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April Cattin' on Utah Lake
#1
[#0000ff][cool]Planned to hit Utah Lake...somewhere...on Thursday. But Mama Nature got "wind" of that plan and put a "damper" on it. Been doing that a lot lately.

Woke up early this morning and checked the latest forecrash. Lookin' semi good, with breezes out of the southerly zone. Just right for Lincoln Beach. Bein' it is in betwixt two fronts and after a lot of wind I wasn't really expecting a whole bunch. But I done okay for an old fat guy in a float tube.

Got away from the LB ramp about 7ish. Several boats launching about the same time. Played bumper tag with them on the way out the channel. Air temp 36 and water temp 48 in the main lake. Still TDC for kitties and a lot of the other stuff too.

Had less optimism about hitting the rocks for walleyes than maybe scoring a few kitties for the smoker by fishing the flats. Started by flinging a tandem plastic rig in a few spots...just in case. No walleyes and no whities. Did get to stretch my string on a toothless golden walleye...a dorsal diner. Kept it for future bait useage. Helping the Junies one carp at a time.

No love on lures at all. So I started dragging minnows and carp meat. Made big slow S turns from shallow (3') to deep (7'). About 8:15 I had a taker on the carp meat. Set the hook into a good smoking size channel cat. Skunk be gone.

The first cat...and just about all other biters...came from either side of 5' deep. Once I found the right zone I moved on down toward the mouth of Benjamin Slough...staying out in 5 feet of water. I had several more bites...some on minnows and some on carp meat. But they were cold and finicky after the unsettled weather. I missed several bites before adding my second cat to the basket.

After a long dry spell, I put a small white bass on one rod...from my frozen stash from last year. I scaled it and made a couple of slash marks in the side to release the love potion. Bingo. Caught three more cats in the next hour on wee whities.

The breeze had been off and on...and had switched around from zero to strong...east to south to sw...and then finally, at 10:30 it freshened up from the north. Almost instantly the water dropped down a couple of degrees from the 51 it had reached with the wind calm and the sun shining. And that was that for the catfish. I never got another pop all the way back to the ramp. I hate fishing in a north wind at Lincoln Beach.

Whenever I saw sonar marks that looked like white bass...or ?...I put up a bait rod and pitched plastics for a while on my second rod. I did manage a few small white bass but they were all skinny...anorexic.

Finished up with 5 nice kitties for the smoker and a carp to bring back (in pieces) for future trips. Got some good exercise and some good tugs. Poor TubeBabe. She has to live with the 80 degree temps down in Arizona this week while I get to enjoy our "Utah Spring".
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#2
It's time to get that smoker going! Not a bad start.
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#3
[#0000FF][cool]You betcha. Santy Claws brung me a new Masterbilt electric smoker for Christmas. Gonna introduce it to some kitty fillets. Got them preppin' today.

Do you have spring up there yet?
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#4
Water still seems a bit cool and with mama natures hissy fits right now I might wait a week to down to UL. Hopefully I can get out tues or wed somewhere.
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#5
Good looking basket of fish. I have been wanting to go chase a cat but I haven't had time yet to get it done. And Mother Nature needs some new meds. The wind has been nasty this year. Ron
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#6
Lucky!
I need to do watever you did to catch them cats!
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#7
[cool][#0000FF]I don't think one of you Florida wimps could take the cold water long enough to get 'er done. Takes two or three layers of fleece...plus neoprene waders. Even in the summer our water seldom gets warmer than your spring temps.

I've spent a bit of time on work assignments in the Ft. Lauderdale and Tamarac areas. Got in a lot of good fishing for the exotics in the canals. Have also hit the offshore action a bit.

You won't catch me tubing much down there. I don't cotton to cottonmouths and gators...or bull sharks in the inshore salt. That's what boats are for.
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#8
[#0000FF][cool]It has been an unsettled "spring" here too. Some call it "sprinter". Summer has been scheduled for a week in mid July.

I have an idea that you will get in plenty of good cat whackin' before the season is over.

Like your new craft and mods. Hope it treats you well.
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#9
Sorry I missed the Clustercarpage. Very nice report.
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#10
[#0000FF]Thanks. Thought you might have been able to have some fun with those golden bonefish.

Believe it or not, they even asked about you.

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#11
Awww, I miss my pretties....LOL Hopefully after Tuesday I will be back in action at 99%.
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