Meat huntin' on Monday

Float Tube Fishing Float Tubing General
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:sunglasses:**Had a hankerin’ for some more smoked kitty fish. Needed a fishin’ fix too. Couldn’t decide whether to hit the Knolls or Lincoln Beach. Tossed a coin. Lost it under the couch. Went to Lindon.

Launched at the Lindon Ramp about 6:30 AM. Calm, warm air temps and water temps 68. The day held promise…and it delivered.**

Fished a couple of spots inside the harbor (with no hits) before motoring out into the open lake. Needed to decide north or south. No coin flips. Couldn’t afford to lose another coin to the water. Hadn’t hit the bubbleup in a LOOOOOONG time so I headed south…slowly.

**Once past the edge of the dikes (and bank tanglers) I rigged one rod with a minnow to drag and started flinging plastics on the other. Was reeling in the second cast on the plastics rod when the minnow rod bounced and started feeding line from the open bail. Set the hook into the first of MANY cookie cutter kitties. Kept the first one to ward off the first fish jinx. **

I kept trying to fish plastics but could not finish retrieving a cast without having to burn it in and take care of an “inquiry” on the bait rod. Started catching cats just after 7 AM and had caught over a dozen by 8:30. Mostly cookies but a few 20 inchers and a couple of 2-footers had shown up too.

Actually had a limit of 8 in my basket before 9 and had been releasing kitties every few minutes all morning. By 10 AM I was out of bait…used up about 30 minnows and 12 pieces of carp meat. Had a lot of short strikes and pop and drops that either ruined or swiped the bait. But I guesstimate that I brought between 20 - 25 kitties to the tube.

Put some crawler on a tandem jig rig and caught a couple of kitties on that too. Also caught a couple on a 3" red and chartreuse twister I was throwing for walleye. Had some other hits I think might have been whities but did not hook any. Also had some good thumps on a couple of crankbaits.

At one point in the cat catchin’ I put up the bait rod and motored the rest of the way out to the bubbleup. Only one buoy, way out at the end of the pipe. Used to be able to catch lots of whities and some walleyes along the pipe by using marker buoys to locate the pipe. Not today. Saw very little on sonar and did not get any bites on either bait or plastics. But, there was a pretty good flow of water coming up out of the pipe. Surprised there were no active fish present.

**Worked along the reed lines with plastics and spinners. Nada, zip, zilch. Finally motored back inside the harbor and tried some spots along the inside edges in there. Same ol’ same 'ol. ZERO.
There were quite a few bank tanglers fishing both inside and outside. Did not see anybody catch anything up until I left about noon. Good thing I left then as it appeared that somebody had diverted all boat trailers off the freeway and had directed them to the Lindon Marina. **

Good day. Good timing. Light up the smoker.

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Great report and good to see that you and mama nature are on talking terms again.:sunglasses: Surprised that no whities wanted to play today though.

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:sunglasses:This is the “in betwixt” time for white bass. They have finished spawning and are waiting for all of the fry of the recently spawned fish to become large enough to feed on. They are no longer in big schools and are scattered all over the lake.

You can almost always catch a few if you fish for them…or if they take baits or lures you are fishing for other species. I had some hits on plastics today that I am sure were whities. Also had some characteristic “rattle rattle” “pop-n-drops” on bait. They will hit the same worms, minnows or carp meat you fish for catfish but they have difficulty getting larger baits in their mouths far enough to get the hook. They steal a lot of bait and are a nuisance.

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Looks like you had a great time. Were you fishing most of the time just off the reeds or were you out a ways from shore? In other words about how deep, and what is the structure like there? I haven’t fished that part of Utah Lake, but I am getting more and more fired up to give it a try.

I like the term “motored”! Which battery were you using and how did it hold up? Did you actually use it that far or long?

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Way to go catfish king. I have been catless for a while. I haven’t had the time to go after them. I did get a few stocked kittys but they were only 10" to 12" long. I don’t think they count. I got to head over to brownlee to get some real cats. Ron

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What a great day on the water ! I have come up there
one day so you can show me how its done[;)]

Peter

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You are the teacher I am the student. One day[crazy][fishin]

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Looks like you had a great time. Were you fishing most of the time just off the reeds or were you out a ways from shore? In other words about how deep, and what is the structure like there? I haven’t fished that part of Utah Lake, but I am getting more and more fired up to give it a try.

I like the term “motored”! Which battery were you using and how did it hold up? Did you actually use it that far or long?

:sunglasses:Not sure how familiar you are with Utah Lake. The NE corner…Lindon area…is mostly a shallow bowl with mud bottom. No structure except shoreline reeds and rock dikes around the harbors. Once you get outside the reed beds the bottom is clean and you can drag baits all over without hanging up…unless you snag something “donated” by boaters or the occasional stick (gotta be at least a forkhorn to be legal).

At this time of year some of the best fishing is often right up against the reeds. Fish use the reed beds both for spawning and feeding…once the fry hatch and use the reeds for cover. But, after two days of strong winds I figured the fish would have moved out of the reeds temporarily but would be nearby. I guesses right. My most consistent action was in about 4-5 feet of water…not too far from the deeper reed beds. I got nothing by fishing right next to the reeds.

