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Back in Action
#1
[cool][#0000ff]Been almost a month since my tube got wet. Lots of excuses but no good reasons.

Launched at Lindon just before 7 am today. Air temp 40, water temp 51. Gettin' there. Calm and clear. Supposed to be 10 mph winds. I love it when the weather guys get it wrong...the right way.[/#0000ff]

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[#0000ff]Spent a little time in the harbor. Didn't see much on sonar. Got a quick (and only) jump out of a silly largie that thought my walleye jig was meant for him. As soon as he realized his error he gave it back to me. How nice. Guestimated about 16".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Two missed munches around the rocks at the channel entrance. Thinking white bass but I can make them anything I wanna make them...since nobody else saw them neither. Coulda been tiger muskies. Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Tried some slow trolling with plastics on the way to the bubbleup. Marked an occasional fish on sonar but my offerings arrived at the bubbleup unmolested. And they remained pristine for a while after getting there. The buoys are in place but there was no water flow. And there were very few fishy marks on sonar. Tried finessing a couple of small groups but just got the upraised fins. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally found a small cluster of active white bass and got some love. They were hitting pretty fast so I figured I could easily bag enough for a couple of meals...for us and the sis in law. Nay...not so. I had caught maybe 15 to 20...keeping a half dozen in the basket...and the biters all went bye bye. That was it. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I worked up and down the buoy line and changed up jigs and tactics multiple times. No mas.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hokay. Let's fish for walleyes and catfish. Put out a line with a chub minnow on it and kept on pitching jigs with the second rod. Used larger plastics and different colors, trying to find some post spawn fish that might be actively feeding. Over an hour timespan I had two pop and drop attacks on the minnow. Inexperienced fish. Didn't know how to hang on.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had not had a whisper on larger plastics so I switched back to one of my new "tWinkle wobble" jigs that had been doing well on the whities. And, as I have so often pointed out, the best way to get a walleye is to fish for something else. As soon as I went back to chasin' whities I got a major munch on my little jig and the fight was on. I thought it was a big cat. It fought like crazy...not like a walleye...or the stereotype walleye anyway. It kept boring down and stripping line off the drag...and it turned me clear around in my tube a couple of times. As I finally got it up close enough to get a squint at it I was demazed to see that it was a nice wallie. Yeehaw.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It appeared to be either a healthy large male or a spawned out female. At 24" it could have been either...and either would be welcome as a dinner guest. I will release fatty females when they are ready to spawn...but after the deed is done they are fair game too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My CSI back at the sink proved it to be a spawned out female...with cleaned out ovaries...and a 6" crappie in its tummy. But it did not look like it lost much weight over the winter or during the spawn. It weighed a couple of ounces over 6# and was full of visceral fat. But I put her on a crash weight loss program...knife-o-section. Fillets are thick and firm. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Dragged minnows and pitched jigs all the way back to the harbor...and even for a ways inside. I could have gone home after catching the walleye at 9:30. Nothing else before I hit the ramp just after noon. Water temp had warmed up to almost 55 and air temp was almost 70. Gettin' there. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were about 3 or 4 boats that came to help me at the bubbleup...one even moving over the spot I hooked the walleye and dropping anchor there before I could return. The others were content to join me in a game of in-and-out-the- buoys as we looked for more fish. Lotsa fun but no results. One guy in one of the boats caught one whitie. Not lookin' to see it crowded tomorrow.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A couple of guys trailered their bass boat as I was finishing loading up my vehicle. They said they got a couple of largies in one of the harbors.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nice day, good play and some white fillet.[/#0000ff]
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#2
Great day, great report. Thanks.
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#3
[cool][#0000ff]Thanks yerself. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Won't be long now until those big mamas will be chompin' stuff along the brushy shoreline down at the Knolls. I'd like to introduce you to a few.[/#0000ff]
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#4
Awesome Td it's been a while since I have really fished and that is a wonderful walleye!
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#5
that looked like a lot of fun!
are there any free public access places around the Lindon area?
thanks
-dreaming of fishing
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#6
[cool][#0000ff]As a matter of fact Utah County has created a nice little free public access area just south of Lindon. There is parking across Vineyard Rd. and a wheelchair ramp down to the sandy park with several covered picnic pavillions. If you can trudge your tube down there it is easy to launch and go right out to the bubbleup.[/#0000ff]
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