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Utah Lake LB, empty and quiet
#1
Well I did make my trip down to UL/LB today. Was totally surprised to find the parking lot completely empty at about 7 a.m. when I drove in. Took a quick photo of the LB marina and ramp area, then got busy getting launched. Had just tied up to the dock and was heading to move the truck off the ramp, and another rig drove in.
I said my "Good morning gentlemen" then noticed the BFT sticker in the boat windshield. Got to meet and shake hands with CDBRC and 2 of his fishin mates.

They passed me up heading out the channel, looked as if they went east, (turns out I should have also) but I headed for Bird Island. Still lots of water around the island, and most of the fish I saw on the sonar seemed to be in the 7-8 fow areas. So I set up one line on the bottom with some white bass cuts, and set one line up with a Kong flig and some wb meat.
Moved them around every so often, changed spots around the west and south sides of the island. Had several real tentative taps no and then but nothing wanted the whole hook. After about 90 minutes of such peaceful, no bite, calm, light breeze creating just enough rock to almost put me to sleep, decided I would head towards the east side of the south end of the lake. Never been that direction before. I guess I didn't go far enough, cuz I had about 60 minutes of repeated island action.....NONE.

Finally ended up in a big triangle, back to the west of the LB channel. Set up a line on the bottom with wb meat, and tied a medium flig to my light medium pole with 6 lb. mono. Stuck a small strip of wb skin with just a little meat on the flig hook, then a small green Gulp grub. Put it out and let it settle.

Those fligs I got from TD must be faulty or sumthin. The big Kong fligs don't catch nutin, and the smaller ones that were sposed to be for some white bass, well a bad attitude Mr Cat grabbed that and dern near spooled my little light weight reel. Sure glad I had the drag real loose, cuz that pole wasn't in a holder. Took me a good 10 minutes of reeling and letting him run, then reeling again. Keeping him out from under the boat, trying real hard to get him close enough to net without him snagging my line on the boat hull.

Well I boated him [cool], rigged up my scales (can't seem to keep that thing from defaulting to kg) but for all of you that don't do metrics or never been to Europe, the scales reads 2.67 kg. which in U.S. pounds, thats 5.88 lbs.
Not a contest size Cat for me (only 25 inches) but a saving from a skunk.

Turned that one loose, cast out that same exact flig rig, and...........yep.......another hit, run, drag screaming............NOTHING [mad] whatever took the grub, the wb meat, and bent the hook.......... [crazy]

After that, wind went dead calm, fish all went dead too. Called it a day about 1215
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#2
I think many of us have gotten on the "bigger bait catches bigger fish" wagon to the point that we forget that small works, too. Glad you were able to land the one--must have been a lot of fun. Was hoping to get out and meet up with you but I just couldn't swing it. Even semi-retired people sometimes have things they just have to do for work.
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#3
Tin-Can, I can go one better. Got out to Willard's south marina just before five yesterday evening. A totally empty parking lot. No cars, no trucks, no nothing. Gosh I love this time of year.
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#4
Good report and sounds like you did well to avoid the big skunk. Sorry you missed my PM, it might have helped put you on some fish. I was hoping to get out tomorrow but as Craig says... life gets in the way.

Glad you met Clint (Cdbrc) and crew. Can't remember his last name but he told me he prefers "Eastwood." He's a good guy and he has helped me with a supply of San Pete county chubs-- great cat food.

Tube Dude has requested further instruction in cattin' so I have a meet up with him on Friday. He has some new propellered fligs we plan to field (water?) test. Should be fun.

Ennyhow, glad you got out and had a good trip. Come on down this way again soon, the cats are gonna come on strong this month.

Tight lines,

BLK
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#5
Ain't it nice to be after Labor Day, still have plenty of water in the lake and nobody else tearing it up...........[Wink] I may try for a 10th trip to WB tomorrow.
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#6
Sounds like a lot of fun on light tackle. I'm glad you got the one!

Are you moving your baits around after you cast, or are you set up to slow drag or drift baits? I was out at the Island in late Aug last year or the year before. (time is beginning to run together for me[Tongue]) and saw something interesting. I was fishing the east side dragging baits about half to one mph and while I was there a boat came and anchored just off the north end. I didn't see him all the time, but often I was w/in 100 yards or so of his spot.

It was a typical day for back then and I boated 8 cats and had about the same number of not so serious inquiries. When I got back to the ramp that guy was there loading up his boat. Trying to be friendly, I asked how he did. "Not even a bite" he grumbled. "Did you get any?" This was a time I was tempted to lie, but decided not to. I told him how I had done and he scoffed and almost called me a liar. We were both using same baits, shrimp and/or WB.

