Kitty Fest

[SkunkedAgain]

I seen an opportunity to fish yesterday after work and took it... Probably should have worked on other stuff, but I'm thinking my chances will be fading fast, so I better take them while I can...

Nice to live two miles from the boat ramp, it really helps for the short burn trips... Hooked up and was on the water in about 15 minutes.. I have two spots I like to hit this time of year and I usually start at the far one and hit the close one on the way back, usually after not finding fish in the other spot... So this time I figured I'd hit the close one first... Started off great with a hit right after casting out, it was an 18"er and before I got that one taken care of had a hit on the other rod, but it was a swing and a miss, which was a bad omen on the day... I would end up missing about 8 hits to one hook up on average, and usually I would blame that on bullheads, but this time nearly every time there would be a big swirl where I'm pretty sure a channel was taking off after it's failed attempt to get hooked.. Once again the cats were keyed in on the night crawlers, at one point I had had ten hits on the worms to one hit on the carp chunks... I ended up getting a few more carp takers later in the trip, but I'm sure it was at least 5 or 6 to one in favor of the crawlers..  Well as the trip went on I ended up landing 3 channels from 18 to 19.5 in that spot and then the bite shut off... So I was getting ready to move and got one more bite which I broke off my line as I tried to set the hook...  I know you're supposed to retie and replace your mono leaders, but I don't very often and it cost me that fish... I did give a big harry jerk, but the line broke very easily, it had already broken before half the power got there...  

I retied and started a new soaking cycle, after another 15 minutes with nothing I finally moved to the other spot... I cast out and before my waves had even settled I had a fish on and a bite on the other pole... I landed the first, a near 20" channel and the second stole my bait and left the area... Well things were busy there for about 45 minutes and I think I landed 3 more channels, then like usual in that spot the bullheads rolled in and ruined the night... After catching 3 or 4 of those I decided to try and troll back since it was getting time to head home for the night... I think I had 3 hits but I never felt a fish when I jerked but that was kind of consistent with the rest of my night, lots of hits and not many hook ups... 

Well as I was leaving the first spot I had raised my motor since it's really shallow in that area and I was backing out when I felt a big clunk on the motor, but everything seemed to keep working so I didn't worry about it, but when I pulled my boat out I found I had really bent my prop up... Usually it's soft mud everywhere, but I must have found a sunken log or something this time, looks like I need to find a new prop, or get lucky straightening this one, but usually that ends up breaking the blade... This prop is so well matched to the motor so it runs really well, so I need to make sure and get the same size and I can't read the numbers very well... Anyone know how to tell which size prop you have when you can't read the numbers that are stamped on it?  Anyway that was my trip, fun outing even if I had a few hick ups... Later J

[Piscophilic]

Great report Jeff! Sorry about the prop though . Jon and I were out last night too. We may have had as many hits, but most of them weren't cats. We got 3 channels for the "evening" and one Jon got was 29", so he's happy. We got 10 or so white bass. There were 2 big (or little) surprises with the whities. First, all the whites were down less 3 from the surface. I've seen that when the midges were going, but not this early.

The second surprise was the sizes. We really wanted fresh bait and were sorely disappointed when the first 2 that hit got off and several seemed to nibble and never get the hook. I downsized the hooks and we got 7 whites under 6" long. That is almost the exact size we were catching last September and October! I'm guessing these were a late spawn because they were very healthy, just small.

None of our cats came before dark, but we didn't find any groups like last time so we called it quits a little after 10:30.

[chubby chaser]

sorry about the prop, here is a link that may help with finding the right replacement- https://www.mercurymarine.com/us/en/prop...r-selector

[SkunkedAgain]

sorry about the prop, here is a link that may help with finding the right replacement-  https://www.mercurymarine.com/us/en/prop...r-selector

Thanks for the link, I think I've determined it's a 12.75" X 21 P so now I should be able to find something... Glad it didn't break the blades off, I don't have a spare prop for this boat yet and it would have been a long way back under electric power...  Thanks for the tip... Jeff

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Hey Jim, glad you guys got out, it's kind of fun these days isn't it... I'll have to check for Jon's post on the contest board... Thanks Jeff

[Boatloadakids]

Bummer on the prop but nice catch on the cats. Interesting that you found them in shallow water...  I have been sulking and hiding in shame after fishing for two days with nothing but a couple cats and a couple of white bass to show for my efforts. I fished mostly in 10 feet or so of water and never did work in shallow and close to the reed/phrags. Next time.

