May the 4th be with you..NOT! at Lincoln Beach

[Piscophilic]

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[font "Calibri"]I promised my neighbor take him fishing, so with the forecast of 80 degree temps and moderate southerly winds we headed for Lincoln Beach. Got the boat in the water about 4:30 P.M. and the lake looked good, no white on the water. Carlos, his 8 year old daughter Julie and I started out of the (still only 2’ deep) channel and about halfway down the motor quit! [/font]
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[font "Calibri"]I kicked on the electric and took us out in front of the jaws to about 4.5 FOW and threw in the anchors so I could work on the fuel line connection to the motor. Before I got all the rods in the water a slip bobber went under and up came up a 10” bullhead. Second bad sign of the trip.[/font]
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[font "Calibri"]It only took 10 minutes to fix the fuel line connection, but we stayed about an hour without any more hits. Next we head out to the island. We slow dragged baits of many different flavors for another hour without a bump, so we picked up and ran in to try shallow water near the slough mouth. [/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Another hour and only one hit and he wasn’t committed and let go. We dragged the baits back over to the area where we had picked up the mudder and anchored again, maybe they just wanted stationary baits? After another uneventful half hour we decided to admit that it was time to go.
The last rod that came in was dead sticking a bait just off the bottom and when I lifted it up there was another mudder hanging on the bait. He let go just as I tried to lift him out of the water. Just as well, he was going back anyway![/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Observations: [/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Wind was 10 to 15 out of the NW, not SW as forecast[/font]
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[font "Calibri"]The “mud line” that usually extends a few hundred yards off the southern shore (in a 20 + mph north wind) extended more than half a mile. Must be left over from Sundays big wind event.[/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Water temp was 67-70, yes 70 degrees and up from 56 just 5 days ago![/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Lots of carp jumping both shallow and deep, but no sign of frisky behavior[/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Water should be up several feet over the last 6 weeks and it hasn’t even come up several inches?[/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Conclusions: [/font]
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[font "Calibri"]When the master detects a great disturbance in the force, maybe you should stay home. [/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Conditions seemed almost perfect and yet even Jedi mind tricks couldn’t get the fish to bite. I guess they don’t work as well if you are weak minded.[/font]
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[font "Calibri"]Maybe captain Solo was right: “Hokey tackle and ancient baits are no match for a good blaster at your side.” Or was a blasting cap or two that I needed?[/font]
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]At least you didn't drive all the way to Willard...as we had planned.

Hope you got the balky motor thing fixed okay. Kids, computers and motors...three reasons for drinking something stronger than bottle water.
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[MSM1970]

Was that you just out side the harbor, I headed out to the island just before you did, I think, was that you fishing the reef on the east side of the island, I haven't found many there was plenty of white bass on the west side and a few cats but no eyes, got to see my first boat find some rocks tried to wave them to stop and they waved back, he said it didn't hurt the motor but is sounded bad.
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[Piscophilic]

Yes, I'm glad it was a short drive too. The motor thing was simple, the fuel line connector was not plugged all the way into the motor side.

The low water level seems really strange to me. Last year the peak level I saw was around the first of June and it was about 4 feet higher than it is right now.

Are they really letting it all out into the Jordan River? It looks like we may stay near minimum pool all summer.
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[Piscophilic]

Yes that was me. Sorry I didn't get close enough to say hi.

Glad you found the big ole kitty. 30" is a dandy!

About the only thing I didn't try was throwing something at the white bass.

Keep up the good work. It looks like the south is going to need it this year!
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[MSM1970]

the white bass have been getting excited this week, with the warm water, the best cat fishing for me has come in front of the orchards or out to the island, with white bass meat, didn't have many hits the last hour for cats, I think all the wb pushed them out last night.
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[TubeDude]

[quote Piscophilic] The low water level seems really strange to me. Last year the peak level I saw was around the first of June and it was about 4 feet higher than it is right now.

Are they really letting it all out into the Jordan River? It looks like we may stay near minimum pool all summer.[/quote]

[#0000FF]With all other Utah lakes and reservoirs reporting rapid filling it does seem kinda strange that poor ol' Utah Lake is still so low. I remain optimistic that when they get their glut at Deer Creek...and the Junies start upstream...we will see more coming in to "golden pond".

