09-08-2019, 03:25 PM
Executive Summary: We did the morning thing out of Utah Lake State Park on Saturday 9/7/2019. We started at 5:30 and ended about 1:30 catching and releasing over 20 cats but working harder to go it. The 15 or so whites all wanted to be on bait duty or to come home for dinner. We enjoyed them last night. Most of the whites and all the cats came on FLAITs and WB dragged between 0.3 and 0.8 mph. The cats seemed to prefer the slower speeds, especially after the sun came up. Most of the whites hit when we got above 0.6 mph. The whites that didn’t hit FLAITs took a crawler rig. The air temps were more moderate, starting near 60 and not hitting 80 until after 1. Water temps ranged from 74 to 78 degrees and the winds were southerly at 5 to 7 early and then very light after about 9. The big bright spot was Julie’s first 10-pound cat and on the negative side was a strange lethargy in the bites and battles of the larger cats.
Full Story: We got to the ramp at about 5:30. A bit earlier than needed, but as fall approaches I keep thinking I might “accidentally” bump into a walleye in the transition ours. While we were on the ramp a couple of bank tanglers drove in, but no other boats until well after daylight. Trolling out of the harbor at 1.5 to 2 mph with the electric produced not hits, no runs and no run over buoys either. Julie man’s the spotlight because she knows I get too interested in the rods and sometimes get too close the things.
Out of the harbor we headed a couple miles south, farther than we usually go. This trip I was trying a couple of gear tweaks. One was designed to catch whites or cats using a fairly large FLAIT for bling and noise and a 1/0 circle hook. I hoped that, like the cats, the pesky whites would hook themselves and we could focus more on the rod loading hit of the cats. In twenty minutes we had two whites in the boat and the set-up worked just as hoped. Later things would change, but I still like it.
The first cat came about 6:30, a 2 footer that hit and fought aggressively. After that it was one every 15 minutes or so, with whites mixed in here and there. We wouldn’t have any shortage of fresh bait. Just after seven our 4th cat hit hard and acted big. “That one is yours,” Julie said. She does that because she says her arms haven’t had 50 plus years of fighting fish to strengthen them like mine have. I think it is that and she like to see me get excited when I get a bump fish for the contest.
A few minutes into the fight, with what would be a fiesty 26.5”, another rod went down hard. Julie took it and went to work. I was hoping it would be a good fish since she had to take it and (hopefully) see that she was ready to tackle a good one. She fought it all the way to the boat and then had me take the rod so she could net it. She likes to do that part and she is getting good at it. It wasn’t a contest fish, but it was a toad. 27.5 inches on the board, but 10.5 pounds one the scale. “Your first 10+!” I said, full of excitement and pride. Although she tried to hide it, she was pretty excited too!
By 10 we had netted about a dozen cats and 7 or 8 whites, well the whites were mostly flipped into the boat. A couple of the cats had gone 28+, but nothing big enough for a bump. As the morning progressed I started to notice a change in behavior. The hits became less aggressive, but more unusual was the way they fought. Even the bigger ones seemed to come to the surface and roll slowly, like cold water cats. Often they would do that all the way to the boat and then explode when the net came out. The water was still in the mid 70’s, but they were just lethargic.
We went through a stretch of at least half dozen hits where they would latch onto the larger baits and hold them, the rod would load up just to the point where we would reach for it and then they let go. Sometimes the even stayed on long enough to start taking line off and then they would not get hooked. It happened with several cats and then two or three whites did the same thing. I finally wondered if we had dulled the hooks bouncing over some gravel or something. I pulled a bait that had had 3 on in a row and not hook-ups. The point did seem a bit less sharp, so I quickly retied it and the 1/0 hook for the whites. The next several fish still didn’t stick.
We were headed shallower and things seemed to fix themselves. We got a couple of hard hitting, hard fighting cookies on the white bass rig. Thinking maybe the fish turning more negative was the cause, I downsized another bait. For the rest of the morning we had two smaller baits and two larger baits in the water. The smaller ones usually resulted in solid hits and hookups, but smaller fish. The bigger ones would stop and the rods would slowly load up, like a bigger fish, and then just before it was time to grab the rod and start the battle they would just let go. I would guess we had over a dozen hits like that in two separate time windows. At one point I remember watching a rod going down and saying: “Come on now, just stick, just stick!” and the line went slack again. About 12:45 we landed our last cat and we started for the ramp a bit after 1.
