12-16-2018, 06:34 AM
My wife went to St. George to celebrate he sister’s birthday and I unexpectedly found myself with a couple of hours to make a quick fishing trip. Since I had no one to go with, I had to leave the boat at home so I did the unthinkable and went bank tangling.
I got to Lincoln about a little before 3 P.M. and there were a number of cars parked around the lot. I could see one family fishing off the dock, so I assumed the rest were over at the springs. The channel was mostly full of ice, but it had pockets of open water scattered the full length. The dock was in a pocket of open water and from the road I could see open water at the jaws.
I watched the guys on the dock catch a couple of whites and I decided that I would head to the end of the north dike and try to intercept some whites heading in for the evening and maybe catch a catfish.
It took about 10 minutes to get a hit and the first white I hooked came unbuttoned right at the shore and got away. I was hoping to get about 30 for the freezer and things were starting too slowly. After 30 minutes I had two in the basket and had lost 4. I cut 2” off the tail end of the second one and replaced my frozen bait with fresh. It seemed to help. A good school came by and I got 6 fish in about 8 casts. They didn’t seem interested in stationary baits, the hits were light and the fish surprisingly lethargic. I didn’t think whites ever got cold.
Things slowed for a while and the wind started to pick up. Every once in a while a section of ice would go by and I would have to re-set the one catfish rod. About 4:45 I got a really good spurt and put 10 fish in the basket. I was two thirds of the way there, but it was getting dark and the wind was getting cold.
The waves were breaking up the ice and it was making a clattering sound. Once that started, the fish just disappeared. After 15 minutes of nothing I decided to head to the car.
About halfway back up the dike I found a large pocket of open water. I was working a small slip bobber with a sort of tandem rig under it. One was an RC tube jig that TD panted eyes on and the other was a #10 hook with just a small piece of WB on it. I tossed the bobber into the pocket and started a slow retrieve. After 3 feet it stopped and I got another white. To that point the RC had caught most of the fish, but this one took the tiny cut bait. Another cast and another fish on the little hook. That went on for 7 straight casts. I decided I would go until I had 10 more to put in the basket. The next 3 all came on the RC tube, go figure.
I stopped at 11 fish because one was only about 6” and I decided it would be “seed bait” for my next outing. Somewhere in the 11 fish spurt the wind had died and I was starting to warm up, but I didn’t want to spend the whole night cleaning so I left the hungry fish and headed for the car.
When I got to the dock, everyone was gone and it was surrounded by even more open water than when I had passed it on the way in. My arms were tired from carrying the basket so I stopped to rest and I thought “I’ll bet there out there too, just waiting.” One cast, one more white and I called it quits.
All in all it was a great evening. In just under 3 hours I had gotten 35 whites and lost another dozen or so. Unfortunately, my little FLIG I had set out for cats had gotten nary a sniff. I think the cats weren’t moving much in the cold water. Another day for them. At least I got out and put some whites in the freezer.
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I got to Lincoln about a little before 3 P.M. and there were a number of cars parked around the lot. I could see one family fishing off the dock, so I assumed the rest were over at the springs. The channel was mostly full of ice, but it had pockets of open water scattered the full length. The dock was in a pocket of open water and from the road I could see open water at the jaws.
I watched the guys on the dock catch a couple of whites and I decided that I would head to the end of the north dike and try to intercept some whites heading in for the evening and maybe catch a catfish.
It took about 10 minutes to get a hit and the first white I hooked came unbuttoned right at the shore and got away. I was hoping to get about 30 for the freezer and things were starting too slowly. After 30 minutes I had two in the basket and had lost 4. I cut 2” off the tail end of the second one and replaced my frozen bait with fresh. It seemed to help. A good school came by and I got 6 fish in about 8 casts. They didn’t seem interested in stationary baits, the hits were light and the fish surprisingly lethargic. I didn’t think whites ever got cold.
Things slowed for a while and the wind started to pick up. Every once in a while a section of ice would go by and I would have to re-set the one catfish rod. About 4:45 I got a really good spurt and put 10 fish in the basket. I was two thirds of the way there, but it was getting dark and the wind was getting cold.
The waves were breaking up the ice and it was making a clattering sound. Once that started, the fish just disappeared. After 15 minutes of nothing I decided to head to the car.
About halfway back up the dike I found a large pocket of open water. I was working a small slip bobber with a sort of tandem rig under it. One was an RC tube jig that TD panted eyes on and the other was a #10 hook with just a small piece of WB on it. I tossed the bobber into the pocket and started a slow retrieve. After 3 feet it stopped and I got another white. To that point the RC had caught most of the fish, but this one took the tiny cut bait. Another cast and another fish on the little hook. That went on for 7 straight casts. I decided I would go until I had 10 more to put in the basket. The next 3 all came on the RC tube, go figure.
I stopped at 11 fish because one was only about 6” and I decided it would be “seed bait” for my next outing. Somewhere in the 11 fish spurt the wind had died and I was starting to warm up, but I didn’t want to spend the whole night cleaning so I left the hungry fish and headed for the car.
When I got to the dock, everyone was gone and it was surrounded by even more open water than when I had passed it on the way in. My arms were tired from carrying the basket so I stopped to rest and I thought “I’ll bet there out there too, just waiting.” One cast, one more white and I called it quits.
All in all it was a great evening. In just under 3 hours I had gotten 35 whites and lost another dozen or so. Unfortunately, my little FLIG I had set out for cats had gotten nary a sniff. I think the cats weren’t moving much in the cold water. Another day for them. At least I got out and put some whites in the freezer.
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