It's on at Da Knolls 5-13-11

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Friday the 13th was unlucky at the Knolls. Unlucky for the fish. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]TubeBabe, Hnaf and his Bro in Law Jason...and my ownself...all launched around 7ish this morning. Light breeze, 50 degree air temp and 53 degree water temp. I told everybody that the water temps would warm up fast once the sun hit the water and when they reached 60...LOOK OUT.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Actually, I was kinda sorta off a little bit. It was game on even with the cooler temps. I started working down the shoreline, throwing plastics and got into a few dripping males almost immediately. Not what you would call FAST action but a promise of things to come. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Once I knew there would be some fun later I moved out into about 6 feet of water and started dragging a minnow. A 25 inch kitty dragged back and it was first cat in the basket. But it would be a while before the next one. I gotta admit I kept wandering back close to shore and molesting the whities every once in a while. So were the other members of the four-tilla. Much fun.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The pesky canyon breezes blowing across from Spanish Fork finally laid down about 9:30 and the lake turned to glass. I can handle that. So could my next kitty. Turned out to be about 27 - 28 inches and around 9 pounds or so. Thought I had hooked a big halibut. Didn't wanna come up and for the camera before I turned her loose.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I caught a couple more kitties...both about 17 - 18" cookies. Added to yesterday's take from Willard they were enough for my next smoker batch.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Hnaf and Jason both had run-ins with hefty kitties too. They both won. Ditto for TubeBabe. At the end of the day we had all caught at least one cat in the 27" range. TubeBabe kept hers. It was exactly 27" and weighed 9.2 pounds. It also had an average size whole white bass in its gut...about 11" long. Who says those cats ain't predators?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Right about noon I announced over the walkie talkies that the water temp had officially passed the 60 degree mark and I intended to see if my predictions were true. They were. First cast into a favorite whitie condo resulted in doubles on my tandem jig rig. So did many of the next hundred casts. As I moved along a productive stretch of shoreline there were not many casts that did not get blasted by the whities. I began to experiment with different plastic jigs, spinners and even small crankbaits to see if I could throw something they would not hit. I failed. Boo hoo![/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]A little before 2 it was still beautiful, warm and calm. And the whities were getting even more aggressive...if that is possible. We all agreed that we had overfunned and that we were good with calling it a good day. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]TubeBabe and I both have motors on our float tubes so we used tow ropes to ferry the two guys back to the car. I was towing Hnaf with my tube, and TubeBabe towed Jason. I had rigged my tow rope with clips on each end so Brian and I were both moving along handsfree. Naturally we picked up our gear and kept casting to the shoreline as we motored back to the vehicles. Probably caught another dozen or so.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Got a shoutout from FishFearMe2 as we got back to "civilization". He was wading and casting along the shoreline and picking up whities his own self. Good to see ya Brent. I'm sure you told the Princess that she missed out...but I am sure she will be down soon when she gets better.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Water temp was 64 and still climbing when we hit the beach. Did the Kodak moment thing and we all packed up and boogied. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I realized when I got home (to the fillet board) that I have now joined the elite group known as the "happy harvesters". TubeBabe and I both threw back far more whities than we kept, but we had about 2 1/2 grundles of whities for me to put on the "weight loss program". WHEW.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[Lawdog330]

Nice work, hope the water stays warm all weekend so I can hit it Monday.
[signature]

[Springbuck]

TD, (and others) do Sonar Lures work at all as well on WB in the spring/summer as they do through the ice? I kinda came into a pile of them, and can't find the owner of the lost box, so I intend to use one or two until I luck into him.

If not, I don't have many crankbaits, but I'll break out the Daredevils and Roadrunners....

I'm stuck at work til midnight. Anybody know where I can buy minnows at 1 in the morning? Or shall I bring the bone-arra and kill a carp?
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The "sonar" type lures have long been recognized as good lures for white bass, yellow bass, stripers, wipers and all other members of the "rockfish" family. They are primarily sight feeders, in clear water, but also rely heavily on flash and vibration to find prey. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They definitely whack the whities under the ice...at least for the first big feeding frenzy. After that the schools disperse out into the open lake and you usually do better with smaller and slower.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When the white bass are warm and active the sonar is a good lure both for casting and for fast trolling, to find schools. Then once you find them you can keep throwing the sonar or go lighter with plastics. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I make most of my own stuff (including "blade baits"). I use a lot of my own color creations on spinners and small crank baits. But the truth is that whities will hit the ugliest and nastiest lures you have in your collection...if you put them where they are waiting...for bait or a mate.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]That being said, there are a few tried and true colors that almost always produce. I favor the red and chartreuse jigs (RC Killers), pink and silver, white with a red eye, chartreuse with any other color and even basic black. Fire tiger is especially effective on whities all through the year. Ditto for black and chartreuse.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The one downer about throwing heavy spoons like Sonars and Kastmasters right now is that the fish are in very skinny water...where there are rocks and brushy stickups. The slower and lighter the lures you throw the higher the ratio of fish to snags. Plastics are cheap...and effective. Ditto for marabous. [/#0000ff]
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[quote Lawdog330]Nice work, hope the water stays warm all weekend so I can hit it Monday.[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Good luck. More than a couple of nice days in a row...in Utah? This year?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Last forecast I saw was for warm and windy over the weekend...followed by %$#& and &^@#. "Fair and sunny with occasional heavy storms."[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[Hnaf]

That was a fun day.... Right up until I got home and looked at the pile of fish needing to be processed... Well I guess you got to pay your dues...


