Fishing Forum

Hey All,

Well, I just couldn't hang around the house today, so, I took myself tubing. I ended up down around the corner from the Lincoln Beach boat ramp - the springs area. Same place Fairwayphilly and I went earlier this week. I am so glad I did !

The lake was glass all day long - perfect for tubing ! Especially since I do not have the seasoned tubing legs that some floks here have developed. There was absolutely no wind. There were birds everywhere - a most beautiful scene. There were a few bugs, but, not nearly as bad as it has been in the recent past.

Now the great part. And, I have photos that I will attach in another post after I get them loaded to the computer.

The fishing started out slow - a few hits and misses on crawlers and cut bait. Plastics just did not produce even any interest from the unknown fish - which I suspected were white bass - but, I had no real idea what was teasing me. So, I changed tactics to accomodate what I thought were bass and went to a smaller rig set up on one of my rods - a 7 foot light action spinning rig with the smallest float I had with me and a size 8 red wide gap walleye hook, and put on another crawler.

I tossed it out and let it set. Then, I cast out another line with a larger float and a half a chub minnow and was reeling that into postion where I wanted it, and noticed that my other float(on the small set-up) had gone under. I had not left the bail on that one open, so I fumbled to quickly put down the rod I had been adjusting and almost lost it in the water doing so.

Just as my hand grabbed the small rig set-up, the rod bent and the drag screamed bloody murder - the drag had been set too loose. I gripped it tightly and managed to pull it out of the rod holder and almost lost that one to the fish that was headed out to sea. I frantically adjusted the drag to shut it up, pulled hard to set the hook, and held on. The rod bent over in half and I just about got pulled off my tube. The fight was on !

Easily one of the best tug of wars I've had all year and the line was still going out, and me and my tube were following it. It spun me around in the tube because of my fins, but I managed to regain some control and started to play the beast in earnest. After one heck of a long time, I got it close enough to see the biggest catfish I have latched onto in Utah Lake this year.

It's big black head surfaced right at my feet and I stuck my net in his face and in he went. I have no idea how much he weighed because my digital scale has been on the fritz. But, it didn't matter, I got him home.

An interesting side note, when he was on the bank about to go into my cooler for the ride home, he puked out what looked like the one quarter digested remains of a 10 inch walleye and a quart or so of gooey liquid.

Mmmmm - I got me some real big catfish fillets for dinner !

That was the only fish I caught - but, I really didn't need any more after that.
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[#505000]So you going to eat the walleye too Chuck? I hear "ripened" fish is a delicacy in some parts!!!! [][/#505000]
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Man! Ya got a day to play and I hafa work all day today! Not fair! Makes me wanna get out and fish for a few hours! What kind of cat was it? Good story!
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Half cooked sushi soup ? [crazy] Yuk ! However, it was the first walleye I've caught while standing on the bank 50 feet from the water without a pole though - so, that's worth something - aint it ?
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It was a male channel cat. I'll post a photo on this thread as soon as I can get it loaded on my computer - that's kind of a long drawn out process on this end.
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[cool]WOW! What a fish story, fishhound! Sounds like a whopper, by the way he towed you around, eh? I can't wait to see the picture of him! Also, I'll bet when you get the pic on here then Pat will be able to guesstimate (and he's pretty accurate at guessing the weights of channel cats) it for ya. I wanna hear how much he weighed! Did you get any white bass or (other) walleye?

I can't wait to get out there on Saturday! Man, I wish I could leave for there right now!
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Any time we talk about fish or fishing - it' a fish story. I too am hopeing TubeDude can figure an estimate of the weight from the photo. I would kind of like to know - but, it's not that important to me. What is important to me is the "catching it".

I didn't catch anything else - I didn't feel a need to. I was just greatfull for the opportunity to be there and get to play such a nice fish. Anytime that happens, it makes all the fishing just that much better and the future preparations to go fishing again just that much more fun.

