09-03-2018, 02:07 PM
ES: I fished out of the Utah Lake State Park from 5 P.M. until about 2 A.M. My son and his two oldest kids fished with me in the harbor for the first couple of hours. In the harbor we got about a dozen white bass from 4” to about 12” and one cat, just under 28”. After dark I stayed in the harbor from 8 until about 11 P.M. waiting for the winds to subside. Then I went out into the main lake and dragged baits in 5.5 to 6 FOW from 11 until 2 A.M. The total was 7 cats, 3 inside the harbor and 4 out in the nothingness. All cats came on white bass and the YOY were much preferred to the fresh cut adults. Even a thawed 4” basslet was preferred. Water temperature was 77 in the harbor, 75 in the main lake and dropped to 73 by about 2 A.M. Wind was NW at 5-10 until dusk and then 10 – 15 until 11 P.M. At 11 it stopped, then changed to 0-5 MPH out of the SE. All the cats are still swimming, as are most of the adult whites. A good dog days night.
FS: Last Friday I went out to the Utah Lake State Park and fished with Catchinon. When we finished he had caught the only cat of the of the evening. When I got home I realized that I hadn’t caught a cat in August. Not wanting to break my string of consecutive months I laid a plan to fish on Friday the 31st.
I started out at the UL State Park at about 5 P.M. with my son Braden and his two older children, Elise (6) and Nathan (almost 5). The plan was to get them some fun catching white bass in the harbor and then dad would take them home. I would then head out to explore the lake outside the marina and try to get an August cat.
T
he plan worked well for the first 15 minutes. We got two 7” whites. Then the wind picked up and we didn’t find any more until about 7. We had tied up to the dock so we wouldn’t have to fight the wind and the kids could walk around a bit. Nathan had gotten bored so we gave him a rod with a bobber and two small worm hooks. He held and played with the rod for about 20 minutes and then hollered “I caught one! I caught one!” Sure enough he had a 12” white and he’d done it all by himself. Next Elise did the same, but her white was 4” long. She was still proud she had done it all by herself. Grandpa was excited for some catfish bait.
Just after 7 we were mulling over sending the kids home for bed when a rod I had set for cats took off. The kids were at the other end of the dock so I hooked it and hollered for Nathan, since it was his turn. It was a good cat. I was trying to teach him to lift up and reel down and he ran out of patience. After about 2 minutes he said “this one is too hard for me” and gave me the rod and left. Elise saw an opening and jumped in to the fight the fish. She got tired too, but stuck with it. Another five minutes and our fist cat was in the net and on the dock. It was just shy of 28” and about 8 pounds! A lot better than the 0 cats we got in the harbor last Friday! The kids were all excited about the big fish and it was a perfect note to end their adventure on.
I took them back to the dock where their car was parked and said good bye. At the dock I started casting a bobber with a couple of small flies tipped with tiny pieces of crawler. I got 6 whites up to 4” in about 15 minutes. Then another boat arrived wanting to launch so I untied mine and started trolling out toward the jaws. The wind had picked up again and when I got to harbor exit, there were 2 foot waves. I had picked up a 25” cat on the way out so I turned around and trolled back to the boat basin.
Hoping he might not have been alone, I anchored near where the first cat was hooked. After too long hours without a hit, I was just thinking it was time to go home when suddenly the wind died. I really wanted to spend some time trying to locate cats in deep water out of the State Park because it looks like Lincoln will be too shallow to launch by mid-September.
I got to the jaws and the waves were still over a foot, but had no wind on them. I headed west. It was really peaceful and the lights made for a great backdrop. After 20 minutes or so I got tired of all the rocking from the quartering waves to I turned and headed toward Saratoga Springs so I could hit them head on. I was dragging small fligs with a 4” basslet on one rod and a piece of fresh cut adult white on the other. I was just beginning to think I might get all the way to Saratoga without a fish when the little whitie got hit. A nice cat around 25”. 20 minutes later same rod, same bait, same size cat. Another dry spell and I replaced the fresh cut bait with a basslet. Soon that rod got hit, but the fish got my bait. 10 minutes later another hit on the same rod and I lost my last fresh basslet. I had a thawed one left from last Friday so I hooked it through the head and sent it out.
