03-05-2006, 11:51 PM
[cool][#0000ff]What a difference a week makes. Last week with the ice auger. This week with a tube...and not having to do my icebreaker routine. Water temp was 42.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe is in Texas for a week, so I flew solo to Lincoln Beach. On the water by 7 AM. Shoulda stood in bed. Fished shallow to deep, small to large, lures, bait, everything. No wallies or whities. A couple of halfhearted bumps. Inexperienced fish. Just didn't know how to get the hook.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Shortly after I got out on the ledges, fellow BFTer fsh4fun05 showed up in "Old Yaller". I watched him play tug of war with some of my pet rocks for awhile, hoping he didn't pull the plug so I would have to walk back in. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We finally moved close enough to chat a bit and exchange picture taking. His camera gave up so I let him use mine to shoot me.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No action and not much prospects of improvement by 9:30. Decided to get out and move over to the flats south of the launch channel. BFT member fishwriter was waiting for me on the bank, wondering where the heck his BFT hoody was that he won last week. Tried to explain that it was not sent overnight. Sheesh.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Got launched on the flats just after 10 and rigged with a minnow on one rod and casted jigs with the other. At 10:30 I got a customer on the minnow. Surprise. Turned out to be a 22" 4# channel kitty. Lots of fun on the med light spin gear I was using for walleyes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Went through most of my plastic and jig head combinations, while dragging more minnows. Had a couple of "pop and drop". Hooked another fish at 11:30. This was a 21" 3.3# channel. Also lots of fun. Fought way bigger than he turned out to be.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Kept casting and dragging. Missed my 12:30 fish. Dumb fish didn't know how to hang on. I did get a solid hookup on the 1:30 fish though. Screamed 6# line of the drag on my light Okuma. Almost made it to the brush line along the south shoreline. But, I whupped it after a good 10 minute battle. A chunky 25" 6# mama cat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was off the water by 2:15, so we will never know if there was a bigger one waiting at 2:30. Water temp on the flats was 45 degrees when I started at 10 and warmed to 47 degrees as I was leaving. That is no doubt why the kitties are hanging in there. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]To the best of my knowledge, I did not have a walleye hit or hooked today. They are in there but not where I was fishing. It couldn't possibly be that I was not skilled enough to catch them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those three cooperative cats made for an endurable day. Always fun to stretch your string on kitties...even when they are not your primary target. Now last year, in that same area, I had several days when I was fishing for cats, but caught several walleyes. Go figure.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]TubeBabe is in Texas for a week, so I flew solo to Lincoln Beach. On the water by 7 AM. Shoulda stood in bed. Fished shallow to deep, small to large, lures, bait, everything. No wallies or whities. A couple of halfhearted bumps. Inexperienced fish. Just didn't know how to get the hook.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Shortly after I got out on the ledges, fellow BFTer fsh4fun05 showed up in "Old Yaller". I watched him play tug of war with some of my pet rocks for awhile, hoping he didn't pull the plug so I would have to walk back in. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We finally moved close enough to chat a bit and exchange picture taking. His camera gave up so I let him use mine to shoot me.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]No action and not much prospects of improvement by 9:30. Decided to get out and move over to the flats south of the launch channel. BFT member fishwriter was waiting for me on the bank, wondering where the heck his BFT hoody was that he won last week. Tried to explain that it was not sent overnight. Sheesh.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Got launched on the flats just after 10 and rigged with a minnow on one rod and casted jigs with the other. At 10:30 I got a customer on the minnow. Surprise. Turned out to be a 22" 4# channel kitty. Lots of fun on the med light spin gear I was using for walleyes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Went through most of my plastic and jig head combinations, while dragging more minnows. Had a couple of "pop and drop". Hooked another fish at 11:30. This was a 21" 3.3# channel. Also lots of fun. Fought way bigger than he turned out to be.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Kept casting and dragging. Missed my 12:30 fish. Dumb fish didn't know how to hang on. I did get a solid hookup on the 1:30 fish though. Screamed 6# line of the drag on my light Okuma. Almost made it to the brush line along the south shoreline. But, I whupped it after a good 10 minute battle. A chunky 25" 6# mama cat.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I was off the water by 2:15, so we will never know if there was a bigger one waiting at 2:30. Water temp on the flats was 45 degrees when I started at 10 and warmed to 47 degrees as I was leaving. That is no doubt why the kitties are hanging in there. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]To the best of my knowledge, I did not have a walleye hit or hooked today. They are in there but not where I was fishing. It couldn't possibly be that I was not skilled enough to catch them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Those three cooperative cats made for an endurable day. Always fun to stretch your string on kitties...even when they are not your primary target. Now last year, in that same area, I had several days when I was fishing for cats, but caught several walleyes. Go figure.[/#0000ff]
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