Lindon Flotilla Report 5-14-05

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Met up with Theekillerbee and drove to Lindon in his rig. Found an anxious svpdgcar (Gary) waiting for us with his new tube on top of his car. Nobody else was there yet, so we did some show and tell on tube rigging and got ready to luanch. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]FlyFishingMoose and UncleRay showed up just as we were ready to hit the water. They followed us out a little later in their inflatable raft.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TKB scored the first fish, a nice 4# channel cat. We thought it was the first of many. NOT. That was his only cat of the day, but it was a nice one.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had been soaking minnows without results. Put on a bit strip of carp meat, casted out, rinsed my hands and took a bite of my breakfast sandwich. Yep. Had a hard whack on my bait and line peeled off the reel. Barely maintained control enough to cover the sandwich and stuff it inside my pouch before grabbing the rod, flipping the bail, waiting for the line to come tight and WHAM. A 23 inch channel that weighed 4.4 pounds. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Kept trying the bite of sandwich trick over and over with no further results. After about an hour I had another runner and set the hook into something that felt a LOT bigger and more active than the first one. Turned out to be a 24 inch cat that weighed 4.7 pounds. The bend in my rod and the fish turning me around in my tube several times was enough to bring IconoclasticPaul cruising over in his boat to watch the battle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Gary was still getting used to his craft and was not set up like he plans to be in the near future. I think he had a good time, but had to leave to hook up with fishluvr for a planned trip to Scofield. Hope he did better with the troutskis.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TKB and I had agreed that if the fishing did not improve, about 11:30, that we would make an early day of it. However, I began tossing one of my silver spinners and nailed a couple of white bass. TKB had expressed a desire to score some white bass, since he had never fished any waters that had them. I called him over and told him to set up in a certain spot and start pitching small silver spinners. He immediately got hooked up, and lit up. I stayed around until I had about a half dozen for tonight's scampi (YUM), releasing a few small ones. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I left TKB to play with his new friends while I paddled back to the area I had hooked the cats earlier. As I got out into kitty country, I watched a guy in a small yellow kayak doing mortal battle with a nice cat. I had to chuckle when I watched him try to tame that beast with a little trout net. He "got 'er done" though, and posed for a pic. I invited him to drop in on BFT and told him I was adding kayaks as a part of the float tubing board.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I couldn't buy another hit and TKB finally had all the fun he could stand with the whities, keeping only enough for a good feed for the family.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water temp was 58 when we launched at 7:30 and it had warmed to 65 by 2:30 take out time. Another few warm days (in between typhoons) and the kitties should be thinking about frolicing in the rocks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, we noticed some folks scoring a few nice white bass off the ends of the dikes at Lindon as we were coming in. No evidence of walleyes or cats, but I am guessing they probably came in later. There was a surprising amount of boat traffic and some bigguns at that.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Met doggonefishin' at the launch ramp coming in. He had gone out to the bubbleup and reported that fishing out there was sparse today. However, he had taken one nice cat, and had some crappies and whities he had taken while playing inside the harbor.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was a nice day and got to meet some more BFTers (and a potential BFTer). [/#0000ff]
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[FlyFishingMoose]

It was great to see old and new friends at Lindon today!

Yup, we decided to visit Lindon with the guys instead of south of Pelican point, and I'd say the trip was well worth it. Thanks to Pat I have a nice pic to add to the collection. That walleye weighed in at 5.25lbs and was 24" long. He was caught on a silver panther martin in about 2 feet of water, I was using a meduim pole with 6lb line. HE put up quite a fight, at first I thought it was a carp, UncleRay thought it was a big channel, much were we suprised when it turned out to be a big wally. Took about 10 minutes to land because he kept running off line. UNcleRay landed the first two fish of the day 2 nice white bass, both times Ray thought he was hung up in the weeds until the took off on runs shorts ones but enough to get your attention.

