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[cool][#0000ff]Iffy weather again but looked doable for a quick morning shot. That was okay with me since I had to make a short day of it anyhooters.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Drove up to the ramp at Lindon in the dark. Well, not really dark. The lights shined into the water and it was alive with little white bass. Recognizing an opportunity to score some prime bait I rigged my ultralight with a couple of bitty jig heads tipped with a tiny bit of worm. Many doubles later I quit so that I could go put them to use. Only took out ten. Caught fish on every one of them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp 70 at daybreak and about 3 degrees warmer at noon departure. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I wanted to hit the bubbleup to see what was there. Hoped for some walleyes but with the 70 degree water I didn't have much hope. Good thing. No walleyes were harmed on this trip.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No boats launched or motored by during the entire morning. Awwww-riiiiiiiight. My kinda conditions. It was really sorta lonesome...but not lonely. The whities and the kitties kept me plenty of company.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There was a pretty good outflow from the bubbleup early but it slowed and dropped off to almost nothing before 9 am. After that there was still a barely discernible ripple on the surface near the buoys but not the heavy flow that brings in the fishies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Started out by tossing a tandem jig rig. Doubles were the rule rather than the exception. The whites were stacked up next to the flow and anything that came through got pounded. One would hit the first jig and then you could feel another one climbing on the loose second jig. Lost track of the doubles and forgetaboudit on the singles. At least a grundle and a half. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As usual, I started working through my lure boxes, trying to find something they WOULDN'T hit. Couldn't do it. Got them on all sizes, shapes and colors. They hit spinners. They hit crankbaits. They even hit the whole small white bass I was using to drag for walleye.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Speaking of the small white bass. I finally got around to dragging a minnow and promptly caught a decent cookie cutter kitty. Instead of rebaiting with another minnow, I sliced a small white bass a few times along the side and send it out with a big red hook in its nose. Fish pizza. I delivered and they bit...big time. Several cats and several larger white bass all snarfed up those little white bass like they hadn't eaten anything in a week.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was not really surprised to catch adult white bass on the bitty bass. But I was surprised to reel up another small whitie hanging on to the one I had rigged for bait. Not sure which was biggest...or what the second one had in mind. But it held on to the bait one until I started to lift it clear of the water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The fish were still biting well when I cranked up my trolling motor and threw a roostertail (yeah, right) back to the harbor. I had planned to head back about noonish. I did stop inside the marina to pitch a few plastics and got some more whities...along with a lot of "rattle rattle" hits from the little ones.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I didn't keep any cats today. And I only kept a few of the white bass. Needed some fillets to replace the stash I used up in a big pot of chowder for a family fish fry. I figured I should keep 25 to 30 and idly tossed one in the basket once in a while. I ended up with 28. Right in the middle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sometimes it is nice to have a bit of solitude...or at least have a big lake to yourself. Works for me.[/#0000ff]
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Aaah, the sounds of september when things are quiet once again. Nice report!!!
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Awesome!! I would love to be alone out there... Sad thing is we went out Monday morning...so you can imagine the numbers. At least 15-20 boats outside Pelican bay marina gate-house....waiting to get in. One lucky soul got in as we pulled out around 11am. We also had a bunch of bait size white bass hit big lures. Had a couple nice bigger ones too.
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Thanks to you I have learned to love the bubble up area. Did you mark quite a few on your sonar? I had a trip out there and could see a lot of fish moving through on my sonar even though I was only in 10 feet of water. Lots of fish that day for sure. How were the mosquitoes this morning? I haven't recovered from my recent blood loss.
I find that those itty bitty white bass turn into good size white bass when you put them on the hook and "pizzafy" them. I got one that was just under 14 inches the other day and found one just over 13 inches.
Them dang things like cut bait as well. Couldn't keep them off chunks of white bass meat even though I had written a note on there that said it was for catfish or walleye only. Stupid whities... [:p][:p]
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Oooooooooooooooooooh solitude.
These is nothing like being on a lake all by yourself.
I don't miss the chainsaw sound of a crowded lake or river one bit. You might as well go fishing at a river next to a lumber yard. Or better yet record the sounds of the "Texas chainsaw massacre" movie and wear a set of headphones and crank the volume while your fishing.
