Fishing Forum

I had planned on taking my brother and his son out on the marsh tonight and show them how to rip in the cats, but as wives sometimes do, his put the squash on him going tonight. Oh well, we rescheduled for Saturday and I took my boy and we went anyway.

We got on the water at 7:30 and motored to our spot by 7:45. We baited up with sucker strips and shrimp and settled in for the long haul. We only got little hits here and there and by 9:00 we hadn't caught anything yet. I just kept telling myself it would get better after dark.

At about dark my bobber went ballistic on my shrimp pole and I brought in a feisty 2 pound carp. Bait! Shortly after that the channel cats turned on and we started getting bit and hooking up. Got 5 before 10:30. All 19-22" , not really what I was there looking for, but it was fun. About 11:00 my bobber on my sucker rig just exploded! It was like watching a shark attack. When I set the hook I KNEW this was a special fish! I fough him for about ten minutes and it was insane. This pole only had 8 pound test so I was a little nervous. He also got in the motor a bit, but I lucked out and managed to get him free. When all was said and done and I got him in the boat I was finally able to relax. I didn't have my tape in the boat, so I put his own special rope stringer on him ( more on that in a minute ) and put him out to swim with the fish on the other stringer.

We fished till midnight and had enough so we pulled anchor and pulled in the monster. We motored back down the river and had been on plane for about two minutes when I remembered the "other" fish. Crap! I stopped to pull them in, but of course they had all been pulled free. My guess is that they lived. I only used a snap stringer on them and attached them by their lips. Being catfish, they are probably swimming around again and telling stories to the other fishes about the time they went water skiing!

Anyway, the cats were still biting tonight, although not as good as two nights ago, and the night hunt payed off with what I hope is the biggest cat so far on the score board. 32"!!! I Hope the south is getting thumped! I'll certainly keep trying to do my part!

Pics were taken with my phone so they are grainy but still show the important stuff!
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Wow nice cat. Way to to go![cool]
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Holy catfish batman that's a hog. Way to go Mike. So were you in a little aluminum boat just off the river edge on the flats? If so I might of been the pontoon up east of you. Nice fish. Later J
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I was actually up on the bear river. I tend to call the bear river cutler for some reason. Fun,fun, fun!
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How were the skeeters after dark? Seen them starting to come out about sundown. Anyway congrats that's a great fish. Later J
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Hardly any skeeters. Kinda surprised me.
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nicely done! thats a moose - had to be one fun fight
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Way to go on the nice cat!!! My biggest this year is 26 inches just been waiting on that one to pass 30 (: keep up the good work!
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Very nice. That's the one everybody is lookin' for. First one over 30 inches this year. Always fun to rassle with the big ones like that. Makes it worth waiting thru all the cookie cutters.

Picked up about 8 of 'em this a.m. but best was just over 24. Tomorrow for sure.

Your lead over the south is but temporary and you should enjoy it while you can. []

Great big way to go on a super nice cat. Keep 'em coming.

BLK
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Very Nice!! (watch out, Yote might only give you 30" on that thing haha)

I had a feeling either you or Catmaster would get the first 30"+ this year....congrats!! I bet that was a great fight on 8 lb test.

Hoping I get my first 30" + soon.
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Hey thanks lavaman. It was a really fun, hard fight. I'm hoping that you get your 30"+ soon along with a few other northerners. We need to humble the south a bit
I guess every blind mouse finds cheese once and I was the first mouse! Still, I'm gonna give it my best to score three over 30". It's a fun contest and it gives me an excuse to give the wife for fishing all the time.
Good luck with your search. I'm sure you'll get a biggun.
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WAY TO GO ! Maybe get to meet all you champ Cat catchers next Saturday at the Flotilla.
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[quote lavaman]Very Nice!! (watch out, Yote might only give you 30" on that thing haha)
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Yah, I dunno that tape is blurry, or is that just my vision! [crazy]

End all, I think that's on ok cat richt-yare. Ya done good kiddo. Sounds like you know some good spots. I need to try my night bobbers. Wish they had a better "on off" switch mechanism. Seems like whenever I get to trying them the damned batteries done died.

I gave up on those wire stingers for cats. They twist and turn too much, even when anchored up. Bet you're glad it wasn't your OTHER stringer that flew free. Heard tale of a gent with a full limit, and nice ones - lost the whole thing up by CJ. Sad for the kitties, but bet them grate-lips can sandpaper saw their way through.

So how big a sucker chunk are your pitching?

Definitely looking forward to the floatilla. Maybe the fishing will treat us nice for a change, no doubt the company will be good.
Congrats northerner!

oh,and yeah....

Dangit! []
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Now that's what I love to hear from the south![]
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Hey yote, my eye doctor told me the blurry think is called " over 40 eyes syndrome"! I suffer from it too[].
To answer your question about how big the sucker chunks were, they were from 1x3" to 3x3". The big boy chomped on a 3x3 chunk.
I got tons of little "pecking" bites on the sucker, but they wouldn't or couldn't swallow it. The fish would chew the bait down to just having the hide on the hook. Either small channel cats or mudders I'm guessing.
Upsizing the bait got me nicer cats, but I'm sure it meant a lot less smaller fish caught.
Sucker and carp cut bait are my go to baits right now and historically for me, I'm just starting my kitty quests about this time of year.
The night bobbers I have have a little hole to poke the glow stick in. No batteries and lasts a long time. So easy to see the rod tips and bobbers with those things (and fun!).
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Yep, I witnessed that disaster/event. Three years ago I stopped by CJ early one morning to meet two older gents fishing in their little boat, right by the bank. They showed me their stringer of cats. I'm telling you, I've never seen so many big fish on one stringer.

Long story short, they got ready to go, but first went out to check their set-lines. They started coming back and I could hear the moans and tears and disappointment as they had just discovered that their stringer that was tied to their boat had fell off somewhere along the way.

I felt bad for them. But somewhere in Cutler there are (or there 'were') seven or eight 30"+ fat Channels wrestling with each other for the 'right of way'. My guess is they're probably dead by now from starvation...unless they sawed through that metal stringer like you suggested, Yote.

Epic.
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Very nice kitty congrats man. I am taking my gf and her 2 kids out that way tonight but ly we will be bank fishing it for now. It will be nice in a month when I can get out in my buddies boat again to go for them. There are some nice ones in cj. I pulled out a nice 28" last year by the train bridge that was almost albino from holing up in the dark for so long, but I can promise you he tasted sweet when I dipped him in a beer batter and deep fried him.
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Very nice. My biggest cats have came out of that area as well, but it's been a few years since it's produced well for me.
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