Pat that wallyeye BBQ'd up real nice, there was enough fillets for feed the family and left over, it wasn't the only thing on the grill, I got home just in time to get invited to a BBQ at the in-laws, and I was nice enough to stink up ma-in-laws kitchen with fish but I did the cooking, so it ended up being a fair trade. Walleye is good table fare, and made a fine addition to the BBQ, along with the white bass, burgers, BBQ corn, and chicken breast, all cooked to perfection. (OK OK, I didn't burn anything) It was a nice end to a good day on the water.
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[Theekillerbee]

It was indeed a fun day on the pond. This is the first time I had the chance to fish Utah Lake, and I wasn't disappointed. Things were a little slow to start off with, but getting into a mess of whities made the trip very fun. Like TubeDude said, this is the first time I've caught a white bass. They are fiesty little dudes. Fun to catch. I've got them all filleted out, and I'm thinking they are going to be very good table fare. The kitty gave up a couple of nice steaks as well. I missed 3 other interested fishies...probably kitties. I think they are just on the virge of being really active. I did hook into one big fish, which was probably a carp, but he got away after about a 5 minute tussel. It was fun to have him pull me in circles.

It was good to meet Gary, FFM, UncleRay, and Doggonfishin' too. I didn't realized that was Iconoclastic out there today. He trolled past me, but must have been scared by the big kitty I was draggin' around!

The day was beautiful, and I appreciated TubeDude showing me a nice little fishin' spot at Utah Lake. I hope to get down there again soon.
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[doggonefishin]

It was great to meet all of you today. As for my results, I had a weird day. Kastmaster and I met up and he towed my tube with his boat out to the bubble up. We baited up with minnows and expected to catch some eyes. Uh, maybe not. For us it was slow all morning. I picked up a few mudcats that obliged in breaking up the monotony, but that was it. Boats came and went all morning with only occasional and generally slow success. I think it was Anglin Angel and her boat that did pick up a couple of eyes while we were there. We tried a few different offerings out there with nada. Kastmaster needed to leave the bubble-up at noon, so he headed back, trolling a lazy float tuber back in. Once in the harbor, we cast a few jigs and lures to see if anything would play. I hooked up a panfish right off to get our attention. My next hookup was a lot bigger. I thought it was a LMB for a while during a long battle, but it proved to be a big hen channel cat: 26 inches, fat, and full of eggs. (thanks Kastmaster for the assistance with the net!) I turned her loose to have those baby cats, and fished for another 90 minutes or so to get a batch of crappies andd whites for some "po mans shrimp". Most of my action, incuding the channel cat, were caught on a roadrunner type jig with a slider plastic on it, tipped with crawler. A fun day, even if the catching was uneven. []
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[Spades]

It was nice to meet you today TubeDude. This is a great friendly site and i've gotten tons of tips from it.

That net of mine is quite small for cats, I'll have to upgrade soon. [crazy] It would be perfect for those white bass you were catching if only they'd cooperate with me. Was a good day though and was fun to finally find a sunny day to get out. Hope I get to meet more of you too.

Matt
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[Theekillerbee]

Hey Spades, it was nice to see you battle that kitty. I was the one in the grey toon up by the reeds. Hopefully we can meet again soon.
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[PrinceFisher]

Nice to hear that so many of you had a nice time today. I decided to do some yard work and attend my eldest son's coach pitch baseball game today instead of venturing someplace to fish.

However, I do have a fish tale. After things had settled down and I was watching a little TV around 2:30, a neighbor stopped by to show me the contents of his live wells.

He and a friend had both caught their limits of channel cats at Bird Island. They said that between them they had caught over 30 big kitties (not all of them kept, of course).

Bird Island is something else, as many of you know. Last year when I had my boat, I took my entire family there around the middle of May, and we couldn't keep the kitties off our shrimp/worm offerings.

