03-05-2014, 09:13 PM
[#0000FF]One of my earliest trips to Lindon in a few years. Better than my first trip on Willard a couple of weeks ago.
Air temp 32 at 6:30 am launch. Water temp inside harbor 41. I was optimistic. Water depth a little over 4 feet average inside the harbor. Coming up but still two to three feet lower than full.
Didn't see any fishy marks on sonar while motoring across the harbor to the outlet. But I did stop to pitch a tandem small plastic rig at the beginning of the channel. First cast...thump, headshake, pull. Wow. Thought I might have scored a walleye. Nope. Turned out to be a "toothless golden walleye". Kept it for future Purina Cat Chow. No more inquiries inside...or out on the points.
Pointed my tube toward the bubbleup and cranked up the electric motor. Hadn't gone too far until it began to sound like someone eating crackers. I was breaking through skim ice...and then got into some thicker stuff, with some ice berglets scattered around in the skim. Veddy intermesting. But as long as I kept the motor at about mid speed...and rocked the tube a bit...I was able to crunch my way through the crust.
It took a while but I came out of the worst of it about the time I reached the bubbleup. But there was no inflow and they have not set up the buoys yet. However, I have the pipeline pretty well triangulated with landmarks on shore so I was able to find the pipe with sonar. Worked along it but did not see anything on the screen. Threw large plastics and small plastics. Nary a nip.
As I got out near the end of the pipeline I rigged up a minnow to drag on one rod while I continued with plastics on the other. A lot of fun working the tube through the ice chunks with the bait line and trying to avoid snagging them with the plastics as I reeled through them on the retrieve.
After freeing a piece of snagged ice with the plastics I noticed that line was running off the reel on the minnow rod. So I put up the plastics rod, picked up the other rod, waited for the line to come tight and POW. Pretty solid resistance and a surprising battle for the 34 degree water I was in. Once again, I was hoping for teeth but had to settle for whiskers. Okay by me. Need some smoking material anyway. First chilly kitty aboard.
No skunk smell today. Just carp and catfish. Thas okay too.
Continued to work up and down the pipeline...from 6 foot deep into about 3 feet. Couldn't buy a poke on plastic and no more inquiries on the bait. So I put up the plastic and rigged a second bait rod with a half of a small white bass. Worked back out into the 5-6 foot depths where I had caught the first cat.
Dragged the buffet of baits over a large area...dodging berglets as I went. No more hits for about an hour. Then the rod with the white bass got hit. Line popped out of the clip and began zinging off the open bail spool. Once again, I flipped the bail closed, waited for the line to come tight and rocked his world. Yee haww...another porky kitty. Much fun.
But, that was it. Another hour of dragging dual baits over a wide area didn't produce another bite. And then a SW breeze started to come up...pushing the ice back in toward shore. So, I cranked up and headed for the harbor.
Stopped to work the outside edges of the rocks. Still nothing there that wanted to play. But the water temp had risen to 38 degrees just outside the harbor. Hmmmm. Watched the temp climb to 40 and then 41 as I moved fully inside. Tossed out a minnow on one rod and began working a couple of usually good areas with plastics. Shoulda saved another half hour and just gone straight to the ramp. But the water temp was 44 at the ramp, and my "tuber tootsies" had returned to the living.
No boats on the lake and no bank tanglers. There were a couple of dock dunkers but I watched them for a long time and didn't see either of them bring in any fish. They might have filled a bucket before I got there but nothing while I was watching.
With the water level and water temps coming up it won't be long until all species move in and get active.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Air temp 32 at 6:30 am launch. Water temp inside harbor 41. I was optimistic. Water depth a little over 4 feet average inside the harbor. Coming up but still two to three feet lower than full.
Didn't see any fishy marks on sonar while motoring across the harbor to the outlet. But I did stop to pitch a tandem small plastic rig at the beginning of the channel. First cast...thump, headshake, pull. Wow. Thought I might have scored a walleye. Nope. Turned out to be a "toothless golden walleye". Kept it for future Purina Cat Chow. No more inquiries inside...or out on the points.
Pointed my tube toward the bubbleup and cranked up the electric motor. Hadn't gone too far until it began to sound like someone eating crackers. I was breaking through skim ice...and then got into some thicker stuff, with some ice berglets scattered around in the skim. Veddy intermesting. But as long as I kept the motor at about mid speed...and rocked the tube a bit...I was able to crunch my way through the crust.
It took a while but I came out of the worst of it about the time I reached the bubbleup. But there was no inflow and they have not set up the buoys yet. However, I have the pipeline pretty well triangulated with landmarks on shore so I was able to find the pipe with sonar. Worked along it but did not see anything on the screen. Threw large plastics and small plastics. Nary a nip.
As I got out near the end of the pipeline I rigged up a minnow to drag on one rod while I continued with plastics on the other. A lot of fun working the tube through the ice chunks with the bait line and trying to avoid snagging them with the plastics as I reeled through them on the retrieve.
After freeing a piece of snagged ice with the plastics I noticed that line was running off the reel on the minnow rod. So I put up the plastics rod, picked up the other rod, waited for the line to come tight and POW. Pretty solid resistance and a surprising battle for the 34 degree water I was in. Once again, I was hoping for teeth but had to settle for whiskers. Okay by me. Need some smoking material anyway. First chilly kitty aboard.
No skunk smell today. Just carp and catfish. Thas okay too.
Continued to work up and down the pipeline...from 6 foot deep into about 3 feet. Couldn't buy a poke on plastic and no more inquiries on the bait. So I put up the plastic and rigged a second bait rod with a half of a small white bass. Worked back out into the 5-6 foot depths where I had caught the first cat.
Dragged the buffet of baits over a large area...dodging berglets as I went. No more hits for about an hour. Then the rod with the white bass got hit. Line popped out of the clip and began zinging off the open bail spool. Once again, I flipped the bail closed, waited for the line to come tight and rocked his world. Yee haww...another porky kitty. Much fun.
But, that was it. Another hour of dragging dual baits over a wide area didn't produce another bite. And then a SW breeze started to come up...pushing the ice back in toward shore. So, I cranked up and headed for the harbor.
Stopped to work the outside edges of the rocks. Still nothing there that wanted to play. But the water temp had risen to 38 degrees just outside the harbor. Hmmmm. Watched the temp climb to 40 and then 41 as I moved fully inside. Tossed out a minnow on one rod and began working a couple of usually good areas with plastics. Shoulda saved another half hour and just gone straight to the ramp. But the water temp was 44 at the ramp, and my "tuber tootsies" had returned to the living.
No boats on the lake and no bank tanglers. There were a couple of dock dunkers but I watched them for a long time and didn't see either of them bring in any fish. They might have filled a bucket before I got there but nothing while I was watching.
With the water level and water temps coming up it won't be long until all species move in and get active.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]