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N. Marina Not Too... 9-19-16
#1
[#0000FF]Had a "hook-up" planned with Skunked but changing weather forecasts made it look like Monday would be a better day than our original Tuesday play date. But he couldn't make it...so I went by my ownself. He missed some nice weather but the fishing? Not too much.

Nice day indeed. Not too hot. Not too cold. Not too windy. Not too many skiers or PWC. Not too many bugs (some midges). But not too many fish either.

Flat glass at my 6:30 launch. Air temp 54 and water temp 67...warming to just over 68 by noon departure. Brief breezes a couple of times but still flat glass when I left. Colors starting to show nicely on the mountains to the east.

Did the usual...dragged a minnow on one rod and worked cranks or plastics on t'other. About my second cast with a 3" chartreuse shad twister I got a nice whack and brought a nice twenny-incher walleye to the tube. Reached for the net and D'oh! Some doofus left it at home. The walleye took advantage of my senior moment and gave me back my jig before I could get it to calm down enough for the lip gripper.

Just knew that was gonna be the pattern of the day. Figured I was doomed to hook walleye and wiper after walleye and wiper...only to "release" them at the tube because I was unable to scoop them with a net. Nay, not so. The everlovin' cookie cutter kitties took pity on a poor old guy and nothing over about 20 inches climbed on to my minnow or jig. Those that did were small enough to hoist aboard and I din't lose a single one. No married ones neither. Kept 5 for a couple of tasty meals.

I covered a lot of water between the marina and the north dike. Saw a couple of bait balls on sonar but no bigger fish around them. No schools of larger fish anywhere. A few strays here and there.

Saw one group of grebes but they did not seem to be actively working anything below them. No terns and no boils. Just some pucker-lip carp sucking in the dead midges floating on the calm surface. Woulda been fun with a small dry fly. They were busy.

Only a half dozen or so boats out of the north marina this morning. Didn't see any of them stay in one area much.

I was surprised the water was staying up near the 70 degree mark. I usually do much better in the fall...for walleyes, crappies, perch and wipers...if the temps drop a bit below 60. I'll be patient. Guess I'll head south to join the diehards on Utah Lake...to bump up my catfish score before the contest ends. And I heard tell there might be a walleye or two waiting for me.
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#2
As always Pat, I enjoy your stories and pictures.

What's that white round cornered board in your tube? It looks to be about 1½ x 2½ feet. Not being a tuber, I can't figure it out. [:/]
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#3
Looks fun! [Smile]
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#4
[#0000FF]Thanks for the kindly comments, sir.

That "unidentified object" is my rigid apron...or "sushi board". It fits over my lap while fishing to help with controlling fish, tinkering with tackle and helping to save dropped items that would otherwise be lost to the elements.

Many float tubes and pontoons are sold with mesh "stripping aprons"...for the fly fishing crowd. But I have designed several different hard models for the types of fishing I do. Here is a more detailed pic.

[inline APRON.jpg]
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#5
Very cool Pat! You think of everything!
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#6
TD, sorry I missed you this morning. I had baby sitting duty until 3:30. Once the munchkin was picked up I drove out to the west dike for a couple hours before supper. Found some hungry kitties and got into a pretty good bunch of SMB. I've attached a picture of the biggest, about eighteen inches. I need to get to WalMart for a laundry basket. A sushi board would sure make handling those cat fish easier.


Larry
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#7
[#0000FF]Nice smallie. A few years ago...when there was water up in the rocks most of the time...the smallie population was much greater around the lake. Quite a few bassaholics did quite well just working around the dikes.[/#0000FF]

"A sushi board would sure make handling those cat fish easier."

[#0000FF]...And safer. Larger cats have fin spines that are worn down a bit and less likely to poke holes in you or your tube. But the smaller cookie cutters still have very sharp spines. More than a few tubers and tooners have had their trips shortened by kitty spines in their inflated craft...or their tender flesh.

Having a good net...and a hard surface apron...and being careful in handling. All important when you play with the cats.

By the way, if you are down this way I have an extra sushi board all cut out from a new laundry basket. Not likely to need it. Sell cheap.

Here are links to some pics from a post I put on the float tubing board a while back.

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[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82239"]BASKET AND RULER.jpg[/url] (189 KB)
[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82240"]REMOVE BOTTOM.jpg[/url] (404 KB)
[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82241"]SMOOTH EDGES.jpg[/url] (136 KB)
[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82242"]DRAIN HOLES.jpg[/url] (148 KB)
[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82243"]BOTTOM VIEW WITH CORD.jpg[/url] (113 KB)
[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82244"]TOP VIEW WITH CORD.jpg[/url] (107 KB)
[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82245"]FINISHED.jpg[/url] (284 KB)
[Image: image.gif] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=82246"]IN USE.jpg[/url] (173 KB)
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#8
Sold. Not sure when I'll be in SLC. Maybe next week to pickup some meds from the VA. I've already had to patch the leg of my waders after getting swiped by one.


Larry
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#9
Hey Pat sorry I missed the trip, sounds like you did better than you let on. Glad you got a great day and I'll have to try again another day. I'm getting too many missed days I'm going to forget everything I thought I learned about fishing if I don't get back on the water soon. But usually fall is kinder to my schedule so I'm hoping for better luck in the future. Thanks for the invite. J
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#10
[#0000FF]I did catch a few fish but it was tough. Had to cover a lot of area and worked hard for the fish I caught. And the bite was a lot more tentative than usual. Lots of pop and drops. Really had to finesse some of them.

I know you have responsibilities and there are many demands on your time. But whenever you can see a brief window let me know and we will work something out. Still lots of good fishing ahead before the winter nasties. And we gotta hope for LOTS of snow this winter.

Just checked the weather for Willard. Looks like slightly windier than yesterday. But I never fully trust ANY weather report. Too many times I have gone fishing based on a good forecast...and then wind-surfed my way back to the vehicle early. And there have been times I have cancelled trips only to find that it was dead flat calm all day, instead of the 20 mph wind that was forecast.

Stay in touch.
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#11
[#0000FF]You might wanna bring your tube along too...so we can rig the connections for the apron. And I have plenty of that stretch cord for making the loops. Just gotta measure out how far out you want it to reach and how high above your legs. They are all different. Lots of options.
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#12
Thanks Pat we'll get there one day and try to makem bite. Till next time will be watching the weather and the bite. Later J
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