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Last day on the water for my crew as they begin school tomorrow. We have caught lots of cats the last couple of days using carp meat and white bass. Best fish today was a 27 incher, 7 lbs. and 7 oz. We were fishing around Bird Island.
Best fishing usually commences about 7-ish in the mornings and continues until about 10:00 or until too hot arrives..The Fall Feed should start soon and the bigger fish will start to put in an appearance. The best is yet to come.
BLK and crew
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What a great gift you gave to those boys this summer, bet they will always remember the summer they spent with you... Way to go!!!! Nice job on getting consistant on the big boys too.... It's been fun following your ventures... Hope you still sneak them out on weekends.... Later J
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Hey BLK, NICE Cats. Always fun to fish with kids that age. All mine are grown up now.
What has the water level been like at UL. I've been out of the State Park launch many times (but not in the last several years) and have been out of Lindon once.
Thinking on making one early trip down to UL this Saturday. Most of the lakes are getting pretty shallow here in N. Utah.
Only have a 14' Lund, so if I can get a good 3 feet under me, I feel OK about getting on the water for a few hours. You look to have a boat bigger than mine, and you say you were out near Bird Island? Is it exposed out of the water, or just the weeds sticking up?
[center]Photo is from one of the last times I was at UL. Had a bigger Lund 1700 Pro Sport then.[/center]
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
Or so it says on my license plate holder
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A word of caution ...I was out there Friday and went around the island kn the south east side. I was 150-200 yards away from the island so I thought I was giving myself plenty of room...nope. Apparently there is a very long finger sticking out that direction. I hit it on plane at about 20 mph and though for sure I had destroyed my engine. Amazingly, there was no damage. Even my prop escaped unharmed.
I really need to get a contour map of that lake...or better yet, Tubedude's book.
I'm taking my boss and his 12 year old son out tonight for some carp shooting tonight but I'd like to get them into a cat or two also because they fish a lot but catch very little. I never target cats so if you have any pointers about rigging, hooksets, etc. I would be grateful.
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Nebo,
Painful to hear of your encounter with the island rocks. Very lucky to not have done some big time damage hitting them at that speed. I have not been on the east side much and I spend most of my time all along the west side. Was there today and found 7ft. of water not 30 yards off the west shore and 2-3 feet deep 150 yards out -- danger! I pretty much use my electric to maneuver around. I have TD's book and he does have some good maps and info on the area. Seems like the fingers you referenced get longer as the water drops.
Everybody has their own prefence for cat riggin. I still like just a plain ol J hook in a 5/0 or 6/0 with 12 lb. mono and no weight. I lose a lot of hooks in the rocks and the rocks are hard on mono too. I re-spool my reels at least once a week. I think a bobber would work just fine too and might be better for the youngsters. I'd try to keep the bait just a foot or so off the bottom and hang on to the pole. I've tried the circle hooks and decided they work fine but just ain't no fun. The trigger pull is a big part of the fun for me.
My first choice for bait this time of the year is itty bitty white bass. The 3 inchers that snarf up bugs on the surface every morning in the launch channel are perfect. I spend a half hour there every morning and figure one wb equals one cat. They really like 'em.
I was out there this a.m. and only caught a half dozen or so cats. Yesterday in the same area I fished with two poles and had two fish on at the same time a couple of times. I'd try the west side in 4 - 6 feet of water -- carp meat should work too.
Good luck and watch out for the rocks.[:/]
BLK
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[#0000FF]Might not help, after the fact, but there really is a long skinny rock ledge that extends out off the SE corner.
Here is a pic shot during 2004...the last year of the last big drought.
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In my early days of boating I found that long and shallow finger twice (I am a slow learner). Fortunately, I was just barely moving, so I didn't do any major damage. Because my outboard is so old that I have to lift it by hand I have a nice prop guard on it. That prop guard has saved me several times.
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Thanks everyone for the advice and stories about the bird finger (now that's apt naming if you ask me). Funny thing, I actually had a hard time finding carp to shoot at and the twelve year old had an itchy bowfinger more than anythhing else. We got blown off by the storm at about 8:00 with neither cat nor carp boated. I guess I'm a failure in the guide department.
It was a bit odd though...the carp were very skittish an not congregating on the surface at all like I usually see. Maybe it was the weather or the cloud cover or maybe Billy is actually making a dent in the population.
Either way, it was a beautiful evening out there and we saw some amazing fireworks on the way home. Again, the advice was greatly appreciated and I hope I can repay the favor one day.
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] Maybe tomorrow.....
