07-27-2006, 12:30 PM
[cool][#0000ff]This is part two of the TubeBabe birthday trip. First part was Huntington (see other report). [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We got to E-Lake just after noon. Did a quick lunch and watched a freshening breeze ripple the water. Wondered if it would get worse. It did several times over the next three hours, but died down each time. Water temp was 67 degrees, one degree cooler than it had been at Huntington.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe launched her tube, to try for some of the normally prolific and active cutts and bows. I set out a couple of minnow traps and broke out my cast net. Wanted to load up on the redside shiners. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Man, I need a net with smaller mesh. Mine is 3/8 inch mesh and I lost more minnows than I put in the bucket. I made great casts, could see grundles of shiners twisting in the net and when I got it in there would be only a few left. The only ones I harvested were gill netted in the mesh. The rest had squeezed through and got free. Yep. I will be getting a new 1/4" mesh net for a return bout soon. While I did get quite a few with the cast net, most of my smaller shiners came from the two minnow traps. I ended up with about 15 dozen. Not bad for an hour's efforts.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After spotting TubeBabe an hour of fishing time, I too launched my tube. She had only one bite before I got out there to "help". We both threw a wide variety of lures and dragged worms too. Not much for midday fishing. The few shore anglers were all sitting around doing nothing and the one small boat that was trolling only had one fish for the day. Quiet times on E-Lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally, I tied on one of my "go to" minnow imitators...a small plastic tube jig...clear with multicolored specs in it. I think they call it "confetti". Rigged it up with one of my new "yellow-eye" tube jig heads and started working the shoreline on the other side of the channel. That was the ticket. Got several Yellowstone cutts in lingering spawn colors. Pretty, pretty. Cookie cutter 14" fish, with a smaller one or two. All lovely. All still swimming.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe joined me along that steep bank, using the confetti jig too. Alas, in the last half hour before the approaching thunderstorm came in, she had a couple of bites but did not score any fishies. Really a bummer birthday. All she got was a skunk.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Air temp was 75 as we headed back down the canyon. Hated to see the thermometer reading in our vehicle keep going up, up, up as we dropped in elevation. Made the 100 mark as we drove into Salt Lake. Then, we ran into a bodacious dust storm, just as we turned off I-15. Thought we were back in Arizona as the big dust cloud and wind got all of the Utah drivers zig zagging all over the road. Back to reality.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We got to E-Lake just after noon. Did a quick lunch and watched a freshening breeze ripple the water. Wondered if it would get worse. It did several times over the next three hours, but died down each time. Water temp was 67 degrees, one degree cooler than it had been at Huntington.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]TubeBabe launched her tube, to try for some of the normally prolific and active cutts and bows. I set out a couple of minnow traps and broke out my cast net. Wanted to load up on the redside shiners. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Man, I need a net with smaller mesh. Mine is 3/8 inch mesh and I lost more minnows than I put in the bucket. I made great casts, could see grundles of shiners twisting in the net and when I got it in there would be only a few left. The only ones I harvested were gill netted in the mesh. The rest had squeezed through and got free. Yep. I will be getting a new 1/4" mesh net for a return bout soon. While I did get quite a few with the cast net, most of my smaller shiners came from the two minnow traps. I ended up with about 15 dozen. Not bad for an hour's efforts.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]After spotting TubeBabe an hour of fishing time, I too launched my tube. She had only one bite before I got out there to "help". We both threw a wide variety of lures and dragged worms too. Not much for midday fishing. The few shore anglers were all sitting around doing nothing and the one small boat that was trolling only had one fish for the day. Quiet times on E-Lake.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Finally, I tied on one of my "go to" minnow imitators...a small plastic tube jig...clear with multicolored specs in it. I think they call it "confetti". Rigged it up with one of my new "yellow-eye" tube jig heads and started working the shoreline on the other side of the channel. That was the ticket. Got several Yellowstone cutts in lingering spawn colors. Pretty, pretty. Cookie cutter 14" fish, with a smaller one or two. All lovely. All still swimming.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]TubeBabe joined me along that steep bank, using the confetti jig too. Alas, in the last half hour before the approaching thunderstorm came in, she had a couple of bites but did not score any fishies. Really a bummer birthday. All she got was a skunk.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Air temp was 75 as we headed back down the canyon. Hated to see the thermometer reading in our vehicle keep going up, up, up as we dropped in elevation. Made the 100 mark as we drove into Salt Lake. Then, we ran into a bodacious dust storm, just as we turned off I-15. Thought we were back in Arizona as the big dust cloud and wind got all of the Utah drivers zig zagging all over the road. Back to reality.[/#0000ff]
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