Sorry that you guys didn't have the luck that my neighbor did, but it still sounded like you all enjoyed yourselves.
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Nice report, Tubemeister. Sounds like you guys had a good time out there. Sounds like the kitties are just about ready to REALLY rumble.

The next month and a half is going to be awesome for the big cats, and I plan to start taking advantage of it. I had to stay home and watch the baby today[unsure] 'cause my wife had to study for her series 7 securities license, but I'm gonna hit Linden next Saturday either in the a.m., or the p.m. as I need to take care of a few things up in Layton before or after.

Anybody wanna get together for another floatilla next Saturday? It's supposed to be sunny and 73 degrees (but who knows this far out?) Now that the cats are starting to heat up, I'm gonna stop by Harmons and get my favorite kittie bait, and I'm not going to leave my roadrunners behind either to hopefully get into the whites as well.
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[FlyingFish]

We got there and onthe water about 9:00. Started off in the harbor - nothing. Paddled around the dike and worked a few spots near the reeds - nothing. (Except the guys line I snagged while dragging a minnow, oops, sorry[blush]) Paddled ofer to the bubbble up crowd and dropped anchor. Threw minnows, worms, plastics, spinners, plastics w/spinners - nothing. Ate lunch. Threw some more - nothing. I recognised AnglinAngel and Fencekid from their photos - they caught a few. It must have been you doggonefishin beint towd in by kastmaster past us (We were in my big yellow canoe) If that was the case I chatted w/ kastmaster a bit on the ramp as we both took out. Anyway, worked the harbor shore and docks for a bit. My friend caught one small mudcat on a jig/spinner combo and that was all we did for the day. I did see two good size carp and tossed a live worm at them - nothing. 2:00 left for home and yardwork.
Regardless of the poor catching it was great to finally get "the banana" wet this year. My new job is going to end the summer fun early this year so I best take advantage.
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[svpdgcar]

[#505000]It was great to meet some fellow BFTers out there at Lindon and to go on that virgin float tube trip. I'll tell you what when I woke up this morning I felt (and I am still walking like) a 90 year old man. I used muscles I didn't even know I had!! [sly][/#505000]
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[#505000]Come payday I've got some tricking out to do do on my tube to make it truly "sea worthy". I got some great ideas from Tubedude. I was a little surprised Pat that you didn't have one of them garbage truck style back up beepers installed on your tube, it seems to have everything else!! [][/#505000]
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[#505000]As far as Scofield and the trouskis went.... I was getting a little concerned when Fishluvr had caught 10-12 trout and I hadn't gotten a hit. Rvanman2000 was getting one here and there. After about 2 hours Fishluvr couldn't have paid for a bite and the rest of us were making up lost ground! [cool] And if anyone says anything about a lost stringer of fish, it's damn lie!!!! [cool][/#505000]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yo, newbie! I don't need no steenking beep-beep thingy on my craft. I was not the one with the backup problem. You be the one what needs those rear view mirrors to keep from running aground when you should be goin' in the channel.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I give ya props though. You paddled a fur piece on your maiden voyage. I am not surprised that you are "feelin' the pain" today. I do a lot of tubing, and I keep my kicking muscles pretty well tuned with daily workouts on a mini trampoline. But, I still get "a hitch in my getalong" after a full day in the tube. It will either build you up or tear you down. Or, as the old oriental saying goes "That which does not kill you, makes you stronger."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The good news is that there are many places to launch your tube and enjoy good fishing that do not require you to kick such a long ways before you begin fishing. You passed the first test. Now we can begin your true education.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lost stringer of fish? Sounds like a line from a Jimmy Buffet song. There's gotta be a good story there somewhere.[/#0000ff]
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[hlmn]

This board(and Tube Dude) were insturmental in getting me off of my butt and getting my tube in the water. i've had the tube for two years and just looked at it in the shed now and then. So Saturday I aired it up and got it wet at Lindon. Now I think I'm hooked. I only kicked around the harbor but it was a learning mission. I caught one white bass and one carp wich I actually snaged with a spinner it put up one heck of a fight while floating in the tube. It was nice to meet Flyfishingmoose, uncleRay, and TubeDude. Hope to get this thing wet more often.
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[iconoclasticPaul]

