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[cool][#0000ff]Road I and launched toon and tube from the end of the south jetty about 6:30. Water temp 73...down from over 80 a couple of weeks ago. Fall is on the way.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We found lots of willing white bass. Only problem is that they were mostly this year's spawn...about 4". We both caught a bunch and marveled at how they could even get their mouths over our jig hooks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I got one about 14 inches, and a 27" daddy cat that was released after posing for pictures. Also hooked a big carp in the eye socket on my little whitie jig. He was really "eyeballing it" I guess.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Catfishing was slow over all. I got a couple of hits besides the one I landed. Road had a couple of "inexperienced" fish too, that did not know how to hang on.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The bank tanglers were not catching much today. Two weeks ago they were filling baskets with white bass. I guess the fronts and the cooling water have changed the bite.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Only light breezes at any given time today, but they came from all directions during the course of the morning. Better than the gale force winds that usually come up when the two of us join up on the water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nice morning and good company. [/#0000ff]
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That is disappointing hear that the cat fish bite is falling off.
I looked at the calm water on the camera this morning and was wishing I was out there instead of at work.
Maybe the water will warm up a bit before fall and the bite will come back on.
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[cool][#0000ff]Fear not, the catfish bite is NOT OVER. The fish are somewhere and they are feeding. They just weren't there this morning. It was also a Sunday morning, after a busy power squadron day yesterday. That is a popular PWC area. I always do better midweek.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I successfully chase the kitties clear up until sometime in November most years. Last year we got them until the water temp dropped to almost 50 degrees, and we started picking them up again in March when the water temps were still under 50. You just have to know where to find them and how to fish them at different times.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Actually, some of the best cat whackin' starts about the middle of September. That's is when the water cools enough to let all species know to put on the feedbag. We go out chasing walleyes early in the morning and then by late morning or early afternoon the catfish get active and bite well all day after that. Sometimes the later afternoon (warmer water) bite can be great in the fall.[/#0000ff]
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Good, that makes me feel better. I have been rigging and rerigging that poontoon boat, and I want to get out and chase a few more cat fish before it is time go ice fishing.
It sounds like I could get an education, we have been getting a little cocky fishing over on the west side.
A walleye is one fish that I would really, really like to catch. I have tried for them in New Mexico, but never have caught one.
I have seen one caught, but it was an accident, he bit a bass lure. We learned, you don't lip them like a LMB.
Now you have me looking forward to the fall fishing for cat fish.
Frozenover and I are going into a shutdown here at the plant and fishing time may or may not be a little scarce between now and the middle of October.
It will be a good bet that I will be asking for advice for the late season cats.
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[cool][#0000ff]Mid October is absolutely prime time for fall walleyes...and often kitties.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We will have to get together another walleye floatilla off the rocky part of Lincoln Beach. That is the best place for them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, as I often tell people, and as you have already observed, there are more walleye caught by accident than by design. A high percentage of all walleyes are caught by people fishing for something else. And, those who fish specifcally for walleyes are often frustrated.[/#0000ff]
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James (Frozenover) and I will have a few days off together during Sept. and Oct. We will only have one day at a time when we are off on the same day.
We will have to see if we can fit a trip in when you are going down there.
I would love to get some Walleye instructions.
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[cool][#0000ff]PM me when it looks like you might have some time and we will hook up. I will be doing my best to find some fish and to see if I can figure out a pattern on them. The wascally wallies seem to act different every year, but there are some things that stay pretty much the same.[/#0000ff]
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OK, sounds good. I will PM you when things settle down a bit at the plant.
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[cool]Hey that looks like a lotta fun, TD. Glad you guys got into the whities today (even if most of 'em were little runts). Sounds like the whitie fishin for next year oughta be killer!! Also, nice daddy cat. How much do you think that big headed monster weigh? I'm guessing about 7 or 8 pounds. Look forward to nailing some perch and 'eyes with ya next month at Starvation...
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[cool][#0000ff]My guess is that the cat weighed between 6 and 7 pounds. Males often have larger heads but thinner bodies than females. A healthy female the same length would be a couple of pounds heavier.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It definitely looks like the whities brought off a good spawn this year. Maybe Utah Lake is BACK. The only problem is that the walleyes are finding so much food (little whities) that they are playing tough to catch. The upside is that they will be fat and healthy this fall.[/#0000ff]
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Thanks for the report. Nice daddy cat you got there. [  ]
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I drove down to Lake Shore Friday evening, hoping to wade out a ways into the vegetation and score a whitie or two. The wind, however, was howling like the Big Bad Wolf, so I went swimming instead. Seriously. There were some guys there training for a triathalon, so they inspired me to dive in and swim out into the three-foot swells. It was kinda fun. (FYI, I didn't swim with the triathalon guys. I knew I couldn't keep up, so I found my own stretch of rolling water and played in the surf my own self.)