As a partial explanation of where some of that outflow might be going, there was a blurb on the news last night that Salt Lake is rising and they are putting the sailboats back in the marina. Sounds like somebody important with a sailboat has been pulling some (water) strings. All that water ain't coming in from Farmington Creek.

[url "http://fox13now.com/2016/05/04/sail-boats-back-in-great-salt-lake-after-wet-winter-and-spring/"]LINK TO ARTICLE[/url]
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[Boatloadakids]

Picco and MSM-- I have diagnosed the problem: you are both handicapped by the demands of gainful employment.

The cats were plentiful for me the last couple of days... fishing early in the day. I had good luck with the cats yesterday until about 9:30 (a.m.) when it suddenly shut down. I moved down by the orchard and picked up a couple of wb for bait and caught one more cat there. I found the best catin' east of the launch about a mile or so and they favored carp meat in water about 3-4 feet deep.

As soon as the weather calms down again I want to get out to the island. I'm pretty well acquainted with the killer rocks out there so I can worm in and anchor in some of the places the big males favor for their love nests.

The best is yet to come. I look forward to meeting you guys one of these days. I still have MSM's first 30 incher prize in my boat ready to hand off. In the meantime, I might respectfully suggest that you consider retirement as a way to improve your catch rate. I highly recommend it. My only regret about retiring is that I didn't do it 20 years sooner.... wasted 30 years of fishing time.

BLK
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I'll agree full force on the retirement thing. Don't know how I ever got anything done...and still went fishing...before I retired. Now it's almost worser.

Two facts of life:

1. Work is the single greatest detriment to a fishing schedule.

2. Marriage is the leading cause of divorce.


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[sunkee]

Utah Lake isn't rising yet because they are filling up Jordanelle.
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[Piscophilic]

BLK,

Thanks for the diagnosis and the insights about the kitties. I told the folks I was fishing with that early in the year I have seen days when they fed heavily for a short period and then just shut down. I am glad to know that it wasn't a great disturbance in the force! Even thought the latter was more fun to write about.

As for the insight and advice about retirement, I'm still deciding how to categorize that. I might have gotten the idea you were rubbing it in, but I thought: nah he's too nice for the that[] I am still trying to cut back from 2 jobs to one. Retirement is something for consideration way in the future!

I'm glad to hear you have been getting out. I had been wondering if you were on one of those retirement vacation things since I hadn't seen any reports lately.

I hope to see you out there again this year.
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[MSM1970]

I have been aware of this problem, I have looked into different cures but every time I think I'm almost all better the mailman brings stuff that makes it start all over again, maybe one day I will win the cure[]

I seen Mr. Mink last night on my way back in he was harassing the bank tanglers, he has probably started t charge for using his bank,
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[doggonefishin]

With respect to the water situation, the powers that be finally increased the flow in the Lower Provo through town today (or yesterday).

Hopefully, this will correspond to more water in UL and they just don't flush the increased inflow down the Jordan.
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[Piscophilic]

Thanks for the update!
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[fishinfool]

I noticed the water running higher than normal the other day when I was checking on the fishing hole. good to see and I am seeing it slowly rising. It was coming up a month ago and they started the pumps up and it dropped fast.

Hopefully the inflow will out weigh the outflow like you said someone has pulled some strings I think.
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[Fowl-Hook]

Jordanelle is at a all time low. Lower than last fall by 2 ft. It will need many months to actually fill to a reasonable level, and during that time frame only the June Sucker and the Feds will save Utah Lake from going even lower.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Most years they don't even start holding water in Jordanelle until the end of may or early June. They let it fill with a predetermined amount of the runoff.

I haven't seen Jordanelle for a while but I heard it was waaaaaay down there.
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[doggonefishin]

Jordanelle is currently at 58.75% of capacity. Deer Creek is at 95%. Jordanelle has a long way to go before it would be at capacity. UL is only 55% full. []

http://data.cuwcd.com/data/reservoirs/index.htm
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