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TD, I snuck on to BFT today during lunch at work. It is obvious to me that you are as good writer as you are a fisherman. You do have a way with words my friend. We haven't actually met yet, but I know your tube and I launched at WB south once awhile back, and you were just below the dock fishin the ramp area each time a boat would agitate the water. Course, when I launched my little Tin Can, I didn't know you were there and was a bit startled to back off my trailer, clear the edge of the dock, and see you right there. Was just barely light, and it's a good thing I didn't power launch off the trailer like some of the big boat power squadron drivers do. Might have got you tangled up in my prop.
Anyway, keep fishin, and keep writin. Your posts are a real hoot. Good luck this year. Hope to run into ya somewhere (well not literally RUN into ya).[fishin]
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Wow that main lake is still cold! Well regardless it is walleye time soon no matter what haha. That temp reading is excellent news.
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thanks pat owe ya.,,..
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[#0000FF]Thanks fer the kindly words. Glad you like my "piscatorial prose". I enjoy your reports on Willard too. One of my favorite ponds as well. We will have to arrange a meetup sometime soon.
I kinda doubt that was me you almost "propped" at the south marina. I usually launch as far over to the north as possible and boogie out of the launch area pretty fast. I may start in the channel but if the fish are not there I am usually out in the main lake within a few minutes. About the only time I spend any time in the "basin" is during high water spring months...if the crappies are hanging around the far western shoreline of the ramp area.
Hope you get your boat and truck ready to rumble soon and that you can get out amongst 'em.
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[#0000FF]Once we get rid of the rest of that floating ice the lake will have a chance to jump up a few degrees. As I was moving around I kept watching the temperature changes on my sonar screen. It fluctuated several degrees within a few feet...depending on how close I was to floating ice.
I am sure you are having visions of walleyes dancing in your head these days. Got warm weather and a full moon coming up soon. Hoping we can remove a few of those toothy critters from that cold water.
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Glad to see you got out and scored a kitty. Dodgin ice cubes and wind changes can make it fun. I think fun might be a loose term here. Great report as usual.
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[#0000FF]Thanks, Bro.
Gonna try Lincoln Beach next week. Hope to find some willing finny critters down there too. But I think us fisherfolk are usually ready for the action before the fish are.
Let's hope the whities come back...in both numbers and size. Missed them last year. Got a few but not like during the good times.
Give me a shout when you are ready to hit it and we can do a meetup. That early warm weather messed up our planned ice outing.
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Yep gonna be an early spawn this year, just soooo warm. Timing is still tied to photoperiod though. Everything starts mid march even if a polar vortex drops snow at that point it won't matter much. I'm surprised the ice bergs have lasted that long on UL. It's been 50's for like 3 weeks it seems. And even 60's too. But yeah any day now. Walleyes never dance though haha. You get one thump per night if you're lucky in March and maybe up to 3 thumps in April.
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[#FF0000]"You get one thump per night if you're lucky in March and maybe up to 3 thumps in April."
[#0000FF]Sounds like a personal problem.[/#0000FF]
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Ah-HA! So THAT's why tubedude is always on the water at oh-dark-fifteen.
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That and other reasons.[  ]
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[quote TubeDude][#0000ff]Cats should always be skinned...
Some folks still stick to the old process of nailing the fishes' heads to a board and then cutting and peeling off the skin with a pair of pliers before cutting off the flesh. Takes more time and does not produce a better fillet.
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I thought that was the carp-prep method, seasoned, skinned, then toss the fish and eat the board.
Seen some skinned cats at Macey's grocery the other day. Little kits - maybe footlongers+, but skinned, cleaned and ready for the boiling pot.
Some of my Asian friends get mad at the notion of de-boning 'em. Like to chop steaks, or boil and cook 'em bones in - other fish too. Bones add flavor I'm old. Probably keep 'em moist too.
My attempts at making broth would concur, there's flavor to be savored. Though a long afternoon of boiling down one pot of smoked turkey carcasses, and another pot of Perch heads, bones and bits may have been a bit of overload. [shocked]
Nice you didn't get sand-berged, or ice-berged, AND found some finny-friends to keep you company. Maybe next time the "toofy" one's will come out and play.
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[#0000FF]A lot of folks prefer to skin smaller cats and cook them up whole. I used to do that a lot when I caught a bunch of small white catfish...in the Sacramento area. They are very good eating but they average less than a pound in that area. Not quite big enough to justify the filleting process.
