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[#0000FF]Fishin' buddy highndry played fish hookey from work today and we launched at Lindon about 6:30 ish. Air temp 50 and water temp 61 inside the harbor and 62 outside. Warmed to the underside of 65 by noon.
Got to the bubbleup and pitched some plastics. No love. Rigged a minnow to drag on the other rod while continuing with the plastic. Glenn and I both started getting catbites right off the bat. With the newly warming water temps the kitties were on the chew.
I had trouble getting in any casts with the plastics. As soon as the minnow settled it was pow and zing. I had my limit of smokers by a little after nine. Put up the bait rod and started fishing nuttin' but plastics. Oh yeah, I did fling some cranks. Got one white bass right outside the harbor, early but no other hits.
As I was hip hopping a tandem tube jig jig back in I felt a chomp and set the hook...almost directly under my tube in less than 5 feet of water. The fish had weight. I thought it was a cat...to be released because I already had my limit. So, I horsed it. Bad move. A nice walleye rolled on the surface, opened its mouth and gave me back my jig. Waaaaaah.
But that gave me confidence. I kept pitching jigs. Got a big ol' mudder to the top and he also gave me back my jig. Stupid fish...or SMART fish.
In earlier days I used to do quite well on walleyes post spawn in this area by fishing small jigs slowly behind my old round float tube. So, I rigged up and started working slowly back toward the harbor. Glenn was getting close to his limit of cats so I figured we could work around the harbor entrance for a while before going.
About halfway between the bubbleup and the harbor entrance my jigs encountered an obstacle. It turned out to be a 25 inch walleye. This one came in more slowly and crawled into my net like a nice fishy.
Had a couple more whacks on plastic before reaching the harbor. No hooksets. Inexperienced fish...or experienced. Didn't see much on sonar inside the harbor but it is only about 4 feet. Not realistic to expect to see much. But I did score a small crappie just before reaching the ramp.
Was surprised to see two new sets of docks sitting in the SW corner of the harbor. There are also some limited access gates still not installed. I'm guessing that Lindon will now have private summer boat docking with security gates to the docks.
Highndry finished up his limit of cats but made an offering to the catfish gods back on the ramp. He let one of them bounce up the lid on his cooler and flop back into the water. What a guy.
Met up with doggonefishin as we were packing up. Good to see him again. He had been bank trompin' and had caught a few crappies and small whities. Another bank tangler had caught a couple of channels and a grundle of mudders. And so it begins...if the lake keeps any water in it.
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Love that Walleye pic- looks like he inhaled your jig. What would you say the walleye population in that area around Lindon, (and UL in general) would be? I never did catch any of those back in the day, except one little baby and he didn't count.
The Cattin' summer season begins...they're starting to heat up in Cache Valley as well. Couple days ago I got a 25"er and today my buddy landed a 23". I'd like to see more close to 30" personally, but I'm not too picky.
Glad you got out. (AGAIN). Can you tell I'm jealous?
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Nice job Pat, looks like a much better day from the catching stand point. Nice report thanks. J
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[#0000FF]Utah Lake is full of walleyes. But full of food for them too...so anglers do not catch as many as when food is scarce.
I used to catch LOTS of walleyes. Some even on purpose. These days I usually don't catch them when I fish for them but do pretty well when fishing for white bass.
We didn't catch any cats over about 24 inches today. But we were fishing with fairly small minnows. Big minnows, small white bass or a big chunk of carp meat would have probably gotten us hooked into something bigger. I don't fish competitively and I don't care about catching the big cats anyway. They pull hard but so do carp.
Good luck in your efforts.
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Great looking mixed bag plus a 25" bonus fish....
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[#0000FF]Every fish is a bonus. But some are more bonusy than others. Almost had 2 but I'll settle for one.
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Friend of mine was out there too. Having a blast with the cats and the eyes from shore.
![[Image: BigWalleye_zps34f04268.jpg]](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f17/FlyGoddess/Big%20Fish/BigWalleye_zps34f04268.jpg)
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62 to 65 degrees!??? Okay.... I'm outa here!
See any carp activity? I need some bait.
BLK
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Carp remind me of reeling in a log. Too dumb to realize they've been caught (until they see you, and then they try to take off).
Cats on the other hand will do an 'about-face' and throw their shoulders into a nice run, immediately after they've been hooked. My biggest (I think 29" a few yrs back) was like reeling in a freight train, with multiple times of running with the line up and down the shoreline.
Fun times.
