10-30-2022, 06:21 PM
I made it our Friday and Saturday for about 4 hours each day (afternoon into evening), trying to get a 30" or longer catfish to help my score in the contest. With catchinon out of town, I had shore or canoe options available to me. So canoe it was.
I launched my canoe off the rocks near the big spring off Lincoln Point. It doesn't take long going north to get into deeper water (deeper meaning 5-6 feet). I also assumed that that area of lake may have seen less pressure the last couple of months due to low water at Lincoln Beach harbor (see pic).
Friday I paddled towards Bird Island and made it a little more than half way (see pic). I dragged a santee rig off one side and a spin-n-glo off the other side, both tipped with white bass chunks. Had one bite on the way out, no hook up. I was able to drift most of the way back and that constant slow motion seemed to do the trick as I caught a couple in the 22-23" range, then hooked a bigger fish. In the canoe with me it seemed like a monster, and really hoped it would meet or exceed 30". Not to be, as it ended up at 28.5". I had to start paddling soon after that to get off the lake for an evening activity, so no more bites. I caught two cats on my white with red spots spin-n-glo rig with noisemaker (small plastic bubble with split shot in it, see pic) and the other cat on a chartreuse spin-n-glo rig.
Saturday I launched about an hour later, but stayed until after sundown. This time I circled back to the northwest around the point and in the general direction of the Knolls, but not nearly that far. I caught my first fish about an hour in, a feisty 26" cat. I missed several bites before catching a 25-incher. I turned east and tried to drift but it was almost dead calm. I even tried jigging for a few I could see on my finder, had one bite, but didn't really have appropriate gear for jigging. So put both rods out with fresh white bass chunks. At a very slow drift, and with low expectations, my right side rod tried to exit the boat. Luckily I had it tethered. Surely, I thought, this is the target 30-incher! Meh, another 28.5" cat. All three cats came on the white spin-n-glo rig with noisemaker.
So I ended up with three cats each day, no bumpers for the contest, but it gave me a chance to troll with the canoe (and get a bit of a workout). Generally, I caught fish in deeper water (5-6 feet) and further from shore. The rocks on the bottom seem to extend some ways out, and I believe all fish I caught were beyond the rocks or at least where it was more sediment than rock. I did get hung up one time closer to shore and had to circle back to free my rig. I tried really hard to be consistently slow while paddling, but it was hard to maintain a smooth slow speed and direction. All fish were caught going 0.7 mph or slower (according to my speedometer app) and most came while drifting.
It was a great cat contest for me, as I was able to earlier get a 31.5" cat at Utah Lake off catchinon's boat and another 31.5" cat from shore up north. Most of my trips were with catchinon and I'm grateful he has a boat and invites me along. It's sure a lot easier than canoeing!
![[Image: IMG-0250.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/9wZfv9zf/IMG-0250.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-0248.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/Js8Jxrt8/IMG-0248.jpg)
![[Image: IMG-0211.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/kB3tMJQS/IMG-0211.jpg)
I launched my canoe off the rocks near the big spring off Lincoln Point. It doesn't take long going north to get into deeper water (deeper meaning 5-6 feet). I also assumed that that area of lake may have seen less pressure the last couple of months due to low water at Lincoln Beach harbor (see pic).
Friday I paddled towards Bird Island and made it a little more than half way (see pic). I dragged a santee rig off one side and a spin-n-glo off the other side, both tipped with white bass chunks. Had one bite on the way out, no hook up. I was able to drift most of the way back and that constant slow motion seemed to do the trick as I caught a couple in the 22-23" range, then hooked a bigger fish. In the canoe with me it seemed like a monster, and really hoped it would meet or exceed 30". Not to be, as it ended up at 28.5". I had to start paddling soon after that to get off the lake for an evening activity, so no more bites. I caught two cats on my white with red spots spin-n-glo rig with noisemaker (small plastic bubble with split shot in it, see pic) and the other cat on a chartreuse spin-n-glo rig.
Saturday I launched about an hour later, but stayed until after sundown. This time I circled back to the northwest around the point and in the general direction of the Knolls, but not nearly that far. I caught my first fish about an hour in, a feisty 26" cat. I missed several bites before catching a 25-incher. I turned east and tried to drift but it was almost dead calm. I even tried jigging for a few I could see on my finder, had one bite, but didn't really have appropriate gear for jigging. So put both rods out with fresh white bass chunks. At a very slow drift, and with low expectations, my right side rod tried to exit the boat. Luckily I had it tethered. Surely, I thought, this is the target 30-incher! Meh, another 28.5" cat. All three cats came on the white spin-n-glo rig with noisemaker.
So I ended up with three cats each day, no bumpers for the contest, but it gave me a chance to troll with the canoe (and get a bit of a workout). Generally, I caught fish in deeper water (5-6 feet) and further from shore. The rocks on the bottom seem to extend some ways out, and I believe all fish I caught were beyond the rocks or at least where it was more sediment than rock. I did get hung up one time closer to shore and had to circle back to free my rig. I tried really hard to be consistently slow while paddling, but it was hard to maintain a smooth slow speed and direction. All fish were caught going 0.7 mph or slower (according to my speedometer app) and most came while drifting.
It was a great cat contest for me, as I was able to earlier get a 31.5" cat at Utah Lake off catchinon's boat and another 31.5" cat from shore up north. Most of my trips were with catchinon and I'm grateful he has a boat and invites me along. It's sure a lot easier than canoeing!
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j.o.a.t.m.o.n.
jack of all tackle, master of none
j.o.a.t.m.o.n.
jack of all tackle, master of none
