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[#0000ff](Dub in banjo music) Me and Pa went down to the lake...and ketched ourselves some catfish. No other species were harmed during this trip. Couldn't even find any smallies near the rocks.
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[#0000ff]We launched our tubes about 6:30. Air temp 65, water temp 76. Air calm. Water pretty clean, but down about 2 feet from the high water mark of a couple of weeks ago. No water coming in the baffles.
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[#0000ff]A few skeeters at daybreak but no pestiferous midges. Although there were a few on the water and a few small (sunfish?) picking them off next to the rocks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lee and I were both fishing a variety of offerings. I started with my usual minnow on one rod and a pair of small jigs on the other. Changed up the plastics to Gulp minnows and some small crank baits. No love on lures or bait for the first hour or so. Didn't see much on sonar...except for some clouds of shadlets. See pic.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally, about 8 am, Lee and I both got bit...by our first of a dozen or so catfish each. And be both had fairly steady action for the next couple of hours. The most productive depth seemed to be about 12 to 13 feet...although I fished from 8' out to 22' in my early S turn search for active fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Once the kitties came to play they hit just about anything we offered them...minnows, fish meat, crawlers. Munch city. And in the warm water they put up a pretty fierce battle...punching above their weight class. I caught them on dragged minnows and on fligs sweetened with minnows, perch meat and/or crawlers.
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[#0000ff]At one point I looked up in the sky and had a brief impression of a flock of vultures hovering over a dead something. Turned out to be "Willard vultures"...also known as seagulls. They spend a lot of time at the feed lot.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Forecast was for the wind to pick up before noon and to get a bit airy. So when the glassy surface rippled up and then got some bumps on it about 10 we decided we had over-funned. It was getting hot too. So we hit the ramp early and made a retreat just as the power squadron was clogging the ramp for their funtime.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lee kissed all his kitties and released them for future potential encounters. I kept about five for a fish fry. Kept enough to supply some fresh fried fillets to a favorite elderly neighbor. Yeah, he is even older than I am. That's old.
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Thanks for another fun day Pat. I was in need of a good float. Was very happy there were not much bugs today. Thats always a plus. Love that new Hummingbird . Much easier on my tired old eyes. The pale perch flig was great today. Think they were six
takers on that today. A few straightned the hook. Glad I had more. Some took the blue flig tipped with worm. A couple took the blue flig with worm also. One took the gulp minnow. Was a great day .
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Gentlemen, good job. Nothing wrong with a morning filled with catfish!
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[#0000FF]Thankee sir. I'd much rather do hand to fin combat with a cantankerous kitty than reel in a salubrious slimer.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Are you still up north?
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TD got a non cat question...been thinking of how I might present a mussel, to wipers, more effectively from the shore for my disabled son (and me who is only mentally unstable, so far)
Wondering about a method to float one slightly off the bottom - maybe with a Santee style rig, with a smaller float up tigher to the bait, or even somthing crazy like air injection ( please withhold the smerks, my kids already know I am a few nuggets short of a full powerbait jar)
Any wisdom to share on this or from other BFTers?
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[#0000FF]I'm not a "mussel-head". Don't use them. But I know a few folks that do and have observed others fishing with them. And I do fish minnows for wipers so I suspect some of the same principles apply.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]First, you don't necessarily have to have the bait up off the bottom. When wipers are scrounging for food they will pick up food items from the bottom...and they have good olfactory (smell) senses to help them find odoriferous offerings. Back in Louisiana I was grossed out when introduced to fishing the local striped bass (half parents of wipers) with "ripe" chicken innards. I figured that was catfish bait but the stripers slurped it up just fine.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]If you want to keep the bait a bit off the bottom either the Santee rig (float between sinker and bait) or a baited floating jig head will work. And both methods also add some color attraction.
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[#0000FF]Another option is to rig "dropshot" style...with a short dropper leader tied in a couple of feet up from a sinker heavy enough to hold bottom...and then prop your rod in a holder that will keep it vertical and hold the bait up above the bottom.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Even better, in many cases, is to rig with a slip bobber...so that you don't have to cast a rig with a long line between the bobber and the bait. (See the attached brief writeup) A lot of bobber fishing anglers have discovered the advantages of using these rigs. If you are fishing baits below the slip bobber, you will have to add a split shot or two to the lower end...above the bait...to get the bait to sink and to hold if the wind is moving the bobber around.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Fishing the mussels below a bobber can also help you present your bait over a wider area...by either moving the bobber yourself periodically...or by allowing breezes to not only move the bait but to add a little wiggle as the bobber rides the ripples.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]As always, finding feeding fish is more important than how you fish the bait. Wipers move around a lot and their habits are different during different seasons. For the next few months they will be patterning on shad and are not as likely to be feeding on or near the bottom. However, early in the year, when there are no edible sized shad, wipers are reduced to foraging for whatever edibles they can find. That is when the mussels usually produce best.
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Well done both of you! Thanks for two great reports and pictures. I'm glad they aren't so full of shad that they won't come out and play.
Wow, down 2 feet since the peak (about a month ago)! that means it could drop 8 feet or so by Sept.
Does it look like its going to be another huge year for shad this year?
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[#0000FF]Too early to tell on the shad. But based upon what I have observed and reports from others there are lots of clouds of the young shadlets. Because of the prolonged spawn...with the crazy up and down spring weather pattern...there will be several sizes of shad throughout the remainder of the year. But, yes it does look like a lot of groceries for the bigguns.
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[#0000FF]Some of the early hatchlings are getting past the 1.5 inch mark and are being targeted by predators. Those will be 4-5 inches long by late fall...with others as small as two inches. Those "late bloomers" usually succumb to late fall die off as their plankton food supply thins out in colder water and their mouth parts have not morphed into being able to eat other foods. But there will likely be plenty of the preferred 3-4 inch size range going into winter.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Glad you like the reports from up north. I probably won't be getting serious about UL until sometime in September. Once the water starts cooling a bit both the cats and the walleyes become more active. I ain't proud. I'll accept either one. And I still gotta add a couple of 30 plus cats to my contest stats.
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I knew I could count on you to point my old fat head towards the obvious. I have tons of drop shot rigs in the bass box. Simple switch up and a multiple depth system is up and running to try. If they bore me to death a quick switch from the mussel to a jig body and I can play with the smallmouth's while my bride and boy bank tangle. Thanks. I will drag out my Santee rigs too, been a while since I used em..
The hardest part is keeping the truck pointed towards Willard and the heat and boaters and bugs. Everytime I head out I seem to get lost and end up in the Uintas
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Still picking on the pour cats I see, and calling the great trout Slimmers..And you know how I love them..LOL..
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[#0000FF]Howdy. Nice of you to drop in once in a while.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Hope you are giving those Oregon fish plenty of exercise.
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Bassrods ? Dang ... I guess it must be time for some of us old timers to chime in - Hope things are going well - give them bass a drop shot or two for me.
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Glade to see your still kicking, (good pun) and yes still giving fish a bad time..LOL
The other day I had another boat of fisherman almost in tears when I released a Salmon I caught and told them I was bass fishing..
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How are you doing?? Fishing is fun and NO water skiers at all..And other then Salmon fishing on the rivers on other fisherman or very very few..
I'm back in Ut. for a few weeks and heading up fishing in the morning..
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