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Lava-- Right on about those cat fights. Strong fish. Another favorite defensive tactic they like to use is the under-the-boat-and-around-the-anchor-rope trick.
Got to have a good drag set up when one of those big ones makes a run. Love it.
BLK
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Good to see you again Pat (and Hi-and Dry) and congrats on a nice haul. It was a great day to be out there.
As for my day, I also accomplished all I could hope for. I eventually got my craft launched and it performed well. It's ready for one more summer of fun. I also caught a nice stringer of tasty panfish for my next fish fry along with a bunch extra that were sent back, as well as a "grundle" of ever willing mudcats for some extra bendo.
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[quote Boatloadakids]62 to 65 degrees!??? Okay.... I'm outa here!
See any carp activity? I need some bait.
BLK[/quote]
[#0000FF]I mentioned on another thread that the carp were busy along the whole shoreline from the bubbleup to the harbor. Couldn't see very far to the south but that has been good carpin' in the past.
Only saw a very few carp jump or surface swimming out from shore. But there were quite a few flopping within a few yards of the water line. I'm sure you can find them almost anywhere around the lake...when the water stays around 65 or over.
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Thanks for the company, and the great lessons on life and fish / fishing.
I particularly liked the one about the carp all pooling together and spilling it all out at the same time when the water hits that magic temp mark. What a vision that one invoked. At least I know they don't partner up for life now, and the two I saw porpoising together like dolphins was deceiving at best. I'm glad to have been set straight on that one. It was pretty cool to watch though.
I think I have the cat thing down now, but really need to get my first UL walleye in to seal the deal. Very illusive for me thus far as are the white bass this year. Three years ago they were everywhere and in great numbers. Hope we are back on a up cycle here soon for those little buggers. I miss their scrappy fight on light tackle.
It was a great day on the lake and a hoot having those cats spin me around on my pontoon.Can't say I missed having to go to work either.
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"I think I have the cat thing down now,"
[#0000FF]Would you say that you have it "down Pat"?
You definitely upped your game yesterday. Can't say as I can guarantee you a walleye. That takes a reverse English approach. Most of us catch walleyes in direct proportion to the negative attitude we have about catching them. In simple terms...when you try to catch them, you don't. If you ignore them and fish for white bass or other species...you MIGHT catch an occasional walleye.
The downside is that once a newbie scores their first walleye they suddenly "become experts". Now they know all about it...and are qualified to spend obscene amounts of money new gear so they can harvest big numbers of walleyes on every trip. But, the only way to purge yourself of that affliction is to donate all that stuff back to the rock gods at the lake and to become humble again. Then the process starts all over.
The next month or so is about the best time to go after post spawn walleyes. They are putting on the feed bag. The one I took home yesterday had an 8" channel cat in its tummy. Must have been using my little jig to floss after a big meal.
Next trip...Lincoln Beach. Good shot at a lot of white bass for a while. Forget the walleye. If you forget them they will come...or however that goes.
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TubeDude-- Missed your second post before I posted my question about the carp.
Went out today and spent the day shooting carp in Goshen Bay. Got more carp now than I really want to see. Seems like they went from on to off in just a day or so. I guess when the love bug hits them they don't waste any time getting going.
By the way, Lincoln was crowded today. Parking lot completely filled with fishers and power squads. Even the hamburgers were selling hot today.
Again, thanks.
BLK
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Thought I saw someone out there as I went by in the silver bullet. Nice to see someone enjoying the nice weather.
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[#0000FF]Uhhhh...did you check to see what kind of meat was in the hamburgers? Carp?
Glad you finally got in some shooting/bait collection. I'll probably unlimber my old Hoyt carp killer this next week. You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much bait. Well, maybe the wife might have something to say about the freezer space thing.
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[#0000FF]You shoulda waved. If I had seen you I would have waved back...even with all my fingers.
When you gonna get over to Starvation again?
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[quote TubeDude][#0000FF] You shoulda waved. If I had seen you I would have waved back...even with all my fingers.
When you gonna get over to Starvation again?
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Not sure at this time. Been a crazy work week and doesn't look like it over yet. Although things are looking better time wise. Mamatrout adjusted her therapy schedule for me. [  ] what a great gal! [cool]
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Spent Thursday morning shooting carp and Thursday night wading the shoreline in knee deep water for the cats. Glad they're turning on and hitting like crazy. Just fished carp meat on a sliding sinker rig, leaving my drag loose. When it screamed, I'd tighten up and set the hook. Good times.... nice catch on the walleye. Maybe I need to throw some jigs in my backpack on my next nightly wading trip.
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