I have been using my 80 AH battery on my last few trips. Since I added the double boat bumper floatation that heavier battery rides high and dry and provides the extra security for longer trips.

Yesterday, I powered several hundred yards out from the launch ramp to reach the open lake. After that I mostly used fin power to drag baits. But about mid morning I made another 1/4 mile run on high speed to reach another spot. Fished there long enough to decide the fish were not home and then powered all the way back to the marina…over a half mile on high speed. Only took a few minutes for a distance that usually takes almost an hour by finpower alone. I then fished around the points of the dikes at the mouth of the marina and up into the harbor a ways. Made the final 200 yard run back to the ramp in fine style.

Took less than 2 hours at 10 amp charge to top off the battery when I got home.

I made a trip last Friday to Deer Creek. Launched at the Island boat ramp and used the motor a lot to search for walleyes…both running from spot to spot and slow trolling. Ended up clear up by the Charleston launch area…a long ways away. Used a combination of motor and kicking to work my way back. Had a breeze come up when I was still about a third of the way from getting back in. Hit the high speed notch and “boogied” for the ramp. About 100 yards before I reached the ramp I lost power. But, considering all of the high speed and low speed use I got out of the battery that day I was impressed. I was even more impressed that I only had a short ways to kick after the battery died. Coulda been much worse. A sailboat went over in the wind right behind me.

My findings so far on the motor/battery setup are that it is good as an auxiliary power source for making short runs, dealing with breezes, saving time in reaching fishing spots or returning to shore, etc. I consider it to be a valuable improvement.

I will still make a lot of trips without the motor. Some spots just don’t need it. Other spots I will likely take the light battery…just in case. But for many trips I will be FULLY powered and enjoying the increased range and flexibility.

I also have a 115 AH battery I am going to try to run on my tube. It is HEAVY, but I will be upgrading to two larger floatation bumpers to counter the extra weight…over the 80 AH. We will be registering TubeBabe’s tube next week and she will be using one of the batteries too.

Now, is that more info than you wanted?

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. We will be registering TubeBabe’s tube next week and she will be using one of the batteries too.

Hey all right!!! Now that you got it figured out she wants to play now to eh? I will be registering mamatrouts FC4 wednesday. Then I will get her out on the water here soon after.

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No, that isn’t too much information. Thanks! I am trying to get a feel for the approximate “life” of the batteries. I know that each is different, and it will also change as they age. My battery is an 85 amp hour, but I haven’t fished with it enough yet to run it down very much – smaller reservoirs. I was thinking that maybe some of you had where you are fishing much larger reservoirs and lakes.

I don’t troll with it much, but I sure like the option of using it though to get from place to place. Like you say, a distance that used to take an hour of kicking is much “closer” now. I am more inclined to check out more areas in a lake than just those that are easy to get kick to.

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:sunglasses:**Da Babe is really stoked about getting powerized. Would have had her set up already but she has had a busy schedule the past month. Had the motor and battery quite a while but just no time to get her on the water. **

She is over in California this week, getting a granddaughter “vowed up”. Then a busy week back here next week, followed by a cruise with a Utah daughter and her daughter (another granddaughter). Maybe by December.

Personally, I am glad she takes care of the family travel obligations. Leaves me more time to mess with PVC and power.

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I gotta admit it is nice having a girl that likes the outdoors. Sometimes I gotta wonder about mamatrout but then she comes around and enjoys her time in the outdoors. Trying to get a small day trip to the Raft River mountains set up for a small stroll along a small stream.[;)]. I hope to have her all outfitted by the end of July for our trip to Spirit lake. I should have her completely outfitted in a week battery and all. :slight_smile: Then we gotta hit jordanelle. She loves it there. I’ll take the nephew out there with his new boat too.:sunglasses:

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:sunglasses:**Sounds like we are both looking at powered up tubes from the same perspective. Not meant to be used as the SOLE means of locomotion, but as an enhancement. **

I am a multi-water, multi-species and all tackle kinda guy. There are some kinds of fishing I do…or would like to do…that have been largely out of the question due to the natural limitations of “traditional” float tubing. I am now broadening my outlook to include some new places and new techniques.

As my (also aging) spouse and I heartily agree, it will be nice to enjoy a full day on the water…and the long trip back to the vehicle…and still have some personal energy left in our not-so-youthful lower extremities. Much better to be able to walk upright and to not have to fight muscle spasms all the way home.

Of course we do not intend to take foolish risks or to leave ourselves in potential peril by venturing too far from home base or overextending the batteries and having to kick it all the way back in. Ditto for not getting too far from safety when the weather is threatening.

**Yep. Simply like the idea of shorter times between spots and being able to explore more area with “assisted power”. **

I really wish I had saved the diagrams I worked on for adding a motor to my first SFC back in 2002. I was not quite as creative with the PVC then, so I was thinking of a wooden frame. Crude and heavier. I quickly discarded the whole idea, however, mainly because of battery technology. About all that was available were clunky auto batteries with filler caps and acid spills. I tried putting one in the back of my SFC…without any added floatation…and it almost flipped the tube. I have really been happy with the advances we have made jointly to help bridge the gaps between tubes and boats.