08-03-2019, 12:11 AM
ES: I fished out of Provo with Julie Thursday 8/1 and had a great trip. We launched at about 6:15 in 75-degree water with a slight SW breeze. We got 1 white in the harbor and 3 more casting to carp pods in deep water. The fishing was good in 9.5 to 10.5 FOW and below 4.5. We averaged 8 cats and hour, but most of the fish came in flurries of 3 to 6 fish attacking nearly all together. We had 4 or 5 doubles and two triples. The fish in shallow seemed more abundant and more aggressive, but averaged about 2 inches smaller than the ones farther from shore. The cats ranged from 20 to 27.5” and all hit WB meat on floating bait rigs dragged slowly along the bottom. Today they seemed to hit thawed bait almost as well as fresh cut. When we pulled the lines about 1:15, the water had risen to 80 degrees.
FS: Julie had been a bit under the weather the first part of the week and I thought I might end up going with someone else on Friday. Thursday’s forecast looked cooler, but I was a bit unsure of the impact Wednesday’s storms would have. When I talked to her on Wednesday afternoon Julie said: “I good, let’s go Thursday though because it looks cooler.” It is good to listen to your wife!
We launched at about 6:15 AM. I was hoping to get 4 or 5 quick whites for bait and maybe a walleye or cat going out of the harbor. We trolled a flicker shad, a worm harness and a cat bait at 1 to 1.4 MPH while casting a silver spinner toward carp pods. There was lots of carp activity, but we didn’t see hardly any white bass action on the surface. They seemed to be missing in the water too, we had gotten only one on the spinner and nothing on the other baits when we reached the jaws. I slowed the boat as we left the harbor so I could pull in the lines and just as I did a decent cat took the cat bait.
We had planned to start back in deep water near where our last trip had ended. One cat in the harbor wasn’t going to change the plan and we ran about 2 miles out and south and put the gear back down in just under 10 FOW. This time it was 3 FLAIT rods, 2 with thawed white bass, one with fresh WB and one with a crawler harness. We had hoped for more bait or perhaps a walleye, but the crawler went unmolested until the cat action picked up and we traded it for another FLAIT.
Surprisingly the first two cats took the old bait over the fresh. That trend continued for the first hour or so, until we had caught a couple more whites tossing the spinner at carp pods. The fish came at a good average rate, but in short and sometimes chaotic flurries. Doubles were common and even a couple of triples. We only saw one 20-minute stretch without any hits all morning.
Most of the of the fish were 24 to 26 inches. Somewhere between 8 and 10 fish I got one that I said might be a bump. As usual lately it was 27.5”. I began to get impatient and reset one of the rods with about half a white. Just like last trip, that bait got lots of inquiries but only about half loaded the rod and only about 1 in 3 resulted in a fish. They gradually ate the back end until nothing but the head remained.
We hit our biggest lull at about 9:30. I asked Julie and she said we should head in towards the reeds. It took a while to get back in that far and we only picked up 2 or 3 fish going from 9 down to 5 FOW. I was about to conclude that most of the fish really were deep when we got clobbered. We had a hook up at about 4.5 feet and before it was landed a second, just as the second one hit the dock Julie had another one on and then I had one and then a third rod went down and I leaned on that rod and put if back in the holder. After we caught our breath I said: “Wow, 5 fish in short order. I guess they aren’t all out deeper!” We had planned to leave at about 10:30 AM but after the second flurry hit I asked Julie how she was feeling, “because it is really hard to leave this kind of action when there is nothing pressing this afternoon at work.” “I’m good,” she said, so we stayed 2 more hours.
The next 2 hours were more of the same. We would often go 5 or 10 minutes with nothing and the 2 or 3 or once 6 fish boated before the flurry would end. A little after 1 P.M. Julie said she was getting hot and we pulled the lines and headed back. Even at 1 P.M, the lake was almost glassy.
As I watched the catching and thought about the two depths and the fish, two things stood out. First, the shallow fish were more aggressive. More often than not they hit like a train and were well hooked before we could get the rods out of the holders. They fought like they took the baits, hard and fast! One hit so hard it broke the treads lose and turned the holder 90 degrees. I thought we were going to lose the rod. I dug out a pair of piers and really tightened the holder and the next fish did it again! This time I raised the holder angle so it wouldn’t pull out the rod.
