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Persistence Pays off at the Point, Lincoln 9 11 2021
#1
ES: I launched at Lincoln on 9/11 before daylight and fished until just after 7:30 P.M. Fishing was tougher and slower in the wind and rain, but the payoff was great. Water in the channel was between 1.5 and 1.8’ and I hit the skeg on the way in, even with the motor trimmed up. Water temps ranged from 69 to 71 all day with winds 0 to about 12 MPH out of the NW. In a long day, I averaged 4 cats/hour but had 7 fish over 10 lbs and 4 of those were 30” or longer. All the fish were caught strolling FLAITs and cut WB between 0.5 and 1 MPH with about 1/3 of them taking thawed and the rest fresh cut WB. Best big fish day yet! Be forewarned: it was a long day and the full story is long!

FS: The last time I had fished for longer than 2 hours was 7/31 and I had gotten a PB cat over 16 pounds. September is usually my best month for larger fish and I was going a little crazy. I had signed up with a group to help clean up at Sandy Beach on Saturday morning and everyone I usually try to fish with was busy, so I hatched a plan.

I had read Lee’s report from a few days earlier saying the Lincoln channel still had over 1.5 FOW and I have gotten my little boat out in 1.2’. (THANKS LEE!). 

The forecast was for partly cloudy skies and SW wind under 10 MPH so I decided to go to Lincoln and catch some bait then head off and fish near the SF river mouth until 9. Then I would anchor in shallow water off of Sandy Beach and help with the cleanup till 11. After the cleanup I would head to the west side where I had gotten the last big cat and fish until 2 or 3 P.M. So much for forecasts and plans. Sometimes I think planning an exercise in futility.

I got to the ramp about 5:45 with lots of darkness and nobody else around. 15 minutes of tossing spinners and fly and bobber rigs told me the whites weren’t there yet either. Since I have often run into schools of whites while catfishing in the area I was planning to hit first, I went ahead and lunched, parked the truck and started out. As I backed the boat off the ramp I knew something was wrong. I quickly realized there was water in the boat, I had left out the plug! What a way to start the day.

I whipped around and put the nose of the boat back up on the ramp, glad that nobody was there to see me messing up. I got almost to my car when another boat pulled up between me and the ramp. I waved them down and made sure they knew that my boat was sitting on the ramp slowly filling with water.

They had room to launch on the south side of the ramp and I had room to back in on the north side. I got the boat on the trailer and 20 minute later the water was all out. Everything on the floor was soaked, but no real harm was done. During that 20 minutes I still couldn’t entice a white to bite, but they were starting to dimple the surface chasing midges. Dragging a spinner as I eased out between the dikes resulted in one solid hit, but it didn’t hook up. Halfway out of the channel it started to rain.

When I got to the lake the scenario was almost as bad as the launch. Instead of weak southerly or easterly the wind was solidly NW, no whitecaps but too rough to pound my way quickly over to the river. I started that way at 6 MPH and hoped it would lighten as the night transitioned to day.

20 minutes later it was fully light, overcast and the winds remained stubbornly NW. Since I was going so slow, I decided to just drop the cat gear and in stroll toward the river mouth. Maybe fate had put me here and I was going to find some big fish.

An hour later the wind remained unchanged and I had 2 cats at 26” to keep the skunk away. By 8:00 I still had only those two and I was supposed to be at Sandy Beach in an hour so I picked up the gear and motored over about a half mile north of the beach. I still planned to anchor and help out at 9.

Ten minutes after I started fishing my trolling motor remote suddenly said “motor not found.” The next 45 minutes saw me changing the batteries only to see the same message every 3 to 5 minutes. When that didn’t fix the problem, I turned on my i-pilot smartphone app. It said it was linked and the motor had power but it wouldn’t control it, and the NW wind was getting stronger.

My last attempt to repair the trolling motor was to pull the plug out of the gunwale and see if the connection was bad. No easy task with the boat tossing around in the bumpy waster. I tossed out and anchor but the boat still drifted. I let out a bunch more rope and it finally caught. When I touched the receptacle, it was hot. I had been running the motor wide open in the wind, but is still felt too hot. Inside I found some electrical tape adhesive melted into the wire. I should have used heat shrink! I cut off an inch cleaned everything up and put it back together.

That problem was solved, but now I had another. It was 9:15 A.M and in a stout NW wind and 1.5 foot waves I couldn’t put my boat on Sandy Beach without risking it being pushed so far aground that I wouldn’t be able to get it un-stuck. I could see the group assembled on the beach for the cleanup, but I couldn’t get there. All I could do was stay in the area and hope the wind died down. It did, about 15 minutes after the group had picked up and left.

So far I was minus 1 out of 3 on my plan. While I was repairing the electric, Julie called. She had gotten my text about the first 2 fish and wanted to know how I was doing. She heard the wind, the low fish count, the broken motor story and my suspicion that I wasn’t going to make to the clean-up and said: “Maybe this is telling you that you should just come home.” I told her I would give it another hour because it still felt like a good day for big fish.

The next cat came at 11:34, almost 3 hours and another passing rain squall after the last one. It had been a rough morning, but that fish was 29” and over 10 pounds, just long enough to give me a ½” bump in the contest and my hopes began to rise.

