09-23-2005, 01:34 AM
Hey All,
Well, I just couldn't hang around the house today, so, I took myself tubing. I ended up down around the corner from the Lincoln Beach boat ramp - the springs area. Same place Fairwayphilly and I went earlier this week. I am so glad I did !
The lake was glass all day long - perfect for tubing ! Especially since I do not have the seasoned tubing legs that some floks here have developed. There was absolutely no wind. There were birds everywhere - a most beautiful scene. There were a few bugs, but, not nearly as bad as it has been in the recent past.
Now the great part. And, I have photos that I will attach in another post after I get them loaded to the computer.
The fishing started out slow - a few hits and misses on crawlers and cut bait. Plastics just did not produce even any interest from the unknown fish - which I suspected were white bass - but, I had no real idea what was teasing me. So, I changed tactics to accomodate what I thought were bass and went to a smaller rig set up on one of my rods - a 7 foot light action spinning rig with the smallest float I had with me and a size 8 red wide gap walleye hook, and put on another crawler.
I tossed it out and let it set. Then, I cast out another line with a larger float and a half a chub minnow and was reeling that into postion where I wanted it, and noticed that my other float(on the small set-up) had gone under. I had not left the bail on that one open, so I fumbled to quickly put down the rod I had been adjusting and almost lost it in the water doing so.
Just as my hand grabbed the small rig set-up, the rod bent and the drag screamed bloody murder - the drag had been set too loose. I gripped it tightly and managed to pull it out of the rod holder and almost lost that one to the fish that was headed out to sea. I frantically adjusted the drag to shut it up, pulled hard to set the hook, and held on. The rod bent over in half and I just about got pulled off my tube. The fight was on !
Easily one of the best tug of wars I've had all year and the line was still going out, and me and my tube were following it. It spun me around in the tube because of my fins, but I managed to regain some control and started to play the beast in earnest. After one heck of a long time, I got it close enough to see the biggest catfish I have latched onto in Utah Lake this year.
It's big black head surfaced right at my feet and I stuck my net in his face and in he went. I have no idea how much he weighed because my digital scale has been on the fritz. But, it didn't matter, I got him home.
An interesting side note, when he was on the bank about to go into my cooler for the ride home, he puked out what looked like the one quarter digested remains of a 10 inch walleye and a quart or so of gooey liquid.
Mmmmm - I got me some real big catfish fillets for dinner !
That was the only fish I caught - but, I really didn't need any more after that.
[signature]
Well, I just couldn't hang around the house today, so, I took myself tubing. I ended up down around the corner from the Lincoln Beach boat ramp - the springs area. Same place Fairwayphilly and I went earlier this week. I am so glad I did !
The lake was glass all day long - perfect for tubing ! Especially since I do not have the seasoned tubing legs that some floks here have developed. There was absolutely no wind. There were birds everywhere - a most beautiful scene. There were a few bugs, but, not nearly as bad as it has been in the recent past.
Now the great part. And, I have photos that I will attach in another post after I get them loaded to the computer.
The fishing started out slow - a few hits and misses on crawlers and cut bait. Plastics just did not produce even any interest from the unknown fish - which I suspected were white bass - but, I had no real idea what was teasing me. So, I changed tactics to accomodate what I thought were bass and went to a smaller rig set up on one of my rods - a 7 foot light action spinning rig with the smallest float I had with me and a size 8 red wide gap walleye hook, and put on another crawler.
I tossed it out and let it set. Then, I cast out another line with a larger float and a half a chub minnow and was reeling that into postion where I wanted it, and noticed that my other float(on the small set-up) had gone under. I had not left the bail on that one open, so I fumbled to quickly put down the rod I had been adjusting and almost lost it in the water doing so.
Just as my hand grabbed the small rig set-up, the rod bent and the drag screamed bloody murder - the drag had been set too loose. I gripped it tightly and managed to pull it out of the rod holder and almost lost that one to the fish that was headed out to sea. I frantically adjusted the drag to shut it up, pulled hard to set the hook, and held on. The rod bent over in half and I just about got pulled off my tube. The fight was on !
Easily one of the best tug of wars I've had all year and the line was still going out, and me and my tube were following it. It spun me around in the tube because of my fins, but I managed to regain some control and started to play the beast in earnest. After one heck of a long time, I got it close enough to see the biggest catfish I have latched onto in Utah Lake this year.
It's big black head surfaced right at my feet and I stuck my net in his face and in he went. I have no idea how much he weighed because my digital scale has been on the fritz. But, it didn't matter, I got him home.
An interesting side note, when he was on the bank about to go into my cooler for the ride home, he puked out what looked like the one quarter digested remains of a 10 inch walleye and a quart or so of gooey liquid.
Mmmmm - I got me some real big catfish fillets for dinner !
That was the only fish I caught - but, I really didn't need any more after that.
[signature]