The title for this post should have been “THE WIND DON’T BLOW ON UTAH LAKE…IT SUCKS.”
Once again Flycasting and I believed the weatherman and once again we regretted it. Forecast was for light southerly breezes in the early hours, getting stronger later. That is doable at Lincoln Beach. We launch the tubes, head south and if the wind comes up we get blown back to the vehicle. Right? NOT.
When we drove out on the south dike, Catfishgitter was already there, soaking bait from shore. Said he had one bite before we got there. Us tubers got launched as soon as we could, thinking the pretty sunrise and the calm water were a promise of good fishing. NOT.
**Flycasting launched before I did. Barked over the radio that he had a bite…even before I got in the water. Sokay by me if the other guy scores first. But, when I launched about 8 AM, he had not put a hook into anything yet. **
I started by dragging a minnow and throwing plastics with my second rod. Wasn’t seeing any fish in the water column, so I went to two bait rods. Rigged the second rod with a small chunk of delicious carp meat. Dragged it only a few feet when ZING went my string and my rod went bendo. 8:15 and I had a feisty 24 inch mama cat in my net. This was gonna be a good day. NOT.
**As I finished unhooking the first (and only) kitty, a bit of a north breeze rippled the water. Tyler and I chatted on the walkie talkies about that and laughed. Southerly breezes. Sure. Right. Well, that must have aggravated Mama Nature. She got more serious about those northerly breezes. From then on we were “bounce city”. **
**I have fished Lincoln Beach a bajillion times. Whenever the north wind blows, the fishing sucks. I can count the hands of one finger (whatever) the number of times I have caught any more fish after a north wind comes up. Today only added credibility to my findings. **
Actually, the north breeze started to fade a bit at one point, and I had hope that it would die off and then turn around from the south. Hokay…I started kicking further to the southeast, to fish a couple of favorite spots…knowing that I would not be in trouble since the wind was going to change. NOT.
**During the temporary lull, I kicked another few hundred yards…IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. Then, once Mama Nature was satisfied that she had me well hooked, she reeled me in. The north wind did not die down, but suddenly jumped up and really started puffing. I knew I had been had and started powering my way back to the parking area. **
It was tough. I brought in the bait rods, since I was unable to fish them right. Instead, I kept throwing and retrieving some large plastics. All the time I was maintaining a strong kick to get me back and out of the wind. Tough duty for a fat old man. I am “well seasoned” and have strong tubers’ legs, but that was a workout.
I did get a hook into a nice little walleye. He hit at the end of a long cast and I brought it to within about 10 feet of the tube. Then, once I had seen it, I artfully completed a “conservation release”. The fish was a healthy looking male about 20 inches or so. But, who wants a steenking walleye? Right?
Flycasting and I finally made it to our beach spot and got out. We made a few shore casts while waiting to see if the wind would die down. It didn’t so we left. Catfishgitter had a couple of nice cats on his stringer and he was tucked in out of the wind. I hope he got more after we left.
I could swear that I saw the lake turn to glass in my rear view mirror as we drove away. I know that there were no visible signs of wind anywhere as we drove home. All the flags hung straight down and none of the trees were moving. And, it was absolutely beautiful when we drove back into Salt Lake.
Only saw one boat going out, just as we were getting ready ourselves. Water was a good color of green, with good visibility. Water temps were between 46 and 47 degrees.