The second notable thing was that the deeper fish averaged just over 25 inches and the shallower fish about 23 inches. We got one at 27 in shallow, but all the others were below 25 inches.
All in all, we had fun and wrestled with a bunch of cats. All were released and none were hooked in the gills or the guts. My elbow is still sore today, but I’ll be healed in time for next week! I hope we get to try it again then.
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FS: Julie had been a bit under the weather the first part of the week and I thought I might end up going with someone else on Friday. Thursday’s forecast looked cooler, but I was a bit unsure of the impact Wednesday’s storms would have. When I talked to her on Wednesday afternoon Julie said: “I good, let’s go Thursday though because it looks cooler.” It is good to listen to your wife!
We launched at about 6:15 AM. I was hoping to get 4 or 5 quick whites for bait and maybe a walleye or cat going out of the harbor. We trolled a flicker shad, a worm harness and a cat bait at 1 to 1.4 MPH while casting a silver spinner toward carp pods. There was lots of carp activity, but we didn’t see hardly any white bass action on the surface. They seemed to be missing in the water too, we had gotten only one on the spinner and nothing on the other baits when we reached the jaws. I slowed the boat as we left the harbor so I could pull in the lines and just as I did a decent cat took the cat bait.
We had planned to start back in deep water near where our last trip had ended. One cat in the harbor wasn’t going to change the plan and we ran about 2 miles out and south and put the gear back down in just under 10 FOW. This time it was 3 FLAIT rods, 2 with thawed white bass, one with fresh WB and one with a crawler harness. We had hoped for more bait or perhaps a walleye, but the crawler went unmolested until the cat action picked up and we traded it for another FLAIT.
Surprisingly the first two cats took the old bait over the fresh. That trend continued for the first hour or so, until we had caught a couple more whites tossing the spinner at carp pods. The fish came at a good average rate, but in short and sometimes chaotic flurries. Doubles were common and even a couple of triples. We only saw one 20-minute stretch without any hits all morning.
Most of the of the fish were 24 to 26 inches. Somewhere between 8 and 10 fish I got one that I said might be a bump. As usual lately it was 27.5”. I began to get impatient and reset one of the rods with about half a white. Just like last trip, that bait got lots of inquiries but only about half loaded the rod and only about 1 in 3 resulted in a fish. They gradually ate the back end until nothing but the head remained.
We hit our biggest lull at about 9:30. I asked Julie and she said we should head in towards the reeds. It took a while to get back in that far and we only picked up 2 or 3 fish going from 9 down to 5 FOW. I was about to conclude that most of the fish really were deep when we got clobbered. We had a hook up at about 4.5 feet and before it was landed a second, just as the second one hit the dock Julie had another one on and then I had one and then a third rod went down and I leaned on that rod and put if back in the holder. After we caught our breath I said: “Wow, 5 fish in short order. I guess they aren’t all out deeper!” We had planned to leave at about 10:30 AM but after the second flurry hit I asked Julie how she was feeling, “because it is really hard to leave this kind of action when there is nothing pressing this afternoon at work.” “I’m good,” she said, so we stayed 2 more hours.
The next 2 hours were more of the same. We would often go 5 or 10 minutes with nothing and the 2 or 3 or once 6 fish boated before the flurry would end. A little after 1 P.M. Julie said she was getting hot and we pulled the lines and headed back. Even at 1 P.M, the lake was almost glassy.
As I watched the catching and thought about the two depths and the fish, two things stood out. First, the shallow fish were more aggressive. More often than not they hit like a train and were well hooked before we could get the rods out of the holders. They fought like they took the baits, hard and fast! One hit so hard it broke the treads lose and turned the holder 90 degrees. I thought we were going to lose the rod. I dug out a pair of piers and really tightened the holder and the next fish did it again! This time I raised the holder angle so it wouldn’t pull out the rod.
The second notable thing was that the deeper fish averaged just over 25 inches and the shallower fish about 23 inches. We got one at 27 in shallow, but all the others were below 25 inches.
All in all, we had fun and wrestled with a bunch of cats. All were released and none were hooked in the gills or the guts. My elbow is still sore today, but I’ll be healed in time for next week! I hope we get to try it again then.
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