BTW - I didn't add it in my account of the experience, but you should have heard me screaming and giggleing the whole time like some adolesent school girl.
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[cool][#0000ff]Yeeeeee Hawwwww!!!!![/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Ya cain't beat fun. Glad you got a biggun, Chuck. Too bad you didn't have some company to share your glory. At least the story had a happy ending. I hate it when they finish up with "he broke my line", or "wrapped me around something".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I'm going down this morning too, but will be happy to help with the pic or posting whenever you get ready.[/#0000ff]
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WOW I sure hope I can land one half as fun as the one you got tomarrow morning. Great Job!!!!
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The first photo is my tube before launching on the Utah Lake glass like water - it was like that the whole time I was there.


The second photo is the catfish I caught - somewhere right around 26/27 inches (+/- 1/2 inch or so - according to the tape measure stamped on the lid of my fish cooler) - I figure about in the vicinity of 9-11 lbs (plus or minus something(it was about the same weight as the 10 lb bag of ice I threw on top of it)) - it did produce some great big tasty fillets.

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[cool][#0000ff]Congratulations, Dawg, you is no longer photo-challenged. Good job...both on the catchin' and the picturin'.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]First of all, that is a chunky FEMALE channel, not a male. Females of the same length usually weigh about 20% more than males the same length. (not a gender comment, ladies) I'll bet you DID get some nice fillets from her.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Second, using the length of the newspaper as a guage, I am guessing the length to be about 26 inches plus. With the evident girth (fat) on that lady kitty, you likely had a fish that weighed at least 10 pounds. Lovely.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No wonder you were still in a daze the next morning on the water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Oh yeah, nice picture of your tricked out FishCat too. And people think I have too many goodies on my craft. Sheesh. I ain't got a chance if we have a parade and enter our tubes as floats.[/#0000ff]

[#ff0000](EDIT) If you are still having trouble with your edit function, that is the problem. Also, you need to reduce the size to 400 pixels before you can edit them into the text. I will go ahead and do that for you.)[/#ff0000]
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[#505000]Hrmmm...... I still can't see any pictures!!!![/#505000]


[#505000]Oh wait that was wierd they are there now. Nevermind.[/#505000]
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Hey TubeDude,

Thanx for the input - I was hoping you would weigh in with your expertise.

Quick question, actually, several.

When I caught it the head was pitch black - and after looking at the photo, it looks like the color drained out when it was on ice in the cooler. What indicators are there that say female from just looking at it in the photo ? Does the color change in both genders after they've been caught and put on ice ? I've never really noticed before.

Also, I have seen charts that have length to weight estimates for other species like bass(I can't remember where I've seen them), is there a place I can find those kinds of charts for catfish or other fish like trout, perch or walleye ? That would be handy since my digital scale is on the fritz. Although, I have to admit, details like that have never meant too much to me - except length, where there is a slot limit - and then usually I just use the tape measure molded right into the lid of my cooler or the marks I've made on my flyrod(maybe I should do the same with all of my spinning and casting rods too).

One last thing, I tried to put the photos right inside the post so people with dial-up connections would not have to click on the attachment to see the pictures, but, I couldn't get it to work. Any tips ?
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[cool][#0000ff]It is not unusual for large females to have dark heads, or even to develop a greyish hue over their whole bodies. That is usually a function of water chemistry, diet and other factors. However, in Utah Lake, the females are typically the tan to olive color of your fish. The most "telling" visual feature is the head shape. Females typically have heads no wider than the widest part of their bodies, whereas males have heads markedly wider than their bodies. Here is a copy from the picture board of a couple of pics I posted to help illustrate that.[/#0000ff]
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A hefty male channel cat tethered to TubeDude's old Insul Dri Tube on old Willard Bay.


