Another NBC day at Willard 9-3-20

[TubeDude]

The photos look like pretty standard WB cats - any extra size to any of them? You would think with the preponderance of vittles available for them cats that they would pick up a bit in size soon

Don't know how many years you have been exposed to the vicissitudes of catkind in Willard.  My experience goes back to the mid 1970s.  In those days...BS (before shad...and wipers)  Willard kitties routinely grew to over 20 pounds...with lots of 10# plus cats in the 30" range.  Primary forage was lots of crawdads, green sunfish and young crappies. 

In the years following the first major plantings of wipers the catfish took a big hit on their groceries.  Shad slurped up the zooplankton that baby crappies needed for growth to the larger sizes.  And wipers ate a bunch of young crappies too...so crappie numbers have dropped way off.  When there were no edible shad available (a big part of the year) the abundant wipers chow down on crawdads and the small fish usually eaten by the cats...and even eat a lot of baby cats.  In the early 2000s, during extreme low water conditions, it was rare to find cats as large as 20 inches.  Most were in the low teens.

In recent years there have been a lot of fluctuations in wiper and walleye numbers, but shad have pretty much continued to reproduce well.  So there has been more food for the cats...both invertebrates and fishy fare.  That has led to bumper crops of cats and some good average growth rates too.  Willard "cookie cutters" used to be about 16 to 18 inches.  Today they average a bit larger...with many more reaching 2-footer status and even a few 30 inchers showing up.

My biggest cat today may have been about 23"...with most over 20.  I have caught them up to 28" from Willard in the past couple of years.  I suspect that there are bigger ones to be had but the "average" size these days are fun to catch and just right for the table or the smoker.  Non finer in the whole country as far as I'm concerned.