It was a good, but strange morning. On the good side, Julie got her best fish to date and learned she could handle the bigger ones, we got something north of 20 cats and 15 whites in the boat and some nice ones. On the strange side was the cold water rolling behavior and the larger fish just nipping at the baits and not inhaling them. Every day is different. Enjoyable, but different.
[signature]
Full Story: We got to the ramp at about 5:30. A bit earlier than needed, but as fall approaches I keep thinking I might “accidentally” bump into a walleye in the transition ours. While we were on the ramp a couple of bank tanglers drove in, but no other boats until well after daylight. Trolling out of the harbor at 1.5 to 2 mph with the electric produced not hits, no runs and no run over buoys either. Julie man’s the spotlight because she knows I get too interested in the rods and sometimes get too close the things.
Out of the harbor we headed a couple miles south, farther than we usually go. This trip I was trying a couple of gear tweaks. One was designed to catch whites or cats using a fairly large FLAIT for bling and noise and a 1/0 circle hook. I hoped that, like the cats, the pesky whites would hook themselves and we could focus more on the rod loading hit of the cats. In twenty minutes we had two whites in the boat and the set-up worked just as hoped. Later things would change, but I still like it.
The first cat came about 6:30, a 2 footer that hit and fought aggressively. After that it was one every 15 minutes or so, with whites mixed in here and there. We wouldn’t have any shortage of fresh bait. Just after seven our 4th cat hit hard and acted big. “That one is yours,” Julie said. She does that because she says her arms haven’t had 50 plus years of fighting fish to strengthen them like mine have. I think it is that and she like to see me get excited when I get a bump fish for the contest.
A few minutes into the fight, with what would be a fiesty 26.5”, another rod went down hard. Julie took it and went to work. I was hoping it would be a good fish since she had to take it and (hopefully) see that she was ready to tackle a good one. She fought it all the way to the boat and then had me take the rod so she could net it. She likes to do that part and she is getting good at it. It wasn’t a contest fish, but it was a toad. 27.5 inches on the board, but 10.5 pounds one the scale. “Your first 10+!” I said, full of excitement and pride. Although she tried to hide it, she was pretty excited too!
By 10 we had netted about a dozen cats and 7 or 8 whites, well the whites were mostly flipped into the boat. A couple of the cats had gone 28+, but nothing big enough for a bump. As the morning progressed I started to notice a change in behavior. The hits became less aggressive, but more unusual was the way they fought. Even the bigger ones seemed to come to the surface and roll slowly, like cold water cats. Often they would do that all the way to the boat and then explode when the net came out. The water was still in the mid 70’s, but they were just lethargic.
We went through a stretch of at least half dozen hits where they would latch onto the larger baits and hold them, the rod would load up just to the point where we would reach for it and then they let go. Sometimes the even stayed on long enough to start taking line off and then they would not get hooked. It happened with several cats and then two or three whites did the same thing. I finally wondered if we had dulled the hooks bouncing over some gravel or something. I pulled a bait that had had 3 on in a row and not hook-ups. The point did seem a bit less sharp, so I quickly retied it and the 1/0 hook for the whites. The next several fish still didn’t stick.
We were headed shallower and things seemed to fix themselves. We got a couple of hard hitting, hard fighting cookies on the white bass rig. Thinking maybe the fish turning more negative was the cause, I downsized another bait. For the rest of the morning we had two smaller baits and two larger baits in the water. The smaller ones usually resulted in solid hits and hookups, but smaller fish. The bigger ones would stop and the rods would slowly load up, like a bigger fish, and then just before it was time to grab the rod and start the battle they would just let go. I would guess we had over a dozen hits like that in two separate time windows. At one point I remember watching a rod going down and saying: “Come on now, just stick, just stick!” and the line went slack again. About 12:45 we landed our last cat and we started for the ramp a bit after 1.
It was a good, but strange morning. On the good side, Julie got her best fish to date and learned she could handle the bigger ones, we got something north of 20 cats and 15 whites in the boat and some nice ones. On the strange side was the cold water rolling behavior and the larger fish just nipping at the baits and not inhaling them. Every day is different. Enjoyable, but different.
[signature]
].
]