turns on the way back to the harbor. Dragged and pitched from 3 feet out to 5 feet...and then back.
The sun broke through the clouds and the water warmed a degree or so. Then I found my old "zone"...where TubeBabe and I have gotten to play with lotsa kitties over the years. Pow...zing. The bait rod got an inquiry and line fed off the open bail. When I closed the bail and set the hook there was some weight on the end. Yee hawww. First kitty. About 20 inches. Just right for the smoker.
My mama din't raise no fools...'cept my sister. I put up the non-productive plastics and put out two bait rods...hoping to accelerate the "services" and to get out of "church" in time for planned family activities.
After that it was tugs aplenty. Some were tentative "pop and drop". But others were "gulp and go". I went through a couple of bags of minners and got to bend my sticks and stretch my string for the next couple of hours.
Also got to test out my new "bump board" that I mounted on the front of my tube. Worked great but I need to adjust the positioning a little.
As per my pre-established goal, I kept six cats for the smoker...a couple of 20 inchers and four 2-footers. Released a few others...including my two largest...a 25 incher and a 26 incher. Used my cat contest tag on the 26 incher...just in case I might wanna enter it. Hoping I catch some bigger ones on later trips.
Lotsa folks camping and picnicing at Lindon. But only a couple of boats left the harbor while I was there. I suspect that as the word gets out about safe depths there will be more boating activity.
Saw a few bank tanglers...both inside and outside the harbor. But I never saw any of them catch anything. I suspect the water needs to warm a bit more to bring some fish in closer.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Made a last minute decision to take my newly modified PVC craft to Lindon...to try to collect enough Easter "eggs" (fish) for the smoker. Good move.
Not much of a sunrise for "sunrise services". Kinda cloudy...but a nice 43 degree air temp at launch. Water temp inside the harbor was 54 and water depth was a solid 3' all the way out. Water warmed up to 56 by the conclusion of services about noon.
First "egg" found was a carp. Didn't want to put him in my basket to crowd all the other eggs I planned to catch so I perforated him, gave a complimentary gillectomy and released him unharmed.
Water levels are rising but I still had to get quite a ways offshore to find water deeper than 3'. Used the electric motor to get up on plane (yeah, right) and roostertail down to the bubbleup.
Water depth at the end of the buoys was just under 5 feet. Only a few feet at the shore end of the pipe still out of water. Still need a lot of water.
I optimistically worked a whole bunch of plastics and some cranks along the pipe...from deep to shallow along one side and then back to deep along the other side. Nary a nudge from fishkind. Began to wonder if I might be getting "punishment" for worshiping at the Church of the Seventh Day Angler. But I've backslid before and usually do ok.
No white bass or walleyes were harmed during the duration of this trip. I finally broke out the bait and rigged for cats. I rigged one rod with one of my left-handed, blue-eyed chubs and kept pitching plastics with the other...as I began making big S turns on the way back to the harbor. Dragged and pitched from 3 feet out to 5 feet...and then back.
The sun broke through the clouds and the water warmed a degree or so. Then I found my old "zone"...where TubeBabe and I have gotten to play with lotsa kitties over the years. Pow...zing. The bait rod got an inquiry and line fed off the open bail. When I closed the bail and set the hook there was some weight on the end. Yee hawww. First kitty. About 20 inches. Just right for the smoker.
My mama din't raise no fools...'cept my sister. I put up the non-productive plastics and put out two bait rods...hoping to accelerate the "services" and to get out of "church" in time for planned family activities.
After that it was tugs aplenty. Some were tentative "pop and drop". But others were "gulp and go". I went through a couple of bags of minners and got to bend my sticks and stretch my string for the next couple of hours.
Also got to test out my new "bump board" that I mounted on the front of my tube. Worked great but I need to adjust the positioning a little.
As per my pre-established goal, I kept six cats for the smoker...a couple of 20 inchers and four 2-footers. Released a few others...including my two largest...a 25 incher and a 26 incher. Used my cat contest tag on the 26 incher...just in case I might wanna enter it. Hoping I catch some bigger ones on later trips.
Lotsa folks camping and picnicing at Lindon. But only a couple of boats left the harbor while I was there. I suspect that as the word gets out about safe depths there will be more boating activity.
Saw a few bank tanglers...both inside and outside the harbor. But I never saw any of them catch anything. I suspect the water needs to warm a bit more to bring some fish in closer.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]