06-21-2016, 06:04 PM
I got a break in my work schedule on Saturday and found I had time to put in an evening chasing cats at Utah Lake. It was perfect timing after reading Skunked Again’s report of his night trip a few days earlier. I Sent text’s to family members and friends and it was such short notice I couldn’t get anyone to come along. Oh well, I would have to feed the skeeter’s all by myself.
I go to the ramp about 6:30 P.M. The wind was WSW at 5 to 10 and the water a warm 74 degrees at the launch. The boat started harder than normal and died halfway down the channel, so I kicked on the electric figuring I could get off shore little was and either slow troll or drift while I checked on the gas motor.
I started out dragging a chunk of frozen White Bass meat on one rod and a tandem rig on the other to try to get fresh bait. About 7:30 I was a quarter mile north of the jaws, in about 6 FOW and had just gotten the gas motor seemingly purring when the jig rod lit up. I reeled in and to my surprise I had a whitey on each jig, fresh bait! I cut one of them up a, put the other on the basket and freshened the bait on the cat rod.
Things were quiet for the next hour as I worked around toward the point, the wind kept pushing me farther to the north and east. Since I had no further inquiries on either rod I guessed that I was too far from the spawning area and turned back toward the point.
I dropped anchor when I go into 4.5 FOW, but the wind had picked up and it didn’t catch until I was a couple hundred feet out from the rocks in about 6’. The next 30 minutes the action was good and steady with fish coming in every 5 minutes or so. The only problem was their size and color. All were 10-12” and brown with yellowish undersides.
Dusk was coming and I was trying to decide where to move so I wouldn’t feed all my fresh bait to the school of mudders I had parked in when I hooked a better fish. This one turned out to be a healthy 23 inch channel. That fish had come on chunk of WB under a slip bobber cast as far toward the shore as the wind would allow. I kicked on the trolling motor and headed shallower. I picked up the anchor as it went by and then dropped it again when I was in 3 FOW over some gnarly looking bottom. This time it hung quickly and the bot settled in over 3.8 to 4 FOW.
The next 45 minutes were much better, resulting in 3 more channels landed and only 1 silly mudder. At about 9:40 P.M. things went quiet. I had hooked up an LED string I was testing for night fishing lighting to help see the rods. The light worked great, but the bugs liked it too! The wind kept them away most of the evening, but a couple of times it slowed to 5 MPH or so and I had to put on my head net. About 10:20 I finally got another channel on. Things gradually got better until about midnight, when I pulled the gear and headed for the ramp.
From the pictures and time stamps I concluded that I had caught and released 12 channels between 16 and about 24”. 4 more whites had joined the party (little cannibals!) and a total of 7 mudders. Fresh WB had proved the best bait with shrimp next and crawlers enticing majority of the bullheads. The fish were very strong and fast in the warm water. The first one I hooked ran so far and fast, I thought it was a carp.
I decided to name the photos by the time stamp to give an idea of the times the fish were caught. Please forgive the pictures, I haven’t taken many at night lately. I had a fun night with some nice fish and best of all, I had a good idea where to take my grandson on Monday!
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I go to the ramp about 6:30 P.M. The wind was WSW at 5 to 10 and the water a warm 74 degrees at the launch. The boat started harder than normal and died halfway down the channel, so I kicked on the electric figuring I could get off shore little was and either slow troll or drift while I checked on the gas motor.
I started out dragging a chunk of frozen White Bass meat on one rod and a tandem rig on the other to try to get fresh bait. About 7:30 I was a quarter mile north of the jaws, in about 6 FOW and had just gotten the gas motor seemingly purring when the jig rod lit up. I reeled in and to my surprise I had a whitey on each jig, fresh bait! I cut one of them up a, put the other on the basket and freshened the bait on the cat rod.
Things were quiet for the next hour as I worked around toward the point, the wind kept pushing me farther to the north and east. Since I had no further inquiries on either rod I guessed that I was too far from the spawning area and turned back toward the point.
I dropped anchor when I go into 4.5 FOW, but the wind had picked up and it didn’t catch until I was a couple hundred feet out from the rocks in about 6’. The next 30 minutes the action was good and steady with fish coming in every 5 minutes or so. The only problem was their size and color. All were 10-12” and brown with yellowish undersides.
Dusk was coming and I was trying to decide where to move so I wouldn’t feed all my fresh bait to the school of mudders I had parked in when I hooked a better fish. This one turned out to be a healthy 23 inch channel. That fish had come on chunk of WB under a slip bobber cast as far toward the shore as the wind would allow. I kicked on the trolling motor and headed shallower. I picked up the anchor as it went by and then dropped it again when I was in 3 FOW over some gnarly looking bottom. This time it hung quickly and the bot settled in over 3.8 to 4 FOW.
The next 45 minutes were much better, resulting in 3 more channels landed and only 1 silly mudder. At about 9:40 P.M. things went quiet. I had hooked up an LED string I was testing for night fishing lighting to help see the rods. The light worked great, but the bugs liked it too! The wind kept them away most of the evening, but a couple of times it slowed to 5 MPH or so and I had to put on my head net. About 10:20 I finally got another channel on. Things gradually got better until about midnight, when I pulled the gear and headed for the ramp.
From the pictures and time stamps I concluded that I had caught and released 12 channels between 16 and about 24”. 4 more whites had joined the party (little cannibals!) and a total of 7 mudders. Fresh WB had proved the best bait with shrimp next and crawlers enticing majority of the bullheads. The fish were very strong and fast in the warm water. The first one I hooked ran so far and fast, I thought it was a carp.
I decided to name the photos by the time stamp to give an idea of the times the fish were caught. Please forgive the pictures, I haven’t taken many at night lately. I had a fun night with some nice fish and best of all, I had a good idea where to take my grandson on Monday!
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