So I couldn't stand the thought of sitting around the house last night and I decided it was time to dust off the boat and give the marsh my first real effort of the year. Up till then it had only been an hour or two here and there.
After wrangling another BFT member into coming with, I set off with him and my two girls for the bear river.
Got on the water about an hour before dark and fished till 12:00. We all caught plenty of channel cats and nothing else. Kept 8 between us. The biggest 3 I got were 26",25",and 25". Tons of hits.
We had a blast and I'm going back with my brother and his boys on Thursday. Maybe I'll break that 30" mark then. We lost a couple that were pushing it (saw them).
Anyway, here's a few pics.
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NICE Group ! Have the mosquitos started getting bad after dark ?
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The skeeters weren't bad at all. There were a few, but not too many.
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Ive tried cutler a few times, only a couple channel, cant get away from all the pesky bull heads, any advice? I usually stick to the lower part of bear river for my cats
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Simple solution. Use 3x1" strips of carp or sucker. Rarely get anything but channel cats. Large shrimp or chubs work good also, but meat strips are my first choice to keep the mudcats at bay.
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Nice haul looks like you found them. Your kids out of school? One more day for mine. Later J
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Thanks. Yea, Rich county students got out last Friday. They've been waiting for this fishing trip for months and it was only an exploratory trip, the real ones start in a week or two. I will be back for another round tomorrow evening with my brother though to get his kids in on it.if I have a repeat of last night then I'll really start the hunt for the 30+ inchers to get my score up on the contest.
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Nice outing, glad you got out and got on 'em. You telling me they haven't put that dock in yet? I thought Memorial was THE weekend they finally do. Never understood why they wait so long. Not a courtesy if you ask me.
So - troll, anchor Bottom, bobbers? Do the light schtick jig? Dollar store and a roll of electrical tape, been berry berry good to me! I've cast-away too many bells!
I do have some glowing electrical bobbers - need to give them a go. Did I talk to you about an Island overnight?
Wish I knew where the Crappie Humps were in Cutler. They must be doing their thang. Though the sucker spot I found last year is high, murky, and ripping - not what it was this time last year. More exploring I guess, or waiting. (or coming up BL way!)
Be interesting with this weather if it will change things much. It usually slows the carp down so I wonder if the cats back off the aggressive feeding. Let us know how it turns out. Later J
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We just anchored up and fished a shallow flat next to a deeper water drop off. All our fish came off the shallow flat though. 1-2' deep was all. Sucker strips were the bait that got the action. Shrimp and worms only saw a few small bites.
I had some glow stick bobbers with me so we set one of those up and used the other glow sticks by just taping them with electrical tape to the rod tip so we could see the bites. It's cool to watch a glow bobber go under and then see a faint glow under the water ripping along as the fish hauls of with it. Nice to not have a lantern hissing away the whole time attracting bugs and all. It lets me just listen to the sounds of the swamp without the noise of the lantern.
The only consistent crappie spots that I can think of in the reservoir itself without counting the river are the benson bridge, trestle bridge, and valley view bridge. Seems pretty hit or miss although if I really put my mind to it I can pull a few out most times. Problem is, when I'm there I only want to fish for whisker fish!
I have no idea how to troll that lake for cats. I would like to try it, but I really don't know the speed, set up, spots for it, set up, etc....tips from those that do know would be appreciated.
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If by weather you mean wind, in my experience it doesn't affect the cats much, just fisherman. Makes it no fun when its blowing hard and I'm in a boat. Hopefully tonight will be calm.
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Seems to me the cats are following the carp right now and the wind and clouds seems to slow the carp spawn and keep them out of the shallows so I think the cats may be deeper tonight, but maybe not. I guess you'll find out. Good luck. J
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Yeah the catfish love to eat the carp eggs. Try fishing a egg fly or something like it and hang on. Those catfish will eat them.
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Really that would be so much fun on a fly rod. How do you fish it so you can catch them? J
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You would use an EXTREMELY SLOW retrieve. With something like a chartreuse troutbead or crystal meth fly. Find the spawning carp and you find the catfish (provided it is a place that the catfish would be). They can bust up a rod real good though so watch out.
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Sounds fun. Thanks J
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How much backing?
Sounds like fun, I think too- cats sit under the frothing cats. But don't know that I agree on the wind thing. Couple weeks back the shore was muddy and wavy - carp were ALL over at the shores edge. stick a fair few.
next week was calm and serene - cats were on, but carp were not doing the fandango. They were out the, slurping and all, but not frothing the shoreline. I'd finally got my biscuit ready, but no such luck. maybe should have thrown on an egg pattern, but they didn't have the carp to follow.
Guess I'll have to go float and explore to where they ARE at a given time.
Suckers are NOT where I found them last year this time. Water's too high, turbid, and fast moving. Might need to explore more stretches, or come up to BL.