The next hour brought lighter winds and 3 more cats, one of which was a fat 30” that weighed 12 pounds. This is what I had stayed out there for!

Around   12:30 the winds were picking up again. I could no longer troll into them with the electric so I started pulling the gear and making 1 mile runs into the wind, then strolling back with wind. I had to put in a wind sock to keep the speed low enough, but I was getting 2 to 4 nice cats each run so I kept at it.

During one run I noticed that the mountains to the west had disappeared. I figured the increased winds meant more rain was coming and the 3rd rain of the morning was going to be a soaker. Just as it really started to pour things got crazy. I had hooked a heavy cat and gotten it close to the boat when I saw that it had tangled with the other line. The weight, hooks and FLAT were wrapped around the line about 10’ above the fish. It felt like the best of the day. I guess with the pouring rain I got silly. It looked like I could just pull on the empty line and it would unwrap and be out of the way to land the fish. I grabbed it with one hand and started to pull but instead of unwrapping it tightened around the other line. I realized too late what was happening, the fish swapped ends and I felt the line holding it break. “No!!! “You knucklehead, you could have landed the fish with the tangle in place. What were you thinking?”  Obviously I wasn’t!

As I stood there, dazed, in the pouring rain thinking of sayings about spilled milk and water under the bridge my phone rang. It was Julie checking in on me. From our last talk she knew the wind had been blowing and the fishing had been slow. When she heard the rain and that I was getting soaked she said: “If the rain is that bad why don’t quit and come home?” I told her I had 3 reasons: first, that I could again see the mountains to the west, so the rain would stop soon. Second, I had 2 bump fish already and just broken off a bigger one. Third, it just felt like a day not to give up. I didn’t say it, but I recall thinking, “Sometimes you just have to persevere when things get tuff.” At least it was warm enough that I could handle being damp around the edges.

I got 2 lines back in the water and kept at it.

For the next couple of hours the fishing was steady and the size continued to be good. I got several more fish, including another one at 29, but I didn’t need it for the contest. A little after 2 P.M. the wind was dying and the sun was shining through a large break in the clouds. I had worked really hard in the morning to get fresh bait and found nothing and suddenly I got 2 whites in 3 minutes. Finally, fresh bait! I quickly butchered one and changed out one of the baits. I wanted to see if it helped so I left one rod on thawed chunks.

The next 3 fish came in just over 30 minutes and all on fresh WB. I switched over the other rod and for the rest of the trip the fish came about 5 or 6 an hour. I don’t know if it was the improved weather, the fresh bait or both.

A little after 4 (I had packed enough food and water to stay all day, just in case) I had on a cat that turned out to be about 27”. Just before I got it in the net the other rod bent hard and the drag started complaining. Not a brutal long run, but several slow determined ones. “That could be a good one,” I thought and hurried the first fish into the net and back into the lake.

The second fish was clearly heavy and strong, but didn’t make any long runs like the big one last month. I thought I might get redemption for the one I broke off, but it seemed to the come to the boat a little too easily. Once it got to the boat though it just stayed down. After several minutes it finally came to the surface. I didn’t get a good look at it in the water but when I saw the head in the net I was sure it should go 30”. As I reached in with the gripper I saw how bowed it was in the net and thought: WOW, maybe over 30. On the board it was 31.5 and I was really excited! 

It took a lot of tries to get good pictures because it was really close and I didn’t want to mess it up. The fish flopped and ruined another picture and just as I started to get frustrated Julie called again. I told her what was happening with all failed picture attempts and then other rod hooked up. “I’ll let you go, so you can deal with all your fish,” she said and hung up. The second fish was a little over 28”. Clearly I had lucked onto a school of larger fish. The 31.5 weighed in at 13 lbs.

After the marathon photo/flopping session the fishing continued good and just 30minutes later I had on another one with shoulders. This one also fought differently, no real runs, just weight and determination to stay on the bottom. As it got near the boat it reminded me of one I had caught back in May. It was just over 5 lbs, but had wrapped the line around it’s top spine and was really difficult to move. I had been really disappointed when I saw it. Today’s fish just felt the same way, very heavy and not much movement.  I remember thinking: “I hope this one is anything near how it feels and not just tangled.” When I finally saw it I got excited. It was also just over 13 lbs, but measured a little shorter at 31”.

What a day it was turning out to be, I had now landed 2 at 29, 1 at 30, 1 at 31 and 1 at 31.5 inches!

Julie called again and asked what time I was coming home. I told her days like this are very uncommon and I wanted to stay until about 7:30, that way I could get in as much time with this school as possible and get to the ramp before dark. She wasn’t happy, be she said to stay.

The fishing continued good for the last 3 hours. Solid fish coming every 10 - 15 minutes. I didn’t get any more bump fish, but one more did break 30”. I hooked one at 7:25 and when I netted it I cleaned off the bait and put the rod away but before I could get to the second rod to pull it, I got a bonus. That fish was photographed at 7:35 which ended a long, wild, weird, wonderful day. I had brought the video camera, but with all the rain early I never set it up and just took still pics of all the fish.

