Swing Shift at Lincoln 5/30/2025

[Piscophilic]

And I was under the illusion that you were too old, prim and proper to be a "swinger".  Guess we can be wrong about labeling anybody.  Great report.

Your after-dark success lends support to the claims I have made for many years that once the lake warms a bit and gets more recreational boat traffic the bigger cats become more nocturnal.  A lot of what I learned about Utah Lake was through the generosity and guidance of a couple of guys who were already old geezers in the 1960s.  I became their adoptive grandson...as a student at the big blue school on the hill.  I was already a pretty fair young anglers but they taught me some new religion.

I joined them in their old wooden boat whenever I could during the day...and we always caught fish...and a few big ones.  But when we hit the water just before dark...for some moonlight madness...tackle, techniques and attitudes were different.  For night trips they always brought heavy tackle, big hooks and big baits.  And any cat we brought in under 10# was almost considered a nuisance.  Over the next couple of years my adoptive gramps subdued a few cats over 20#.  My biggest at that time was maybe 16-17#.  Although, using the same tacticss and technique in the late 1970s got some bigger ones...with my biggest going just over 24#.  

I continued to fish during day.  I actually preferred it.  Fishing was usually faster...even if the average size fish was a lot smaller.  And I preferred to feed the fish rather than the swarms of B52  mosquitoes that came out at night.  In those days most of us were still anchoring or drifting for cats...not dragging or slow trolling.  But in the last 20 years of fishing Utah Lake my biggest cats have been mid double digit poundage.  And during the past few years I have not fished at night...even though I continue to advocate night fishing for the biggest cats.

Keep up the good work, Jim.  I enjoy your reports and fondly remember the trips we shared.

Thanks Pat! Again I enjoyed your thoughtful and thorough reply and insights. I too prefer to chase them in the day. That may be why my best ones are still mid teens fish. I have actually caught a surprising portion of those between noon and 2 P.M. on hot days. Don't know why, or if the pattern will continue, but it is there.

I almost never anchor when night fishing. I used to think I needed to slow down my dragging speed, but the more I fish at night the more the evidence says things work the same as in the daytime. I guess they can't see much better in the day at the golden pond! Strolling at night my help with the B52's as well since I still haven't been carried away by one.

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That's an awesome trip. Great report.

Thanks for the kind words. I never seem to get tired of having fun...sometimes tired from having fun though.