05-18-2003, 11:00 AM
[cool]Yes, Dave, that was a decent catch. Not as good as yesterday's though. I will be posting that later today. Between the two of us, TubeBabe and I caught over 200 fish yesterday. But, we only kept what we can use...between our family and my son's family. The yellow bass are prolific and are not adversely affected by a little harvesting.
The catfish DO fit in the basket. It is bigger than it looks...19"wide and 30" deep. It holds a lot of fish. I took the cats out for the photo so they showed up better. The way it is rigged, it floats out just away from the tube, and does not come into contact with either my legs or the air chambers.
Another thing is that bigger cats do not have the sharp-pointed spines that the smaller fish do. They become dull and rounded over the years, as cats work in and out of holes in rocks, during spawning or just hiding out in the daytime. But, I still use a pair of sidecutters to cut off the dorsal and pectoral spines on all cats I am going to keep. It makes them easier to handle and they are less likely to tear up my fish basket if they snag a spine and start rolling.
There is not a seat belt on the Fat Cats. You sit up above water level, and the seats are rigid...whether solid foam or air cushion. Mine has the air, and TubeBabe has the solid foam. You would have to worry about becoming unseated only if a large wave turned you over. And then, you would not want to be trapped in your craft anyway. There are some craft that have similar high seating but are very unstable on the water. I have heard from tubers who HAVE slipped out of these. The FAt Cats are very stable. Not very likely you could slip out.
[signature]
The catfish DO fit in the basket. It is bigger than it looks...19"wide and 30" deep. It holds a lot of fish. I took the cats out for the photo so they showed up better. The way it is rigged, it floats out just away from the tube, and does not come into contact with either my legs or the air chambers.
Another thing is that bigger cats do not have the sharp-pointed spines that the smaller fish do. They become dull and rounded over the years, as cats work in and out of holes in rocks, during spawning or just hiding out in the daytime. But, I still use a pair of sidecutters to cut off the dorsal and pectoral spines on all cats I am going to keep. It makes them easier to handle and they are less likely to tear up my fish basket if they snag a spine and start rolling.
There is not a seat belt on the Fat Cats. You sit up above water level, and the seats are rigid...whether solid foam or air cushion. Mine has the air, and TubeBabe has the solid foam. You would have to worry about becoming unseated only if a large wave turned you over. And then, you would not want to be trapped in your craft anyway. There are some craft that have similar high seating but are very unstable on the water. I have heard from tubers who HAVE slipped out of these. The FAt Cats are very stable. Not very likely you could slip out.
[signature]