The next hit was on the thawed fish. I had resolved to wait a bit longer after the take hoping for more hookups. I had the bait runner set and the fish must have run 50 feet before I finished counting and set. This was a good fish! It didn’t make any runs but stayed doggedly swimming parallel to the boat for five full minutes. When it final came close to the boat it exploded into a run twice as long as any cat I’ve landed. “Oh boy,” I thought, “if I can get this one in the boat, I’ll finally break 30 this year!” The fish must have made at least five good runs before I could tell it was tiring. Later, as I tried to lift it off the bottom, it started making large circles. First going under the boat and then back out into the night. My arms were aching and my right hand was cramping.
After a half dozen circles its tail came out of the water, and then off on another run. I fought it for full 20 minutes, easily the longest ever for a cat I caught. Finally, I saw the head come out of the water and I thought, “it’s not the monster I thought it was.” In the net, then the bump board showed 28.5. Darn it! I’ve never had a cat fight like that, I was disappointed, but what a battle! I looked at my watch and it was after midnight. I could check off September too! The fight lasted so long I had a fish hit the other rod, but it got off. Then I one hand reeled the second rod in to get it out of the way.
I now had no more basslets, so I cut up a fresh 7 incher thinking it might smell more like the YOY fish that had been working so much better than the fresh cut adult. It paid off with several hits, including one that felt very heavy only to come unbuttoned right after the hook set. Reeling in, there was so little drag that I thought I must have broken it off, but the lucky cat had torn the fire tiger float right off the FLIG without getting hooked. That flig had accounted for 4 fish tonight and twice that many on earlier trips. A life well fligged!
About 30 minutes after the epic battle I got a taker on the cut bait. It was a decent cat, but nothing like the previous one. About half way to the boat the other rod got hit. I hooked that fish, checked the drag and put the rod deep in the holder. When the first fish came into the boat I laid it in the bump board trough and finished with the second one. Together they measured a bit over 4 feet. Not legal in the contest though.
After the double, I turned around and headed back for the harbor. On the way back I had 2 or 3 light hits, but no more hook ups. I got to the dock about 2 and was home and in bed by 3:30 A.M. Latest night I have ever done chasing cats but I found fish out of the State Park, got a bump to my score and a battle I won’t forget for long time!
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FS: Last Friday I went out to the Utah Lake State Park and fished with Catchinon. When we finished he had caught the only cat of the of the evening. When I got home I realized that I hadn’t caught a cat in August. Not wanting to break my string of consecutive months I laid a plan to fish on Friday the 31st.
I started out at the UL State Park at about 5 P.M. with my son Braden and his two older children, Elise (6) and Nathan (almost 5). The plan was to get them some fun catching white bass in the harbor and then dad would take them home. I would then head out to explore the lake outside the marina and try to get an August cat.
T
he plan worked well for the first 15 minutes. We got two 7” whites. Then the wind picked up and we didn’t find any more until about 7. We had tied up to the dock so we wouldn’t have to fight the wind and the kids could walk around a bit. Nathan had gotten bored so we gave him a rod with a bobber and two small worm hooks. He held and played with the rod for about 20 minutes and then hollered “I caught one! I caught one!” Sure enough he had a 12” white and he’d done it all by himself. Next Elise did the same, but her white was 4” long. She was still proud she had done it all by herself. Grandpa was excited for some catfish bait.
Just after 7 we were mulling over sending the kids home for bed when a rod I had set for cats took off. The kids were at the other end of the dock so I hooked it and hollered for Nathan, since it was his turn. It was a good cat. I was trying to teach him to lift up and reel down and he ran out of patience. After about 2 minutes he said “this one is too hard for me” and gave me the rod and left. Elise saw an opening and jumped in to the fight the fish. She got tired too, but stuck with it. Another five minutes and our fist cat was in the net and on the dock. It was just shy of 28” and about 8 pounds! A lot better than the 0 cats we got in the harbor last Friday! The kids were all excited about the big fish and it was a perfect note to end their adventure on.