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Outstanding!!! Good to see a little size to the whities and a new crop of youngster. Looked like the kitties were willing to play too. Solitude, quiet water and a few willing fish. Hard to beat that kind of a morning.
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[cool][#0000ff]Yes, I did go over some bodacious schools of fish...both suspended and on the bottom. Sometimes they don't wanna play and that is frustrating. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You must have either gotten the mosquitoes all fed up...or they died of "Wagitis" after dining on you. Only a couple tried a drill landing and both paid the ultimate price. But, I did spray well as a precaution after your warning. You can stand to lose some weight anyway. Me too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I didn't get anything much over 12 inches but I got lots of those. Fat too. Much better than last year's crop. Great opponents on light gear.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]For the benefit of fellow anglers who have not tried fishing those bitty whities whole, I am attaching a couple of pics. One is a "CSI" shot of an opened white bass adult with a "baby on board". The others show a couple of ways to hook them for bait and a kitty that ate one too.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]I've enjoyed/endured plenty of the other kind of fishing trip experiences this year. I do appreciate the difference.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was the kind of day that had me chanting my fisherman's mantra:[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]LIFE IS GOOD AND GETTIN' BETTER[/#0000ff]
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[quote TubeDude] [#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]You must have either gotten the mosquitoes all fed up...or they died of "Wagitis" after dining on you. Only a couple tried a drill landing and both paid the ultimate price. But, I did spray well as a precaution after your warning. You can stand to lose some weight anyway. Me too.[/#0000ff]
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HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'd like to think that I'm deadly to mosquitoes.[cool][cool][cool] I did drop a little weight during my blood-loss session but I was able to recover shortly after returning home.[  ] Thanks for the rigging tips, too!
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Anyhooters? What species is THAT? [:p] Glad to hear you got in to 'em also. I've been slackin' on my public reports, cuz ah reckon folks only gain so much with another white bass report from lil 'ole me about some VERY good days that can be had at Lindon recently. I can literally say that they can be caught on a bare hook!
Speaking of if you can fine 'em... Good on ya for catching the channels. I've only had enough willing guests to fill the smoke once this year. I hope to improve on that this Fall.
Maybe I'll post the pick of the 24" walleye I landed. With me, I'm sure it was a case of being lucky rather than good. Or, because I make the same pony head lures you do, the silly fish it thought it was YOU at the other end of the line! [laugh]
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[cool][#0000ff]I know you guys have been hammerin' the whities. Don't be bashful. Lots of whitie lovers on the board. The foo-foo feathers crowd doesn't need to read our reports if'n they doesn't like 'em.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also, go ahead and post your walleye pic. That's all some folks are ever goin' to see of a walleye...pics of ones that other people caught...accidentally.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I seriously doubt that your fish had any preconceived notions about hitting one of my lures vs your lures. Walleyes got tiny brains, incapable of reason. That's why they don't stay in schools much. But somehow they seem to learn enough to humble fishermen for the rest of their lives. It's the fish that travel in schools (white bass) that are dumb enough to hit bare hooks...even yours.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Someday you will quit confusing white bass with catfish and your cat-catch rate will improve.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Seriously, this has been a different year than "average"...on many levels...especially water levels. The kitties did not behave as expected because their whole game plan was altered by higher water levels. But I have caught good numbers of them on every trip. I not only smell like catfish...I knows how to thunk like 'em too. And, I also get lucky sometimes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The cats I caught yesterday all came out of water deeper than 8 feet. I got no bites in shallower water at all. My biggest fish...27" and about 8 pounds...was caught just about even with the last buoy in over 9 feet of water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did notice that the water level has dropped almost 2 feet from the high water mark along the shoreline...finally. Maybe that will do something besides leaving a big bathtub ring around the lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#502800]Good Report TD ........ Do you have to carry your stuff very far to launch at Lindon? ......... Or do you use your wheel set up?[/#502800]
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[font "Arial"][#4040FF][size 2][quote TubeDude] The kitties did not behave as expected because their whole game plan was altered by higher water levels. But I have caught good numbers of them on every trip. I not only smell like catfish...I knows how to thunk like 'em too. And, I also get lucky sometimes.[/size][/#4040FF][/font][font "Arial"][#4040FF] [/#4040FF][/font][font "Arial"][#4040FF][size 2]
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The cats I caught yesterday all came out of water deeper than 8 feet. I got no bites in shallower water at all. My biggest fish...27" and about 8 pounds...was caught just about even with the last buoy in over 9 feet of water.[/size][/#4040FF][/font][font "Arial"][#4040FF] [/#4040FF][/font][font "Arial"][#4040FF][size 2]
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Boy, I'm not sure what that's a sayin' about ME if I said lately I've been thinkin' like a white bass! [ ]
Not being as good at finding "cats on the flats" as I've hoped this year (hmmm... that sounds like a bluesy song title of my predicament...), it keeps me humble and is something to work on.