Here's exactly what happened... I noticed the water temp started at 59 degrees at eight am. I started trolling with 1/4 ounce bottom bouncers with crawler harness for the shallows... I saw Fencekid and Angel in their boat in the very shallows by the reeds, Angel caught a walleye as I passed her. On my way past them, I saw Tubedude- I hollered if he had any luck, he pulled up a empty creel bag, and I inquired how long hes been out... oh a hour and half, then I passed him, but keeping an eye on TD, and saw his rod bent in half... I decided to make a u-turn and check out the action. He was spinning 360's, I thought he might pass out from being too dizzy[]. Man, that cat he caught sure gave him a good spin! Good on you! I didn't catch anything in Lindon.

I went paint drying speed alla way to AF harbor. I caught several mud cats on tube jigs! And one LMB which went 18 inches and 4 pounds. In the harbor, there was a cop stationed at the boat ramp giving everybody ticket and a hard time for equipment violations. He would be checking if you had a fire extinguisher and shake it to see if it is full or not...[crazy] he was looking for anything to pin it on you.

I went on to Saratoga harbor and the water is very full! 4-5 feet! Caught a LMB prolly 3 pounder. The springs in there made the temp up to 68 degrees! I lost a mysterious fish to a second pole with shrimp/crawler combo. I don't know what it was but it sure fights hard!

Went crank baiting and spinnerbaiting from saratoga to that El nautica private harbor... First time I've been in there. I saw one man a shirtless man on a bass boat busy throwing jig/pig and there was not much room for two bassers so I left. I noticed the bottom started to be more rockier... so I got out the BB with crawler set up.

Nada all the way to Pelican Point harbor... I have to admit it is a very nice looking harbor but sure crowded with people shoreline fishing off the dikes. I saw a long haired man getting touchy feely with his lady in her bikini at the mouth of the harbor which I promptly yelled at them to " go get a room", and they both shot the bird at me...[crazy] I started to laugh at their IQ which was equavalent to the air temp... and went about my business.

Went on to the big long point south of Pelican harbor in 7 feet of water were tons of cats which I had a great time catching and releasing. I then had to head for home. I decided to take the "long way home" by trolling at paint drying speed across the middle of the lake which was 8 feet. I caught a real sweet walleye which sure made my day! This was 23 inches and 5 pound. It was a pregnoid female so I released it. What a end to a fine beautiful day!

I then had to roar back into the harbor on super glassy lake. Absolutely no winds to contend with. I went into the harbor and encountered four kids playing horseback riding on a giant yella banana... I recieved a stare from the boat driver whom I had no idea was associated with BFT. LOL I was so fried from being out on the lake and intent on getting home to please my wife and the honey-do list.

I finally got off the boat when I heard a hollar, there and behold it was Clif (UTBass)! Gave me a giant bearhug and exchanged pleasantries and welcome home mumbo jumbo stuff! It really is good to see you again Clif. I had some regrets for not giving him a boat fishing ride. (I hear my wife screaming from Pleasant Grove...)

What a long beautiful day. I usually stay up to watch outdoors with dung miller, but I didn't last 2 minutes after I planted my heinie on my lazy boy... Wife says I immediately snored![crazy]

Nice and beautiful was the buzzword on the lake!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hey Paul, it was good to see you on the water again. You know, if you put in more time and got more serious you would probably enjoy it more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad you too had a good day and that you found some willing fishies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sounds like you have the same problem I have after a full day on the water...your eyelids wanna slam shut on your cheeks. I turn on the late news, settle back in my big guy recliner and "snooze the news".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hey, ya can't beat fun. Thanks for a good report.[/#0000ff]
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