This week's tubing

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Got out twice again this week. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]JORDANELLE 10-31-06[/#0000ff]
[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][#0000ff]Hooked up with Flycasting for some field testing this morning. He was a nice guy and did the maiden voyage thing on a new-to-me Fish Cat 4 I recently bought as a back up for family and friends fishing. He also helped me test some new sparkly goodies for perch and trout.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched from the Rock Cliff ramp about 7:30. Air temp 22, water temp 49. Ice-in-the-guides cold with a chilly east breeze. We let the zephyrs blow us uplake, toward the buoy line, where we anticipated we could find some perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Threw spinners and watched "TV" as we went. Saw few fish on the bottom in water from 15 to 30 feet deep. Did see a few cruising at middepth. Figured they were trout. The planters that kept banging our spinners seemed to support that theory. FC messed up and caught a nice little cutt on a perch jig. Silly FC. Silly cutt.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After playing with a few junior bows, I started looking and jigging for serious. Wham. A 11" smallie from 39 feet, followed by a f[/#0000ff][#0000ff]ew bitty perchlets. Had several nicer perch hooked but lost them to the "branch offices" below. The fish were right in the trees out in water over 40 feet deep.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I never did find any larger perch, but FC found a small school, dropped his marker buoy and whacked a few nicer ones. The largest was right about 12". Of course as soon as I powered over to "help" him the school either moved off or shut down.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was nice through the middle of the morning. The early cool misty breeze went away and it was glassy calm...for awhile. Then the forecasted westerly breezes began. They kept building to the point it became impossible to hold a vertical jigging session for perch so we threw spinners as we let the breezes blow us back toward the car. And blow they did. It got cold and downright windy before we hit the ramp in mid afternoon.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I caught my last fish, another small cutt, just before we went in. Two cutts for us in one day. Not too common on Lake X. I didn't bring any home, but FC managed to put together a nice basket for the family dinner table.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Flycasting is a good field tester. He really gave my new stuff a good workout and we had a great time...as usual.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][size 1]UTAH LAKE 11-3-06[/size][/#0000ff]

[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][#0000ff]TubeBabe is out of town so I launched solo at Lindon this morning, at about 7 AM. Got rained on as I got dressed and the clouds looked semiserious, with snow obviously falling on tops of the mountains. Good day for walleye, right? Not so.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water was kinda clean and 47 degrees in the harbor. Still a good 6 feet of depth all over the harbor and out the channel. All of the fish musta headed out because the harbor was a sonar desert. Only saw a single fish here and there and they were probably carp. At least no hits on all of the plastics and baits I served up.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally got outside and started dragging a minnow for walleye, along with all the plastics I continued to throw. Caught a few small white bass and a misplaced perch, but no walleye. Finally the line started running out on my minnow rig and I hoped for a walleye. Nope, just a big ol' 26" channel cat that thought it was still July. Gotta admit the tug of war got me goin'.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Gradually worked over to the bubbleup and tossed a bunch of different stuff there. Nothing but white bass, but some nice ones. I kept 4 over 12"...with the largest almost 15". They liked my chartreuse and purple 3" walleye plastic. Some of them liked the 4" chartreuse too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After an hour at the bubbleup I minnowed and plasticed back to the harbor. The water had warmed to 51 in the calm sunny conditions, but there were still no fish inside. I tried bottom bounching, casting and retrieving and vertical jigging next to the docks. Zero, goose-egg, nada, zilch. Shoulda gone home two hours earlier.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was a beautiful day, and I was the only one on the lake. No shore tanglers and no boats all day long. I did see a few flights of ducks go over but they wouldn't hit my jigs either.[/#0000ff] [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19408;"][#333366] LINDON DAYBREAK.JPG [/#333366][/url](178 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19409;"][#333366] EARLY MORNING RIPPLE.JPG [/#333366][/url](156 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19410;"][#333366] SNOW CLOUDS.JPG [/#333366][/url](109 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19411;"][#333366] SUPER SIX.JPG [/#333366][/url](137 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19412;"][#333366] A PERCH.JPG [/#333366][/url](170 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19413;"][#333366] BENDO ON BIGGUN.JPG [/#333366][/url](164 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19414;"][#333366] HERE KITTY.JPG [/#333366][/url](149 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19415;"][#333366] GOTCHA.JPG [/#333366][/url](153 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19416;"][#333366] BUBBLEUP.JPG [/#333366][/url](138 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19417;"][#333366] BUBBLEUP WHITIE.JPG [/#333366][/url](130 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19418;"][#333366] CHARTREUSE CHOMPER.JPG [/#333366][/url](140 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19419;"][#333366] CLOUD TOPPED TIMP.JPG [/#333366][/url](193 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=19420;"][#333366] SKUNK RELIEF.JPG [/#333366][/url](280 KB) [/size][/black][/font]
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[zonker]

Hey, it looks like you've been hard at work! Nice batch of fish in that last photo. Great scenery as well. Your solo shot looking back at your parked car reminds me of so many trips I have taken when no one else is on the lake and I have it all to myself. Sometimes it pays to be a diehard. Its great to have such beautiful things with so little competition. Wish it weren't so far. I'd come out and keep you company.

