07-12-2019, 02:40 PM
This is a bit behind. I'm on the road and having some wifi trouble
ES: Julie and I fished out of the Provo harbor on Monday 7/8 from 6 to noon. The catching was slower for both white bait and catfish. We got cats mostly in 9-10 FOW, with the ones closest to rocks being the only dark ones. Winds ranged from 5 to 10+ out of the SW, water temp was 72 +/- 1 and the air temps stayed below 70 until just before noon. We were dragging fresh WB meat at about 0.5 mph for all the cats except 1. The odd cat hit a small silver spinner as did all the whites we caught. It appears that the fish are more dispersed and the spawn is winding down. Only a few bugs and even fewer skier types in the morning.
FS: Julie and I had one short window to fish between family and work events so we headed for the UL State Park Monday morning, arriving at the ramp just before 6 A.M. We planned to stock up on white bass from the slurping hoards at daylight and then try larger baits for cats. The southerly wind was making a chop on the harbor and we never saw a slurp, but plenty of surface activity from the carp. Thank goodness for the carp!
After 30 to 40 minutes of casting blindly with a small silver spinner I had only one white so I decided to try to get a fresh carp. After three casts into pods and bumping fish each time, I finally hooked one. A white about 9 inches. Then I remembered an earlier time in late summer when I found that casting a spinner toward carp on or near the surface often resulted in a white. 5 minutes more casting toward carp yielded 4 more whites and we were ready to leave the harbor. In the harbor had gotten one dark cat on thawed WB and another healthier fish on fresh chunks of the first bait volunteer, but we were hoping for more and bigger fish outside.
We put four rods out about half a mile north of the jaws in almost 10 FOW. We were over an an hour behind because it took so long to make bait, but we were ready. 2 rods were baited with large chunks of fresh WB and large FLAITS. Rod #3 had a 2” piece smaller FLAIT and the last had the small spinner with a tiny sliver of white on it.
The wind had lessened a bit but was still 8-10 out of the SW and the water temp was 73. The fishing proved slower than any of the June trips out of Provo. It was about 8 A.M. when the first open water cat came to play. It was a nice fish, over 25 inches and feisty. Next came a disappointment. I had rigged the smallest white bass we caught, about 7 inches, whole in hopes of bumping into a larger fish. When It got hit I was excited, but it was short lived as it turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the first fish. To add injury to insult, the bait was gone when I landed the fish. Still fun, but a letdown.
The 3rd cat out in the lake was a surprise. Just after I finished rebaiting the whole white bass rod, the ultralight with the spinner went bendo and I mean really bendo. It was a lot of fun wrestling a 26+ on light tackle. Unfortunately, that hungry kitty had completely inhaled the spinner. Fortunately, the tiny treble was much easier to dig out than I thought it would be.
Fishing was sporadic, but never fast. We would get one or two and then wait while and then get 2 or 3 and wait some more.
Initially we were releasing all the fish we caught but halfway through the morning Julie remembered some family members that would like some fish, so we started keeping the ones two feet and under. Darn it, I was going to have to clean some after all.
About 10 A.M. we had four eaters in the basket when we hooked a larger fish way behind the boat. We were in the middle of a turn when it hit and, as you can probably guess, it got tangled in another line…then another and before I knew it all four lines were tangled. I spent nearly 20 minutes untwisting, untangling and even cutting a time or two. At one point Julie was convinced that the fish was on another rod, but I said there might be two fish.
Remarkably we never lost the original fish. It was 27 ¼”, just ¼” short of a contest bump for me. When I was inspecting the baits I found a half a white on one line had been smashed by a big cat, almost bitten in two, but that fish never got hooked. Based on the curvature of the bite mark, and the lack of eyewitness testimony, I’m calling that one a 30++. I can do that if I want.
By 11 A.M. the hits were coming much less often and the wind was building as predicted. About noon we got the last one we needed for a meal for the in-laws and we called it a day.
It was a solid morning, we averaged almost 3 fish/hour and got to try some larger hooks and bait rigs. Best of all we were able to relax and spend some time on the water together.