Last trip we went to the B-Up and saw some suspended fish on the sonar, but none wanted to join us in the boat. How to more effectively use a sonar is also on my list 'o things to do also. As is, perhaps be more patient and thorough. But, patience wouldn't be very white bass like! [laugh]
Is this the kind of "foo foo feather crowd" yous a talkin' about?
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Didn't see many o' those at Lindon. [cool]
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Sounds like another fun and productive venture.
Was just listening to Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, and "Mad Man Across the Water" came on as I read your tail. Fitting!
Some silence, solitude, and a nice float. Had me that on the river Sunday night. Had some weird visions floating back up stream - mind plays tricks after dark!
Thanks for the post and the pizza tips.
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[cool][#0000ff]One of the great things about solitude is that it ALLOWS you the luxury of random thought and reflection. You are under no pressure to listen to anybody else...nearby or long distance. And sound does travel all to well across water. Without distractions you are free to reminisce about the good times of the past...or dream out good times yet to be experienced. And you don't gotta 'splain yerself to nobody else.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A favorite quote from an old friend...no longer getting any older in his permanent resting place:[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]"You can fish...or you can worry. But you can't fish AND worry."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, my post was about using small whole white bass for bait. But I also do the same thing when plagued by hordes of dink perch. The last little while before departing I keep a bunch of those...up to my limit...and then process them the same way for future bait use. I freeze up about six per package...with a bit of water to eliminate the air (freezer burn). You can use them whole wherever it is legal to use perch meat...and if there are no limitations on using whole perch or large pieces (tiger muskie waters). All predators love small perch. Some of the best "minnows" you can use. And by harvesting some from dinkstervilles you can help improve the fishery for larger fish in later days.[/#0000ff]
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Those little whities looked like the perfect size. Maybe I need to downsize and try to catch a few. Thinking friday might give it a shot. Now I have to watch the weather reports[:/]
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[cool][#0000ff]You can find those baby whities all over the lake right now. Best places to look are in protected spots...and in shallow water near shore. They come in early in the morning to feed on midge larvae...and adults on the water. Not hard to see them when they are around.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Wish it was legal to use a cast net on them. I could have filled a cooler. But a tiny bobber and a tandem hook rig of small hooks, small flies or tiny jig heads with just a bit of worm will get pretty fast action. They stay near the top until the sun gets higher or the wind comes up.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is amazing how quickly they grow. They were just hatched in June and now they are about 4" average...the perfect bait size.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here's a pic of how I package them. I put 6 in a bag, with the heads all facing the same way. That helps reduce bag punctures from the sharp little spiny fins. Put in a bit of water and squeeze out the excess. Then carefully rubber band them and freeze them.[/#0000ff]
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great report. Again, pic #1 needs to go in the publication.
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks...and nope. Not nearly as purty as a lot of others I already have on file.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The main reason I took that shot was to try to capture all of the little feeding rings all over the harbor...of the little white bass. The area along the shoreline to the left did not come out clearly in the picture but it looked like a heavy rainstorm near the bank. Grundles of white-ettes. And they made it almost impossible for me to fish until I was well out into the open lake. Peck...peck...peck...on every cast. Little peckers.[/#0000ff]
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