04-28-2020, 05:43 PM
ES: I fished out of the Utah Lake State Park Saturday 4/25 from 9-ish until about 2 P.M. Water temps were 58 to 59 and the winds less than 10 out of the SW. We ended up with 9 cats for the trip. 6 were under 25” but we got a 27, 28 and even the first 30 of the year in my boat. Fishing was typical for April and they seemed somewhat reluctant to bite as we only hooked about half the fish that hit. All fish were caught dragging thawed white bass chunks from 0.3 to 0.6 mph in 6 to 10 FOW. The rigs all had some kind of attractors varying from a couple of small beads to large FLAITS. It was great to be back at it after my neck surgery!
FS: This trip was a test to see if I could handle the rigors of cat fishing at one month after having 4 vertebrae fused in my neck. Julie said I needed to take someone along in case I wasn’t physically ready so I went with an extended family member named Kaipo. It was a lot of fun having him along and I got to see him catch his first cats and biggest fish ever!
When we got to the ramp a little after 8:30 I was surprised to see no other trainers in the parking lot. That would change a lot by our return. I had plenty of thawed WB but we spent half an hour in and around the harbor trying to get one that was still bleeding, not today.
We started dragging the thawed baits around 9 AM. We started in about 10 FOW and gradually moved shallower. It seems it is always slow when I bring a new guy out. It was almost 11 when the balloon rod got smacked hard and the reel started singing. Instinctively I grabbed the rod to show Kaipo the way to handle larger fish and he got a good demonstration. Right away I could tell it was a heavy fish. It wasn’t lightning fast in the cool water, but still heavy and determined. A little over halfway to the boat its tail came out of the water and I said “That’s a good looking tail!” When it saw it near the surface beside the boat I got really excited. “This might be a new PR,” I thought.
I gave Kaipo a quick tutorial on being patient with the net on a big fish, then lead it to the net and he scooped it up. “That’s a big cat,” I said 3 or 4 times and then I admitted I hadn’t seen a really good one for a long time so I might be a bit out of calibration. The bump board said right on 30” and the scale said 11 ½ pounds. What a way to start my first cat trip after a long painful winter! It wasn’t a PR, so I clearly got too excited, but I’ll take that excitement any day! After several pictures I explained to Kaipo that it is good on several levels to release the big ones and she went back in the water. I told Kaipo that fish like that one were not the norm.
We went another 40 minutes before another fish hit. All the time I was chastising myself for being such a bad host. I desperately wanted him to get some fish and it was beginning to look like I had hogged the only one. Finally another rod went down on my side of the boat and I handed it to him. It was 21 inches and just at 4 pounds. Things began to pick up after that and we had several waves of action where we had 3 or 4 hits and hooked a fish or two.
We put six eater size cats in the cooler in about 90 minutes. He got 4 and I got 2, so I was feeling better. Then he hooked one with shoulders. “This thing just won’t come up,” he said. “That’s usually a sign of a good cat,” I told him. This one turned out to be 27” and 7 ½ pounds. I told him that I usually released them if they were over 24,” but it was his choice. He wanted to take it home for his family to see, so it went in the cooler.
The action was slowing a lot so I broke out the cutting board and knife and started cleaning fish. I got the 6 smaller ones filleted and he said he wanted to leave his big one whole. Just as I was finishing he got several quick taps on a rod that had a downsized the hook and bait on to try to get a fresh white. After two more little taps I said, “I think it’s a white and it’s swimming with the bait in its mouth. Get the rod out of the holder and lift the tip.” He did and the rod just kept bending and bending. It was a cat and another good one. I mumbled something about not giving anymore guesses about what kind of fish had taken the bait and Kaipo went to work. Five minutes later a fat 28” cat came into the boat. The scale said 10 pounds. To my surprise and delight, this time he said: “This is a big one, we should release it.”
For the day he had outfished me 6 to 3 and caught the biggest fish of his life, 4 times! I had no trouble with handling the fish or the boat so, with my recent medical clearance, I am ready for another great cat season.
