Utah Lake Trip 2

[Tin-Can]

Made a day trip down and back yesterday to Lincoln Beach. Got on the water about 7:30, pulled out of the LB channel and immediately saw BLK in one of his fave spots. As we got closer, moving slow to not ruffle him too much, we could see he was having some sort of a one man tussle. Got closer and realized he had 2 rods in his hands that were both bent over pretty good. Turns out he had some aggressive cats on both rods. Couldn't really help, so just kinda watched and took a couple photos. Bad luck, lost them both when they wrapped around his anchor line. Sorry bout that Lynn.

We hadn't brought any cut bait with us, so the plan was to drop out a couple lures and troll our way to Bird Island. Hoping to pick up a couple white bass. And sure enough, we got 2 boated and cut up before we got to the island.

There were 2 other boats at BI when we got there, one on the east side and one kind of on the south-west corner. We went around to the north side and anchored off just inside the horseshoe. Got our lines in the water, and the hits were almost immediate.
I got the first one, then son got one, and we kind of traded off like that for 20 or 30 minutes. After the first 5 or 6 we just stopped keeping count, or taking photos. Had several doubles, and one big monster male that wrapped up both my lines from opposite sides of the boat, then under my trolling plate, and around the prop. Got him boated, then had to cut off all the tangled lines and tilt motor all the way up and clear out the prop.

About 10:30 it slowed down to about 1 hit each every 10-15 minutes. Had several that had to cut the line, and snags in the rocks that we had to snap off, spent the time between hits doing line repair and replacement [:/]

By the time we decided we had done all the damage we needed to do and up-anchored and headed for the dock at about 1 P.M. we had used up all the withe bass bait, about half the night crawlers we had, and a package of Berkeley Gulp worms. We had even started just tying the hooks direct to the main line with no weights. The night crawlers and white bass chunks would sink on their own, but it reduced the snag and snap off problems when a weight got stuck in a rock crevice. And the Cats hit those hooks just as often and just as hard as before.

Measured each Cat I caught to see if I was able to bump my 24.5 inch from last week, but they all measured out between 22 and 24. Fat, aggressive, and ugly, but not longer than 24 inch. [:/]
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[Boatloadakids]

Forest -- Was good to see you and son yesterday, sorry I was doing my Yosemitie Sam thing with two fish and could not be more sociable. I had plenty of wb with me and would have been glad to toss you a few. Sounds like you picked up a couple on your way out to the island. I lost both of those fish (both were 36 inchers) when they managed to tie a double uni-knot and a clinch knot with a double granny on top on my anchor rope.

I did well at that first spring spot. The bottom is pretty much snag free there so I spend less time rigging up new lines. I caught cats all morning but could not break out of the two foot crowd... still lots of fun. Did not fish today but plan to hit the island tomorrow.

Glad you did well and hope to see you down this way again soon.

BLK
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[Tin-Can]

Lynn, I do understand the "both hands full" issue, been there myself a few times. I think you were perfectly sociable, and we got the white bass we needed. All worked out fine.
Absolutely the 2 that tied up your lines on the anchor just HAD to be 36 inches, maybe even more......[] After all, since no one saw them, who can say different, right?

When we were about half way to the island yesterday, the wind picked up some. Put a bit more of a chop on the water. I had seen the weather reports Tuesday night calling for increased wind and gusts in south Utah, and 2-4 mph winds in the Provo area, increasing to about 15 mph but not until about 5 PM. I was just hoping the weather guessers got it close to right. But by the time we got to our spot at the island the wind had died down to almost dead calm, with a light breeze just often enough to
keep the worst of the bugs down.

Looks like you got some of the same dark, big head, scarred up cats we did. We couldn't line ours all up like that for a group photo cuz we weren't keeping them, and wanted to get them back in the water quick as possible.

If you get out to the island tomorrow, keep one eye glued on your sonar. Several rocks just barely under the surface. Be safe, good luck.
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[a_bow_nut]

When the bite slows off after a little while move your boat over 60-70 yards and you will be on hot fishing again. At as long as the cats are schooled up close to shore like they are now.

Also when I have troubles with my sinkers getting snaged up I will tie on a dropper line and lightly clamp some split shot on the drop line. Then if they get snagged you can give a goog tug and the sinkers will slide off of the drop line and save you the time of having to tie on a whole new rig.
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[Piscophilic]

Sounds like a great morning on the lake. Glad you got to entertain those catfish and have some fun at the same time. I hope to get back out there soon...just not soon enough.
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[Piscophilic]

Looks like you found plenty of fish. The way you have been catching them, you must have really pumped up your arms by now.
That is too bad you lost both of those big fish at one time.

I wonder if all those 36 inchers got trained on how to wrap a line around the anchor rope!

Keep up the good work, that monster is going to show up any day now[]
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[Boatloadakids]

Over the years I have autographed a few of those BI rocks with my prop so I know how to avoid most of them. When I get within a hundred yards or so of the island I go all electric and wear Polaroids. I've seen/heard some terrible rock hits from unknowing boaters out there.

I very seldom keep catfish. I keep some of the bigger ones in my live well long enough to measure them and get a photo then chuck them back. Hardy fish so no harm done.

My g-son caught one last week that did not have a fin/arm right behind the gill slit. When we turned it back they wanted to see if it could only swim in circles because of the missing fin. Yeah, right.[laugh][laugh]

Watch for a pic of my 36 incher tomorrow.

Just noticed a blurb on tv about an algal bloom spotted in Provo harbor. Bummer, hope this is not the beginning of something bad.
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[Tin-Can]

I've only hit my prop once at UL and that was outside the jetty was at the Provo marina. Must have been an old concrete piling cuz I was watching my sonar close and was in about 4 fow with the bottom contour fairly flat, was running slow pulling back out into deeper water and suddenly the motor bounced, the prop made one contact on one blade, and that was it. Only put a minor ding in one prop that I was able to blend out. That prop is still on the motor and runs good with no problems.

That's funny, we caught a big almost solid black male last Wednesday that had no dorsal fin, and scrapes down his back from head to tail fin.

Son # 3 and I are heading back down in the morning. Probably be my last trip to UL this year. Next project I have to work on is the DAVFF event at Soldier Creek on the 15th. Never been on Soldier Creek part of Strawberry, and only been to the Berry twice over 10 years ago. Not too sure how effective I will be, but I want to provide a boat and a day on the water to one of the veterans.

Keep after those Cats [fishon]
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