Best and Worst of Times at Lincoln Beach

[Piscophilic]

E.S. : Last week I took grandkids fishing twice. First on May 26th and then again on May 29th. The two trips could not have been more different. On the 26th we fished 2 hours off the Provo Airport from 4 to 10 FOW and another hour east of the island. The water temps were in the upper 60’s. For the trip we ended up with two hits and one cat about 7 pounds. The 29th Julie and I fished around Lincoln point for 2 hours, hoping to find better numbers for the kids coming out later, and got 6 cats. When the grandkids came we went farther west. One wave got 11 cats and one white bass in 90 minutes and the second wave got 14 cats in another 90 minute flurry. The water temp was in the low 70’s. All cats on both days came on cut white bass. I sure hope the grandkids remember the second trip and not the first.
A couple of other highlights were meeting R2U2 and MRs J at the ramp on the 26th and FastRandy on the 29th!


F.S. 5/26/2020: I told my son that the water was still in the low to mid 60 degree range and that meant the fish would be active all morning so we headed to Lincoln Beach and launched about 10:45 A.M. With Luke (8) and William (5) and their dad Bowen.  After a 12 minute boat ride over to the airport we started fishing. We had only frozen white bass, but it seemed to be in decent shape. I was guessing the fish would be shallower than Julie and I had found them a few weeks earlier, but we got nothing near the reeds for almost an hour so we headed deeper. A text from Catchinon said his day was going much better. He had gotten an earlier start and had landed 10 already.

It took 30 minutes to get out to stroll out to 7 FOW and still not a tap. We had been full of optimism, but spirits were beginning to drop. “I’m hot, aren’t we going to catch a fish? Said Luke. I texted Craig and asked how deep he was fishing. “10 feet,” was the answer so we kicked up the speed and hurried out to 9.5 FOW. Again all we heard was the I-pilot turning back and forth for another 30 minutes. And then “I’m so hot!” It was beginning to look like we had waited way too long to get to the lake!

Just before we hit 10’ and 2 hours of “fishing” one of the deep rods bent hard. ”There’s one on over there.” I almost shouted at Bowen. He helped Luke remember how to handle a fish and 3 minutes later a nice 7 pound cat came aboard. The skunk was off and the fun could now begin!
It didn’t happen. 45 long minutes later the call came that the twins were on their way over with their mom and we headed for the dock with just one cat.

We unloaded the first wave and loaded Ashley and the twins, Evy and Shay (3). Ashley said the twins were more interested in a boat ride, but they might enjoy fishing for a while. We headed to the island to show them some birds and hopefully find the lost catfish. The pelicans, gulls and cormorants cooperated fully, but the cats were still MIA. After about an hour of “bird watching” our totally unmolested baits came back in the boat and the day of fishing ended.

It was not a terrible day of fishing, but it was the worst day of catching I had seen since January…of 2019! I ran over countless possibilities. The top candidates were: a late start, old bait and probable sunscreen on the bait. Finally I just decided it was one of those days.
 

FS 5/29/2020: With only one cat in the refrigerator we needed to get a lot more to feed a dozen people at the fish fry we had promised the family so we made a plan to try again. This time Julie and I would go out at first light and try to find some fish before the grandkids got  up and got there. I really, really didn’t want them to have two boring fishing trips in a row.

I decided to start out one the east side of Lincoln Point, partly because it was close to the ramp and partly because the area had produced several past success in late May. Julie and I had tried to address all of the top 3 possible causes for Tuesday’s failure. I had gotten up early Monday and caught some whites at the Provo harbor so we had fresh bait. We agreed to wear gloves to put on sunscreen and we started early! As we were driving out Julie spotted a partial rainbow in the sky. We took it as a sign of good luck, since we thought we needed it.
We set up off the second spring just after 6 AM. The water was already 72 degrees in the main lake and there was a lot more cloud cover that expected for a forecast high of 89. Within 20 minutes the lone bobber went down and we had a cookie cutter to invite to the fry. 30 more minutes and we had one more on, but the lead was caught in the rocks, so we pulled the rest of the gear and scooted over on top of where it was stuck. Our luck held as the lead pulled free and another cookie cutter came aboard.
 
