Utah Lake West Side 5/16/06

Float Tube Fishing Float Tubing General
1

:sunglasses:TubeBabe and I hit the Knolls with RiverRat77 about 7 AM. Just a bit of ripple. Air temp 57, water temp 67. Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.

TubeBabe started kicking west after we launched. RR77 and myself moved slowly east, casting lures for whities or wallies. RR77 scored one white bass on a chartreuse crank. I saw quite a few “candidates” on the sonar, but only got a couple of taps on my spinners and plastics.

**The carp started thrashing in the shallows early. Wondering if there might be some kitties waiting for handouts in the shallows I rigged one of my "bobberhead jigs) about 3 feet under a bobber, decorated it with a piece of skinless carp meat and chucked it near the shoreline brush line. **

After missing my first “take down”, I set the hook in my first kitty…a nice 4.2 pound female. A few feet further down the shoreline, my bobber plunged down again and I rassled in a 4.6 pound male cat. Looking good.

My third customer whupped my behind. It was a 27" daddy cat that weighed a few ounces over 8 pounds. Absolutely did not want to crawl in my net. Took me around in circles for about 10 minutes.

Neither TubeBabe or RR77 had scored a kitty yet, so I talked to Da Babe on the walkie talkie and told her to fish shallow, under a bobber. RR77 had not brought bobbers so I donated one, along with some of my little sickle hook bobberheads. Both TB and RR scored before things slowed down.

Just as the morning bite was winding down, we were joined by Leaky and Sparky. Sparky brought some life to the whole area, with his doggy exhuberance. Always a joy to watch the man and his furry kid.

Not too long after Leaky got out on the water, I moved to deeper water to soak a minnow. I was rewarded with a pickup and runner that turned out to be a chunky female cat just over 6 pounds. That was about 10 AM and was the last bite I had for the next two hours.

TubeBabe and I hit the beach just after noon. Water temp was up to 71 and the carp were in full frolic. Before packing up my gear, I extracted the bow I had thoughtfully brung and ventilated a few carpinski’s for the bait stash in our freezer. I coulda turned the water red, but settled for four. That was all I felt like filleting and slicing, since I had a bunch of cat whackin’ to do too.
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Great report as usual. Catching those 5-8 pound catfish could make an adherent out of me if I knew where to catch them. Great pics.

z~

3

:sunglasses:**I know you love your salmonids. So do I. But, there is just something primal about rasslin’ with those big ol’ cats. They sure won’t ever win a beauty contest, especially compared to trout. However, for sheer power and brawl quotient, they are tough to beat. **

I usually use a medium to medium heavy spinning rod, and at least 8# - 10# quality line. That stuff can land big salmon. When I hook a cat over 5#, however, I can usually figure on at least five minutes of “heavy lifting” before I can convince the ugly beast to crawl into my net. On most cat-rasslin’ battles I can count on being turned completely around in my tube several times. They are also predisposed to try to wrap the line around your legs in the final stages.

Then, if you can get past the ugly, they are mighty fine eating. I just finished up another batch of smoked catfish. I’ll put it up against almost anything…except fresh ocean-caught salmon or springers. Well…kokanee are mighty toothsome too. But, they are wimpy compared to kitties.

4

These days I am more and more trying to think of my fishing as simply “sport.” From that perspective I can fish many species and open up more opportunities. I do tend to lock in on one kind of fish (trout) and develop tunnel vision. But I’d like to be more versatile. But bottom line is that I like to catch big, strong fish - on flies where practical and possible, but that isn’t 100% necessary. Since most of what I do is C&R, it really doesn’t matter what is pulling on the other end of the line - as long as it is big and strong. Especially if I’m not going to eat it. Trout, bass, catfish, crappie, bluegill, stripers, carp, etc. I suspect that if a fisherman can just open his or her eyes to the possiblities there would be a lot more “sport” available than just pursuing one species.

Breaking out of old ways of thinking.

z~

5

:sunglasses:**It is always good to keep an open mind, especially if you are a fisherman. I was born into a troutin’ fambly in Idaho, but was transplanted to California when I was about 11 years old. An “Idaho spud” suddenly dropped into the Southern California “culture” in the 50’s. **

**That did not have nearly as much impact on me as discovering the wide wide world of fish other than trout. Within a couple of months of taking up residence in California I had made lots of new “friends” among the warm water species, and a lot of salt water ones too. **

**Since then, trout have always been the fish of my “roots”, and I still dearly love them. However, I gotta admit that they often take the back burner when I have a decision to make about where to go and what to fish for. It helps to live in a state where there is great fishing for many different species. **

**Fly fishing? All of the species you named are very susceptible to being caught on flies. I have taken lots of cats on flies, both accidently and on purpose. They are definitely sight feeders in clearer waters and can be taken on anything from sunken nymphs to streamers to floating grasshopper imitations. **

In all humility and modesty, I will make the claim that I have caught almost every species of fresh water fish in America, and most of them on flies at one time or another. The single notable exception is the sturgeon. I have taken them on quite a number of different baits, but have never heard of anyone catching one on an artificial (at least legally).

I share your passion for fly fishing, but I am not a purist or a zealot about it. But, once I catch a new species on other lures or baits, I start hatching a plan on where and how to catch it on flies. In most cases, if you can present something remotely edible-looking, at the right time and place, in the right way, you can count on a hookup. That’s the fun part of the challenge.

There are times when you have to cross the line between flies and bait, and apply some scent to a big bushy fly in order to “seal the deal”. Does that count? Maybe or maybe not. Do I care? Nay. Just bring on the fishies and I’ll deal with the ethics problems in my spare time…when I’m not fishing.

6

Thanks for another nice report TD…good sized kitties there…looks like a deadeye shot on that one carp!..nothin but rain cold and wind here…

Regards

Bassguy64

7

:sunglasses:Yeah, our local news has shown the nasty weather back there.

Cheer up. Spring, summer and fall will be the week of July 4th.