I met a nice guy at the ramp at about 8 P.M. and he asked how I had done. He’d been fishing off the end of the north dike and found some white bass but no cats. “I really hate to tell you,” I said “That good or that bad?” he asked. “Best big fish day I ever had,” I told him.

I never got to fish where I had planned to. I had to wade through a lot in the early part of the day, but perseverance definitely paid off.



[Image: Stormy-morning.jpg] [Image: Second-Rain.jpg] [Image: Rainbow-1.jpg] [Image: 29.jpg] [Image: 30-no-29.jpg] [Image: Real-30.jpg] [Image: 31-5.jpg] [Image: 31.jpg] [Image: Late-30.jpg] [Image: Evening-Smile.jpg]
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#2
What a day. Congrats. Gona make some whisker chasers jealous with that post (me) Wink
Remember: keep the lid on the worms, share your jerky, and stop by to say hi to Cookie and the Cowboy-Pirate crew
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#3
Wow!  Congrats!  Very jealous.
Reply
#4
(09-13-2021, 07:30 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: Wow!  Congrats!  Very jealous.

Thanks, hope you get some more good ones!

(09-13-2021, 07:06 PM)Cowboypirate Wrote: What a day. Congrats. Gona make some whisker chasers jealous with that post (me) Wink

Thanks, I get excited when I read your and others success. I hope sometimes mine work the same.
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#5
Well done Jim, sounds like a great and productive day. Sure wish we had more water for launching. I'm planning to try one more boat launch in the next day or so. I'm hoping the electric motor will let me wiggle out the channel without too much trouble.

I fished this a.m. at the Knolls in my kayak. Arrived half hour before daylight and had an easy launch. Had to paddle out almost a hundred yards to find water deeper than two feet. Fished mostly in 4-5 fow with fresh wb. Fishing was slow. Finally caught a tweenincher, baited up again and caught a nice 30.5 incher. Hopes were high but suddenly the wind was too so I had to fight back to my truck in rolling waves. Got loaded up and started up toward the highway just as the water went dead calm again. That's UL, conditions can change fast.

Enyhow, good to hear of your success. I think that makes you the top catter in the contest?? Well deserved.... but don't get to comfortable there, I'm comin' after ya. Big Grin

Tight lines.
Lynn aka BLK
Reply
#6
(09-13-2021, 05:42 PM)Piscophilic Wrote: ES: I launched at Lincoln on 9/11 before daylight and fished until just after 7:30 P.M. Fishing was tougher and slower in the wind and rain, but the payoff was great. Water in the channel was between 1.5 and 1.8’ and I hit the skeg on the way in, even with the motor trimmed up. Water temps ranged from 69 to 71 all day with winds 0 to about 12 MPH out of the NW. In a long day, I averaged 4 cats/hour but had 7 fish over 10 lbs and 4 of those were 30” or longer. All the fish were caught strolling FLAITs and cut WB between 0.5 and 1 MPH with about 1/3 of them taking thawed and the rest fresh cut WB. Best big fish day yet! Be forewarned: it was a long day and the full story is long!

FS: The last time I had fished for longer than 2 hours was 7/31 and I had gotten a PB cat over 16 pounds. September is usually my best month for larger fish and I was going a little crazy. I had signed up with a group to help clean up at Sandy Beach on Saturday morning and everyone I usually try to fish with was busy, so I hatched a plan.

I had read Lee’s report from a few days earlier saying the Lincoln channel still had over 1.5 FOW and I have gotten my little boat out in 1.2’. (THANKS LEE!). 

The forecast was for partly cloudy skies and SW wind under 10 MPH so I decided to go to Lincoln and catch some bait then head off and fish near the SF river mouth until 9. Then I would anchor in shallow water off of Sandy Beach and help with the cleanup till 11. After the cleanup I would head to the west side where I had gotten the last big cat and fish until 2 or 3 P.M. So much for forecasts and plans. Sometimes I think planning an exercise in futility.

I got to the ramp about 5:45 with lots of darkness and nobody else around. 15 minutes of tossing spinners and fly and bobber rigs told me the whites weren’t there yet either. Since I have often run into schools of whites while catfishing in the area I was planning to hit first, I went ahead and lunched, parked the truck and started out. As I backed the boat off the ramp I knew something was wrong. I quickly realized there was water in the boat, I had left out the plug! What a way to start the day.

I whipped around and put the nose of the boat back up on the ramp, glad that nobody was there to see me messing up. I got almost to my car when another boat pulled up between me and the ramp. I waved them down and made sure they knew that my boat was sitting on the ramp slowly filling with water.

They had room to launch on the south side of the ramp and I had room to back in on the north side. I got the boat on the trailer and 20 minute later the water was all out. Everything on the floor was soaked, but no real harm was done. During that 20 minutes I still couldn’t entice a white to bite, but they were starting to dimple the surface chasing midges. Dragging a spinner as I eased out between the dikes resulted in one solid hit, but it didn’t hook up. Halfway out of the channel it started to rain.

When I got to the lake the scenario was almost as bad as the launch. Instead of weak southerly or easterly the wind was solidly NW, no whitecaps but too rough to pound my way quickly over to the river. I started that way at 6 MPH and hoped it would lighten as the night transitioned to day.