This was a better start, but not the action we hoped for, so we went out to 10 FOW and started dragging at about 0.5 MPH. Things improved, with 2 more in the 22-24 inch range in about 30 minutes. Then it got quiet. Craig had gotten to the ramp just after we did, but had some equipment problems and was just joining us a little farther west along the point.
Since we knew the first wave of grandkids was coming, we headed the boat back toward the harbor. Just before 8 we got a text that they would be there in 20 minutes and we got two quick cats. We were able to report we had 6 in the basket and the fish fry was looking much better.

On the way to the dock I decided our next step would be to follow up on a report that someone had found fish farther west. We hoped to show the youngsters a trip that would make them forget the last one and what we found near the harbor was not going to cut it. It turned out to be a trip saving choice.

After loading Bowen, Luke and William we headed farther west and set out the gear in 9 FOW. We had 5 rods in for cats dragging cut WB and I added one with flies down about 7 feet to see if any fresh bait volunteers would show up. It only took five minutes and a white hit a brown bugger. “William, come here,” I said and he had his first fish of the trip.

The cats took a bit longer to show up, but 35 minutes later Luke got one about 20.” It was barely in the basket when the second one hit on the balloon rod. “William, grandpa has another fish for you.” said Bowen. “This one is a bigger fish and a long ways from the boat,” I replied, but William said he wanted to do it. After a lot of reeling he brought in a nice 5 pound cat. Two cats and a white bass in less than 40 minutes, “This is more like it,” I said.

We were just deciding that things were looking up when the deep rod on the right side went down hard and William started in on it. The next 30 minutes could best bed escribed as marginal mayhem. Before that one got in Luke got one on the left back rod. 2 minutes later it was William on the balloon rod and Luke got another on the back left rod while his brother was still reeling. Bowen was trying frantically to get pictures of each fish as each boy landed it and we had 4 in the bottom of the boat waiting for pictures, but the boys could stop catching fish long enough. A break came when it took a whole 3.5 minutes before the back right rod went down and William got another one.

After unhooking that one I looked up at Bowen and said: “THIS is fun! We all caught our breath as it took 7 minutes until the back left rod went off again for Luke. The mayhem might have gone on much longer but the wind shifted and started moving the boat sideways. While Luke was playing the next fish it tangled with two other lines. While I was untangling them the fish went under the boat and broke off. The last 15 minutes of the flurry gave one more for each boy. Just as the last one came in Luke announced, “I think we have caught too many fish!” and Bowen’s phone rang with the ETA for his wife Ashley, her brother Ben and the Twins. Oh, and we had enough fish for the fry!

After switching crews at the dock we head back to the waypoint I had marked 3 fish into the earlier frenzy. Once we got there we put out only 4 rods, all for cats. I was really hoping the fish would still be active, but it was now pushing 1:30 in the afternoon.

Almost twenty minutes after the gear went in, the left back rod finally got hit, and hard. I put Shay on my lap and started showing him how to hold the pole and when to reel. For the next 5 minutes there was a lot of tugging and grunting and I was glad no other fish hit. Once under the boat it just refused to come up. This turned out to be the best fish of the day, just over 27” but right at 9 pounds! I’m not sure who was more excited, Shay or Ashley.

Two minutes after Shay’s fish went back in the lake, the right back rod went down and Evy got her first cat. From there it was like an instant replay of the first wave. For the next 45 minutes Ben and Ashley and I were almost constantly helping one or both 3 year olds battle a fish. Ashley was again trying to get a picture of each fish for each angler and at one point she had to take a picture with 3 fish at once just to keep up.  When the craziness ended the video showed 14 cats had come to the boat in just over an hour, and there was a 10 minute stretch where the camera was accidentally left off.
All the fish in the second wave were released and I was glad it worked out that way because there were several large pre-spawn females in the mix.

What a day for the grandkids and what difference from just 3 days earlier!