Had a 3-way meetup this morning at the Knolls (Utah Lake). Fellow tuber Lee and kinky kayaker BLK got launched about 7 am. Air temp 50 and water temp 62…warming a couple of degrees by noon. Breezes were light to nothing. Lake was glass all the way across as I drove off at noon.
We all got rid of the skunk early and then it just got better as the morning warmed up. I caught 4 cats before 8 and 4 more between 8 and 9. Then, as I began to munch my morning energy bar it went nuts. Caught another 10 cats between 9 and 10. After that it slowed down a little bit…and I ran out of bait just after 11.
**Total for the morning was about 26 to 28. Most were around the 2 foot mark, but caught quite a few 25s, and 26s. Even a couple of 27s and one 28. No 30s for me yet this year. **
Not sure how many BLK ended up with. He also got “de-baited”…not like in Cleveland though. Ditto for Lee. I think he said he finished with about 12.
We were using mostly baby white bass. I had brought about 15 or 16. But I had taken a dozen large chub minnows and they were well received too. I would have run out of bait sooner without those. Mostly fished the baby white bass a half at a time…heads or tails…with a small strip of fillet cut from a larger white bass for extra added attraction. The fish voted for it…when presented on blue-back silver fligs.
We fished over a wide area of the Knolls…each of us in our own chosen area. The fish were everywhere…and they were in all depths…from 4’ out to over 7’. Best depth for me overall seemed to be about 6 feet.
Pitched some plastics and small cranks a few times but other than one misguided carp I didn’t hook anything on lures today.
Lovely weather and good company. And BLK actually brought a radio that worked so he was able to offer me lots of constructive help through the morning.
I know how you feel. I forgot mine once, two years ago. Had my wife, mother, daughter and grandsons in the boat. We started off from the dock, got about 1/4 mile out when daughter says, “There is water coming into the boat.”
I immediately knew what happened. Flipped on the bilge pump and headed for the dock at top speed.
Once docked, I gave the plug to my 12 year old grandson. He jumped in and plugged the hole.
I launched at Willard south this morning. Ran over to look at the work being done in the southwest corner. By the time that I put out the 2nd rod, I noticed my feet were wet. Yep, forgot the plug. Turned on bilge pump and headed back across to the marina. Backed the boat up to the bank with the motor up. Stepped out in 18 inches of water to put the plug in. 20 minutes later, the bilge was empty. I really hate the new law of removing the plug. I went back out for another 2 hours without a bite trolling cranks.
It comes with a 12" steel cable that you attach inside the boat so the plug dangles out of the drain hole. You can’t miss seeing it when you undo your tiedown straps, but if you ever do, you can reach down into your motor well and pull on the cable to insert the plug without the need to beach.
It’s one of the first things I bought for my Tracker Classic.
All I could think when reading your posts, was thank heaven the bilge pump worked! It is something you don’t use often, or test if you are me. Don’t like to run it dry so I guess turning it on for a few seconds to at least hear it run has to suffice.
I have a little different story. I use a centering plastic pieces on the mercury steering rams to keep the motor centered while transporting. Once I launched the boat by backing off the trailer and tried to steer to the dock. Could not turn the wheel and panicked for a few seconds before realizing that I hadn’t removed the centering pieces from the steering arms.
Lesson, if it is something that can be overlooked or forgotten, sooner or later it will bite you. All seems to be part of having a boat.
Tracker claims that the boat will stay afloat even when full of water. That is something that I don’t want to find out. Rocky, I do carry a spare. I used to carry 2, but I gave one away to a newbie boat owner who launched on the snake river without his.
I have a spare, also, but the chances of losing this Lund one are pretty slim as it is attached to the boat with a steel cable.
I have it installed so the plug dangles about six inches out of the drain hole. Hard to miss seeing it when I undo the safety straps, and easy to remove when I install the motor brace for towing.
This link shows the Lund plug with the cable to better visualize what I’m saying. The cable goes through the boat drain hole and attaches in the motor well with a small screw. The plug dangles outside the transom.
Dang that’s spooky. I have come close to forgetting on a couple of occasions. Vexus has a cool system that can be plugged from inside the boat and I’ll never lose the plug.
Most boats will drain while on plane so you can run with bow up and bilge running to get water out pretty quick! But when you slow down off plane it will rush back is so better have a plan to get plug in!!
My Crestliner has the plug with cable just like Lund ( both Crestliner and Lund owned by same company) they share some features.
I had a buddy years ago run from bullfrog at Lake Powell all the way to dangling rope! He thinks someone stole his plug and he didn’t check, because he left it in all the time. He only stopped two or three time to fish so not enough water showed up and it would drain out when he ran, he was sitting at the gas dock filling up when his feet got wet! He pulled out the pump and took off, then thought he was trying to skip on the gas bill , he yelled his boat was sinking!! He ran around on plane and turned on bilge to drain it. They did not have a plug at the marina!! He had his buddy find a peice of driftwood and pound it in with a rock and they headed back to bullfrog non stop!!
Got TWO new plugs there! All was good , scared him pretty good! What if he would have had engine trouble and could keep it on plane for 2 hours of running back, if the wood plug failed!
Forgot to put in the drain plug. Ran boat up into the mud ashore. I was laying on the back of the boat hanging over the transom. I slid head first into the lake.
I spent next 2 hrs fishing with no pants on. Finally it warmed up enough that I figured I could put my wet pants on. When we got home at 6 P.M. my feet were still wet in my shoes.
Air temp. was 37 degrees 15 minutes earlier when we got to the lake.
Up until the laws were changed about drain plugs, I always left ours in. When they required us to remove drain plugs while in transit, I started putting the ignition key in a cup holder as a reminder about installing the plug, when I went to start the boat. I guess this year I had gotten out of the habit. Just as a side note when we loaded the boat the key got put in the cup holder.