Having the extra Fishcat 4 will sure be nice. I've been keeping a full extra setup on hand (including FC4) for the same purpose. This late in the year I can find few takers, though.

I'm taking the grandson and a friend of his out tomorrow. I'll be in the tube but I think they'll be fishing the shore. I called them tonight and they were stoked!

Hope you can get out a few more times before the water hardens. I really enjoy the reports.

z~
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks, Z. I know you (and a few others) like to see more than "dead fish pictures" so I try to capture some of the overall spirit of the trip. I know I always enjoy seeing the surroundings as well as just fish closeups.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good luck on your trip and hope the younguns have a good time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You can bet that I will be "dunkin' my donut" as long as there is open water and cooperative fishies.[/#0000ff]
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[smallmouth89]

Dave,

If you had to choose between ODC420 and Fish Cat 4 which would you go for? Does your Fish cat have foam blocks or air-filled seat?

I need to get a backup for my soon to be 7 year old Fish Cat 66. I have the Wood River GlideRider but I tend to keep that for backpack purposes. I do like the foam block seats except for their lack of portability.

Pat,
Did you get the foam block Fish Cat given your history with the inflateable seats? How does the Fish Cat stack up against your Super Fat Cat?

Nice report!
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[Majja]

Smallmouth, I can not say to uch about the fishcat but iwent with the ODC420 and love it. I am in Westvalley so if you are in the area I would be more than happy to try and set up a time when we could get to gather on a weekend. I am currently in L.A. until tuesday. Send me a PM if you like.

Majja
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The standard FC4 comes with foam seats. You can get the "Deluxe" with inflatables...and pay more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The FC4 is a great buy. It has most of the best features of the Fat Cats, but is slightly smaller in all dimensions...including pocket space. I can get the larger compartmented tackle boxes in the Fat Cat but not in the FC4. However, the FC4 still has larger pockets than many of the other tubes on the market.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The ODC420 is the closest to the Fat Cats in overall size and capacity. But, the pockets are divided into smaller compartments. Always a tradeoff. And, if you wanna make modifications you can get inside and snip out the dividing walls to make one big pocket.[/#0000ff]
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[smallmouth89]

Boy would I ever like to come out to California right about now! Unfortunately I live in the province of Ontario in Canada. Thanks for the invite. If I ever make it out West I'd like to look all you guys up. I'm kind of leaning towards the ODC but it may be difficult to get hold of one. I emailed Creek Co. and their only Canadian distributor is in British Columbia. Seems tubing is still suffering from an out West syndrome. The shop where I got my Fat Cat is looking into the possibility of ordering one for me but I don't think they're pursuing it very hard. Being an Orvis dealership they'd probably like to sell me a
$3,000 toon, Simms Guide waders and a pair of Force Fins. I may end up with a Fish Cat by default.
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[Majja]

I am just visiting LA onbusiness, i actually livein Utah. Pretty much what TD said. I am going tobe modifing the pockets on my odc. TI think the other thing is the ODC is rated for 25 more pounds. If mtehy cann not get onefor you, why not just order online.

Majja
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[zonker]

Don,

Although it would be a very close decision, I think I would get the ODC. I like the larger carrying capacity and the bigger pockets. Quality in the two is about the same. Since I'm a fly guy I don't have to snip the pocket dividers as TD suggested but it looks to me like it would work if I needed to. If you have particular questions that a guy with both tubes can answer, fire away.

BTW, both of mine have foam seats. So far, however, I'm preferring the blow up seat in my third tube, the Super Fat Cat, because it rides higher and stores easier. But I'm still on my first season with it and it may yet start developing leaks as has been noted by Tubedude. Guess I'll cross that bridge if and when I get to it.

z~

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[smallmouth89]

Majja,

Creek Company doesn't ship to Canada so I'll have to find that B.C. address somewhere in my email.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]One website I found sells the ODC in Canada for about $300. Too much. If you decide on that tube, let me know. I will buy two...one for me...and ship the other to you for costs.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I found one website [url "http://www.jtbuckonline.com/browseproducts/ODC-420.html"]J.T. BUCK[/url] that lists them for $152. That's the lowest current price I can find. [/#0000ff]
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[Bluegillman]

I wonder if it was American dollars or the Canadian which is why it was higher?
On the gardening forum a lady asked me if I would send her Black Walnuts that I had around. I picked up and took the husks off them and left the nuts to dry. I was going to get the meat out to use them to make cookies or whatever. I went to the post office to mail it and they noticed the "Canada" address and said I had to fill out the custom forms as it was going across the boarder.
I'm guessing you would be doing the same thing I went thur sending something across the boarder
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[Majja]

Well that just sucks. What about someone like Cabelas?
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