To be honest with the slower start I was kind of expecting for a day where we each came back with a few fish each. The whole "turn on point" kind of snuck up on me as I realized how many we all were starting to catch. I'm not sure it really sunk in until we got to look at the baskets back at the shore. Clearly some difference in the amounts in the baskets but there was not a basket in the lot... Well maybe my basket was a bit having to hold the donated carp...

I think your onto something though Pat... The whole tow rope to the d-rings so we can both fish the shore line as we motored back was really addicting.... That was fun!

Got me a box of Panko to give that method of breading a try with the whites for tomorrows meal with the kids. They were all sorts of excited with the cooler full. Well until I made a loud growling sound as they were peering close at the fish and scared them all good.

Anyway, was great fun to be out on the water and even more so to be out with great people to fish(catch) with.

For the sonar question I can say I did not mark many fish on mine today. What it did for me was to let me get into the depth others were reporting the fish to be in. Also it let me see water temps.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

"For the sonar question I can say I did not mark many fish on mine today. What it did for me was to let me get into the depth others were reporting the fish to be in. Also it let me see water temps."

[cool][#0000ff]As you have probably already read...the "sonar question" was regarding a blade bait lure known as a Sonar.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]But, as far as our sonars go, you are right. For fishing shallower waters...like Utah Lake...the fish finding capabilities of a sonar are largely ineffective. There is such a narrow cone below the tube...in less than 15 feet of water...that you really have to go exactly over fish for them to register. And in shallower water the fish tend to move out from under even a quiet float tube.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The biggest value sonar in Utah Lake is verifying at what depth the fish are holding and feeding and then using it to keep you in the ZONE...the area of highest potential productivity, the greatest percentage of the time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Good trip. Lots of fun. Enjoyed fishing with you guys again. Bring on Starvation.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[Hnaf]

Well I'll blame fatigue or sleep deprivation or something for the poor reading comprehension I demonstrated ... Though it sure does clear up the oddness to finding a "pile of them" ...

Anyway...
[signature]

[lavaman]

Good job you guys. TD, I think that's the most spectacular pic of Timp I've seen in quite some time. That's a lot of snow on Her for this late in the year.

Oh yeah, way to slay those fish! They'll learn to come out and play on Fri the 13th.
[signature]

[FishKillr]

Great post pat. Got to use some plastics of yours today and will do the same tomorrow with the boys. Posted a report as well.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks HGS. "Lady T" was absolutely lovely yesterday. Had to keep looking up to admire her. But you are right. That is still a lot of white stuff on her shoulders for this late in the year.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I took a lot of pictures that I did not include in the post. Here are a couple more that include our mutually favorite mountain.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I saw your post. Glad to see the crappies are showing too. You done good.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[albinotrout]

Sounds like my fishing buddy III with the side finder may still find some use by me out on UL. [cool] I gotta get down there this year. Hopefully the weather will cooperate on my days off not just my days on.[fishin]
[signature]

[Springbuck]

Thought I'd bring it full circle with a report from this morning.

I'd been dying to get out for 2 months and TD's report yesterday tipped the scales in favor of a trip this morning.

For once I was able to have a good day by following in a BFT report's footsteps. Dropped my float tube in by the fence at the Knolls about 8:15 am., but the wife had stopped me to talk while getting ready last night at 1 am and I forgot my flippers, so... I float-waded.... Clouds coming over the west mountains had me worried about a baro drop or rain, but it never got bad. No bites at first, until I snagged a big carp by the dorsal fin with my roadrunner. After 15 min on 4 lb test, I got a my jig back just as he released himself. Then on the VERY next cast, I snagged another big carp. So that was fun.

Then, in spite of the cloud cover, the white bass got busy about 9:45 or so. From then on I caught them in several locations along the shore in water from waist deep on up. I'd catch 6-7 in 10 casts, then cast 20 with no response. As day went on, they just moved shallower, and I never did count how many I caught cuz had to throw them on ice and rush to work.

Everybody was catching a few, but a watercraft really helped find them. I used white headed roadrunner jig with white sparkle tubes, chartreuse tube, and red /char tube, as well as plain green tube and plain white curlies. Even with a tandem rig I could tell no difference, and tipping didn't seem to matter.

My canned shad was ignored by everything, dragged and under a bobber. Changed to a chunk of WB 2 feet under bobber and was suprised it never even got bit.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

"but the wife had stopped me to talk while getting ready last night at 1 am and I forgot my flippers, so... I float-waded...."