Good luck with the prop. One of the worst sounds in the fishing world is the unexpected thunk on a prop. I have had my share of dinged props and a couple of total wipe outs. Live and learn.

Good luck getting back on the water.

Lynn

[wiperhunter2]

Nice detailed report Jeff. As far as you prop goes, isn't there a guy up in Smithfield or the North end of Logan that repairs props? Seems like you or another guy that lives up there told me about this guy some years back, I went up to his place and he was able to help me on my prop, do you know the guy I'm talking about?

[2knots]

Nice detailed report Jeff. As far as you prop goes, isn't there a guy up in Smithfield or the North end of Logan that repairs props? Seems like you or another guy that lives up there told me about this guy some years back, I went up to his place and he was able to help me on my prop, do you know the guy I'm talking about?

Perfect Pitch Propellers, Neil is his name
(435) 754-7320

[wiperhunter2]

Nice detailed report Jeff. As far as you prop goes, isn't there a guy up in Smithfield or the North end of Logan that repairs props? Seems like you or another guy that lives up there told me about this guy some years back, I went up to his place and he was able to help me on my prop, do you know the guy I'm talking about?

Perfect Pitch Propellers, Neil is his name
(435) 754-7320

That's the place, thanks Alan

[Springbuck1]

Bummer on the prop but nice catch on the cats. Interesting that you found them in shallow water...  I have been sulking and hiding in shame after fishing for two days with nothing but a couple cats and a couple of white bass to show for my efforts. I fished mostly in 10 feet or so of water and never did work in shallow and close to the reed/phrags. Next time.

Good luck with the prop. One of the worst sounds in the fishing world is the unexpected thunk on a prop. I have had my share of dinged props and a couple of total wipe outs. Live and learn.

Good luck getting back on the water.

Lynn

Oh, how I envy your couple of cats and  white bass.  I havent caught a single fish since January.

[SkunkedAgain]

Bummer on the prop but nice catch on the cats. Interesting that you found them in shallow water...  I have been sulking and hiding in shame after fishing for two days with nothing but a couple cats and a couple of white bass to show for my efforts. I fished mostly in 10 feet or so of water and never did work in shallow and close to the reed/phrags. Next time.

Good luck with the prop. One of the worst sounds in the fishing world is the unexpected thunk on a prop. I have had my share of dinged props and a couple of total wipe outs. Live and learn.

Good luck getting back on the water.

Lynn

Thanks Lynn, appreciate the well wishes... Hey on Cutler every spring the channels head to the warm water in the shallows and they seem to stay there until the runoff of colder water ends in June... But it's a different situation than the big lake, here we have rivers running through the reservoir that carry a lot colder water in and out of the pond and the fish seem to chase the warmer water until it starts getting too warm, then they go back to the river channels I suspect.. So I hope that helps you, but it might be apples and bananas to so guess you'll have to let us know what you find... Later Jeff

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Nice detailed report Jeff. As far as you prop goes, isn't there a guy up in Smithfield or the North end of Logan that repairs props? Seems like you or another guy that lives up there told me about this guy some years back, I went up to his place and he was able to help me on my prop, do you know the guy I'm talking about?

Perfect Pitch Propellers, Neil is his name
(435) 754-7320

That's the place, thanks Alan

Curt and Alan, thank you guys I'll have to see what he charges, a new prop is around $200 so might be good to get this one straightened and buy another for a spare...  It's a risk to go out without a back up... Thank you guys... Jeff

[wiperhunter2]

I found a brand new prop on Ebay for $30 and ended up trading it to Neil for him to cut down the the prop I already had, so I felt he was very fair on his prices.

[SkunkedAgain]

He told me he could fix it for $100 so I guess I need to decide whether I want a rebuilt for half price or go with a new one... Might check KSL and see if there is anything that would work on my boat... Thanks for the tips... J

[wiperhunter2]

He told me he could fix it for $100 so I guess I need to decide whether I want a rebuilt for half price or go with a new one... Might check KSL and see if there is anything that would work  on my boat... Thanks for the tips... J

You should also check ebay but as you said, having a backup prop won't be a bad idea.

[SkunkedAgain]

Good thought as well, if you time it correctly ebay can be good.... If you have bad timing it's just a waste of a little time, but you never know when you'll get lucky... Thanks for reminding me, it's worth a look... So when do you expect the eyes will start on the good bite at Willard? Seems like we are getting into the range when Mike used to really catch them with the slow troll and crawler harnesses... Don't see much from him on line anymore, did he make the switch to the new forum? I don't get up to the shop much anymore, so I haven't seen him for several years.... He sure had those eyes dialed in though... Later J