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[#0000FF][cool]Fellow tuber Waljustia wanted to score some kitties for the smoker. Severe withdrawal syptoms and wantin' some hand to fin combat with those toothsome morsels. I guaranteed some cats if we hit Lincoln this Friday. He took the guarantee and I brought the bait.
31 degree air temp with a light breeze at 6:30 am launch. Water temp 54 inside the launch area but down to 52 outside. Finally warmed up to over 55 by noon departure. Gonna get warmer...and better.
We started by slinging plastics in several spots. Got no love...except for a couple of carp scales. No good for smoking. Moved out to deeper water and put up the plastics. Rigged a minnow on one bait rod and a small white bass on the other. Game on. Within minutes I had a runner on the minnows. Set the hook and the other rod took off. Put the first rod in a holder with the drag dialed down a bit and fought in the second fish. Scooped it in the net and then brought in the first fish and added it to the same net. The first of several doubles.
Dave got into the act as I was finishing up with hook removal, spine removal and basketizing. He went bendo on his first kitty...a nice cookie cutter. Skunk be gone for both of us.
Then I did a repeat of my first double. Hooked one fish and had the second rod get busy. Set down the first rod, hooked the second fish and brought both in to scoop up in the same net. Four cats in my basket before 8 am. Not a bad start for cold water cattin'.
After that it was singles for a while. Okay with me. More fun one at a time. But I did get a double with one cat and one mudder. Then I caught a cat on a plastic and while trying to remove the jig I went bendo on the bait rod. Another double...kinda.
The most interesting "double" was something I have never done on cats before. I had a bite on one rod and was getting ready to pick it up and set the hook when it stopped. Then the second rod got busy so I picked it up, flipped the bail closed, waited for it to come tight and WHAM...crossed his eyes. Imagine my surprise when I brought in that cat and he had both of my lines protruding from his lips. Greedy little bugger.
I think my final count was about 13 channel cats, 2 bullheads (mudders), a couple of white bass and one aggressive carp that hammered a pink jig and put on a really good show for me. He was invited home for preparatory surgery...for future bait. Helping the Junies one carp at a time.
Dave also ended up with a limit of kitties. Plus he also dinged a mudder and a few whities. But he seemed to have a lot of fun just "feeding" the fish and playing conservationist. Sure did whiff a lot of hooksets.
Purty day on the water. Nothing worse than light breezes and lots of sunshine. Almost enough to get you hoping that spring might show up. Oh, and about that big ol' full moon in the sky. We were all prepared to make excuses for a bum trip but didn't even have to play the moon card. Probably couldn't have handled the excitement if it had been much better.
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Nice Trip. It's crazy when one fish takes both lines. you'll have that story for years to tale.
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Thought that might be you when I buzzed you in my boat about 8 or so. Was going to come closer just for a howdy but it looked like you guys were busy. I missed couple next to the reeds and found nothing out in the deeper water. Finally caught a couple in front of the spings.Caught mine on white bass meat.
Goin' back tomorrow and I think I'll rob your spot.... hope ya don't mind.
Best temp I found was 54.7.... come on sixties!
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Now I am getting jealous. All this nice weather makes wanna get out but had family duties today. Next trip for me is planned on Monday. Now where to go?
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[#0000FF][cool]Ya shoulda slid in quiet like and shouted a howdy. Heck, we is catfish fisherfolk. We got no pride.
I had bites in water as shallow as 2 feet, caught a couple of fish in 3 feet, but had most of my action in between 4 and 4.5 feet. I also did best overall on white bass today...whole or halves of some little ones I caught and froze last summer. We just kept making S turns back and forth over the preferred depth zone and when we found the fish it was on. Funny how you can go for a long time without a bite and then double up like that. But that's fishin'.
I look for the water to head toward 60 in the next few days. That will have several species getting nervous. Carp were clumping up right at daybreak out off that reed point. Once the temps move toward 65 the shallows will get noisy.
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Wow nice trip. We hit Provo Harbor today and I still need to take my shower to wash off my catch... Was a nice day to be on the water but the fish didn't treat us well at all.
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[#804000]Way to go CatDudes, You will have your whole neighborhood smoked up.[/#804000]
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[#804000]I was at Yuba when that moon came up. Almost bright enough to give a guy a moonburn.[/#804000]
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[#804000]I used to catch channels when I was a youngster on the Bear River........ I should get the renegade out and try the lake.[/#804000]
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So what made you choose LB? I hit Pelican Bay this evening from 6-9pm and got not a nibble from shore.
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Cool stuff! I need to learn how to fish Utah Lake this year, last years lone trip didn't go well lol. Couldn't help but how you guys had those pipe pole holder things and literally had 5 fishing poles ready! I bet that's super nice. Does that just come with your guys's float tubes or what exactly is that if you don't mind me asking?
