Lincoln Beach 5-4-19...my report

[TubeDude]

[#0000ff]I had invited Sam Braegger...of the Utah Lake Commission...to join us at the gathering. He had other commitments but asked that we take pictures and submit them to him for archiving or inclusion on the ULC website. I only took a few pics, trusting that other "clickers" might provide more. Post 'em if you got 'em.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fishing? I was handicapped. Fished out of a boat. But it was a really nice boat. DuBob graciously invited me to join him so that I could introduce him to Utah Lake while he introduced me to his new ride...a fine Thunder Jet craft. The only problem was that there was a loud whining noise. But I eventually shut up about not being able to fish from my float tube.
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[#0000ff]Neither of us likes to fish competitively so we met for a leisurely breakfast at 6 and got to the ramp well after 7. By the time we prepped and then waited for a couple of other launchers who did their prepping on the ramp, we did not actually get on the water until after 8 am.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have done well this time of year in the past by fishing the flats east of the launch ramp. Not this year. Bob and I moved from shallow to deep and along a fairly long stretch of shoreline without seeing much on sonar or on our lines. We each soaked a half large minnow on one rod and some carp meat on a flig on the second rods.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After over an hour of NOTHING, I suggested to Bob that we make a move further down the shoreline, to try to find some fish. But...as I picked up my minnow baited rod to reel in...I got a heavy chomp and surge. The fish hooked itself and pulled good. I figured this might be a fish to measure for the big fish contest for the day. But, I couldn't get it to stretch beyond the 26 inch mark. Respectable for most folks and most waters but not a winner on a good day on Utah Lake. Turns out there were several bigger ones landed for the day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That was the only fish brought to net for our crew. Bob did have a serious inquiry and got the circle hook into a good fish. But the knot gremlins slid down the line and broke the fish off at the swivel knot. Bad gremlins. And that was the last bite we had for the next two or more hours of fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Downer for the day was a prop ding DuBob suffered while motoring very slowly and carefully along a sunken shelf...off the L. Not carefully enough. Depth on sonar went suddenly from 7 feet to CRUNCH. Bob had no intentions of joining the Utah Lake Rock Club but the lake had other plans for him. Ouch. Some serious dings that will require rebuilding the prop.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We hit the ramp a bit after 11...just ahead of the mass exodus. One of the pictures attached shows that there were a lot of boat trailers in the parking area...more than I have ever seen at Lincoln Beach. Not all were BFTers but there were a goodly number of our group represented today.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Turns out that BLK and a couple of other members headed directly for the island early. Those who fished right up against the rocks...shallow...found some willing fish. But, according to BLK, the main bite dropped off after 8:30. I suspect that all of the "help" from other boats arriving didn't help the fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Happily, it seemed like most who flogged the water were rewarded with at least something. As always, some did better than others. I did not keep any fish to use for demonstrating cat filleting but Gaardvark was kind enough to donate his half dozen for me to whack up with my electric fillet knife.
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[#0000ff]Speaking of which, I had brought along both a 120 volt electric and a 12 volt portable electric. Glad I did. No matter how many tweaks and switches the camp hosts tried we could not get power to the 120 volt outlet at the pavilion. But, my American Angler 12 volt is almost as tough as a 120 v, so I was able to "make little ones out of big ones". Hope I was able to show folks that filleting cats is simple...even if it ain't easy. Filleting bigger cats is a lot like butchering a hog...a lot of work and a lot of blood. Just hope the blood ain't yours.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thanks to Craig and others who brought everything together. And thanks to IceSled and his helpmate for whuppin' up some great fish and hush puppies. Also thanks to everybody else who brought various items of food and drinks. I don't think anybody left hungry or thirsty. I didn't. And it was great to meet a few more formerly faceless BFTers...as well as seeing others I have known for a while.
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[Boatloadakids]

Great summary Pat. Fun time with great grub, good weather, good friends, and pretty good fishing.

I think the fishing would have been better if the water had been a bit warmer. It was 56-ish when we started and finally hit 60 around noon; both cats and wb would have been more active and hungry if we had warmer water. No complaints here, great time.

We started near the island and started catching fish right away. We ended up with 14 cats, longest was 27 with a couple of 26ers. We fished close to the south shore of the island in about two feet of water and lots of rocks. We used bobbers and never had any no-hope snags. Fishing was good until about 8:30 and then it seemed to shut right down. Maybe we caught all of them that were there??[]

Herewith a couple of pics of the boys and their best fish. The island is in the background and a zoom will give you a pretty good idea of how high it is.

Gotta thank Ben and his better half for the great food. All of my crew made several trips to the fish and puppies; nobody left hungry.

The filleting demo was pretty good too. My crew was especially interested in watching that.

Thanks again to you Pat for donating the flig starter kit... nice prize.

Rough weather coming this week but I still plan to be back out there when I can to continues the search for that 36 incher.

BLK
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[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat I appreciate the report... We did similar to you guys we ended up with two white bass and my only cat bite I had, my line had gotten way slack and my bobber took off for SLC and by the time I got the line tight it was long gone... Guess that's what happens when you keep trying to find white bass on the second rod and forget to keep track of your cat rod... Oh well didn't want to catch Lynn's 36"er anyway... besides my notary couldn't make it so it wouldn't have been valid anyways... Fun time, we appreciate the demo you did, I forget that other's haven't had the privilege to fish with you and see how quick you can fillet a fish, have heard and seen so many comments on how much they appreciated you teaching them that technique and I wanted to thank you again for that... Also I missed catching up with you for some fligs, so I'll have to meet up again on the pond to get my fix... Thanks Jeff
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Good to see you again Jeff. You kept pretty busy and did a great job. If you enlarge the pics I posted you will see that the boat in a couple of those pics is you. One while you were in shallow and one while you were out past us. Thankfully you are too far away to see how handsome you are in your fishing costume.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Thinking about a run to Willard early next week. Do you want me to PM you with details in case you can meet up for a flig exchange? Otherwise, I will likely be a regular on Willard for the next few weeks and we can try to get our dance cards together...maybe even for some fishing.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat I did notice we were bobbing in the background of your photo's sorry didn't mean to shadow you guys so much... I think I'm probably going to bury some pipe next week for my new water line, so I'm probably not going to be able to get out fishing for a few... I'm trying to ignore the fact that they are starting to catch pretty well at Willard now... If I don't know it's getting better, it won't be so hard to not go... right?? I hate having to change hats this time of year, but I do need to get my farming taken care of, it helps me afford my fishing habits... Plus I kind of like to do it too... I'll let you know when I can sneak a day off work and join you... Thanks Jeff
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