02-26-2023, 03:44 PM
Glad you guys were able to find open water...and active kitties. Won't be long until I will be launching out of the south marina. That is where I start almost every year...and I always find willing kitties. In recent years I am out as soon as I can launch my tube...anywhere from mid February to early March.
![[Image: FINE-FINISH.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/Yh9dRR8n/FINE-FINISH.jpg)
In earlier days TubeBabe and I did a lot of iceout bank tangling in the channel at the south marina. In the days before shad and wipers the cats grew bigger...up to about 20 pounds...and it was common to catch at least one of 10 pounds or more.
![[Image: SO-MARINA.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/zVVkKBX4/SO-MARINA.jpg)
![[Image: WILLARD-SPRING.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/PvN1W3h1/WILLARD-SPRING.jpg)
![[Image: TUBEBABE-S-HAUL.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/CnZfBRHN/TUBEBABE-S-HAUL.jpg)
One of my all-time favorite rememberies was of an early morning when I was soaking crawlers out off the point where the boat basin joins the channel. It was around the first of March and I had been catching quite a few cats...and even a stray walleye or two. I would cast the crawler on a light sinker rig out into the channel and the current from the runoff inflow would slowly move it downstream until it stopped along the channel edge. As I was waiting for an "inquiry" I was joined by an old goober who asked "Catchin' any pike?" That was how a lot of Utahns referred to walleye in those days. I politely answered that I was fishing for catfish. With a look of disdain on his face he told me that I was doin' it all wrong. Everybody knows catfish only bite at night...and during the warm months of summer.
Right on cue my rod went bendo with a catfish. I reeled it in and added it to the stringer with the other cats. When I looked around the old goober was halfway back to his car. You can always tell an old fool. You just can't tell them much they don't already know.
In earlier days TubeBabe and I did a lot of iceout bank tangling in the channel at the south marina. In the days before shad and wipers the cats grew bigger...up to about 20 pounds...and it was common to catch at least one of 10 pounds or more.
One of my all-time favorite rememberies was of an early morning when I was soaking crawlers out off the point where the boat basin joins the channel. It was around the first of March and I had been catching quite a few cats...and even a stray walleye or two. I would cast the crawler on a light sinker rig out into the channel and the current from the runoff inflow would slowly move it downstream until it stopped along the channel edge. As I was waiting for an "inquiry" I was joined by an old goober who asked "Catchin' any pike?" That was how a lot of Utahns referred to walleye in those days. I politely answered that I was fishing for catfish. With a look of disdain on his face he told me that I was doin' it all wrong. Everybody knows catfish only bite at night...and during the warm months of summer.
Right on cue my rod went bendo with a catfish. I reeled it in and added it to the stringer with the other cats. When I looked around the old goober was halfway back to his car. You can always tell an old fool. You just can't tell them much they don't already know.