Cowboy and I took a ride today with Buckwheat in tow. Talk about 3 blind mice. Cowboy was packing 3 ice packs on his neck, me doing the MS shuffle down the river bank and Buckwheat is temporarily sporting an IV for medications. The dog was the only one not packing a medical kit. That being said, it was a beautiful day on the Malad river. We were after bait for cats, but were really just out for the out. I caught one chub, one sucker and a mix of small cats. I think I could have taken the trophy for smallest cat. Cowboy managed to land a couple 10 inchers and says the really big one got away. That will teach him to fish for cats with an ultra light with 4 pound test. He did fill a minnow trap with little wiggling things that look like they might be appetizing to a cat. We were just dunking worms. Cats were between 4 and 14 inches. Looking forward to catching them big ones.
![[Image: 20210409-124650.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/SPjpRLV/20210409-124650.jpg)
Nice outing. I hope the bait turns into some big cats. I might have visited that spot a time or two looking for bait as well.
Agree to disagree....I caught more than just " a couple" and I was not packing 3 bags of ice for my neck...one of them was a heating pad.
You must have had a long extension cord for that heating pad or was it battery operated
, glad you three were able to get out and have some success. What were those wiggly things that Cookie was talking about, that you got in your fish trap?
(04-10-2021, 01:36 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]You must have had a long extension cord for that heating pad or was it battery operated , glad you three were able to get out and have some success. What were those wiggly things that Cookie was talking about, that you got in your fish trap?
I think the squiggly things were red shiner minnows, but I am no biologist. They were little fish, about 2 inches long. I know they weren't baby cats cause they didn't have whiskers.
I can't speak to the heating pad, but he is single handedly keeping our local pharmacy in business.
(04-10-2021, 01:52 AM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]Nice outing. I hope the bait turns into some big cats. I might have visited that spot a time or two looking for bait as well.
I plan on sitting at the gate and following you to your spot that has the monsters.
(04-11-2021, 11:50 AM)Tin-Can Wrote: [ -> ] (04-10-2021, 02:14 PM)CookiePirate Wrote: [ -> ] (04-10-2021, 01:36 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]You must have had a long extension cord for that heating pad or was it battery operated , glad you three were able to get out and have some success. What were those wiggly things that Cookie was talking about, that you got in your fish trap?
I think the squiggly things were red shiner minnows, but I am no biologist. They were little fish, about 2 inches long. I know they weren't baby cats cause they didn't have whiskers. I can't speak to the heating pad, but he is single handedly keeping our local pharmacy in business.
(04-10-2021, 01:52 AM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]Nice outing. I hope the bait turns into some big cats. I might have visited that spot a time or two looking for bait as well.
I plan on sitting at the gate and following you to your spot that has the monsters.
Cookie, you best be ready to do some climbing and off road trekking if you plan to follow Paul. 
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If you mean climbing over hill and dale, bring it on. If you mean climbing a fence, well, I'm out. No one wants to see that.
I don't climb fences, unless there is an angler access built over it. But I do like to get away from the road a ways most of the time. Parking is the biggest challenge. Sometimes there isn't a place to park that is close to the place I want to fish. So I have to hoof it. There have been a few times when I looked back to where I parked and thought, that was stupid, why did you walk so far? But in my explorations of the lower river I have found some productive places that nearly always give up a few fish. As I told John one day, it's not that difficult of a walk because it is all flat out there.
(04-11-2021, 06:30 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]I don't climb fences, unless there is an angler access built over it. But I do like to get away from the road a ways most of the time. Parking is the biggest challenge. Sometimes there isn't a place to park that is close to the place I want to fish. So I have to hoof it. There have been a few times when I looked back to where I parked and thought, that was stupid, why did you walk so far? But in my explorations of the lower river I have found some productive places that nearly always give up a few fish. As I told John one day, it's not that difficult of a walk because it is all flat out there.
Cookie is not online, but told me to say that she gets stuck on them fences and having me unstuck her is embarrassing.
Yeah, I have a good idea where those "walk-in" spots are, and if not for the perm nerve damage in right leg, and reconstructive surgery on left foot several years ago, that fixed the original broken bones in the foot, but left it with permanent hitch in my giddy-up, I would make the treks out to those spots also.
I can get semi close to a couple of them in my boat, but found out last summer that I was getting silt in the trailer bearings at the boat ramp, had to have total bearing replacement right at the end of the season last year. So putting the boat in may not be an option this year.
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I did catch a few Cats of decent size last summer from spots that I can drive right up to. So as it gets warmer, I give them some more attempts.