Monster Friday

[TubeDude]

[cool][size 1]After being fishing-deprived for over two weeks, I woke up at 2 AM Friday with the thought that there was absolutely nothing in the world more important to do than go fishing. TubeBabe could not make that same rationalization work for her (work slave), So I gathered up my gear and went solo.

I opened my garage door and found that there were clouds, a breeze and a smell of rain. I asked myself "WHAZZUP WIDDAT?" Hey, this is Arizona. This being the "monsoon season", I figured it was a localized "cell" and would blow by quickly. As I made the turn onto the freeway, I had to turn on the windshield wipers. I didn't get to turn them off until an hour later, when I had finished driving the last 12 miles on muddy roads, with downpoars and washouts along the way. I waited in my car for another 45 minutes for the rain to decrease to the point I could launch my Fat Cat without being more wet on top than on the bottom.

My targeted spot was the "washout pool" below Horseshoe Dam. The lake has been mostly dry for over three years. It was an early victim to the drought, And, now, when there is enough runoff to make it a lake again, they let the water run downstream to Bartlett Lake. Something about a flycatcher (bird) nesting in the weed growth left by the dry lake, and they can't disturb it. It was one of my favorite float tubing lakes before, but now...A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. See the pic below.



The river bed has greened up a bit, due to the recent brief rains. It was running clear until the rain Friday morning. However, the sudden downpoor turned the river chocolate and dropped the temperature in the pool below the dam to only 75 degrees...from the warm, clear 85 of two days earlier.



Since I was already there, I decided to fish it...for the first time in about three years. The lack of water runoff from the lake had silted in all of the formerly great rocky bottom habitat that had made this a great fishery. The formerly 40 foot deep "scour" hole was now only 7 feet of water over silt. No more big flathead cats from this hole. The deepest spot I could meter was barely 14 feet. Most of the rest of the entire basin ranged between 4 and 7 feet deep.

I found lots of fish on my sonar screen, but they were largely inactive in the cold runoff water. A few anglers fishing from shore, with bait, all sat with unmolested rods. I managed to seduce a couple of skinny largemouths of about 10 inches...and this one (below) that looks like it measures out on my apron at about 12 inches. Note the color of the muddy water.



Bouncing a bait bug in the outflow also picked up a few small cats, but nothing exciting. By 8 o'clock, the runoff was getting even darker and the few biters shut down all together. I packed up my gear and headed downstream to Bartlett Lake...the recipient of all the water formerly held by Horseshoe...and likely to be somewhet clearer. I was on the water by 9:15 and there were only a couple of boats and PWC's on the whole lake. In the next couple of pics, there is a blur in the middle...no doubt the result of getting some crawdad oil on the lens of my camera.



The water was calm, and 85 degrees. I was seeing few fish on the sonar, so I resorted to bottom bouncing a bait bug in the twelve to fourteen foot zone, on the flats where the banks come down into the lake in the picture.

I quickly started getting some "bitty kitties"...small cats from 10" to about 14". They were fun on my newly made medium light baitcasting rods I was trying for the first time. I tossed back the first few, but ended up keeping about 8 of the fattest for a Saturday "Kitty Krispies" fry...with some new corn.



Note the bluish colored bait bug in the fish's mouth. This is one of the new "hot" colors I have been using for "finesse" fishing in the summer. It uses an ultraviolet white body and UV Krystal Flash tail...on a rainbow sparkle glitter head...with eyes. It really lights up in clear water and gets a lot of reaction bites. That turned out to be the only thing I could get bit on with the cats, although most of them contained pieces of the small crawdads they were hunting in the shallow rocks.

There were also lots of the ubiquitous green sunfish. Here's a pic of one that may make the C & R record book. As measured on my float tube apron, it came out an "honest" 18".



Okay, so I fudged a bit on the front measurement. These little guys are a favorite bait for the flathead catfish. I plan to go back soon and harvest a basket full of the little guys and then serve them up after dark, on heavy tackle, to see if I can get into it with some of the big boys in the lake. There were several last week between 20 and 50 pounds.

The sun came out just before noon, and so did the water skiers and PWC. After being run over and used as a slalom pylon for the Nth time, I departed hence. Actually, the first PWC that buzzed me shut down the fishing. I did not get another bite for the next hour...and just got tired of dealing with bow wakes and idiots.

