The Stars Align for 2 Catoholics, Finally!

[obifishkenobi]

What happens when two catoholics get together in the same boat…records are set, at least for my boat, but more about that later.
 
It took several failed attempts last year and several more over a couple of months this year, but Pat and I were finally able to meet up at the Provo boat harbor to go out and chase cats. Even after all the planning, both of us almost cancelled in the 2 days before the outing. Guess it was meant to be!
 
We met at the north west ramp at 6 A.M. Water temp was 66 and the air was 52. I had gotten white bait the day before, so we headed right out. Pat started out dragging large shiners and I used the chilled WB. We started a leisurely stroll at 0.3-0.5 mph in about 4.5 FOW.
 
The first hour was a great chance to catch up, swap stories and watch the sunrise. OK, truth is I messed up and started us way too shallow! After almost an hour we were barely over 6 FOW and only 2 cats in the mid 20-inch range had volunteered to break up the chit chat. It was great to visit after not getting together for a couple of years, but I knew Pat wanted to see things prettier than my face!
 
Recent trips had found more cats in the 7-10 foot range so I finally gave up on the shallows and kicked the speed up to about 2 until we hit about 8 FOW. The change was almost instant. The first kitty to hit out there was just touching 30” and the catching became much steadier.


Pat had started experimenting with different rigs due to a number of fish that bent his rod and then let go. He later explained that he had to work hard to get all those fish to let go so I wouldn’t feel bad about getting out fished! He’s always been thoughtful that way.
 
He settled in on blue and silver FLIGS and wb meat and got several fairly quickly, including a 29 that was well over 10 pounds. In that flurry I got one almost 31. We finally seemed to be in the zone.


 







LifeShort and I had communicated the day before and he and Craig came out and joined us. They were mirroring our depth several hundred yards to the south. Just as we got those two nice fish, we got a text from them showing LS with one just under 32”. Looked like we had both found the right depth, either that or someone had turned on the bite light.
 
We mostly zig-zagged back and forth from 7 to 9.5 FOW and hit several little spurts. Just after 10 A.M. we hit a great bunch. We got five fish over a 20 to 30 minutes stretch, but we had at least one on the whole time. 4 of the 5 were good ones going 30, 31-3/4, 32 and 33”. The last one landed was 26 and I had let it drag for over 20 minutes while we dealt with larger fish. When I told Pat I’d been ignoring it all that time to deal with the big ones he said: “Oh, you’re a high grader, huh!”


















After the all the pictures were taken and the last one released, I looked over at Pat and said, “Those fish are wearing me out!”
 
After that flurry of big fish things got quieter for a while, we got a couple more in the mid 20’s but no more big ones, and Pat reminded me he wanted to get home to take care of family. He said to give it 20 more minutes. The next fish that came aboard just touched 30” and we agreed that was a fitting end to a great morning!
 
What a great morning it was!

First, it was a great morning for catching. Naturally Pat ended up as top rod for the longest fish with his 33” male. I got the heavyweight award with 2 cats just over 14 pounds.  We ended up with 17 cats in just under 5 hours. In those cats were 3 boat records: 2 cats over 14 pounds in a day, more than 50% of the cats over 10 pounds in a day, and 7 cats over 30” in a day.

Second, it was a beautiful morning to be out on the water and last but not least, it was a great day to spend with a great fishman and catch up with a friend.
 
Thanks Pat, I always enjoy the rare opportunity to get you in my boat, swap stories and learn from you! I know you put a lot of effort into making this trip happen and I’m grateful for that. Thanks for the picture and I hope we can get together again, and it doesn’t take 2 years to get it done.
 
PS, I’ll try to get the video put together and add in soon.

Great report, those are some nice fish, one of these days I need to get down to Utah Lake to catch the big ones, but it is hard to pull myself away from the numbers at Willard just 15 minutes from my house. I am really looking forward to getting Pat in my boat this fall.