04-12-2009, 08:56 PM
[cool][#0000ff]TubeBabe is back in Arizona for another week. I didn't want to have to hide my own Easter eggs again. Still can't find the last ones I hid for myself. So, I decided to attend sunrise services at the church of the seventh day angler...at the south marina chapel.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Didn't look so pretty good when I got there just after 6 AM. Air temp was 42 but it was blowing cold out of the northwest, and the water had bumps all over it. Not my favorite tubing conditions. But, what the heck. I was committed...or should be.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was the first and only worshipper in the parking lot as I kicked out into the chop. By the time I got to the marina entrance, two small boats had launched. Water temp was a cool 44 inside and only 46 outside. Colder than my last trip. Not good.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Dragged a minnow and tossed plastic on my way out of the channel. Nothing interrupted my peaceful Easter morning reverie. Changed the plastic for a fire tiger diving crankbait as I turned the corner and headed north. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About my third or fourth cast the wind caught the lure and pushed it in closer to the shoreline than I wanted. A couple of turns on the reel handle and it stopped. Oh great! I was hooked in the flooded brush. NOPE. It moved...slowly. Oh great! A dorsal diner carp. NOPE. The heavy headshakes said WALLEYE. I played it in as well as I know how, but evidently not good enough. One roll on the top to show off her big bad self and she let me have my pretty crankbait back. Clearly a spawned out mama in the 25 inch plus range. Nice goin' girl.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lots more casts with the cranks...in and out...shallow and deep. Nada, zip, zilch. Nary a bump or a whisper. Back to plastics...first chatreuse in the slightly stained cold water...than white. Same ol' same ol'. Good casting practice but no heavy winding workout.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Saw very few fish on sonar this morning, compared to what I have been seeing. Onesies and twosies, mostly suspended. No concentrations of larger fish near the bottom that bespeak wallies or wipers. Only saw a couple of small groups all morning. Did not see the masses of shad that have been there on other trips either. Hmmmmm?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Got to enjoy the Easter sunrise a bit before 8. Water still bumpy, but doable. Once the sun lit up the depths a bit the everlovin' kitties came out to play. Nothin' big, just the standard "cookie cutters"...15" to 18". But, they were hitting hard and fighting good so they put me in a more "spiritual" mode.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were a lot of other members of the C.O.T.S.D.A. congregation out there today. Must have been at least 25 boats launch out of the south marina before I came in around noon. Some rocketed off to parts unknown Others seemed to move around a lot. Didn't seem like anybody was hangin' long in any particular area.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Had one small boat with 3 big "Easter fruitcakes" come ripping between me and the rock dike where I was casting my crankbait. They seemingly only had about a half inch of freeboard between them and capsizing. I was almost wishing the wind would kick up some more. But...for once, it didn't. It was laying down to glass when I packed up and headed home.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I probably caught about 15 kitties. Most of them were on either chub or carp minnows. But, I did catch a couple on the white plastic tubes I was tossing for "the other guys". Only had the one walleye on...briefly. As far as I know I did not get any hits from wipers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water was warming up to 48 outside, as I came in, and the wind was laying down to flat calm. The temps should be in the GOOD range later today. Wouldn't be surprised to get some good reports from anybody who hits it later in the day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Didn't look so pretty good when I got there just after 6 AM. Air temp was 42 but it was blowing cold out of the northwest, and the water had bumps all over it. Not my favorite tubing conditions. But, what the heck. I was committed...or should be.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I was the first and only worshipper in the parking lot as I kicked out into the chop. By the time I got to the marina entrance, two small boats had launched. Water temp was a cool 44 inside and only 46 outside. Colder than my last trip. Not good.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Dragged a minnow and tossed plastic on my way out of the channel. Nothing interrupted my peaceful Easter morning reverie. Changed the plastic for a fire tiger diving crankbait as I turned the corner and headed north. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]About my third or fourth cast the wind caught the lure and pushed it in closer to the shoreline than I wanted. A couple of turns on the reel handle and it stopped. Oh great! I was hooked in the flooded brush. NOPE. It moved...slowly. Oh great! A dorsal diner carp. NOPE. The heavy headshakes said WALLEYE. I played it in as well as I know how, but evidently not good enough. One roll on the top to show off her big bad self and she let me have my pretty crankbait back. Clearly a spawned out mama in the 25 inch plus range. Nice goin' girl.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Lots more casts with the cranks...in and out...shallow and deep. Nada, zip, zilch. Nary a bump or a whisper. Back to plastics...first chatreuse in the slightly stained cold water...than white. Same ol' same ol'. Good casting practice but no heavy winding workout.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Saw very few fish on sonar this morning, compared to what I have been seeing. Onesies and twosies, mostly suspended. No concentrations of larger fish near the bottom that bespeak wallies or wipers. Only saw a couple of small groups all morning. Did not see the masses of shad that have been there on other trips either. Hmmmmm?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Got to enjoy the Easter sunrise a bit before 8. Water still bumpy, but doable. Once the sun lit up the depths a bit the everlovin' kitties came out to play. Nothin' big, just the standard "cookie cutters"...15" to 18". But, they were hitting hard and fighting good so they put me in a more "spiritual" mode.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There were a lot of other members of the C.O.T.S.D.A. congregation out there today. Must have been at least 25 boats launch out of the south marina before I came in around noon. Some rocketed off to parts unknown Others seemed to move around a lot. Didn't seem like anybody was hangin' long in any particular area.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Had one small boat with 3 big "Easter fruitcakes" come ripping between me and the rock dike where I was casting my crankbait. They seemingly only had about a half inch of freeboard between them and capsizing. I was almost wishing the wind would kick up some more. But...for once, it didn't. It was laying down to glass when I packed up and headed home.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I probably caught about 15 kitties. Most of them were on either chub or carp minnows. But, I did catch a couple on the white plastic tubes I was tossing for "the other guys". Only had the one walleye on...briefly. As far as I know I did not get any hits from wipers.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The water was warming up to 48 outside, as I came in, and the wind was laying down to flat calm. The temps should be in the GOOD range later today. Wouldn't be surprised to get some good reports from anybody who hits it later in the day.[/#0000ff]
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