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Hey TD looks like you guys had a great day. Mind if I pry a little? You were fishing bait, but doing s turns. Do you sort of troll the minnows, bait? I'd like to learn how you do this so I can try it on Cutler. Thanks for a great story. Later J
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Lincoln beach was beautiful. Although I feel like I have a score to settle with a bunch of missed kitties, it's hard to be down with so much scenery, and good fishing company. It is now definitely a place I need to return to and explore. Thanks again for letting me tag along. I always feel like a small pup following the lead dog, but I do so much better following you than I do on my own.
I am ready to go again!
Thanks again!
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By any chance were you chewing DoubleMint gum? LOL
Now I can't get that jingle out of my head.
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[quote Springbuck]So what made you choose LB? I hit Pelican Bay this evening from 6-9pm and got not a nibble from shore.[/quote]
[cool][#0000FF]We had originally planned to hit Lindon. But I often reserve my final choice of venue until the morning of the trip. It is based a lot on projected wind speed and direction. More than about 5-6 miles an hour wind and I might even cancel. When the wind forecast was for light breezes from the south, that cinched it for Lincoln Beach. A light offshore breeze is perfect for fishing that area. But whenever there is a stronger north breeze it just about kills the fishing.
Sorry about your poor results at Pelican. I just don't think the fish are swarming the shore anywhere around the lake...yet. A bit more warming and that will change. I worked around the dikes at Lincoln yesterday...both with bait and plastics. Only thing I scored was one carp and a couple of light bites from bitty whities.
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[#0000FF][cool]Those "pipe pole holders" are mostly my original designs. I have been tubing for over 50 years and have gone through an untold number of different experiments and designs for rod holders, tool racks, sonar installation and recently mounting electric motors on float tubes.
I have been called the "prince of PVC"...and worse.
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[#0000FF][cool]Always enjoyable to share the water (or ice) with you too Dave. Glad I was able to give you a decent introduction to Lincoln Beach. Hard to get you away from the west side of the lake when you live so close. Next will be our original targeted venue...Lindon.
Hopefully we can soon return to our mutually fave spot...the Knolls. Progress is being made but the wheels grind slowly when dealing with "big bidness".
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[cool][#0000FF]Glad you enjoyed the report.
My "system" for prospecting with bait is designed to find the most productive depth for the day...or at least for a period of time. That can change through the day with changing light, water temps, weather, etc.
The S turns are made slowly...with occasional stops to let following fish catch up to the scent trail and to sample the goodies. Yesterday I slowly dragged at least 3 kinds of bait through depths ranging from 2 feet to 8 feet. Several times in a row I got "inquiries" as I moved through the 4-5 feet zone. That clued me in to the "zone du jour" and I changed my pattern from big S turns to just a small wavy line withing the targeted zone.
I drag the baits without any weight besides the hook and a small barrel swivel about 3 feet up from the hook...with a leader a bit heavier than the main line to help resist abrasion from bottom structure, fish spines and teeth.
I cast out only about 30 to 40 feet behind my tube. That is further than necessary because the fish aren't spooked by my craft or fin kicking. I have caught them on a jig right under my feet in shallow water. But you don't want too much line out because you have to let them pull it tight before the hook set...and the longer the line, the more stretch in mono...and the more difficult to punch the hook into a tough mouth. Sometimes it is even advisable to reel down tight after the first hookset and then give the fish another whack.
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[quote a_bow_nut]By any chance were you chewing DoubleMint gum? LOL
Now I can't get that jingle out of my head.[/quote]
[cool][#0000FF]Ha! After the second double in a row that same thought popped into my feeble brain.
Never did like the gum...but always enjoy doubling up on the fishies...either by myself or when fishing with someone else on a hot bite.
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Thanks TD I'll give that a try. J
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Do you make/sell them? Or do u keep them to yourself? It really does look handy cause my float tube I can only bring 2 poles and it hasn't have any holders and it's a pain in the butt. I usually can only set them really far back to get them to actually stay and when I get a bite it takes forever to grab it so it's usually gone  .
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[#0000FF]I am always willing to help someone get their tube or toon tricked out so that it is an efficient fishing platform. There are a lot of fellow floataholics around here whose craft are decorated either with mods I have put on or else helped them to build themselves.
I don't make and sell it as a business. I usually just charge for the parts and maybe a couple of bucks for my "expertise". I work cheap and I am worth it.
Shoot me a PM if you wanna come by the tubeatorium and I'll get you my address and directions. I almost always have a pretty good supply of several sizes of PVC pipe and a bunch of fittings for each size.
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