10-05-2020, 05:39 PM
The fantastic fall continues at Utah Lake. Julie and I launched at Lincoln a bit before 7:30 on 9/26. Conditions were feeling more like early fall with air temp just above 50 but the water was still almost 65. Winds were forecast to be less than 5 MPH until well into the afternoon and the day started out just that way.
We had planned to fish a soft to hard bottom transition we had been doing well at, but when we were barely halfway there I saw some good looking bottom changes on the sonar and said: ”That looks like a good spot I hadn’t seen before, I’ll have to try it one of these days.” Julie thought for a minute and said: “That’s where the big ones are today!” After a little coaxing, I turned the boat around and went back.
We got the gear in the water and after 20 minutes we had 4 or 5 white bass, but no catfish. I commented that we were doing well for bait, but the cats were hiding from us and then it started. Julie had a rod go down, but the silly cat didn’t hang on. Then we had a flurry of 4 cats in about 10 minutes, with three of them on at once. They were smaller than what I saw last trip with the largest being 26.5.
We had barely caught our breath from that flurry when round two hit and we got 5 more, with another triple. I was just commenting that the catching was fast but the size wasn’t great when Julie hooked a good one. It turned out to be just long enough to give her a contest bump at 30.5” and over 12 pounds! Great start and it was barely 8:30 A.M!
There was a slight lull and then we hit another bunch. For the first time I remember we actually hooked and landed 4 cats at the same time! It wasn’t all fun and games with a couple tangled lines, but we got all four in the boat and they ranged from 25 to 28 inches.
After another opportunity to catch our breath we hooked into a double a big double. After a lot of tugging they both came in the boat. Mine at 29.5 and Julie’s at 30. Wow!
The next hour was a little less blistering and it was looking like Julie was going to be top rod again with no bump fish for me. Then 3 fish before the day ended I got a good one too, 30.5 and just enough for a bump for me.
We had planned to fish until noon or 1, but Mother Nature had other plans. About 11 A.M. the wind stared picking up out of the NW. By 11:15 or so it was around 15 MPH the waves were building. I had taken down the bimini so I could still control the boat with the electric, but it was a futile gesture. We had just agree to pull the baits and get home while the getting was good and Julie hooked another fish. It was only medium sized but by time it was landed the boat was rocking enough to make standing and landing a challenge. We quickly pulled the other rods and started back.
We ended up with 20 something cats, with two at 30.5” in less than 4 hours of fishing. It would have already been a fast paced day, but I left out the whites. Along with those cats we got 27 WB! It was probably a good thing that the wind came up when it did or we would have worn ourselves to a frazzle!
Today we found another good spot on the lake. I am more of a thinker and would have passed it by to go where we had planned. Julie is more of a doer and talked me into stopping, which led to a great morning on the lake. Everybody needs a Julie!
If you want to see the video, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPgt5DEUB_M
![[Image: IMG-8062.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/6gjttxV/IMG-8062.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-2009.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/R23WD6C/IMG-2009.jpg)
![[Image: Julie-and-30-5.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/V2yGXBd/Julie-and-30-5.jpg)
![[Image: Quadruple.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/9TGF5Hx/Quadruple.jpg)
![[Image: Jim-and-30-5.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/FhHp1Ns/Jim-and-30-5.jpg)
We had planned to fish a soft to hard bottom transition we had been doing well at, but when we were barely halfway there I saw some good looking bottom changes on the sonar and said: ”That looks like a good spot I hadn’t seen before, I’ll have to try it one of these days.” Julie thought for a minute and said: “That’s where the big ones are today!” After a little coaxing, I turned the boat around and went back.
We got the gear in the water and after 20 minutes we had 4 or 5 white bass, but no catfish. I commented that we were doing well for bait, but the cats were hiding from us and then it started. Julie had a rod go down, but the silly cat didn’t hang on. Then we had a flurry of 4 cats in about 10 minutes, with three of them on at once. They were smaller than what I saw last trip with the largest being 26.5.
We had barely caught our breath from that flurry when round two hit and we got 5 more, with another triple. I was just commenting that the catching was fast but the size wasn’t great when Julie hooked a good one. It turned out to be just long enough to give her a contest bump at 30.5” and over 12 pounds! Great start and it was barely 8:30 A.M!
There was a slight lull and then we hit another bunch. For the first time I remember we actually hooked and landed 4 cats at the same time! It wasn’t all fun and games with a couple tangled lines, but we got all four in the boat and they ranged from 25 to 28 inches.
After another opportunity to catch our breath we hooked into a double a big double. After a lot of tugging they both came in the boat. Mine at 29.5 and Julie’s at 30. Wow!
The next hour was a little less blistering and it was looking like Julie was going to be top rod again with no bump fish for me. Then 3 fish before the day ended I got a good one too, 30.5 and just enough for a bump for me.
We had planned to fish until noon or 1, but Mother Nature had other plans. About 11 A.M. the wind stared picking up out of the NW. By 11:15 or so it was around 15 MPH the waves were building. I had taken down the bimini so I could still control the boat with the electric, but it was a futile gesture. We had just agree to pull the baits and get home while the getting was good and Julie hooked another fish. It was only medium sized but by time it was landed the boat was rocking enough to make standing and landing a challenge. We quickly pulled the other rods and started back.
We ended up with 20 something cats, with two at 30.5” in less than 4 hours of fishing. It would have already been a fast paced day, but I left out the whites. Along with those cats we got 27 WB! It was probably a good thing that the wind came up when it did or we would have worn ourselves to a frazzle!
Today we found another good spot on the lake. I am more of a thinker and would have passed it by to go where we had planned. Julie is more of a doer and talked me into stopping, which led to a great morning on the lake. Everybody needs a Julie!
If you want to see the video, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPgt5DEUB_M