20 minutes later it was fully light, overcast and the winds remained stubbornly NW. Since I was going so slow, I decided to just drop the cat gear and in stroll toward the river mouth. Maybe fate had put me here and I was going to find some big fish.

An hour later the wind remained unchanged and I had 2 cats at 26” to keep the skunk away. By 8:00 I still had only those two and I was supposed to be at Sandy Beach in an hour so I picked up the gear and motored over about a half mile north of the beach. I still planned to anchor and help out at 9.

Ten minutes after I started fishing my trolling motor remote suddenly said “motor not found.” The next 45 minutes saw me changing the batteries only to see the same message every 3 to 5 minutes. When that didn’t fix the problem, I turned on my i-pilot smartphone app. It said it was linked and the motor had power but it wouldn’t control it, and the NW wind was getting stronger.

My last attempt to repair the trolling motor was to pull the plug out of the gunwale and see if the connection was bad. No easy task with the boat tossing around in the bumpy waster. I tossed out and anchor but the boat still drifted. I let out a bunch more rope and it finally caught. When I touched the receptacle, it was hot. I had been running the motor wide open in the wind, but is still felt too hot. Inside I found some electrical tape adhesive melted into the wire. I should have used heat shrink! I cut off an inch cleaned everything up and put it back together.

That problem was solved, but now I had another. It was 9:15 A.M and in a stout NW wind and 1.5 foot waves I couldn’t put my boat on Sandy Beach without risking it being pushed so far aground that I wouldn’t be able to get it un-stuck. I could see the group assembled on the beach for the cleanup, but I couldn’t get there. All I could do was stay in the area and hope the wind died down. It did, about 15 minutes after the group had picked up and left.

So far I was minus 1 out of 3 on my plan. While I was repairing the electric, Julie called. She had gotten my text about the first 2 fish and wanted to know how I was doing. She heard the wind, the low fish count, the broken motor story and my suspicion that I wasn’t going to make to the clean-up and said: “Maybe this is telling you that you should just come home.” I told her I would give it another hour because it still felt like a good day for big fish.

The next cat came at 11:34, almost 3 hours and another passing rain squall after the last one. It had been a rough morning, but that fish was 29” and over 10 pounds, just long enough to give me a ½” bump in the contest and my hopes began to rise.

The next hour brought lighter winds and 3 more cats, one of which was a fat 30” that weighed 12 pounds. This is what I had stayed out there for!

Around   12:30 the winds were picking up again. I could no longer troll into them with the electric so I started pulling the gear and making 1 mile runs into the wind, then strolling back with wind. I had to put in a wind sock to keep the speed low enough, but I was getting 2 to 4 nice cats each run so I kept at it.

During one run I noticed that the mountains to the west had disappeared. I figured the increased winds meant more rain was coming and the 3rd rain of the morning was going to be a soaker. Just as it really started to pour things got crazy. I had hooked a heavy cat and gotten it close to the boat when I saw that it had tangled with the other line. The weight, hooks and FLAT were wrapped around the line about 10’ above the fish. It felt like the best of the day. I guess with the pouring rain I got silly. It looked like I could just pull on the empty line and it would unwrap and be out of the way to land the fish. I grabbed it with one hand and started to pull but instead of unwrapping it tightened around the other line. I realized too late what was happening, the fish swapped ends and I felt the line holding it break. “No!!! “You knucklehead, you could have landed the fish with the tangle in place. What were you thinking?”  Obviously I wasn’t!

As I stood there, dazed, in the pouring rain thinking of sayings about spilled milk and water under the bridge my phone rang. It was Julie checking in on me. From our last talk she knew the wind had been blowing and the fishing had been slow. When she heard the rain and that I was getting soaked she said: “If the rain is that bad why don’t quit and come home?” I told her I had 3 reasons: first, that I could again see the mountains to the west, so the rain would stop soon. Second, I had 2 bump fish already and just broken off a bigger one. Third, it just felt like a day not to give up. I didn’t say it, but I recall thinking, “Sometimes you just have to persevere when things get tuff.” At least it was warm enough that I could handle being damp around the edges.

I got 2 lines back in the water and kept at it.

For the next couple of hours the fishing was steady and the size continued to be good. I got several more fish, including another one at 29, but I didn’t need it for the contest. A little after 2 P.M. the wind was dying and the sun was shining through a large break in the clouds. I had worked really hard in the morning to get fresh bait and found nothing and suddenly I got 2 whites in 3 minutes. Finally, fresh bait! I quickly butchered one and changed out one of the baits. I wanted to see if it helped so I left one rod on thawed chunks.

The next 3 fish came in just over 30 minutes and all on fresh WB. I switched over the other rod and for the rest of the trip the fish came about 5 or 6 an hour. I don’t know if it was the improved weather, the fresh bait or both.

A little after 4 (I had packed enough food and water to stay all day, just in case) I had on a cat that turned out to be about 27”. Just before I got it in the net the other rod bent hard and the drag started complaining. Not a brutal long run, but several slow determined ones. “That could be a good one,” I thought and hurried the first fish into the net and back into the lake.