I took them back to the dock where their car was parked and said good bye. At the dock I started casting a bobber with a couple of small flies tipped with tiny pieces of crawler. I got 6 whites up to 4” in about 15 minutes. Then another boat arrived wanting to launch so I untied mine and started trolling out toward the jaws. The wind had picked up again and when I got to harbor exit, there were 2 foot waves. I had picked up a 25” cat on the way out so I turned around and trolled back to the boat basin.
Hoping he might not have been alone, I anchored near where the first cat was hooked. After too long hours without a hit, I was just thinking it was time to go home when suddenly the wind died. I really wanted to spend some time trying to locate cats in deep water out of the State Park because it looks like Lincoln will be too shallow to launch by mid-September.
I got to the jaws and the waves were still over a foot, but had no wind on them. I headed west. It was really peaceful and the lights made for a great backdrop. After 20 minutes or so I got tired of all the rocking from the quartering waves to I turned and headed toward Saratoga Springs so I could hit them head on. I was dragging small fligs with a 4” basslet on one rod and a piece of fresh cut adult white on the other. I was just beginning to think I might get all the way to Saratoga without a fish when the little whitie got hit. A nice cat around 25”. 20 minutes later same rod, same bait, same size cat. Another dry spell and I replaced the fresh cut bait with a basslet. Soon that rod got hit, but the fish got my bait. 10 minutes later another hit on the same rod and I lost my last fresh basslet. I had a thawed one left from last Friday so I hooked it through the head and sent it out.
The next hit was on the thawed fish. I had resolved to wait a bit longer after the take hoping for more hookups. I had the bait runner set and the fish must have run 50 feet before I finished counting and set. This was a good fish! It didn’t make any runs but stayed doggedly swimming parallel to the boat for five full minutes. When it final came close to the boat it exploded into a run twice as long as any cat I’ve landed. “Oh boy,” I thought, “if I can get this one in the boat, I’ll finally break 30 this year!” The fish must have made at least five good runs before I could tell it was tiring. Later, as I tried to lift it off the bottom, it started making large circles. First going under the boat and then back out into the night. My arms were aching and my right hand was cramping.
After a half dozen circles its tail came out of the water, and then off on another run. I fought it for full 20 minutes, easily the longest ever for a cat I caught. Finally, I saw the head come out of the water and I thought, “it’s not the monster I thought it was.” In the net, then the bump board showed 28.5. Darn it! I’ve never had a cat fight like that, I was disappointed, but what a battle! I looked at my watch and it was after midnight. I could check off September too! The fight lasted so long I had a fish hit the other rod, but it got off. Then I one hand reeled the second rod in to get it out of the way.
I now had no more basslets, so I cut up a fresh 7 incher thinking it might smell more like the YOY fish that had been working so much better than the fresh cut adult. It paid off with several hits, including one that felt very heavy only to come unbuttoned right after the hook set. Reeling in, there was so little drag that I thought I must have broken it off, but the lucky cat had torn the fire tiger float right off the FLIG without getting hooked. That flig had accounted for 4 fish tonight and twice that many on earlier trips. A life well fligged!
About 30 minutes after the epic battle I got a taker on the cut bait. It was a decent cat, but nothing like the previous one. About half way to the boat the other rod got hit. I hooked that fish, checked the drag and put the rod deep in the holder. When the first fish came into the boat I laid it in the bump board trough and finished with the second one. Together they measured a bit over 4 feet. Not legal in the contest though.
After the double, I turned around and headed back for the harbor. On the way back I had 2 or 3 light hits, but no more hook ups. I got to the dock about 2 and was home and in bed by 3:30 A.M. Latest night I have ever done chasing cats but I found fish out of the State Park, got a bump to my score and a battle I won’t forget for long time!
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dle(boat seat). Hopefully a few night shifts are possible. Hopefully my techniques will work for that area of the pond. Can’t justify a 16 mile round trip to my fav places. Tight Lines.