A limit of channel cats from Willard Bay, showing the lighter brown females and the dark grey/blue male. Some folks mistakenly call the males "blue" cats or "blue channels".[/size]
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[#0000ff][size 1]Yes, the colors can change on any fish after it dies and/or spends some time on ice. [/size][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][size 1]I have not seen any charts on weight ratios for catfish based on length and girth. There are a lot more variables with cats than with largemouths, muskies or some of the other species. I would guess that somebody has probably made a stab at it though. My "guesstimates" are based purely upon having caught and recorded a whole bunch of them in the past. TubeBabe can vouch for the fact that I am seldom off by more than a few ounces in my estimates when we put the fish against the tape and the scales.[/size][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][size 1]You need a working edit function to put the pics inside your posts. Here is the procedure:[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]1. Size the pics to 400 pixels.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]2. Attach them to your post, NOT clicking on the inline function.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]3. Finish your post and post it up.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]4. Click on an attached pic to bring it up.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]5. Right click on the picture to bring up the menu of options.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]6. Left click on copy.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]7. Click on the EDIT button on the top right of your post.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]8. When your post comes up in editable mode, place the cursor where you want to insert the picture.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]9. Right click to bring up the options menu.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]10. Left click on PASTE.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]11. Your copied picture will appear in that spot. Add any explanatory copy you wish.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]12. Go down to the lower right part of the screen and click on MAKE CHANGES.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]13. Your edited post will come back up, including the picture within the copy.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]14. Repeat the process for other pictures.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1]15. If you have multiple picture attachments, you may choose to leave your editable post open and open up another window with the unedited post, so that you can display and copy one picture after another and then toggle over to the editable version to paste them directly, without having to go back and forth by closing and opening the post. [/size][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][size 1]SIMPLE...RIGHT? Let me know if you are still having troubles with editing. [/size][/#0000ff]
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Simple yeah right [crazy] I'll have to try that next time. I cut out the instructions from your post and put them in my note pad for reference. Now I'll just have to figure out how to resize the photos to 400 pixels with my software - I'm sure it can do it somehow.
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[cool][#0000ff]I'll have to come over and check what programs you have on your computer some time. As I have loaded up scanners, printers and other equipment...plus my digital camera software...I have ended up with several editing programs. The one I use most is the ACD See program that came with my HP scanner. I still have the installation disk that I can bring over and put on your machine if you like. It is great for quickly enhancing color, cropping the pics and resizing, all in the same window.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are lots of good programs, but some are better for one thing than another.[/#0000ff]
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Microsoft Paint comes with any computer running Windows and it is very basic and easy to use too. That's what I usually use. I have others, but they take longer to load up and have extra features that I typically do not need to use. If you need to adjust colors, get rid of redeye, etc. then those other programs are great. But if all you need to do is resize a picture, MS Paint works very well. It's under the Start Menu under "Accessories".

That can come in handy sometimes.
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[cool]Hey catman, thanks for the info on Paint, but I have tried probably 10 different times in the past to resize my photos with that, and all I have been able to do was crop my picture (in other words, cut the picture in half, or cut out most of the background, etc.) All I want to ever do is shrink down the photo. Would you mind showing me how to do that?

In the past on my other computer I used Picture It, and liked that program quite a bit, but that computer is now in storage until we get into a house next year. Would you mind helping a (BFT) brother out w/Paint?
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Hey Out4Trout,

After seeing Cat man's post, I went into Windows Paint and figured a way to do it.

Here it is:

Go in to the accessories and click on Paint.
Click on File at the top.
Go to Open.
Pick the photo you want to edit.
At the top of the paint program menu, click on Image.
Put your mouse on Stretch/Skew and click
Go down to Horizontal and put in the % you want to shrink the photo to - I used 60 % to make it smaller.
Do the same thing with the Vertical % - again I used 60 %.
Now go back to the Image menu item at the top and click again.
This time go to attributes and click. - This will tell you how many pixels the photo is.
If it is how you want it, then you have done it.
You can save your photo now as a different name.

This made my catfish photo smaller than 400 pixels in the horizontal and less than 400 pixels in the vertical.

Now, if TubeDude meant that the photo had to be less than 400 pixels on both the horizontal and vertical - I have the process down in the Paint accessory. I think.

Well TD - is that what you meant by 400 pixels ?
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[cool][#0000ff]A high resolution camera will put out pics with around 2000 to 2500 pixels wide. My 3.2 megapixel camera produces pics at 1984 pixel width. By cropping them, I reduce the pixels. If I need to further reduce them, to fit in a post (400 pixels max), then I need to "resize" them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have a resize function on my software that when I click on it the current pixel width is indicated. To change it, all I have to do is highlight the field with the current pixel width and type in 400. When I hit SAVE, the pic is reduced to the smaller size. Same picture, but smaller size.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The 400 pixel requirement is for width only. They theoretically can be any length.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You can also quickly check the pixel width and/or KB size of a picture by right clicking on it and choosing "Properties".[/#0000ff]
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