03-10-2018, 09:54 PM
I went to Lincoln Beach Friday afternoon. The last few reports had been pretty dismal so I didn’t have high hopes. I wasn’t disappointed. I just had to see if I could put something on the catfish board for Team South!
I got to the ramp about 4 P.M. and there were 2 trailers in the lot. There was a slight westerly breeze and the water in the channel was about 4’ as BLK reported on Thursday, but unlike that morning, the temperature hit 51 degrees.
I’m out of WB and Carp meat so I headed first for the slough mouth in hopes catching either one. Surprisingly the water was still 50 degrees all the way over. I gave it 30 minutes dunking worms and dough balls for carp and tossing small spinners and jigs for the whites. Nada, not even a detectable bump. I saw a few carp jumping. I couldn’t quite make out what they said while they were airborne, but I could tell they were laughing.
While I was trying to catch bait, one of the 2 boats was out in front of the springs. As my 30 minutes expired, he headed for the ramp and the wind changed to northwesterly. Darn it! I was hoping for a calm evening to do some slow dragging after dark. I have often seen that in colder water conditions feeding periods are short and after dark.
I had planned to give the springs area 45 minutes if I hadn’t captured any bait yet. I worked the same baits and lures in 5 to 6 FOW, minus the small spinner. At the end of the 45 minutes I was getting a pretty strong smell of skunk. I had no fish, a few less jigs than I started with and the NW wind was starting to build some swells on the lake.
Since it was nearing prime walleye time I pulled the anchors, put the electric in the water, set out a crawler harness rod and a shrimp rod and headed northwest into the swells. By sunset I still had no fish and the trolling motor was sucking air about every 5 or 6 waves. The water temp had dropped to 42 degrees. There would be no slow trolling around the island for me tonight.
Dejected but not beaten, I headed back over by the launch and anchored in 3’ FOW in the shelter of the dikes. It was now almost 7 and I decided I’d give it about 90 minutes to see if there was any sign of kitties coming out at night to play. In the more sheltered area, the water was still 47 degrees, so there was reason for slight optimism.
The first 70 minutes were flat boring, but out of the wind and waves, at least I wasn’t cold. The first fish hit at 8 P.M. sharp. The hit was welcome, but looked a lot like a mud cat. So did the fish when I got it in the boat. At least the skunk smell was gone. My last cool evening trip was in late February and the total for the night was one mudder, but not tonight! By 8:30 I had landed 6 and lost one. They really liked my shrimp and a few even liked crawlers.
I held out hope that a real catfish might come if I stayed a while, but it didn’t look likely. About 8:40 I set the hook on a heavier fish, but I didn’t get a good set and it gave me back my hook after 5 seconds or so. Then at 8:40 another heavier fish and this one made it to the net. A 23 inch channel, not the elusive 36 incher, but something to get on the board with!
I got a little excited, and frustrated, trying to get a picture on the bump board and looked over to see a rod bending heavily.
The fish spit the hook just before I reached the rod. It was most likely a channel, but at least I had one.
At 8 P.M. I had started setting the timer on my phone for 15 minutes. As soon as I went 15 minutes w/o a bite, I was heading home. Well, that didn’t happen until about 10:15. By then I’d caught 12 to 15 mud cats and the one lonely channel. I probably should have had 3 channels, maybe more if I were fisherman enough to catch a white bass or even a silly carp, but that is fishing.
The good news is that once the mudders wake up for the spring, the channels are often not far behind!
[signature]
I got to the ramp about 4 P.M. and there were 2 trailers in the lot. There was a slight westerly breeze and the water in the channel was about 4’ as BLK reported on Thursday, but unlike that morning, the temperature hit 51 degrees.
I’m out of WB and Carp meat so I headed first for the slough mouth in hopes catching either one. Surprisingly the water was still 50 degrees all the way over. I gave it 30 minutes dunking worms and dough balls for carp and tossing small spinners and jigs for the whites. Nada, not even a detectable bump. I saw a few carp jumping. I couldn’t quite make out what they said while they were airborne, but I could tell they were laughing.
While I was trying to catch bait, one of the 2 boats was out in front of the springs. As my 30 minutes expired, he headed for the ramp and the wind changed to northwesterly. Darn it! I was hoping for a calm evening to do some slow dragging after dark. I have often seen that in colder water conditions feeding periods are short and after dark.
I had planned to give the springs area 45 minutes if I hadn’t captured any bait yet. I worked the same baits and lures in 5 to 6 FOW, minus the small spinner. At the end of the 45 minutes I was getting a pretty strong smell of skunk. I had no fish, a few less jigs than I started with and the NW wind was starting to build some swells on the lake.
Since it was nearing prime walleye time I pulled the anchors, put the electric in the water, set out a crawler harness rod and a shrimp rod and headed northwest into the swells. By sunset I still had no fish and the trolling motor was sucking air about every 5 or 6 waves. The water temp had dropped to 42 degrees. There would be no slow trolling around the island for me tonight.
Dejected but not beaten, I headed back over by the launch and anchored in 3’ FOW in the shelter of the dikes. It was now almost 7 and I decided I’d give it about 90 minutes to see if there was any sign of kitties coming out at night to play. In the more sheltered area, the water was still 47 degrees, so there was reason for slight optimism.
The first 70 minutes were flat boring, but out of the wind and waves, at least I wasn’t cold. The first fish hit at 8 P.M. sharp. The hit was welcome, but looked a lot like a mud cat. So did the fish when I got it in the boat. At least the skunk smell was gone. My last cool evening trip was in late February and the total for the night was one mudder, but not tonight! By 8:30 I had landed 6 and lost one. They really liked my shrimp and a few even liked crawlers.
I held out hope that a real catfish might come if I stayed a while, but it didn’t look likely. About 8:40 I set the hook on a heavier fish, but I didn’t get a good set and it gave me back my hook after 5 seconds or so. Then at 8:40 another heavier fish and this one made it to the net. A 23 inch channel, not the elusive 36 incher, but something to get on the board with!
I got a little excited, and frustrated, trying to get a picture on the bump board and looked over to see a rod bending heavily.
The fish spit the hook just before I reached the rod. It was most likely a channel, but at least I had one.
At 8 P.M. I had started setting the timer on my phone for 15 minutes. As soon as I went 15 minutes w/o a bite, I was heading home. Well, that didn’t happen until about 10:15. By then I’d caught 12 to 15 mud cats and the one lonely channel. I probably should have had 3 channels, maybe more if I were fisherman enough to catch a white bass or even a silly carp, but that is fishing.
The good news is that once the mudders wake up for the spring, the channels are often not far behind!
[signature]
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