The second fish was clearly heavy and strong, but didn’t make any long runs like the big one last month. I thought I might get redemption for the one I broke off, but it seemed to the come to the boat a little too easily. Once it got to the boat though it just stayed down. After several minutes it finally came to the surface. I didn’t get a good look at it in the water but when I saw the head in the net I was sure it should go 30”. As I reached in with the gripper I saw how bowed it was in the net and thought: WOW, maybe over 30. On the board it was 31.5 and I was really excited! 

It took a lot of tries to get good pictures because it was really close and I didn’t want to mess it up. The fish flopped and ruined another picture and just as I started to get frustrated Julie called again. I told her what was happening with all failed picture attempts and then other rod hooked up. “I’ll let you go, so you can deal with all your fish,” she said and hung up. The second fish was a little over 28”. Clearly I had lucked onto a school of larger fish. The 31.5 weighed in at 13 lbs.

After the marathon photo/flopping session the fishing continued good and just 30minutes later I had on another one with shoulders. This one also fought differently, no real runs, just weight and determination to stay on the bottom. As it got near the boat it reminded me of one I had caught back in May. It was just over 5 lbs, but had wrapped the line around it’s top spine and was really difficult to move. I had been really disappointed when I saw it. Today’s fish just felt the same way, very heavy and not much movement.  I remember thinking: “I hope this one is anything near how it feels and not just tangled.” When I finally saw it I got excited. It was also just over 13 lbs, but measured a little shorter at 31”.

What a day it was turning out to be, I had now landed 2 at 29, 1 at 30, 1 at 31 and 1 at 31.5 inches!

Julie called again and asked what time I was coming home. I told her days like this are very uncommon and I wanted to stay until about 7:30, that way I could get in as much time with this school as possible and get to the ramp before dark. She wasn’t happy, be she said to stay.

The fishing continued good for the last 3 hours. Solid fish coming every 10 - 15 minutes. I didn’t get any more bump fish, but one more did break 30”. I hooked one at 7:25 and when I netted it I cleaned off the bait and put the rod away but before I could get to the second rod to pull it, I got a bonus. That fish was photographed at 7:35 which ended a long, wild, weird, wonderful day. I had brought the video camera, but with all the rain early I never set it up and just took still pics of all the fish.

I met a nice guy at the ramp at about 8 P.M. and he asked how I had done. He’d been fishing off the end of the north dike and found some white bass but no cats. “I really hate to tell you,” I said “That good or that bad?” he asked. “Best big fish day I ever had,” I told him.

I never got to fish where I had planned to. I had to wade through a lot in the early part of the day, but perseverance definitely paid off.



[Image: Stormy-morning.jpg] [Image: Second-Rain.jpg] [Image: Rainbow-1.jpg] [Image: 29.jpg] [Image: 30-no-29.jpg] [Image: Real-30.jpg] [Image: 31-5.jpg] [Image: 31.jpg] [Image: Late-30.jpg] [Image: Evening-Smile.jpg]

Thats a long fishing day for sure. last time I was there I hit a rock coming in at the mouth of the channel and broke the shear pin on the minkota. was my own fault cause I wasnt careful. Its fixed so I will give it another try on Friday  or maybe launch at Mulberry. Glad you caught fish.
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#7
(09-13-2021, 09:42 PM)Boatloadakids Wrote: Well done Jim, sounds like a great and productive day. Sure wish we had more water for launching. I'm planning to try one more boat launch in the next day or so. I'm hoping the electric motor will let me wiggle out the channel without too much trouble.

I fished this a.m. at the Knolls in my kayak. Arrived half hour before daylight and had an easy launch. Had to paddle out almost a hundred yards to find water deeper than two feet. Fished mostly in 4-5 fow with fresh wb. Fishing was slow. Finally caught a tweenincher, baited up again and caught a nice 30.5 incher. Hopes were high but suddenly the wind was too so I had to fight back to my truck in rolling waves. Got loaded up and started up toward the highway just as the water went dead calm again. That's UL, conditions can change fast.

Enyhow, good to hear of your success. I think that makes you the top catter in the contest?? Well deserved.... but don't get to comfortable there, I'm comin' after ya. Big Grin

Tight lines.
Lynn aka BLK
Thanks for your kind words and report Lynn! Yes, water conditions can sure change fast out there! I'm looking forward to you catching up to me, but I'll still do my best to keep up there! Don't give up on launching your boat out of Provo, if need be. There are good spots for big cats closer to that ramp as well. A few years back Ben got 3 over 30 in one day between the provo ramp and the inlet of powell slough.

(09-13-2021, 10:07 PM)lee! Wrote:
(09-13-2021, 05:42 PM)Piscophilic Wrote: ES: I launched at Lincoln on 9/11 before daylight and fished until just after 7:30 P.M. Fishing was tougher and slower in the wind and rain, but the payoff was great. Water in the channel was between 1.5 and 1.8’ and I hit the skeg on the way in, even with the motor trimmed up. Water temps ranged from 69 to 71 all day with winds 0 to about 12 MPH out of the NW. In a long day, I averaged 4 cats/hour but had 7 fish over 10 lbs and 4 of those were 30” or longer. All the fish were caught strolling FLAITs and cut WB between 0.5 and 1 MPH with about 1/3 of them taking thawed and the rest fresh cut WB. Best big fish day yet! Be forewarned: it was a long day and the full story is long!

