Met up with fellow tuber/tooners Hnaf and pkred at Lincoln Beach this morning. Launched about 8:30 AM in 25 degree air temp and 38 degree water temp. Water not as muddy as I thought it might be.
Found a bunch of carpinskis stacked up in the shallow cover to the south of the boat dikes. Stretched my string on a few. Kept one for bait and perforated the rest on behalf of the Junies.
**Also got into some white bass early. Only four feet of water. Some of them hit like midsummer. Little but fun. **
Moved on down the flats toward Benjamin Slough. No hits on worms or minnows. Finally got a couple of white bass on a crawler and had one good chomp and boogie on a minnow. But, the dumb fish dropped it before I could do a lip piercing.
Found a few more white bass in 4 feet of water off the inlet of Benjamin slough. But, no toothy munches on anything I threw. Only white bass on small plastics and some of my drop shot flies.
Weather forecast said SE breezes. Actual? A cold north wind starting soon after we got on the water and lasting until we left at 2. Gee. That’s never happened before. Destroyed my faith in weather forecasts…again.
Got a few more white bass back in the shallow cove area. So did Hnaf. Pkred caught at least one whitie but he had to leave early so not sure of his tally.
Water temp still only a little under 40 when we left. Still too chilly for much action on wallies or kitties. It will come.
At least we all caught SOMETHING. No skunk smell today. And the tooners both got to check out some new mods on their rides. All in all a better day on the water than doing almost ANYTHING else.
Yep, I landed the one whitie, no skunk on the first soft water trip of the year for me. Sure was seanic out there today. Frosty mountain back drop ringing the lake. It was cool to see iceberg island (bird island). Could have done without the cold wind. I was prepared for the cold water this time. I promised my boss (wife) I would be home by noon. Got home @ 1 or so. [;)] Always a good time fishing with you, It was nice to see Hnalf again too. Now that I know where it is I’ll be back, soon!
It was a fine day to be out for sure. Even with the chilly air and water. This round of toon mods turned out really well for this trip. The new fish finder was a fun perk to have out there today too. Looking forward many more trips now that soft water can be had…
Guess I missed you guys by a couple hours. I was busy painting jigs and building tails. And I had to get my peas planted. Priorities. I had to let my dog go for a run, so we tried fishing for sunnies inside the harbor and in the reeds on the South side of the South dike. Not a bite. Rude fish.
At least my dog had a good time.
Think I may need to try it from the boat tomorrow morning. Weather permitting.
I launched shortly after lunch and saw your fleet to the south of me, but had no idea who it was or I would have come over.
Fished until after 4 at the mouth of the Spanish Fork river and the island without a sniff. Water is still a little cold for the spawn, but you can’t catch them without being on the water.
When we got off the water there was a big bonfire burning on the beach and wlleyebob was there to compare notes with.
I’ve got commitments in the AM and it looks like a nasty storm pattern until Monday so I’ll set out the week-end and try again the first of the week, And everyone is right, it was cold on the water with temp on the main lake at 37 to 39.
I am sure we will meet upon the waters…sooner or later. Yesterday would have been a better time for socializing than fishing.
My plan yesterday was to check the flats, out away from shore. Since it is still too cool for the 'eyes to be charging the shoreline I was hoping to find a few waiting out in the deeper water. But, I fished from about 2.5 feet out to 8 feet and did not even catch a white bass in deeper than 5 feet. Hnaf prospected off the end of the dikes, in the deep 10 foot holes over there, and sonared some suspended fish at mid depth…but no biters.
**Supposed to be a bit warmer and calmer next week. Hopefully that will bring up the water temps enough to get the wallies’ internal workings working. **
Great report and terrific pictures. You couldn’t have asked for more under the fishing conditions. I wished I could have been there!
It is always good to have you join us on the water. But yesterday was one of those days when about the only thing you missed was a case of hypothermia.
Gills love it warm and I have always caught some nice ones fishing the warm spring inlet down there when the rest of the lake is nippy. Can’t walk in anymore so guess I need to invest in a small toon.
Yup, warmer water is good. During the drought you could walk around to the third spring and they would be right up where the warm water comes in. You could target the big ones because it was so shallow their fins were above water. Lots of fun on an ultra light 9’ rod. The big bull gills will start setting up on honeymoon spots soon. C’mon warm days.
I love how scrappy they are for their size and light tackle makes them a respectable game fish. Won’t be long before they start winking and nudging now.
Met up with fellow tuber/tooners Hnaf and pkred at Lincoln Beach this morning. Launched about 8:30 AM in 25 degree air temp and 38 degree water temp. Water not as muddy as I thought it might be.