I used to have a catfish skinning tool...made by some local guy in Sacramento. It was a pair of sturdy pincher pliers with a short triangular sharp cutter blade on one side. It was used by using the blade to slide through the skin around the head and then you gripped the skin with the pinchers and pulled it down over the tail. When you got good with it you could skin and gut a small cat in just a few seconds. The finish was to grip the spine behind the head and break/twist off the head and the guts would follow.
Since I have adopted electric fillet knives in my fish prep kit I now fillet even smaller cats and bullheads. Only takes a short time and the electric knife is very efficient in harvesting the maximum amount of fish flesh.
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TD, Loved that step by step you posted on how to filet a cat. That's how I've been fileting all my fish for many years. I've been using an electric filet knife for almost 10 years now. Can still do the smaller pan fish with a nice sharp, thin blade filet knife. Cutco Knifes are the best on the market. Made in USA, warranted forever, and sharpened for free. Your filet, clean, cook post for Cats was almost word for word how I was raised making those whiskered rascals ready for consumption. Fact, I still got several bags of frozen filets in the deep freeze from last year. Reading that post of yours made me hungry for deep fried any kind of fish, hush puppies, and coleslaw with lots of cold sweet tea. Photos are from last August days catch before, and after fileting.
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[cool]Pat, great report as always. I haven't fished much the past few years (shame on me!) so I'm not that up to date with "access" issues, etc. In one of your replies here about The Knolls, you mentioned that there isn't shoreline access there anymore, is that right? When did that happen? Was it because of all of the trash everywhere and abuse the land was receiving from the slobby fishermen?
Also, when are you going to fish Lincoln? That place has to be doing well about now for Walleye's and Spring kitties... I'm hoping to hit it in a couple of weeks hopefully according to my budget...
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[#0000FF]Hey Geoff, good to hear from you again. Hope things have stabilized in your life again...and that you can get back to the important things..like fishing.
Sometime during the fall of 2012, the landowners at the Knolls put up posted signs along both sides of Hwy 68 (Redwood Rd.)...closing access to the public. They had finally had enough of the trashing, vandalism and careless shooting. (See pics)
I immediately contacted the DWR folks in Springville and submitted some pics and observations. They made the effort to verify the owners involved (including the LDS church) and began negotiations for regaining at least limited access to the public. They are still working with the land owners and Utah County commissioners to come up with a plan that is acceptable to all concerned. But it is highly likely that it will be at least another year before we will be able to use that area again...if ever.
I am thinking about Lincoln Beach this week. So far the walleyes are still just "thinking about it" and although a few strays have been caught there has been no serious "run". There are always some good cats caught down there during the first weeks after ice off and usually some white bass. But the white bass had a bad year last year so it remains to be seen how they will be this year.
Water levels have been low the last two years and are about 2-3 feet from the high water mark right now. On a shallow lake like UL that can affect how the fish act and where they hang out. Every trip is a new trip...trying to find fish.
Do you still have that lead melting pot you need serviced? If you are not going to be making jigs anymore I might take some of that stuff off your hands...cash or trade.
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Thanks for the additional clarification, Pat. I think I might have gotten rid of that meting pot in my last move along with my lead because I didnt have any outside atorage and figurwd it might be hazardous to my health being inside. That said, I still have mu molds, paints, epoxies, dyes, etc. I do plan in making jigs again when I get my own house again.
Thanks for the good wishes. Things are definitely getting to a better place for me, so I will do a lot more fishing this year for sure.
I ice fished twice at the pumphouse and once at A.F. harbor this yr right at ice on. At A.F. in Dec, I got about 15 big gils, but the other species were tough to get that day. Went with CBR to the pumphouse in late Dec. He had a flasher and I didn't, so he out-fished me about 2 to 1. 30 fish to 15 fish (Note to self, get a Lowrance finder that also converts to a flasher...) We had a mixed bag of gils, crappie, whities and a couple skinny perch. I took a date there in late Jan., and little did I know it was the night after a full moon, so we only caught 3 whities. ARGH! We still had a blast though because the company was fantastic. I'll attach a couple pics from those outings...
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Made my maiden voyage down on the ol' Lake yesterday. Was slow and a bit chilly. But did manage this nice cat. 28 theoretical points for the south... ![[Image: happy.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/happy.gif)
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[#0000FF]That's a good start.
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