Fishing Forum

[cool]Hope everybody had a good weekend. Tube Babe and I hit Saguaro Lake for some badly needed R & R. The access gate to our regular launch site...Butcher Jones Beach...is supposed to open at daybreak. It has been open by 5:30 the previous two trips, but we had to wait until almost 6AM for a slow-moving US Govt. employee to show up to open the gate. Then, he left his truck parked in front of the open gate for several minutes while he picked up cans and bottles.

On the water by 6:30. Air temp 50, water temp 67. Lots of threadfin shad showing on the surface, but no predators chasing them. We surmised that the bass were probably full after feeding all night on the easy pickins. Didn't catch a bass, nor see one caught all morning.

Water and air calm. Got buzzed by an ultralight aircraft as we paddled out to begin fishing. Watched the buzzards spreading their wings on the rock cliffs to catch the sun's first rays. Checked pulse to verify still living.

I found a small school of yellow bass almost as soon as I hit my first spot. Saw quite a few fish on the sonar and dropped a small bait bug vertically in 11 to 12 feet of water. Caught 15 to 20 in quick succession. Picked up the walkie talkie and told Tube Babe to hurry over and get in on the action. She cruised up just as the bite stopped.

A bass boat kept moving back and forth over the top of our spot...while we were still in it. Just as they left a series of loud power boats blasted by the front of the cove...accompanied by a steady procession of cavorting PWC. Then, the two Hawaiian racing canoes that show up every Saturday showed up. For the next two hours they raced back and forth over us...in spite of having the rest of the lake available with no obstacles.

I moved around, looking for other fish. Caught a few misguided sunfish, but no bass, no more yellow bass and no catfish. Tube Babe had only scored one yellow bass, at the tail end of the early flurry. She was not a happy camper, but agreed that if we had not gotten anything else started by 10 AM, that we would head home early and take care of some "deferred details".

Over the course of the morning, we had tried all of the usual lures and presentations that typically put fish in our baskets. We were under pressure to bring home some fish to my son and his family, as well as having a hankering for some of those tasty fillets ourselves. The few yellow bass I had kept from the early action were not even enough for us.

At about 9:50...10 minutes before we were going to kick back to shore, I tied on one of two experimental jigs I had tossed into my lure box. I had been fishing with larger stuff and getting nothing. I surmised that maybe the fish were touchy and that small might be better. The little "rainbow flathead" was less than a 1/16 oz. head, on a small size 6 hook. Just about right for bluegill.

Within seconds of my first cast reaching bottom, and starting to hop it along, my rod bent over and the drag on my ultralight Shimano spinning reel screamed, as it gave up several yards of 4# line. This was one of our "snags that move"...a channel cat. Turned out to be a 24 incher that weighed 6.5 pounds. We had dinner for my son's family.

I retied the slimed and nicked line, cutting back a couple of feet before putting my new experimental jig back on. All the time I am trying to get back in action, I have to keep answering Tube Babe's questions about which jig I got it on...and trying to describe it. Of course she didn't have one, so I tried to suggest that my catch was just a fluke, and that what I was using really didn't make that much difference.

That was before I scored two nice yellow bass on back to back casts. When I verified that they too were caught on the new jig, I had to try to find the other one in my lure box or face the reality of community property laws in Arizona. I grudgingly chose the former, and we had a pretty good finish to what looked like it was going to be a bleak morning.

We began to hang big fat yellow bass with regularity. We got hits on almost every cast, even if we did not connect. The fish were being tentative, and I believe that the small jig was the finesse move necessary to get them to open their mouths. We had seen a lot of fish on our sonar screens, but they just weren't hitting.

About 10:45, I had a tentative tick and set the hook into what I thought was another yellow bass. However, the ensuing run of line off my reel, and my straining ultralight rod clued me that it was another catfish. After about fifteen minutes of being towed and spun around in my craft, I slid my net under a slightly larger kitty...27 inches and 7.2 pounds.

That just about did it. Other than one or two small yellow bass, the flurry was over, and we had a fish feed for the Dude family...both sides. I think we kept about forty yellow bass between us...from about twice that many caught. Oh yeah, I probably better add that Tube Babe also added a nice little 2# channel cat on the test jigs. We hardly ever catch cats less than 5 pounds in Saguaro, but on her buggy whip tackle it was plenty of fun.

In addition to a large batch of fish for #1 Son and family, TB and I had enough yellow bass fillets for a couple of meals, and kept two of the large fillets of catfish too. We enjoyed scampi style yellow bass last night, and cooked up my mother's favorite "kitty krispies" for lunch today. Yum.



FIRST (SMALLER) OF TWO CATS FOR TUBE DUDE...6.5#



TUBE DUDE'S FAT CAT AND TWO FAT CATS...AND SOME YELLOW BASS TOO.
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It sounds like you had a tremendous day Tube Dude. The fishing would probably be unbelievable if you didn't have to skirmish with the power/mad canoe/PWC fleet each time out.

I was anxiously reading the rest of the story to see what your sentence was going to be for catching 15 to 20 yellow bass before picking up the radio and informing Tube Babe of your success! The experimental jig success also had me thinking your fate was not going to be pretty -

Way to go on the 6 and 7 lb cats; they must be great fun on ultralight tackle like you use.
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[laugh]SSoooo jealous.... maybe I should move to where you are...

fishin' looks prettygoodtome.. ( so jealous I forgort I have space bar)

Minh
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[cool]Yeah, TBear, the traffic gets pretty intense sometimes. As much annoyance as it is, and as negative as it is on the fishing, it's probably good for the local fish population that we have to endure it. We have had days, when conditions have been less hectic, when we have easily caught in the vacinity of 200 fish each in a long morning's fishing. And, it is not unusual to have seven species days...taking multiple species on essentially the same lures and presentations.