![[Image: Hardware-at-Surgery.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/txV4rbr/Hardware-at-Surgery.jpg)
![[Image: 30-1.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/HVrx1H1/30-1.jpg)
![[Image: Kaipo-First-cat.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/tswHWvn/Kaipo-First-cat.jpg)
![[Image: Kaipo-10.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/n8TNYtk/Kaipo-10.jpg)
FS: This trip was a test to see if I could handle the rigors of cat fishing at one month after having 4 vertebrae fused in my neck. Julie said I needed to take someone along in case I wasn’t physically ready so I went with an extended family member named Kaipo. It was a lot of fun having him along and I got to see him catch his first cats and biggest fish ever!
When we got to the ramp a little after 8:30 I was surprised to see no other trainers in the parking lot. That would change a lot by our return. I had plenty of thawed WB but we spent half an hour in and around the harbor trying to get one that was still bleeding, not today.
We started dragging the thawed baits around 9 AM. We started in about 10 FOW and gradually moved shallower. It seems it is always slow when I bring a new guy out. It was almost 11 when the balloon rod got smacked hard and the reel started singing. Instinctively I grabbed the rod to show Kaipo the way to handle larger fish and he got a good demonstration. Right away I could tell it was a heavy fish. It wasn’t lightning fast in the cool water, but still heavy and determined. A little over halfway to the boat its tail came out of the water and I said “That’s a good looking tail!” When it saw it near the surface beside the boat I got really excited. “This might be a new PR,” I thought.
I gave Kaipo a quick tutorial on being patient with the net on a big fish, then lead it to the net and he scooped it up. “That’s a big cat,” I said 3 or 4 times and then I admitted I hadn’t seen a really good one for a long time so I might be a bit out of calibration. The bump board said right on 30” and the scale said 11 ½ pounds. What a way to start my first cat trip after a long painful winter! It wasn’t a PR, so I clearly got too excited, but I’ll take that excitement any day! After several pictures I explained to Kaipo that it is good on several levels to release the big ones and she went back in the water. I told Kaipo that fish like that one were not the norm.
We went another 40 minutes before another fish hit. All the time I was chastising myself for being such a bad host. I desperately wanted him to get some fish and it was beginning to look like I had hogged the only one. Finally another rod went down on my side of the boat and I handed it to him. It was 21 inches and just at 4 pounds. Things began to pick up after that and we had several waves of action where we had 3 or 4 hits and hooked a fish or two.
We put six eater size cats in the cooler in about 90 minutes. He got 4 and I got 2, so I was feeling better. Then he hooked one with shoulders. “This thing just won’t come up,” he said. “That’s usually a sign of a good cat,” I told him. This one turned out to be 27” and 7 ½ pounds. I told him that I usually released them if they were over 24,” but it was his choice. He wanted to take it home for his family to see, so it went in the cooler.
The action was slowing a lot so I broke out the cutting board and knife and started cleaning fish. I got the 6 smaller ones filleted and he said he wanted to leave his big one whole. Just as I was finishing he got several quick taps on a rod that had a downsized the hook and bait on to try to get a fresh white. After two more little taps I said, “I think it’s a white and it’s swimming with the bait in its mouth. Get the rod out of the holder and lift the tip.” He did and the rod just kept bending and bending. It was a cat and another good one. I mumbled something about not giving anymore guesses about what kind of fish had taken the bait and Kaipo went to work. Five minutes later a fat 28” cat came into the boat. The scale said 10 pounds. To my surprise and delight, this time he said: “This is a big one, we should release it.”
For the day he had outfished me 6 to 3 and caught the biggest fish of his life, 4 times! I had no trouble with handling the fish or the boat so, with my recent medical clearance, I am ready for another great cat season.
that photo made me hurt from neck to toe. Glad to hear that it was a successful procedure. Stay healthy, stay safe. 
.
![[Image: boga-2.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/VqmZzWq/boga-2.jpg)