Almost Skunked at Willard

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Codgertated betwixt going to Utah Lake or Willard. Willard won...I lost. I wanted to stop by Smith and Eddies for some stuff so that is the direction I pointed my tube this morning.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Saw (and smelled) several dead skunks on the way up the road this morning. Hoped that was not a preview of things to come.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched at the north marina about 7:30 am. Light breeze. Air temp 26 and water temp 38. TDC. Cloudy. Sun never did break through.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Started by dragging a minnow on one rod and pitching a tandem small tube rig with the other. Worked out through the marina entrance and to the south a bit. Shallow (10') to deeper (22'). Thought my sonar was broke. Wasn't showing any fish marks. Only saw a fish here or there. No schools. Even less on my line.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked north and out into deeper water. Then back shallower...to as little as 12 feet off Eagle Beach. Willard Bay desert. No fishies. [/#0000ff][#0000ff]In over two hours of very thorough gridding I saw fewer than a dozen fish on sonar.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked back toward the marina. Just outside the entrance I had a couple of pop and drops on the minnow. Couldn't put a hook in either one. Then I had a quick pull down on the plastic. Again, no love on the end of the line. That was it for the day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked into the marina and continued making S turns over all the spots that have provided fish in the past. Had plenty of time to munch a sandwich without interruption. Couldn't believe how flat and barren the bottom was inside. Almost always something to go after. Not today.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally, about 10:30...3 hours after launching...I got two fish back to back. One was a catfish and the other a wiper. Sadly, neither one had been eating well over the winter and they were incredibly thin. So thin, in fact, that they were completely transparent. You could look right through them as if they weren't even there. To the untrained (non-fisherman) eye they probably don't even show up in the pictures.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Headed for the heavily algaed ramp about 11. The solo boater on the lake came back in about the same time...with the same results. [/#0000ff]
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[bassrods]

The stripers at Powell when they was starving looked better then your cat and wipes..
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[WaveWolf]

[#502800]Mix up some evanescent batter. Fry em til they cease to exist. Dip em in some vanishing hot sauce and those transparent species taste almost ephemeral.[/#502800]
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[perchski]

I've seen people photo shop the background out of their pictures on this site, but I gotta say that is the best photo shop job I've seen on an actual fish the background matches PERFECTLY. I'm ranking it right up there with that picture of the gigantic crappie that was floating around a while back.
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[TubeDude]

[quote bassrods]The stripers at Powell when they was starving looked better then your cat and wipes..[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Beauty is in the eye of the be older...and I be older than you. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]They are a might skinner than Powell hammer handles.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Great new diet recipe.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I shrink from the thought.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

"I'm ranking it right up there with that picture of the gigantic crappie that was floating around a while back."

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, it is kinda rank at that.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Glad you appreciate the photoshopping. You gots no idea how difficult that is. Anybody can shop in an image. Not everybody can remove the fish so that it completely disappears and there is no visible evidence on the remaining photo.[/#0000ff]
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[riverdog]

It's OK to admit you got skunked. It happened to me the first time for the year not that long ago. I was fly fishing and no hits at the first hole so stepped upstream into some deeper water just to have freezing cold water rush down my left leg. Somehow my waders must have gotten torn at the end of the previous outing. Called it a day after the 10 minutes and pick up the first skunk for the year. That was 12/31 so the next day was a new year and another chance at the elusive skunk free year (so far so good). Honestly I didn't even think about the date until I left. Might have stuck around despite the freezing water pouring down the big hole in the waders had I realized it.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I don't have any problem admitting a skunk. But it is kinda strange that my last skunking happened on Willard exactly 2 years ago...[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=572093;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]3/16/2010.[/url] (link to post). That was an eerie trip. Not even a bite. But I did bring in a brand new kayak paddle and thought I had scored something anyway.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The rest of the story is that it turned out that the paddle was part of the kayak and paddle used by a guy who committed suicide the night before. He was terminally ill and from Idaho...where there was no open water. So he bought a kayak and paddle and drove down to Willard to launch in the partially ice free waters. Evidently he loved kayaking and that is the way he wanted to go. He just rolled it over and sank. They didn't find his body for about two months.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Believe me, I was reliving that experience on the lake today. Hope there is not another similar situation involved. That really got to me when I found out about it. And I still had the paddle which I turned into the State Park as part of their investigation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About the waders. Been there done that. No fun. Quite a few years ago I was tubing early ice out on Starvation. I was wearing a pair of snow pants under my lightweight waders. The bulk was too much and the crotch seam split shortly after I kicked out into the water after launch. When that cold water poured into my nether regions I almost launched like a missile. First I was afraid I was gonna die...and then I was afraid I wasn't. Bummer to drive to a fishing spot...with great anticipation...and then to have the trip cut short in such an inglorious manner.[/#0000ff]
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[mike4cobra]

Could you see out far enough in the lake to see if the stuborn ice has left the middle? Looks a hell of alot clearer than the last couple of weekends.
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[MichiganAngler]

I'll still take it over a day in the office.

