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I had an early out day at work on Thursday and with the dropping water levels I thought I should hit the island one more time. I won’t get another chance until early September and it might be too late. A buddy and I got to the ramp at Lincoln Beach about 4:15 P.M. and had our lines in the water at the island at 4:30. We had to be home early so we pulled them at 7:30, just ahead of the thunder storm. Water temp was 88 at the launch and 82 in the main lake. Wind was light so we started dragging baits.
We found fish on both sides of the island in 3.5 to 6.5 feet of water.
They preferred white bass to chub meat o shrimp. The size of fish was good again with the smallest being 22 and the largest 26 inches and 7 pounds. We ended up boating 6 fish and had at least that many more on. Decent fishing for late afternoon in hot weather. Most of the ones we lost just came off after a few good tugs, but I broke one off. We had that fish and the 7 pounder on at the same time and I lost focus and messed up. It was a nice fish, but at least it wasn’t a monster.
I took a few more pictures this time, but I may have to build myself a box. The slime sure builds up in the carpet! All of today’s fish are still swimming around in the lake, unless someone else has caught them since[  ]
As for launch conditions, the water in the channel was down to 1.5’ in several places. We got on and off the ramp fine but I hit something 10 to 20 feet off the ramp on the south side. It was not hard like big rock, but something is lurking down there that is worth avoiding.
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Ahhh man, those are some purty cats you guys hauled in. Nice going.
Know what you mean about the fish slime on the carpet. I give up on trying to keep mine clean until the end of the season. It starts to look like the carpet has been varnished. I wash mine out with a hose and then make a trip to the car wash, let dry out, spread a liberal amount of baking soda and rub it in, vacuum it out and wash again and it is good as new.
I was at Lincoln this a.m. for a bait run. Arrived at about 5:30 and one boat had already launched and gone... night shift?? From the size of their trailer it was a good sized boat. Others came and launched while I collected baby whites for bait and none of them had trouble getting out. I had pretty much resigned myself to being a tooner until I saw others still launching boats. Gonna give it another go in my boat on Monday and see how it goes. I would sure like to put in a night shift anchored up at Bird Island and chucking some good sized baits out.... Hmmmm.....??
Looks like those northern guys are starting to get serious. I see Jeff just posted up a nice one. I still think this is our year... we just gotta keep after 'em. Your 32 incher is going to be hard to beat but there are bigger ones out there.
Hope you can get out again soon and good luck to ya.
The big ones will be here soon.
BLK
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So I think the channel gets dredged a little every day[  ] I followed a guy in on Thursday and he was in a deep heavy fiberglass boat I'd say 22' or better. He had the lower unit turned up to where he was pushing at least a foot of water in the air and it was still churning mud. He could barely steer it and he stopped a couple of times like he was rubbing on the bottom.
Even with that kind of "dredging" I think it's a losing battle[  ]
I might have to try the State Park when I get back form Oregon.
Good luck to you on Monday too! I'll look forward to your report.
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Sad to say my best fish is an inch and a half less than your teams ten fish average. But I was glad to finally get a score bump it's been over two months for me. I got 3 fish over 24" this weekend so some of the bigger fish are back so that makes it more fun. Had a real good fish on but I was boat fishing and hadn't learned how to avoid anchor ropes yet. It wrapped around the rope and snapped the 15 lb line like it was a cobweb. Lots of ways to screw up when the fish are too powerful to muscle around. Did I ever tell you I love catching cats, they are so much fun. Anyway great trip Pisco I can see you're going to be a solid competitor. Man I'm worried about now that we have a lot of ground to make up on the north and you guys sure aren't letting up to give us a chance to sneak back into this contest. Well carry on and drop water drop. Sorry just looking for an edge. Later J
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Dang it I can't get out for a couple weeks. Your reports are going to drive me nuts.[ ]
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I still can't get over how low the water is. I drove by Lindon and then over where Battle Creek dumps into the lake. Man that is some crazy low water. I'm glad y'all got into fish and didn't tear your boat up!
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Glad to hear you got out and found some nice fish, just not too nice We had one in the boat that would have bumped my score, but, alas, I didn't catch it. The Challenge is fun, but I guess maybe good company is important too.
I hope for a few more trips before it is over. I still have the old tube if I can pack it to the edge of the lake!
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Sorry if the reports are driving you nuts. Tell you what, I won't go out for the next 2 weeks and maybe that will help?
Maybe BLK will drive you nuts while I'm gone[ ]
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Thanks for the reply! Ya, it is scary low. My boat is a 16' Aluminum and doesn't draw a lot of water, but it won't be long until it won't even work. There's always the old tube though.
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[quote Piscophilic]Sorry if the reports are driving you nuts. Tell you what, I won't go out for the next 2 weeks and maybe that will help?
Maybe BLK will drive you nuts while I'm gone[ ][/quote]
Don't worry about it, go have fun. I am in school start up mode with the kids so I wouldn't be able to go out anyway. [ ]
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I expect you'll be bumping up that score a few more notches before you're done and TubeDude hasn't even started to worry about cats for his entry planning on a fall conquest which will be fun to watch him do his magic. So the contest is far from over get your toon or tube ready. By the way I respect your honesty in not posting a buddies fish. Your integrity is worth far more than our bragging rights and small prize package. I have to fish alone at this point of the contest since if I take anyone they always catch the biggest fish and it drives me nuts. Although I do have a group of boys I'd like to see out fish me and bump their scores up a ways. They head back to school this week so I need to get them out soon. Good luck and catch you next time. J
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Took a full crew out to BI this morning. Last chance for the g-sons to try for a biggun before they have to hit the books again. Met Tube Dude at Lincoln at around 6:30... always fun to fish/talk with him. He did his usual thing out in front of the springs.... caught many and kept a few for his smoker.
Tough launch. Water continues at about 1.5 feet in the channel and we only stirred up mud in a couple of places. Hardest part of launching is when trailer drops off the end of the cement launch. It goes from not deep enough to too deep to launch and load. Launch is okay but loading is difficult... 4-wheel drive helps. Only a fool would keep trying to launch. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow.
We did okay today... probably caught about a dozen cats. Three were in the 25 inch range with one going 25 1/2. Catnipper caught one 25 incher that bumped his contest score up an inch. All of the cats today were nice lookin' females... no big ugly males.
Gotta give it at least one more go before resorting to my toon.
The big ones will be here soon.
BLK
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Nice picture of the posse' young guns as it were. Looks like a fun trip. Hope tomorrow goes well too. You know if you hadn't caught such big fish already these trips could be bumping your scores. J/K. Nice job guys. Later J
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Guess I need to get busy and post the report from this past weekend 14-15 Aug my son and I hit AFBH on Friday, then State Park Saturday. Did "so-so, not too bad" no monsters (as far as UL is concerned) some we caught would be the beginning of the monster category now days at WB. But since I couldn't post any as contest fish (darn it) I guess it don't matter too much. I do have a few pics of some nice kitties, and a couple of 2 really good ones that got away [sly]. Will try to post later tonight. TD, if you read this, the info I got off that CD was AWESOME, and I only had the chance to read thru the AFBH section.
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Hey Forest sounds like a good trip. Will look forward to the report. Later J
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[#0000FF]Glad it was helpful.
Wait 'til you see what I am putting together on Willard. Send me your email address and I'll give you a sneak preview.
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