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ES: Julie and I fished out of the Provo harbor on Monday 7/8 from 6 to noon. The catching was slower for both white bait and catfish. We got cats mostly in 9-10 FOW, with the ones closest to rocks being the only dark ones. Winds ranged from 5 to 10+ out of the SW, water temp was 72 +/- 1 and the air temps stayed below 70 until just before noon. We were dragging fresh WB meat at about 0.5 mph for all the cats except 1. The odd cat hit a small silver spinner as did all the whites we caught. It appears that the fish are more dispersed and the spawn is winding down. Only a few bugs and even fewer skier types in the morning.
FS: Julie and I had one short window to fish between family and work events so we headed for the UL State Park Monday morning, arriving at the ramp just before 6 A.M. We planned to stock up on white bass from the slurping hoards at daylight and then try larger baits for cats. The southerly wind was making a chop on the harbor and we never saw a slurp, but plenty of surface activity from the carp. Thank goodness for the carp!
After 30 to 40 minutes of casting blindly with a small silver spinner I had only one white so I decided to try to get a fresh carp. After three casts into pods and bumping fish each time, I finally hooked one. A white about 9 inches. Then I remembered an earlier time in late summer when I found that casting a spinner toward carp on or near the surface often resulted in a white. 5 minutes more casting toward carp yielded 4 more whites and we were ready to leave the harbor. In the harbor had gotten one dark cat on thawed WB and another healthier fish on fresh chunks of the first bait volunteer, but we were hoping for more and bigger fish outside.
We put four rods out about half a mile north of the jaws in almost 10 FOW. We were over an an hour behind because it took so long to make bait, but we were ready. 2 rods were baited with large chunks of fresh WB and large FLAITS. Rod #3 had a 2” piece smaller FLAIT and the last had the small spinner with a tiny sliver of white on it.
The wind had lessened a bit but was still 8-10 out of the SW and the water temp was 73. The fishing proved slower than any of the June trips out of Provo. It was about 8 A.M. when the first open water cat came to play. It was a nice fish, over 25 inches and feisty. Next came a disappointment. I had rigged the smallest white bass we caught, about 7 inches, whole in hopes of bumping into a larger fish. When It got hit I was excited, but it was short lived as it turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the first fish. To add injury to insult, the bait was gone when I landed the fish. Still fun, but a letdown.
The 3rd cat out in the lake was a surprise. Just after I finished rebaiting the whole white bass rod, the ultralight with the spinner went bendo and I mean really bendo. It was a lot of fun wrestling a 26+ on light tackle. Unfortunately, that hungry kitty had completely inhaled the spinner. Fortunately, the tiny treble was much easier to dig out than I thought it would be.
Fishing was sporadic, but never fast. We would get one or two and then wait while and then get 2 or 3 and wait some more.
Initially we were releasing all the fish we caught but halfway through the morning Julie remembered some family members that would like some fish, so we started keeping the ones two feet and under. Darn it, I was going to have to clean some after all.
About 10 A.M. we had four eaters in the basket when we hooked a larger fish way behind the boat. We were in the middle of a turn when it hit and, as you can probably guess, it got tangled in another line…then another and before I knew it all four lines were tangled. I spent nearly 20 minutes untwisting, untangling and even cutting a time or two. At one point Julie was convinced that the fish was on another rod, but I said there might be two fish.
Remarkably we never lost the original fish. It was 27 ¼”, just ¼” short of a contest bump for me. When I was inspecting the baits I found a half a white on one line had been smashed by a big cat, almost bitten in two, but that fish never got hooked. Based on the curvature of the bite mark, and the lack of eyewitness testimony, I’m calling that one a 30++. I can do that if I want.
By 11 A.M. the hits were coming much less often and the wind was building as predicted. About noon we got the last one we needed for a meal for the in-laws and we called it a day.
It was a solid morning, we averaged almost 3 fish/hour and got to try some larger hooks and bait rigs. Best of all we were able to relax and spend some time on the water together.
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