07-18-2006, 08:53 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Hey Brody, you got my undying sympathy (to go along with the minnows). Wouldn't life be so much better if boats, cars, computers, wives and kids all behaved like we would like them to? Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Flycasting and I were the early shift. We were afloat shortly after 6 AM. Saw lots of nice bluegills playing on the surface in the shoreline stickups. They were gorging on the OVERABUNDANT BUGS. Once we got away from the vegetation around shore, the bugs thinned out to the extent that we could see the mountains again.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Water was calm and 80 degrees at launch. That's warm. Air temp in Salt Lake when I left at 4:30 AM was still 81. Summer is here.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We saw a few wiperettes abusing small shadlets early but they would not hit our artificial offerings. I dragged a minnow on one rod while casting plastics with my second rod. Got my first kitty at 6:30, within five minutes of casting out my first minnow.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Flycasting and I split up. He went out away from the dike and I moved in closer, to see if anything was feeding near the rocks...besides bugs. Got several cats, keeping another one in the basket and releasing the rest. Once I got within casting range of the rocks, I started pitching a tandem rig of two small plastics right up close. That began a series of about 40 small smallmouth. I mean small. Biggest might have gone 8 inches. I did get one bonus bluegill that would have been welcome in a basket with another 20 the same size. It was just under 9 inches. Hit a white glider jig.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As Flycasting came into the rocks to reseat his leaking tube valve (to avoid having to walk back to shore), I headed back toward the launch area to greet Leaky and the "boating boys". Caveman was also working his way out in his raft. Handed off some minnows to LH2 and Yper, and then joined Leaky (without Sparky) to give him some pointers on the catfishing. Also gave him some minnows but he pooh poohed them, saying he doubted if he would need them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I picked up the occasional kitty, but they were not hitting in the same areas they have been. Got Leaky "lined out" and we went different directions. Felt sorry for the boating boys when they were spending all their time tinkering with the motor and not enough quality fishing time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]At 9:15 the formerly light breeze shifted to a noticeable wind. The fishing ripple turned into small waves and soon became "popcorn". I saw Caveman paddle back to the launch area in his raft. Leaky, Flycasting and Da Dude stuck it out, bobbing on the waves. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I let the wind blow me back toward the shallows. Flycasting was coming there from the other direction. When we both got into about 12 feet of water, somebody rang the dinner bell for the kitties. Both of us caught several in quick succession, releasing most but keeping a few for the basket. At one point, both of my rods took off, with the lines going out in different directions. I set the hook on the first one and reeled him in almost all the way to the tube and then put the rod in my "escape proof" rod holder. I then picked up the second rod and set the hook on it. Brought that fish all the way in, removed the hook, released it and then finished reeling in the first fish. It turned out to be my largest kitty of the morning at about 17 inches.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I noticed that Leaky had worked his way back closer to us. He had caught one cat on a worm but had no other bites. He finally succumbed to my suggestion (begging) that he use some of those minnows. Within a few minutes he was bendo with a kitty and caught several more in quick succession. I think he believes me now.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Flycasting and I had all the cats we wanted so we finished up by throwing some more lures for wipers. I had a couple of light hits on my plastics and FC caught a couple of little wiperettes (8 inchers) like I caught on my last trip. Hey, they were wipers and they fought good.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Before FC and I left, we stuffed my big duffel bag with a bunch of the trash left behind by the beer-drinking morons. Never could understand why people just dump their trash when there is no trash can. It is just as easy for them to take it back home in their car as it is for me to load it and carry it in mine.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Leaky was still bobbing out on the water when we left. Hope he enjoyed himself.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Great fishing with all you guys, even if there was some misfortune involved. Hope the motor is fixable...and it doesn't cost too much jerky.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Flycasting and I were the early shift. We were afloat shortly after 6 AM. Saw lots of nice bluegills playing on the surface in the shoreline stickups. They were gorging on the OVERABUNDANT BUGS. Once we got away from the vegetation around shore, the bugs thinned out to the extent that we could see the mountains again.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Water was calm and 80 degrees at launch. That's warm. Air temp in Salt Lake when I left at 4:30 AM was still 81. Summer is here.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We saw a few wiperettes abusing small shadlets early but they would not hit our artificial offerings. I dragged a minnow on one rod while casting plastics with my second rod. Got my first kitty at 6:30, within five minutes of casting out my first minnow.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Flycasting and I split up. He went out away from the dike and I moved in closer, to see if anything was feeding near the rocks...besides bugs. Got several cats, keeping another one in the basket and releasing the rest. Once I got within casting range of the rocks, I started pitching a tandem rig of two small plastics right up close. That began a series of about 40 small smallmouth. I mean small. Biggest might have gone 8 inches. I did get one bonus bluegill that would have been welcome in a basket with another 20 the same size. It was just under 9 inches. Hit a white glider jig.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As Flycasting came into the rocks to reseat his leaking tube valve (to avoid having to walk back to shore), I headed back toward the launch area to greet Leaky and the "boating boys". Caveman was also working his way out in his raft. Handed off some minnows to LH2 and Yper, and then joined Leaky (without Sparky) to give him some pointers on the catfishing. Also gave him some minnows but he pooh poohed them, saying he doubted if he would need them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I picked up the occasional kitty, but they were not hitting in the same areas they have been. Got Leaky "lined out" and we went different directions. Felt sorry for the boating boys when they were spending all their time tinkering with the motor and not enough quality fishing time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]At 9:15 the formerly light breeze shifted to a noticeable wind. The fishing ripple turned into small waves and soon became "popcorn". I saw Caveman paddle back to the launch area in his raft. Leaky, Flycasting and Da Dude stuck it out, bobbing on the waves. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I let the wind blow me back toward the shallows. Flycasting was coming there from the other direction. When we both got into about 12 feet of water, somebody rang the dinner bell for the kitties. Both of us caught several in quick succession, releasing most but keeping a few for the basket. At one point, both of my rods took off, with the lines going out in different directions. I set the hook on the first one and reeled him in almost all the way to the tube and then put the rod in my "escape proof" rod holder. I then picked up the second rod and set the hook on it. Brought that fish all the way in, removed the hook, released it and then finished reeling in the first fish. It turned out to be my largest kitty of the morning at about 17 inches.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I noticed that Leaky had worked his way back closer to us. He had caught one cat on a worm but had no other bites. He finally succumbed to my suggestion (begging) that he use some of those minnows. Within a few minutes he was bendo with a kitty and caught several more in quick succession. I think he believes me now.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Flycasting and I had all the cats we wanted so we finished up by throwing some more lures for wipers. I had a couple of light hits on my plastics and FC caught a couple of little wiperettes (8 inchers) like I caught on my last trip. Hey, they were wipers and they fought good.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Before FC and I left, we stuffed my big duffel bag with a bunch of the trash left behind by the beer-drinking morons. Never could understand why people just dump their trash when there is no trash can. It is just as easy for them to take it back home in their car as it is for me to load it and carry it in mine.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Leaky was still bobbing out on the water when we left. Hope he enjoyed himself.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Great fishing with all you guys, even if there was some misfortune involved. Hope the motor is fixable...and it doesn't cost too much jerky.[/#0000ff]
[signature]