And, you are right about the FUN FUN FUN of catching those big channel cats on light gear. As the water warms up, they get more active. They hit hard and make several good runs before agreeing to crawl in the net. Not many fish will outfight them. On Saturday, I had fished for cats for a long time, using heavy baitcast gear and big baits, without a bite. It was only after I scaled down to ultralight that I got bit.

Hey, Halibut. It's okay if you get excited about my fishing. Come on over and join us. If we have room for all those other guys on the water, we should be able to find a spot for you. The only problem is that for the rest of the year, until about mid October, you would be too warm in waders. I know you would miss the cold water in the local waters there, but maybe you could learn to "freeball" in 80 to 85 degree water. And don't worry about the heat. Like they say in Hell...it's a nice dry heat.

Here's the new test craft I have ordered to help reduce the problems with the competition:


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[]As soon as I caught (no pun intended) on to what he was doing, I paddled over and relieved him of the second "experimental" jig he had in his tackle box. I'm gonna' have to keep tabs when he starts tying those "experimentals" and be sure that I have one of everything ... that way I don't lose time paddling to where he is to get one when they turn out to be the hot jig of the day! In any event, we had a great day ... and a few great meals. In fact, we're already planning our next trip out.
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TD & TB.. soo where is the pic of this experimental jig???? I am gonna have to circulate the above pic... lol that is good.
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[cool]I have had a couple of flaming emails and PMs asking about the deadly new creation. Should not have been so inconsiderate. I will make up several variations and scan a photo tonight. Look for a new post that is titled "Rainbow Flatheads". I will include some background info and instructions for making them.

Will that ease your mind, Halibut?

Glad you liked my new water buggy. It says Coast Guard on the side, but I am thinking of just mounting the machine gun on a separate Super Fat Cat and towing it along. I can install rod racks on that one too, but stock them with surface to surface missiles instead of fishing rods. What do you think?
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Where did you pick up your floating creel? Does that protect you tubes from them spiney fish, especially those big cats???

ES
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[cool]You like that? It's a hybrid of the nylon mesh baskets that our brethren in California use in the salt, and the large metal live baskets I have been using for years. I have always had to install a naugahyde apron between my tied off basket and my air chambers to keep from spining my craft when dropping fish in the basket. By wrapping a kids swimming "noodle" around the neck, it floats the basket and provides a bumper to keep it from coming in contact with the craft.

I have been going to order a new basket, which I have to do about every two years. I was going to do a pictorial on it when I got it, but I can do one on the grungy older model if you want the details on how to make one. They are great for quick handling of spiny white bass, perch, sunfish, etc.

By the way, just so we do not get our catches , my basket has a chartreuse noodle and TubeBabe has pink. What else? The large 19" by 36" baskets are about $13 or $14. The noodles are about $2. If you put them together right, the metal carrying handles tuck down into the inside edge of the noodle, to hold the lip of the basket several inches above the water line.
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Hey there TubeDude,

On your live bait reciever/live fish bag I have some suggestions as to how to make things easier IF you had the same.....well... as least similar needs that I do for such a creature.

I have made hangers/noodle for the top of the laundry bag/netting so as to fit on top of one of my big white plastic bucket. (same size as the home depot orange buckets)

Why:

I can put the smelt I catch(outside the tube) or buy into the bait receiver netting in one shot without having to first put the bait in the plastic bucket then transfer the live bait from the bucket to the live bait reciever attached to my tube at waters edge. Then what do you do with the bucket! ha ha That's when I don't use the plano.

Divide your net in half.

Why:

I have made a divider at half the length of the netting so that the bottom half of the net can be used for a live fish bag and your little smelt or whatever baits are safe and sound in the upper section of the net.

It's one and only one solution to a problem you may or may not have but others might.

JapanRon
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[cool]That is a good solution, for fishing with live bait. I have tried the mesh bags and find them to not work as well as the wire baskets...at least in fresh water. They do not last long in the salt. I like the wire because they are rigid and allow the smaller fish to swim freely, without being enclosed in clinging mesh. Of course, the bucket would help, but the mesh basket collapses for easy storage and trransport.

It's the old story. We use what works best for our own particular style of fishing. I have several mesh bag live wells, and am working on making another one from some super stiff black nylon mesh netting I found at a local military surplus store. Like yourself, I plead guilty to a streak of creativity, and I'm always tinkering with new stuff.

P.S. I gave up on my design for a PVC live well. Too heavy and too time consuming...with all those fittings.
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All those fun toys! I noticed in the pic that you still have your Cuda 168 on your tube. When I start keeping more fish I'll have to see what I can put together for a live well. Thanks as always for the info!

ES
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[cool]Yep. Tube Babe latched on to the Fish Easy I had been using, so me and the Cuda will be partners for awhile...until I get the itch to "field test" something else.

I ordered a couple of fish baskets from BassPro and will do a step by step pictorial on how I set them up with the floating ring. The ones I use are the "A" baskets in the pic below. They are 19" wide by 30" deep.


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