Not a banner day for either quantity or size, but a heckuva lot better than working...or pretending to work while dreaming about what it was I was doing on the water. GOT MINE. [/size]
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[DH_tubinjoe]

well the trip didnt turn out so good I guess, but you got some good pictures, minus the crawdad oil. haha




joe
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Yeah, that crawdad oil works great as a fish attractant, but it does not work well as a lens polisher. It is even worse as a flavoring agent for humans. Every once in a while I don't do a good job of rinsing it off my fingers before munching a sandwich or a snack. YUCK.
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[EmuScud]

That first spot's water clarity reminds me a bit of Utah Lake. I did sneak out last Friday to Lindon BH. I had to try out my new jigs. I put on a chartreuse road runner with a red head. I had a piece of bread I smushed up on the hook in lue of more traditional bait. I was shocked to hook into a 10" mud cat. Unfortuneatly, that was the only fish I caught in the two hours I was there. Water temp was 85.

I found the carp in the river will hit the black roadrunner as well. Fun fun fun! Thanks again TD for the care package. I might turn into a warmwater guy yet. I need to rig up a system to turn my tranny into a side finder. Having it point strait down into 2 1/2 foot of water doesn't help too much.

ES
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[polokid]

I bet you Arizonians are not complaining too much about the rain!!!! Anything to cool down the air and ground temperatures down there on the face of the sun!!! [] What is the lake temps down there 95+ degrees???
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Hey, PK...good to hear from ya. You are right. No compaints about some water falling...but timing can be important to us fishin' types. Most of the smart fishermen (if there are any) keep an eye on the horizon these days. Those monsoon storms can pop up quick and usually carry some heavy winds, just ahead of lighning and thunder. You need to be back at the docks before the wind hits. If you stay out until the lightning shows up you can have an "electrifying" experience. No thanks.

The lake water temps are a factor of three things...daytime highs, nightime lows and humidity. The higher the humidity, the less evaporation (cooling) and the higher the temps stay. When the daytime highs get over 110, and the lows only drop to the 80's, the midday water temps will rise to 90 and the nighttime temps will drop to about 85.

This is the time of year that most serious fishermen go to fishing only after dark. The lakes are thrashed to froth during the days and the temps are so warm that the fish get stressed if they move around in the warm water. But, once the daytime highs drop below a hundred, the night temps drop to about 70 and the water temps edge back down to about 75...then it's prime time again. Actually, the good fishing usually begins around the first to middle of October and runs right up until about the middle of December.

While Utah folks are drilling holes in the ice, I will be out in my FAt CAt, with shirt sleeves. So, there is a bit of a trade off. Truth to tell...I kinda miss the ice fishing.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Those bullheads (mud cats) in the Utah Lake waters have always been willing to hit small lures...expecially anything with a red head. They also like white plastics with a red head. I'm betting a white bait bug with a piece of worm would make friends with a lot of the fishies in there. I know a couple of my other "field testers" have caught a lot of whites on them.
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[polokid]

that is great, what are the lake temps around december down there??? I didnt go ice fishing once last winter, ok slap my hand, I will make up for it this year, Definitely with perch so close to home at Jordanelle!!! But I am not ready for the ice yet, give me a few more months and I will consider cold and snow, but I am too much of a summer person!!!
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[TubeDude]

[cool]In the Phoenix area, it is rare for the water temps to drop below about 55. I have fished in 45 in southern Arizona, on a couple of little lakes that are about 4000 feet altitude.

Of course, we do have our lakes along the Mogollon Rim, and in the mountains that do freeze during the winter, and there are a couple that sometimes offer some ice fishing. But, I have never been excited about driving 4 hours for some iffy ice fishing, when I can drive 40 minutes and load a basket with yellow bass...after spooning a dozen big largemouth up to six or eight pounds on the early shift...while fishing from a float tube in shirt sleeves.

Sounds like a good had was timed by all on the Jordanelle perch party I didn't check in with my basket of perch. Didn't want to show off, but here is the pic anyway.



P,S. That was from the good old days on Deer Creek...when nobody fished for perch and I could catch hundreds in a day. I had days when I kept twenty or thirty fish...all over 12". The ones in the basket were for a family fish fry. I seldom kept that many.
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