Anyway, when I came back into shallower waters, there was a young guy, in his mid-twenties, fishing for whities not more that a dozen or so yards from shore. He carried with him a TubeDude-like basket, minus the floating noodle tied near its rim, and inside he had only three good-sized whities. He said he'd released a few more smaller ones. But tied to the basket was a separate stringer that had two GIGANTIC walleye hanging from two stringer eyelets. One was the biggest walleye I've seen taken out of the lake, and I caught two 27 inchers near Lincoln Beach last year. He said he was casting his 1/32 oz. orange and green Wal-Mart special curly tails for whities, when he felt a huge hit, followed by a scrappy fight. He said the two 'eyes came within minutes of each other and then the excitement was over.
That makes three trips to Lake Shore I've taken in about the last six weeks where I've seen other people catch walleye from about the same place. They say tiger muskie are the fish of a 1,000 casts, but I believe if I was patient enough, I could probably score an 'eye in this one spot, at least after several casts, as a friend of mine has scored an 'eye on each of his last two trips with me, and, of course this young guy I met on Friday has his success.
Fishless or not, I had a nice swim in some pretty mean swells a couple hundred yards from the shore in neck-deep water on Friday. It was kind of a getting-back-to-nature kind of thing.
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[cool][#0000ff]Sorry about the wind, but that can sometimes bring in the whities AND the wallies. It just makes it tough for tubers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, if that guy had TWO large walleyes he was violating the possession limit of only ONE over 20". I woulda smacked him upside the head and released one or both of those fish. Then, I may have baptized the perpetrator, holding him under way beyond the end of the special words...until he was truly penitent. Amen.[/#0000ff]
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I was so giddy from my swim, I didn't even think about the regulations he was breaking. (That doesn't mean I don't think about them when I'm the one catching fish.)
I would bet a $5 bill that both fish were over 20". I know that big one was surely approaching 30 inches, and that's no fish tale, or tail (whichever you prefer).
Even if I would have attempted to do the right thing--by that I mean releasing one of his fish, not baptizing him--it wouldn't have benefitted the emancipated gill breather, as both 'eyes were fins up (dead).
Next time I suspect something foul (or fishy) I'll call the UDWR, or the TubeDude police, whichever I think I can get a faster response time from.[cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]Of course it is always better to report the violators than to try to take matters into ones own hands. I was jesting about being physical. Well, maybe a little.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]These days one cannot be too careful about confrontations. You never know who is carrying a firearm and who is inclined to use it with little provocation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you have a cell phone, use it. Otherwise, take license numbers and take pictures if you have a camera. Let the proper authorities handle the matter.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]At the very least I would have discretely asked the other angler if he was aware of the regulations...and explained them if he was not. There are anglers who go fishing without being aware of the laws on the waters they fish. He may have appreciated your attempt to save him a ticket. If not, then you know where he stands. If told to MYOB...or worse...you can go to plan B.[/#0000ff]
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I know you were joking about reacting physically with the guy. It embarrasses me some, though, to think I didn't automatically realize he was likely breaking the law.
It's funny how a mind works, or my mind at least. When I fish Strawberry or Jordanelle, all I think about are regulations, since size restrictions are so frequently discussed with regards to those waters and since the large cutthroat and smallmouth in those waters respectively usually fall within or outside the size restrictions of keeping fish there.
Utah Lake is another story. I know there are no limit to white bass there (though I rarely keep very many, or any, white bass out of UL), I always return catfish back to the water there, and since walleye are such a rarety (catching-wise) out of UL, I rarely think of the regulations when I fish UL.
I know how important it is to keep a proclamation handy when fishing and be aware of regulations on the water a person is fishing. Since we're talking about this in length, I'll be more vigilent next time I come across a potential violator.
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[cool]While it sucks to hear that people were poaching (weather knowingly or not), it is great to hear that the 'eyes are starting to bite again. Guess the fact that water temps have dropped down into the 70's again has awaken the 'eyes and brought them back into the shallows once again. Might be time to plan a tubing trip out there and try to hit some rocky areas. Worse case scenario (if the wind cooperates) is you'd get into a bunch of whities, and that ain't half bad... Man, decisions decisions. Now I don't know what to do on my next trip...go after mudbugs at 'da berry, or hunt some whities and 'eyes at U.L.? Mantua would be fun two, or smallies at Lake X. DAMN!! Too many waters and not enough time to hit them all.[unsure]
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