May 20th Lincoln Beach, Utah Lake

So last weekend I picked up the start of a nice cold and that built up so that by mid day Tuesday I was about done in.  Ended up opting to stay home to get some downtime on Wednesday.  As I was getting ready to turn in though on Wednesday I saw the post that TubeDude had made the week before about the DWR looking for help at Lincoln Beach to gather up female white bass.  Hmm that sounds relaxing and a good way to "get better" and the weather checked out too.  So plans were made.

Loaded the vehicle up and set the alarm for 5am... Should have set it earlier so the obligatory 2-3 snooze presses would not have put me so far behind my planned arrival.  Ended up at the lake by 6:45am and was on the water by 7:00am.

TubeDude had posted that he might work between the boat launch and around the point to the L on the west side.  I've never worked that way, was not sure I'd make it to the L but figured I'd work what I could and see something new.  On my way out of the boat launch I picked up my first two fish.  One about mid way and the other at the mouth of the launch.  Both average sized crappie.

I heard TubeDude on the radio talking with someone that I think was Boat Load of Kids (BLK) comparing notes on their findings thus far.  It was not clear where either was, but shortly after a boat came past me and asked how things were going.  The voice matched the person Pat was talking to on the radio from what I could tell.  I gave him my report of how things had been so far and he wished me luck and moved on.  The weather system in the area made for some pretty sky art too...

Anyway as I worked north and a bit west from the lauch area making my way to the tip of the point I observed a few other bank tanglers as well a DWR boat that was setting up nets (presumably to see what white bass they could gather too).  I did manage to pick up a couple white bass, and a cat fish in between, though but nothing to suggest any concentration of fish.  I was in anywhere from 3' to 7' of water.  Temps I think were in the 58'ish range???

While in the deeper water (7'-8') I did mark a lot of fish at about the 3'-4' depth.  Figured they were carp as every once in a while one would jump and make a big splash.  Did not see any clumps of carp though.

The DWR boat came near at one point to say hello and make sure I was aware of their days efforts to gather up female whites.  I reported that that is what I was there for but that I had only put 2 in the basket and neither were likely female.

I kept on working my way around the point and I did manage to get to the first big orchard and about 1/2 the way into it before I figured I'd better start back both to not over do things and I was also not seeing anyone else really out there.  I should point out that this area of the lake showed me something I've not seen from Utah Lake before.  That is a ground contour that changes a lot going from just a couple feet deep to 8 or so feet deep.  Clearly the rocky base there and maybe the springs are the reason for this but I can see now why the area has some of the appeal it does.

I did manage to pick up a couple more whites and I missed over the whole day about 5-6 others.  So nothing to really celebrate, but still I managed 3 species and enough to take home to share with the kids.  None of my whites were female...

As I headed back to the launch I heard Pat on the radio talking and he was ahead of me heading to done for the day.  I figured at that point that he must have changed plans and gone south form the launch.  I managed to get to the launch just as he was finishing up his cleanup.  After posing for a pic for him we compared the days results.  He did better for cats and also manged a white or two more.  None of his were female (at least from the report at the time, a later post noted that some had under developed eggs).  Picked up a few more tackle craft tips as I compared some of my creations with some of his recent creations.  Was a nice day to have been out. :)