[cool][#0000ff]Ya gotta learn to have your gear pre-assembled so that you can just load and go. Murphy was a float tube fisherman. Anything you can possibly forget...and can't do without...you will forget. Whenever I am loading up for a trip and I get a phone call...or my wife wanders up to chat...I get a bit testy. I have also left things behind when my organizational approach was disrupted.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Glad you were able to make the best of it. When the whities are in close you can sometimes do better by wading the shoreline than by floating. Great spot for flyrodding. And if you hook one of those big "buglemouth bass" on a flyrod you gonna be busy for a while.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]I also tried fishing jigs and bait under a bobber on Friday. I caught a couple of fish but the action was MUCH slower than fishing the jigs with movement on a retrieve. Those whities are great at "reaction bites" but aren't always motivated by food alone.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Not surprised at all that you did not catch anything on the preserved shad. I don't know anybody who has ever caught a fish on that stuff. The chemicals they use to preserve it are not nearly as attractive to Utah's fish and natural blood and oils from fresh dead or properly frozen minnows, carp meat or white bass meat. [/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]After the spawn, the white bass are a lot more prone to pick up baits and can be a real pest when you are soaking bait for catfish. At that time they love a slice of flesh from their own kind. And tipping a jig with a sliver of white bass meat is MONEY...for all species.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Hope you get in a few more licks on those wascally whities before they finish their fling.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[BigEZ]

[quote Springbuck] Dropped my float tube in by the fence at the Knolls about 8:15 am., but the wife had stopped me to talk while getting ready last night at 1 am and I forgot my flippers, so... I float-waded.... .[/quote]

That was you huh? You waded past me as I was pontooning in the shallows. I noticed you were running a tandem rig. I went a little deeper so you could stay shallow, but had no luck at all. I need to learn how to work the curlies and other color presentations.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]When the fish are as shallow as they are right now you have to focus. Pitch the (light head) jigs close to the shore and immediately flip the bail and start retrieving so the jigs do not find rocks or brush. You will still hang up at times but with a tube or toon you can usually paddle in and wiggle the snags loose...or reach down in the shallow water and retrieve them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When I fish the skinny water I seldom use jigs larger than 1/16 oz. and usually rig with two 1/32 oz. jigs. That lets the jigs fall slower and you are less likely to have "a piece of the rock".[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are long stretches of the shoreline that are clean enough just offshore that you won't get many snags. But you will quickly learn where the bad stuff is.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you have some Mepps or Roostertail spinners you can also do very well with those. Again, pitch them parallel to shore and reel just quickly enough to keep them cruising along above the bottom. The faster you reel the harder the strikes. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Sometimes there are quite a few fish hanging just offshore too. Work in and out from shoreline to about 5 or 6 feet. I got most of my larger white bass on Friday by dropping close to the bottom in 4 to 5 feet of water a ways off the shore. Experimenting will teach you very quickly what works and what doesn't.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[Springbuck]

That was nice of you to move for me, EZ. Kicking your feet in boots is basically useless, so thanks. Did you fish with a bobber? What were you using?

I did put WB on the bobber- hook, TD, but never got a bite. I wasn't near much cover/reeds for most of the day, but I did get it out and down into 6-8 feet of water for a few trips.

I just had on a white 1/16 roadrunner wearing a 1-1/2" sparkley white tubeskirt when EZ saw me, and a foot above that, on a 4" dropper, a little green 1-1/2" tube jig with a proper tube jig head (the kind that slips inside the plastic), probly a 1/32 oz. See, the heavier jig is on the bottom, so they separate a little when retrieved, even fast-ish. I believe in the roadrunner and beetle-spin type spinners, a lot.

However...

I'm a relative UL noob, but right now, and last year under similar conditions, it almost seems that more is better. If I could find a small lure that glowed in the dark, wiggled, flashed, throbbed, spun, wobbled, sparkled, glittered, clattered, rattled, smelled, curly-tailed, chugged and fizzed, painted in 22 gaudy colors, I bet I could catch whities on it.

On the other hand, I saw at least 3 guys catching multiple fish on simple 2" chart. curly tails, and one guy caught a small bunch on a green and white marabou. From what I've read from TD and others, white bass are PRIMARILY open water sight feeders. Since they school, they often bunch rush small fish and the feeding becomes competitive. Pursuit over ambush.

AND they want to spawn SOOOO BAD right now. The males were milting all over my boat.

I also found them close to the bottom, whatever depth they were. In the shallows, everywhere is close to the bottom.

If I'd had fins, I'd have started out kick-trolling parallel to the shore at "X" depth and casting right and left til I found them.

This has ONLY been, like my 4th successful WB outing, though, so I'm feeling lucky...
[signature]

[fish_fear_me2]

It is always a pleasure to see Tube Dude on the water in his fantastic floating machine. I arrived at my fishing spot and started casting tandem jigs and found my first whitie on the first cast..I looked to the south of me and saw those fantastic tubes with all the gear and gadgets. That has to be TD and company. It was indeed. I continued catching whities as the flotilla approached. After exchanging pleasantries TD and group moved off in the direction of vehicle. I continued fishing for a couple hours catching fish on far more cast than not. A short trip but fun when the whities are agrressive. Good seeing you Pat.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Too bad the girls weren't there to enjoy it.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Still plenty of time left before it's over.[/#0000ff]
[signature]