Fishing Forum

Well, I made it to Logan after lunch and after ditching my wife in town I headed out for some bait collecting and fishing.

I went to my minnow spot and dipped enough fatheads for the afternoon. Tried my new cast net out, but didn't get anything except a few stray fatheads. Was hoping for carp. Everything was going good however, and my throws were really opening up good when the bloody net got snagged good by something and I ended up breaking about half of my lines on it getting it unstuck. Dang!

Went and checked out cache junction, but it looked too windy for a first choice. From there I headed to Benson Marina and the wind was much kinder there. We pitched our worms and minnows out and for the next three hours brought in hoards of little mud cats and a half dozen small channel cats. On one pole I put a big chunk of carp I brought from the last of my freezer stash and on my kids poles I put minnows or worms.

I had a few good hits on the carp chunk, but apparently nothing big enough to wrap its lips around the size of bait I had on.
My kids however brought in one after the other. Not enough to keep my interest, but they couldn't get enough of it!

Just about the time I figured we should head back into Logan and hunt my wife down, my daughters pole that had a minnow and bobber went under and she let me know that it felt different. Happily, to our surprise, she hauled in a 13" crappie that had inhaled it to its southern region! She was "the winner" as she has been reminding her brother and I all night and I really enjoyed just watching the kids have so much fun with all the little fish.

As a bonus, we were treated to an airshow by an aerobatic stunt plane complete with smoke and all the low altitude tumbling maneuvers the pilot could handle! ( and no, it wasn't one of the model airplanes down the road)

Again, great trip, didn't get skunked, just didn't find that big boy yet. I'LL BE BACK!
[signature]

Nice pics, that is a pretty Crappie! They can sure get big in that water. Glad you had a good trip and the wind didn't get to you!
[signature]

Sounds like a good outing, glad you managed the wind ok. Definitely a four letter word some days. Outfished by the kids again, darn! []

Nice Crappie. They really put on some shoulders over the 10-11 mark. That kitties's got a serious dark moustache, and walleye looking eyes!
I like throwing something too big for mudders to latch onto, but often doesn't keep em from trying, kr at least pecking at it.

Sorry about the net. That's been my biggest fear on the cast. I know TDs talked about patching, tying nets

Thanks. It was kind of a cool looking cat. My daughter told me yesterday that small channel cats are the "cutest" fish she has ever seen. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.
I really wish I could catch the crappie on cutler with some consistency. I catch a few every year , but I just can't seem to do it on purpose, then again, I don't have the patience to fish just for them when there are bigger targets lurking beneath the surface.

I'll have to do a search and see if I can find TD's tips on fixing the net or look it up on the web.

Wind was actually not too bad and died off around 4 completely. Made for some pleasant fishing weather.
[signature]

[#0000FF]Purty crappie. (No, not pretty crappy)

Sorry about the net. Had a few such "incidents" my own self.

Fixing a small tear in the mesh of the net is fairly easy. Simply use a piece of monofilament of similar size and bring the torn sides together with a couple of suitable knots. If it is a big tear, you will likely end up with a "pucker" and that will sometimes affect "spread" on the toss.

If you broke loose the long connector lines...between the control ring and the weights...it takes some time and patience to reknot them. Usually they break at the knot, which makes repairing a bit easier. You just retie them in the appropriate places and don't lose much (if any) line length or workability. And you don't have to make an exact matchup of each line to where it was attached.

You won't really know how bad it is until you have it all put back together and make a few throws. With any luck, you are still at least 90% effective. If there was enough damage...or repairs changed the form and function...you will make more "collapsed" throws...and get to practice your vocabulary.

All that is why I suggest that you never throw a net into murky waters that you aren't sure what lurks on the bottom. Even if you think it is clean there can be rocks and branches lightly covered by silt that will still grab your weights and fight you for ownership of your net.

One of my worst violations of my own policy happened on a drain channel at the Farmington Bird Refuge. Each fall, about the time they open it for hunters, there is an outflow from the ponds that brings in lots of chubs and carp minnows. Last fall, with the lower water levels, I got down there and there was no water movement...and the canal was shallow and muddy, with duckweed floating on the surface. Since I had previously thrown my nets there with no snags before, I was optimistic in trying at least a couple of attempts. Bad move. As my first throw spread out and splashed down the water erupted. There had been a group of tank sized carp resting there and my net got three of them. Together they almost pulled me out into the channel. And fighting against the net and each other they did a number on my almost new fine mesh net. Those serrated dorsal and pectoral spines got tangled in the mesh and ripped some nasty holes it it. Took me over an hour to dispatch those thrashing monsters and untangle them from my poor net. The only plus was that they donated a few pounds of bloody carp meat to my kitty bait stash.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

Thank TD. The place I snagged up was a spot I've thrown to over the years without any type of snagging, but maybe ive just been lucky or something was "deposited" there since last fall. Wait her way, it looks like I will be replacing a few of the heavy braille lines, possibly all of them to get it to open properly. Surprisingly the netting doesn't seem to have any tears in it, I don't know how t I snagged so bad and didn't damage the netting.
Unfortunately I don't have too many options for Clearwater cast netting around cache valley that I have found so I'm sure ill continue playing Russian roulette with the murky water a carefully as possible. I DO have permission to trap and cast net minnows from the Bear Lake Marina manager here, so as soon as the minnows move in thus spring ill be down there trying for chubs, suckers and shiners. That is as clear of water as it gets for me!

I know what you mean about fish damaging the net. A few years ago I thiught it would be cool to toss the net over a pod of spawning suckers here on Bear Lake, and ended up with about a dozen and a have that tore my net up pretty good just from the weight more than anything.
[signature]

Your kids look like they had a blast. Way to go! [cool]
[signature]