FS: The last time I had fished for longer than 2 hours was 7/31 and I had gotten a PB cat over 16 pounds. September is usually my best month for larger fish and I was going a little crazy. I had signed up with a group to help clean up at Sandy Beach on Saturday morning and everyone I usually try to fish with was busy, so I hatched a plan.

I had read Lee’s report from a few days earlier saying the Lincoln channel still had over 1.5 FOW and I have gotten my little boat out in 1.2’. (THANKS LEE!). 

The forecast was for partly cloudy skies and SW wind under 10 MPH so I decided to go to Lincoln and catch some bait then head off and fish near the SF river mouth until 9. Then I would anchor in shallow water off of Sandy Beach and help with the cleanup till 11. After the cleanup I would head to the west side where I had gotten the last big cat and fish until 2 or 3 P.M. So much for forecasts and plans. Sometimes I think planning an exercise in futility.

I got to the ramp about 5:45 with lots of darkness and nobody else around. 15 minutes of tossing spinners and fly and bobber rigs told me the whites weren’t there yet either. Since I have often run into schools of whites while catfishing in the area I was planning to hit first, I went ahead and lunched, parked the truck and started out. As I backed the boat off the ramp I knew something was wrong. I quickly realized there was water in the boat, I had left out the plug! What a way to start the day.

I whipped around and put the nose of the boat back up on the ramp, glad that nobody was there to see me messing up. I got almost to my car when another boat pulled up between me and the ramp. I waved them down and made sure they knew that my boat was sitting on the ramp slowly filling with water.

They had room to launch on the south side of the ramp and I had room to back in on the north side. I got the boat on the trailer and 20 minute later the water was all out. Everything on the floor was soaked, but no real harm was done. During that 20 minutes I still couldn’t entice a white to bite, but they were starting to dimple the surface chasing midges. Dragging a spinner as I eased out between the dikes resulted in one solid hit, but it didn’t hook up. Halfway out of the channel it started to rain.

When I got to the lake the scenario was almost as bad as the launch. Instead of weak southerly or easterly the wind was solidly NW, no whitecaps but too rough to pound my way quickly over to the river. I started that way at 6 MPH and hoped it would lighten as the night transitioned to day.

20 minutes later it was fully light, overcast and the winds remained stubbornly NW. Since I was going so slow, I decided to just drop the cat gear and in stroll toward the river mouth. Maybe fate had put me here and I was going to find some big fish.

An hour later the wind remained unchanged and I had 2 cats at 26” to keep the skunk away. By 8:00 I still had only those two and I was supposed to be at Sandy Beach in an hour so I picked up the gear and motored over about a half mile north of the beach. I still planned to anchor and help out at 9.

Ten minutes after I started fishing my trolling motor remote suddenly said “motor not found.” The next 45 minutes saw me changing the batteries only to see the same message every 3 to 5 minutes. When that didn’t fix the problem, I turned on my i-pilot smartphone app. It said it was linked and the motor had power but it wouldn’t control it, and the NW wind was getting stronger.

My last attempt to repair the trolling motor was to pull the plug out of the gunwale and see if the connection was bad. No easy task with the boat tossing around in the bumpy waster. I tossed out and anchor but the boat still drifted. I let out a bunch more rope and it finally caught. When I touched the receptacle, it was hot. I had been running the motor wide open in the wind, but is still felt too hot. Inside I found some electrical tape adhesive melted into the wire. I should have used heat shrink! I cut off an inch cleaned everything up and put it back together.

That problem was solved, but now I had another. It was 9:15 A.M and in a stout NW wind and 1.5 foot waves I couldn’t put my boat on Sandy Beach without risking it being pushed so far aground that I wouldn’t be able to get it un-stuck. I could see the group assembled on the beach for the cleanup, but I couldn’t get there. All I could do was stay in the area and hope the wind died down. It did, about 15 minutes after the group had picked up and left.

So far I was minus 1 out of 3 on my plan. While I was repairing the electric, Julie called. She had gotten my text about the first 2 fish and wanted to know how I was doing. She heard the wind, the low fish count, the broken motor story and my suspicion that I wasn’t going to make to the clean-up and said: “Maybe this is telling you that you should just come home.” I told her I would give it another hour because it still felt like a good day for big fish.

The next cat came at 11:34, almost 3 hours and another passing rain squall after the last one. It had been a rough morning, but that fish was 29” and over 10 pounds, just long enough to give me a ½” bump in the contest and my hopes began to rise.

The next hour brought lighter winds and 3 more cats, one of which was a fat 30” that weighed 12 pounds. This is what I had stayed out there for!

Around   12:30 the winds were picking up again. I could no longer troll into them with the electric so I started pulling the gear and making 1 mile runs into the wind, then strolling back with wind. I had to put in a wind sock to keep the speed low enough, but I was getting 2 to 4 nice cats each run so I kept at it.

