07-12-2018, 10:59 PM
[#0000ff]Between the wild weather and mostly ho-hum reports from Willard I did not have high X-pectations. But I launched at the north marina anyway. I had some new X-perimental stuff I wanted to try and some new spots to X-plore.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Air temp at 6:30 am was 72. Water 80...warming to 82 about noon. No skeeters and only a few midges. Only a wakeboard getting ready to launch about the same time I did. Those guys got no mercy.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Glassy calm as I headed out of the channel. Put out a line with a minnow on it and went bendo almost instantly. Yee haww. Nice twenty plus inch channel cat to start the day...and the sun wasn't even over the mountain yet.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Made S turns along the old road bed...and "Rocky's Reef". Saw some big shad clouds and a few other fish hanging around here and there. Dragged plain minnows and fished both minnows and crawlers on a variety of colors of fligs. Caught cats on just about every color I tried. And virtually every hit on a flig was a hooked fish.
[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Also threw a few plastics and cranks. All that got me was a scaly golden wiper on the plastic. But when he hit and then made a good run I was hopin'.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I did see a few splashes and slurps that I guessed as being wipers or other predators sampling the new crop of shadlets. Didn't see any boils or any big bunches of birds working. Did see a couple of terns occasionally dropping down to pick up single tidbits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Thank goodness for the everlovin' kitties in Willard. They kept the day fun, anyway. They all hit hard and fought well...often punching above their weight class. Biggest was about 22 inches but I did catch several barely footlongs or slightly larger. Good to see a new crop coming on.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My purple fligs accounted for a couple of good sized cats...and even one misguided perch. Don't know who was more surprised...me or the perch.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I had been served notice that I had to produce a new batch of smokitty or suffer an uprising among my "dependents". So I did put 8 smokeable cats in my basket. All in all, I figure I caught about 20 cats over the course of the morning...before the power squadron hit the water about 11. When the surf and the noise level...motors and music...got too loud, I headed for the ramp.
[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Math question: If you catch 20 catfish, and keep 8...and then lose 5...how many will you have left? Answer: 3. Couldn't believe it when I got to the ramp and picked up my fish basket to take the obligatory "got mine" picture. There were only 3 fish in it. When I lifted up the basket and looked closely I could see why. 5 Houdini cats had found and enlarged a hole in the wire mesh and had made their way back into the lake. If there was any doubt all I had to do was look at the slime around the hole in the basket. The three left in the basket were 3 of the larger ones that couldn't fit through the hole. Their bad luck. They may have avoided the smoker but not the hot oil for a small fish fry tomorrow.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Air temp at 6:30 am was 72. Water 80...warming to 82 about noon. No skeeters and only a few midges. Only a wakeboard getting ready to launch about the same time I did. Those guys got no mercy.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Glassy calm as I headed out of the channel. Put out a line with a minnow on it and went bendo almost instantly. Yee haww. Nice twenty plus inch channel cat to start the day...and the sun wasn't even over the mountain yet.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Made S turns along the old road bed...and "Rocky's Reef". Saw some big shad clouds and a few other fish hanging around here and there. Dragged plain minnows and fished both minnows and crawlers on a variety of colors of fligs. Caught cats on just about every color I tried. And virtually every hit on a flig was a hooked fish.
[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Also threw a few plastics and cranks. All that got me was a scaly golden wiper on the plastic. But when he hit and then made a good run I was hopin'.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I did see a few splashes and slurps that I guessed as being wipers or other predators sampling the new crop of shadlets. Didn't see any boils or any big bunches of birds working. Did see a couple of terns occasionally dropping down to pick up single tidbits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Thank goodness for the everlovin' kitties in Willard. They kept the day fun, anyway. They all hit hard and fought well...often punching above their weight class. Biggest was about 22 inches but I did catch several barely footlongs or slightly larger. Good to see a new crop coming on.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My purple fligs accounted for a couple of good sized cats...and even one misguided perch. Don't know who was more surprised...me or the perch.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I had been served notice that I had to produce a new batch of smokitty or suffer an uprising among my "dependents". So I did put 8 smokeable cats in my basket. All in all, I figure I caught about 20 cats over the course of the morning...before the power squadron hit the water about 11. When the surf and the noise level...motors and music...got too loud, I headed for the ramp.
[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Math question: If you catch 20 catfish, and keep 8...and then lose 5...how many will you have left? Answer: 3. Couldn't believe it when I got to the ramp and picked up my fish basket to take the obligatory "got mine" picture. There were only 3 fish in it. When I lifted up the basket and looked closely I could see why. 5 Houdini cats had found and enlarged a hole in the wire mesh and had made their way back into the lake. If there was any doubt all I had to do was look at the slime around the hole in the basket. The three left in the basket were 3 of the larger ones that couldn't fit through the hole. Their bad luck. They may have avoided the smoker but not the hot oil for a small fish fry tomorrow.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
