I've been rather fishing deprived this summer... But a trip on Thurs to UL produced a worthy story that might be useful to someone. (Sorry, no time for clever verbiage or Photoshop entertainment THIS time. Just the facts ma'am.
) I owed a good buddy a BIG favor and he decided his payback needed to be a fishing trip. I figured this typical trout chaser would enjoy what UL had to offer. The water was a water skiers dream in the morning, glassy smooth and 74 degrees at 10 AM. (I bet that average temp starts dropping soon....)
Figger'd Provo would have good options for bass, figger'd rightly. Trollers didn't do as well as those that just anchored up near the inlet. With the bright sun, the bass seemed to use the boat as something to hide under. My buddy had a great time pulling in one after another. Note, I didn't say reeling in - the fish were often just a jig vertical jig away.
Other boats figured what we were doing and joined very nearby. The crowding was understandable enough, but now if I could just find a way to remove the image of one fellow bending over in his boat to reveal a deep butt crack that had been seared into my brain....
The sun disappeared behind clouds, and so did the fishies desire to congregate under us. But we had our fill, so we headed South to see if I could get us into some cat action. I'd found some willing mudders many weeks ago outside some thick reeds in less than two feet of water, but our poles got no love this time.
BUT we did see some small carp boils, so I got out my bow and we had some fun with that. Man, they were skittish... just the sight or sound of us was all it took for them to disappear. And for other bow hunters, small boils were all OVER the place just South of the Airport tower. That was, until some fellow drove by slowly with loud mariachi music playing. Once the chap opened his car door and REALLY let the sound out, all the carp decided to take their siesta somewhere else. Guess there's no counting for taste!
Noting recent reports of cats in no less than 5 plus feet o' water - we boated over to the Bubble Up. I have NEVER figured out how to get cats out deep there... but I'm an eternal optimist - or is it masochist?
The water was only 5.5' deep at the last buoy. Fortunately, my buddy had a mudder that wanted to play out past all the buoys. So perhaps it wasn't my typical Indian spirit guide (a Skunk) that prompted me to go there. I don't usually find channels with mudders, so I shifted shallower. A veeeery slow drag of some bass meat and I had a willing channel on the line. Passed the pole to my buddy who brought in a nice 22 incher. Confidence rose about the location.
We near pulled the heads off a couple more whities with some strong hook sets meant for channels. Guess they didn't know the table wasn't served for them. They'll never do THAT again.
It was interesting how our bait ended up nowhere near where we chucked them in, so there was a definite under current going on that we found, Then, something else besides current took my bait as line started disappearing from my reel. A click of my bale and a hook set worthy of Thor and I was VERY grateful that I had strong line. My pole looked more like a horseshoe as line kept zinging off the reel. Had to let whatever it was wear out a bit, but still keeping the line taught. Much fun!
The last few feet were the toughest. The whoop and holler of my buddy at seeing this near 28 incher in the net was worth the day. I TRIED to let him take the pole, but I was only too happy to oblige as I took a turn this time. Definitely one o' the biggest I've caught.
The gods were kind to us today, and speaking of Thor, that was about when storm clouds opened up and the thunder and lightening commenced. Wind came out of nowhere and it was a pretty bumpy ride back to Provo for my small craft. It definitely reminded me to respect that lake and be prepared and cautious.
What a great day! To each his own, but I'll let the dedicated trout chasers enjoy their own efforts and I'll stick to mine.
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