During one run I noticed that the mountains to the west had disappeared. I figured the increased winds meant more rain was coming and the 3rd rain of the morning was going to be a soaker. Just as it really started to pour things got crazy. I had hooked a heavy cat and gotten it close to the boat when I saw that it had tangled with the other line. The weight, hooks and FLAT were wrapped around the line about 10’ above the fish. It felt like the best of the day. I guess with the pouring rain I got silly. It looked like I could just pull on the empty line and it would unwrap and be out of the way to land the fish. I grabbed it with one hand and started to pull but instead of unwrapping it tightened around the other line. I realized too late what was happening, the fish swapped ends and I felt the line holding it break. “No!!! “You knucklehead, you could have landed the fish with the tangle in place. What were you thinking?”  Obviously I wasn’t!

As I stood there, dazed, in the pouring rain thinking of sayings about spilled milk and water under the bridge my phone rang. It was Julie checking in on me. From our last talk she knew the wind had been blowing and the fishing had been slow. When she heard the rain and that I was getting soaked she said: “If the rain is that bad why don’t quit and come home?” I told her I had 3 reasons: first, that I could again see the mountains to the west, so the rain would stop soon. Second, I had 2 bump fish already and just broken off a bigger one. Third, it just felt like a day not to give up. I didn’t say it, but I recall thinking, “Sometimes you just have to persevere when things get tuff.” At least it was warm enough that I could handle being damp around the edges.

I got 2 lines back in the water and kept at it.

For the next couple of hours the fishing was steady and the size continued to be good. I got several more fish, including another one at 29, but I didn’t need it for the contest. A little after 2 P.M. the wind was dying and the sun was shining through a large break in the clouds. I had worked really hard in the morning to get fresh bait and found nothing and suddenly I got 2 whites in 3 minutes. Finally, fresh bait! I quickly butchered one and changed out one of the baits. I wanted to see if it helped so I left one rod on thawed chunks.

The next 3 fish came in just over 30 minutes and all on fresh WB. I switched over the other rod and for the rest of the trip the fish came about 5 or 6 an hour. I don’t know if it was the improved weather, the fresh bait or both.

A little after 4 (I had packed enough food and water to stay all day, just in case) I had on a cat that turned out to be about 27”. Just before I got it in the net the other rod bent hard and the drag started complaining. Not a brutal long run, but several slow determined ones. “That could be a good one,” I thought and hurried the first fish into the net and back into the lake.

The second fish was clearly heavy and strong, but didn’t make any long runs like the big one last month. I thought I might get redemption for the one I broke off, but it seemed to the come to the boat a little too easily. Once it got to the boat though it just stayed down. After several minutes it finally came to the surface. I didn’t get a good look at it in the water but when I saw the head in the net I was sure it should go 30”. As I reached in with the gripper I saw how bowed it was in the net and thought: WOW, maybe over 30. On the board it was 31.5 and I was really excited! 

It took a lot of tries to get good pictures because it was really close and I didn’t want to mess it up. The fish flopped and ruined another picture and just as I started to get frustrated Julie called again. I told her what was happening with all failed picture attempts and then other rod hooked up. “I’ll let you go, so you can deal with all your fish,” she said and hung up. The second fish was a little over 28”. Clearly I had lucked onto a school of larger fish. The 31.5 weighed in at 13 lbs.

After the marathon photo/flopping session the fishing continued good and just 30minutes later I had on another one with shoulders. This one also fought differently, no real runs, just weight and determination to stay on the bottom. As it got near the boat it reminded me of one I had caught back in May. It was just over 5 lbs, but had wrapped the line around it’s top spine and was really difficult to move. I had been really disappointed when I saw it. Today’s fish just felt the same way, very heavy and not much movement.  I remember thinking: “I hope this one is anything near how it feels and not just tangled.” When I finally saw it I got excited. It was also just over 13 lbs, but measured a little shorter at 31”.

What a day it was turning out to be, I had now landed 2 at 29, 1 at 30, 1 at 31 and 1 at 31.5 inches!

Julie called again and asked what time I was coming home. I told her days like this are very uncommon and I wanted to stay until about 7:30, that way I could get in as much time with this school as possible and get to the ramp before dark. She wasn’t happy, be she said to stay.

The fishing continued good for the last 3 hours. Solid fish coming every 10 - 15 minutes. I didn’t get any more bump fish, but one more did break 30”. I hooked one at 7:25 and when I netted it I cleaned off the bait and put the rod away but before I could get to the second rod to pull it, I got a bonus. That fish was photographed at 7:35 which ended a long, wild, weird, wonderful day. I had brought the video camera, but with all the rain early I never set it up and just took still pics of all the fish.

I met a nice guy at the ramp at about 8 P.M. and he asked how I had done. He’d been fishing off the end of the north dike and found some white bass but no cats. “I really hate to tell you,” I said “That good or that bad?” he asked. “Best big fish day I ever had,” I told him.

I never got to fish where I had planned to. I had to wade through a lot in the early part of the day, but perseverance definitely paid off.