I've thought about that several times and watched the comparison in other locations. I think during hot summer days the cats don't move around a lot and won't work hard to find grub. If the bait is stationary, they only take it if it happens to settle right next to them. But, if it comes slowly bouncing along their direction and almost hits them in the nose, they will take a shot at it as it goes by.

Makes me think of a scene from the old "Hee Haw" show. Two guys were laying on their sides with a plant stalk in their mouth and facing opposite directions. One says to the other: "There shore is a purty girl over here!" The other one never moves and says: "I shore wish I's turned that way!"

Sometimes cats seem to want things to come to them.
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#7
Jim, since I was using one line with a flig and chunk of wb for Cats, and casting one line with lite line and a gulp grub with a small piece of wb (trying to get more wb), I was mostly anchored and stationary except for the slow boat swing from side to side.

I did just sit without anchoring this last trip when I was over in the south east side of the lake. The wind had gone almost dead calm, and just the slight breeze that was intermittent, kind of drifted me in a westerly direction towards the LB channel outlet.

I have done the slow drift on other occasions, and at other locations. I used that tactic the last time my son and I went out of Lindon in late August. Funny thing then, he and I using same baits, and tactics at opposite ends of my boat.............
I caught 1 Cat and 9 wb, and he got skunked [crazy]

That slow drag of baits for Catfish is something that gave me a good surprise several years ago up at Willard Bay. The prevailing tactic for targeted fish like Wiper and Walleye is to troll at various speeds with various lure presentations. I was slow trolling @ .5 to .8 mph in about 8 fow and bottom bouncing a 3 inch gold and black Rat-L-Trap about 60 yards off of the south dike wall from Freeway Bay west towards the south marina inlet. I had already caught and released several Wiper that must have been heading in our out of the spawning beds, and had 2 nice "eyes" in the live well that said they wanted to go home with me for dinner (mine, not theirs) [Wink] when I was going out around the coffer dam wall and along the feed lot, one pole did a slow bend backwards much like a bottom snag. I put my motor in neutral, got the pole out of the holder and was expecting to have to run in reverse to un-hook out of the weeds or a rock. About the second crank of the reel, and the line went tight and the fight was on. Boated a Cat that was about 4 lbs. and she joined the eyes in the live well.

I thought that was just a weird fluke, catching a Cat on a lure. Have caught many catfish in the last 30 years, mostly from the bank along some slow moving river in south Georgia, using more different types of baits than I can remember, but never on a lure......[shocked] But it turns out, that wasn't an unusual occurrence, at least not at Willard Bay. I have caught many more cats at WB purposely slow trolling various lures, some out in the middle of what WH2 calls the "openness" .

I have not fished Utah Lake anywhere near as much as you or Ben, or Pat, or Lynn, so I'm still learning the wheres and whats of that body of water. I do know where the rock monsters of the Island are. And I'm fairly familiar with the south-west areas outside the LB channel at least to about the second spring. But thats one very large pond and it takes me from 1 to 2 hours (depending on which launch I go to) to get there from where I live here in Clearfield.
But with UL being mostly a large, fairly shallow bowl, and Catfish usually looking to find deeper waters in hot weather, unlike the Bear River where I know most of the deep holes in the river bend eddys, I am still learning UL.
Thats always the enjoyable part for me. I leave UL after every trip with some new knowledge.

We are contemplating another trip down to LB tomorrow. But today I need to do some boat maintenance I noticed while out on Willard yesterday.


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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
    Or so it says on my license plate holder
                                 
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#8
Thanks for the good stories and the back ground. We fished today and had a good day over towards the airport tower, but no bump fish. It was also weird in that we had a lot fish that latched onto the bait and then just let go. That hasn't for several weeks, but it did today. Julie got her first 10+ today. It was only 27.5 but it was a hog. She was excited.

I hope it goes well for you tomorrow!
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#9
Well, didn't get my boat maintenance done yesterday. Couldn't find the seat swivel mount I was looking for. Will have to order it from West Marine. I did figure out why I had those 2 break offs at Willard...think I fixed that problem.

And looking at the National Weather Service last nite put the stops to our UL travel plans for today. 80% chance of rain, and winds up in the 5 to 18 mph range. Got up at 0430, was just cloudy. Got up again at 0715 and was raining.

Guess today is a vegetate at home day. [:/]
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#10
Darn it! I guess one of those days is good once in a while!
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