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Had not planned to go to WB yesterday. Received a Safety Recall in the mail last week on some brakes I had installed by Les Schwab last August 2013. Got to the Les Schwab in Clinton about 0830 Saturday morning. They had told me Friday that they had the new replacement brake parts. But yesterday morning when I got there 30 minutes after opening, they had an approximate 2 hours plus wait. Decided to put that off to another day. Well, after running a couple errands, went home and hooked up the boat. Wanted to go to Benson, but the highway thru Sardine Canyon was reported to be blocked due to some large boulders on the road. So, on a sudden impulse, went into the south marina at WB. I pulled in to the ramp area about 1100, and was somewhat surprised to see not one single other trailer in the lot. I knew it was getting shallow at the south marina, but it was worse than I thought.
I was able to float the Tin Can off the trailer with a long rope attached, pull the trailer up, pull the boat back up with the bow hull on the concrete, then tie it off with a long rope to the closest dock cleat on the west dock.
[inline "(0299) South marina West dock.jpg"]
That one corner of the west dock is only piece of dock in the water. and right at that corner is a large concrete slab about 6 inches under water. Several other large rocks in that area also. Would NOT recommend launching anything bigger that a Tube or Yak or maybe a flat bottom Jon boat here. East Dock is even worse. High and dry.
[inline "(0298) East dock.jpg"]
East Dock, a good 2 feet out of the water.
Once I was launched and the rig parked, I found the marina had about 3 feet in the middle, the channel drops off to about 8 feet. At the mouth going into the main body, the buoys are almost on the "hump" which comes up to about 4 feet. Past the first set of buoys about 50 yards is another set of Red and Green buoys. The middle channel is about 8-9 feet to those buoys, but STAY in the middle. I went about 300 yards out past those second buoys before the depth started sloping down to about 10-11 feet. Deepest spot I located was near the west wall light pole at 14 feet.
Yesterday was quite nice even tough I got on the water late.
NO BUGS ! Lite breeze, and couldn't have been more than 5 other boats on the whole lake.
[inline (0297).jpg]
Fish ? Yea, I caught and released 3. 1 small Wiper, 2 Cats.
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
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Way to persevere! Sounds like come hell or high(low) water you were going to fish!
If the power squadron can't get on there very easily, I think I may take the kayak out and give it a go. I've caught plenty of wipers from the boat, but I'd sure like the experience of having one of the buggers tow my kayak around.
Thanks for the report.
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Wow I am shocked by how low that water is![shocked]
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They will do that Mike, tow your yak around. I've had medium size Wiper pull my Tin Can around in a circle and tangle up my second line, then surprise me by NOT being the 5 pound 30 inch monster that they felt like.
I just got from WB south. Water still just as low, but the lot had about a dozen rigs parked. Some of the trailers looked as if they were for power squadron members, big, long, double axle.
I wasn't fishin today. I had ordered a new transducer for my sonar. The techies at Lowrance / Eagle said from my description of the issues, I needed a new transducer. My old one (2007 Eagle Fish Elite 502cGPSi) was working quite well on water with hard bottoms (WB, Lost Creek, East Canyon, etc) but at Benson marina with the soft mud, it just tended to wander off into places that were not there. Like reading 60 ft. one minute, 21 ft. the next, and then sometimes even being close to accurate at 2.5 ft.
Just didn't trust it at Benson.
I put the new one on this afternoon, and made a quick run to WB south to give it a test. Launched, left the rig on the ramp, trailer in the water. Ran around the marina, some of the channel, and along the docks. Seems to working correctly. Saw the same depth reading there today I saw yesterday.
Now all I have to do is give it a check at Benson. And I hope to do that this weekend.
And BTW Mike, I think maybe you could be right. I think someone in the Catfish Contest may be sandbagging us. You watch, somebody is gonna come in with a 32-36 incher or better the day before the end.
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
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Well, I hope there is no one sandbagging, but who knows. I'm afraid when I catch a big one I am just too excited to hold that news for myself.
I need to get back out on benson within the next week and a half or I'll be all done as far as posting any upgrades to my score. I'll be out of town for most of September and won't have a chance to fish after the 2nd.
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You guys didn't miss much this weekend. Spent some hours night fishing and couldn't find anything big enough to better my marks. 25" was my best but it was really slow compared to my other trips. Skeeters are outrageous so make sure you have plenty of protection. Don't know if the weather was the culprit or not but it made for a long night of spooky noises all around. Good luck. J
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25" is still really fun and a decent fish Jeff. Lucky dog[  ] I had wife chores and work to do all weekend. I feel like I'll never get a chance to get after them again before the contest ends. Responsibilities suck, I waist I could be a teenager again. I guess that's what retirement is for.
BTW, I love the spooky night noises on the marsh, but once in a while I'll hear something squawk that just raises my hair a bit (or what little I have left!).
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Hey Mike, yup the 25" was a fun fish and I used to be really excited for that size fish, but since my score needs something bigger, all of a sudden I'm not as happy with good fish anymore... Crazy how your perspective changes... Maybe that's why TD doesn't do contests, it does tend to skew your perspective... I got three pretty nice fish the other night, 23.5, 24 and 25" and I still felt like I had failed.... Got to be really hard for you to catch fish to bump up your mark, at least I have some room to bump up a ways...
Those crazy night noises can really get your mind going, that screacher is the one that bothers me because you can hear it coming closer and closer to you and about the time you think it's going to get you something splashes right to the side of you like a beaver or carp and ya have a heart attack... I think the noise is the racoons or fox, but I'm not sure what it is so it gets my imagination going... They have seen a few cougars around Benson this summer so that always makes me nervous hanging out in the dark..... Guess I ought to use a lantern or fire, but then the bugs get thicker and it's harder to see the bobbers when the batteries wear down... Kind of cool to see the falling stars too when you don't have other lights covering them up... Anyway, I hope you get time to try it some more, but if not you certainly have set a tough mark to beat so I expect you will end up the champion this year... Nice mark for sure... Good luck with things... J
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Hey Jeff......ssshhhhhh, ...... don't let this get out, but I think plain ol' dumb luck has been in my favor[  ] I still get tickled over a 20+ incher!
I know what you mean though. I live on bear lake and catch big fish out of here like crazy so it kinda spoiled me from being as thrilled about 10-14" planter trout. The catfish bug that bit me hasn't given me the same sickness however. Any half decent cat makes my day!
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I do like catch'en kitties as well, something about the way they churn up the mud and splash like a gator gets the ticker going. It has made the 12" bows at Hyrum a lot less interesting the last two summers. Plus I can fish cats when I can't do other things so I get a chance to go more often and that helps to. I'll have to have you tell me when to try Bear Lake this fall so I can have a little fun on the trout. Been wanting to hit the fall festivities but always end up getting too busy. Hope I can get there this fall, but I won't hold my breathe. Later J
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