[Image: Stormy-morning.jpg] [Image: Second-Rain.jpg] [Image: Rainbow-1.jpg] [Image: 29.jpg] [Image: 30-no-29.jpg] [Image: Real-30.jpg] [Image: 31-5.jpg] [Image: 31.jpg] [Image: Late-30.jpg] [Image: Evening-Smile.jpg]

Thats a long fishing day for sure. last time I was there I hit a rock coming in at the mouth of the channel and broke the shear pin on the minkota. was my own fault cause I wasnt careful. Its fixed so I will give it another try on Friday  or maybe launch at Mulberry. Glad you caught fish.

I hope you have a blast on Friday! There is a shallow spot about halfway down the Lincoln channel, but it shouldn't be a problem for an electric like yours.
Reply
#8
You sure make it hard on a guy. I might concede!

Thanks for your report, it sounds like another day to add to your memoirs

Good for you Jim. You do know I'm jealous

rj?
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#9
(09-14-2021, 02:51 AM)r2u2 Wrote: You sure make it hard on a guy. I might concede!

Thanks for your report, it sounds like another day to add to your memoirs

Good for you Jim. You do know I'm jealous

rj?

Thanks Richard! I suspect several more good fish will come in from you and Violet before it's over.
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#10
Oh, you guys make me so jealous, and happy for you. The doc hasn't cleared me yet but I'm over my latest bout and hoping to get back out there anyway.
The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.


Reply
#11
Wish I could see all the photos you posted   Sad  

Did you post any of those to your contest thread ?
"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
    Or so it says on my license plate holder
                                 
Cool
Reply
#12
(09-14-2021, 05:58 PM)Tin-Can Wrote: Wish I could see all the photos you posted   Sad  

  Did you post any of those to your contest thread ?
Now you have me Confused Forest. I did post 3 pictures to my contest thread, and Jeff has already commented on them so I know they were there at one time. 

Are you unable to see the ones in this post? I'll look again at the contest.

(09-15-2021, 02:46 AM)Piscophilic Wrote:
(09-14-2021, 05:58 PM)Tin-Can Wrote: Wish I could see all the photos you posted   Sad  

  Did you post any of those to your contest thread ?
Now you have me Confused Forest. I did post 3 pictures to my contest thread, and Jeff has already commented on them so I know they were there at one time. 

Are you unable to see the ones in this post? I'll look again at the contest.

They are on my contest thread, you have to look at page 2. Thanks
Reply
#13
Jim that is a very good read. Even at 5 in the morning it kept me awake and wanting more lol. You mentioned briefly that you hit your skeg coming in the channel, any damage done? Definitely a roller coaster day with weather, fish, boat, you name it. I can't believe you were out there that long but ma'am it played of wtg...
I'm still dealing with house fire issues and boys baseball but if things go well I may make it out this Saturday. Fingers crossed.
Reply
#14
(09-15-2021, 02:46 AM)Piscophilic Wrote:
(09-14-2021, 05:58 PM)Tin-Can Wrote: Wish I could see all the photos you posted   Sad  

  Did you post any of those to your contest thread ?
Now you have me Confused Forest. I did post 3 pictures to my contest thread, and Jeff has already commented on them so I know they were there at one time. 

Are you unable to see the ones in this post? I'll look again at the contest.

(09-15-2021, 02:46 AM)Piscophilic Wrote:
(09-14-2021, 05:58 PM)Tin-Can Wrote: Wish I could see all the photos you posted   Sad  

  Did you post any of those to your contest thread ?
Now you have me Confused Forest. I did post 3 pictures to my contest thread, and Jeff has already commented on them so I know they were there at one time. 

Are you unable to see the ones in this post? I'll look again at the contest.

They are on my contest thread, you have to look at page 2. Thanks

   OK, Jim, I see them. I was thinking you had different ones from a different day. I've already posted those from the 11th.  And now I can see all photos again. Not sure what or why this happened to me twice. Photo opening keeps going bonkers.
"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
    Or so it says on my license plate holder
                                 
Cool
Reply
#15
(09-15-2021, 11:14 AM)Mooseman75 Wrote: Jim that is a very good read. Even at 5 in the morning it kept me awake and wanting more lol. You mentioned briefly that you hit your skeg coming in the channel, any damage done? Definitely a roller coaster day with weather, fish, boat, you name it. I can't believe you were out there that long but ma'am it played of wtg...
I'm still dealing with house fire issues and boys baseball but if things go well I may make it out this Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Thanks Justin! I didn't even talk aobut my new Hook2 gonig on the fritz Sad . At least it is still under warranty Smile

I hope things work out for you this weekend. This is certainly prime time for some good cats.
Reply
#16
(09-15-2021, 07:36 PM)Piscophilic Wrote:
(09-15-2021, 11:14 AM)Mooseman75 Wrote: Jim that is a very good read. Even at 5 in the morning it kept me awake and wanting more lol. You mentioned briefly that you hit your skeg coming in the channel, any damage done? Definitely a roller coaster day with weather, fish, boat, you name it. I can't believe you were out there that long but ma'am it played of wtg...
I'm still dealing with house fire issues and boys baseball but if things go well I may make it out this Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Thanks Justin! I didn't even talk aobut my new Hook2 gonig on the fritz Sad . At least it is still under warranty Smile

I hope things work out for you this weekend. This is certainly prime time for some good cats.
BTW, no damage, my boat is light and I was going really slow.
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