How much room was there out on the big water? I just got my boat back from having a $750 repair done on the outboard and I'm itching to try it out.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Good clarity. Clean and green.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did not have a very high vantage point but it looked open for as far as I could see. And there were patches of windblown ice on the shore in several places up along the dikes. My guess is that it is pretty much wide open.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Wish I could have found a spot with some toothy critters but I suspect they are a bit further away from the marina than my big motor (me) could reach.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp inside the marina went up to 39 in the back corner but dropped to under 37 out in the open lake. I suspect that we need a few more warm days to get the temps up to a good prespawn number. This next week's weather doesn't look like it will help much.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]It was clear as far as I could see in all directions.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One boat went out and disappeared from view...but did come back in about the same time I did.[/#0000ff]
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Oh my (was that the ice popping in hell I just heard?) Impressive photoshopping indeed. Sorry Pat, but I'm afraid this post might be moved OFF the "Fishing Reports" thread, and over to "OFF Topics" - kinda like your dream venture at UL last year. (basketball headed catfish INDEED!)

Hey at least you got wet, and only on the outside.
The Kayak paddle story is spooky indeed. My sister was canoeing in Alaska - and the boat in front passed a big "log" and hollered something back - as they approached - the boat's waves caused the "log" to roll, and a hand appeared at the surface. Suffice it to say my sis about tipped their canoe jumping backwards.
Seems the guy's wife had died, and he done offed himself. Sad stuff. Lone life in Alaska....

I'll just have to be sure I've got all my life insurance is in line before I take my turn.... gives meaning to the phrase "swimming with the fishes", no?
But for now at least there's more fishing ventures to look forward to! Somethings gotta keep a feller going, no?
Maybe if you coulda given him a rod, jig, and pointed him at a school of bass - he woulda felt a new lease on life. Sad tales of whoa indeed.

Can I offer up this little piece of solitude? At least you can rest assured that your jig-work was out working and finding some fish. Got into some bluegill and crappie yesterday with one of you flat-rinkee pale-perch patterns. Wanted to get a shot of the lure in the fishes mouth, but he didn't quite want to turn and for the shot. But a purdy footlong anyway.

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[fish_fear_me2]

Hahaha I love it...I went to U.L to see if possibly an early season toothy fish might be found. All the ones I caught were as trtansparent as those in your basket. It was ont of those days when you swear there isnt a fish in that lake. But we know better[]
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[TyeDyeTwins]

Wash it off bro! Only one right? Was it worth it?

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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Nice crappinskis. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad the rinkees are workin' for ya. I have sure caught a lot on them. That horizontal presentation can make a differments.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Always unnerving to find a corpse...especially while fishing. Had my first such experience when I was about 8 years old. Found a guy tangled up in the shoreline brush while fishing on the Snake River in Idaho. That stuff stays with you forever. You can only try to imagine what went through the person's mind in their final moments...or what prompted them to end it all if it was a suicide. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But I tell ya, I can think of no better way to "check out" than to live your final moments on the water. I have told a lot of folks that when I am "terminal" I plan to get in the float tube, put on a Viking hat and douse myself (inside and outside) with some flammable libation. Then, after properly savoring the moment I'll "flick my bic" and float flaming off into the sunset. Hope the catfish like "blackened angler" as much as anglers like blackened catfish. Only fitting that I recycle my remains.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[quote TyeDyeTwins]Wash it off bro! Only one right? Was it worth it?

[cool][#0000ff]It don't happen often but when it does it only serves to make me properly grateful for the times it doesn't. I gots no ego problems with being served a helping of polecat. No sleep loss here.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Cool pic. Reminds me of a dog my cousins used to have. He wanted to play with every animal he saw...dog, cat or "otherwise". Only problem was that those black and white kitties misunderstood his playful manner and took preemptive action. Then the poor pooch couldn't understand why he was so unpopular when he returned to the house.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Y'know, there are a lot of humans like that. Just don't have sense enough to stay away from others who can mess them up. And a whole lot that can't understand why others don't wanna hang with them when they got the stink on them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And then there are "human skunks" who stink up everything they encounter.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And on and on and on.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Did you get a read on the water temp? That is going to play a big part in the prespawn bite. It usually kicks in when the water hits about 42. And you will find the walleyes around schools of white bass or wherever there are bunches of small panfish like perch, bluegills or crappies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Got my fish sights set on the Lincoln Beach area next week. Got a couple of spots that usually hold a fish or two...until I get there.[/#0000ff]
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[fish_fear_me2]

Water was still cold at 37, but a few bright sunny days. Wont be long now
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