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[#0000FF]Had a minor gathering of BFT types at the north marina of Willard this morning. While I was waiting for my (boat) ride with WH2, kentofnsl drove up behind me and his ride...Burley...arrived with his purty red tracker a few minutes later. When Curt showed up we all hit the pond. They went south and Curt and I went north.
Air temp early 60s. Water temp 76. Full moon looked like a big orange pumpkin in the smoky haze. And the sun had a tough time lighting things up later as it made it over the hills. Looking south...towards Weber Canyon...it was hard to see very well through the smoke. And I had ordered a seat in non-smoking. Oh well.
Lots of little shadlets dimpling the surface and occasionally leaving this world in the beaks of terns and grebes. But no visible wiper feeds early. In fact, we saw a brief slurp late in the morning and that was it...even on the glassy calm water.
WH2 scored our only wiper on a planer board and crank right after he first put it out. Then a catfish on the same rig a little later. I caught only catfish. Most on fligged minnows when we were drifting after tiring of fruitless trolling.
WH2 also scored some more kitties...on some of the left-handed, blue-eyed minnows I let him use. I think he may have caught the largest of the day. He definitely caught the smallest...an underfooter.
Not sure how the red tracker team did. We saw them battling something as they went by but later learned they had lost the fish. They never got back within shouting distance the rest of the morning. And we were off the water about noonish.
Thanks for the enjoyable boat ride Captain Curt. But next time try to get us in the non-smoking section.
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Thanks for the report Pat. You did better than me today. As we speak I'm trolling my way back from freeway bay to the north marina and all I we have caught today since about 1 is one catfish, one 13" crappie, and a small smallmouth bass. I have to leave now for a kid's birthday party so I'm afraid that's it for me for a while here. It was fun trying though!
Mike
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[#0000FF] Sorry you didn't do better. But we couldn't have asked for a nicer smoky day.
Wonder if the fish were  by the pumpkin moon and thought it was halloween.
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I just got one more catfish trolling back. It was a fun few hours and two nice cats and a big crappie will join me for dinner tomorrow!
Mike
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Me thinks we did a little better than you guys. We ended up landing 5 wipers and 4 catfish and lost the one fish you mentioned. All of our fish were caught trolling various Rapala type lures. I caught a new wiper catch and release record at 20 1/2" long ]
[inline "New catch and release record.jpg"]
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As captain of the Red Tracker Team, does that mean that I get credit for all the fish caught on my boat, or for just the one wiper that hung itself on my lure? Once the fish decided to bite, Kent was not able to put out a second rod on the planer before he hooked up on the first. All I was able to have time for was getting rods out of his way and netting his fish. Glad that all were able to have a tug today. Kent didn't mention that his largest cat was 27". Nice!
Too bad that the cleaning station at the North Marina gets clogged by people putting in fish before turning on the grinder. Anglers then put fish in the dumpster and boy does it stink right now.
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Good fishing to all. Hue
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[#0000FF]It was good to meet you, sir. Glad you guys got into some fish.
Captain? During my boat ownership days I found that being the captain merely meant that you were elected to do all the work, find the fish, do the rigging, net the fish...and to do all the prepping and cleanup on the boat. You get all the blame for poor fishing and none of the credit when it's good.
Does that about describe it?
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That's true unless Kent invites a deckhand.
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That pretty much covers it all right. It was likewise nice to meet you and Curtis. It was my pleasure to take Kent out and be his Captain since he turned me onto Sturgeon fishing earlier this summer.
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Good fishing to all. Hue
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[#0000FF]Is that considered paying it forward...or backward?
Whatever. It is great that we have members who believe in sharing.
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[quote RockyRaab]That's true unless Kent invites a deckhand.[/quote]
[#0000FF]Yeah, but I heard Kent charges the deckhand double for the privilege.[/#0000FF]
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Thanks for the report.
Very nice Wiper Kent.
Brian
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Heck, Kent not only charges double his usual rate, the only time he allows the deckhand to sit is while Kent's buying gas. The deckhand even has to sneak the lunch tab away. It's darn frustrating.
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Enjoyed getting out there with you yesterday Pat, too bad the wipers did not see fit to grace us with a full on boil but the kitty condo location sure put us on the fish, three in a matter of minutes was a fun adventure, just trying to get one out of the net before the next one needed to be scooped up. I'll have to keep an eye out for those left-handed, blue-eyed minnows, they sure did the trick yesterday. I'll do my best to keep you out of the smoking section on our next trip[  ].
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Nice meeting you as well Burley. Wow, a 27" cat is a good one, I bet it gave Kent as much of a fight as that 20" wiper. What was the secret to your success, were you running your planner boards close to the rocks?
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Wow you guys did good, we also ended the morning with 9 fish in the boat, we just threw the small one back, to let it grow a little bigger. How late did you two stay out there yesterday?
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I think we left about an hour after you. We should have left before you, because we caught nothing in the last couple hours. We didn't try really close to the dike. We caught them all in the area we were when we talked by phone.
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This was my first time using planers and I like them. They sure make it easier to turn the boat with messing up the lines. We were trolling between 30-60 yards out staying in 15-18 fow. The secret was keeping Kent fed and watered so he had the energy to reel in the fish. He had a couple of special lures that were working well until he broke them off. The lines may have been nicked or damaged by me, but I would never admit it.[angelic] A fellow has to do what he can to try to even the odds.[ ]We left around 1:30 after no fish for an hour.
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Good fishing to all. Hue
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Thanks, nice report as usual. I don't think you are going to avoid the smoking section for a while. I just back from Seattle and the air was full of smoke and even falling ash there. I took a picture of the sun on a rare cloudless day, and it wasn't much brighter than the pumpkin moon at Willard! The whole western part of the country seems to be smokey.
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[#0000FF]The noon news today referenced all the fires in the western states. We are paying for heavy winter rain and snow...with hot summer and more fuel for fires.
At least we are not having to leave the state ahead of a cat 5 hurricane. Count our blessings.
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