06-28-2019, 01:06 AM
Yesterday was frustrating for my son, his wife, and me as we tried for some trout in the little lakes up Payson Canyon so we set off to go catch some cats, etc. at Lincoln Beach. Before we could get away my son got a call to go in for a job interview. Hannah and I went ahead and soon had a couple of lines out for channel cats and a couple for white bass. It was a little close but we managed to keep the bobbers spaced apart. We had cut white bass on three rigs and a small piece of worm on a #10 hook on one hoping for a white bass or maybe a mudcat to drive away the skunk stench left over from yesterday.
As I was moving back and forth trying to keep our lines out and away from each other I noticed that the bobber with the worm had disappeared. Great. I called Hannah over so she could reel the little fish in. Two interesting things happened. First, we got two lines hopelessly tangled. Second, the fish fought a lot harder than we expected. I helped her to lighten the drag and told her to play the fish more so she could land it on the 6 lb line. Sure pulled strong for a bullhead. When she finally got it up to the net I shouted my congratulations on catching her first channel ever! It measured 22" and she was impressed with its size and heft. Our two lines were hopelessly entangled and we had to cut both lines and start over. We put the light one back out with a big half-worm on to see if we could catch another one.
We decided to just keep three lines in the water to avoid tangles. A little later I saw my bobber go under the water forcefully. I knew it was no bullhead. This fish was quite a fighter and I played it for awhile on my 25 lb line on the only real cat rig we had in the water. Hannah got a thrill netting it for me. Turned out to be only 20 inches (smallest I've ever caught) but we were happy we both had one on the bank.
She was fishing with the rig that had 12 lb test on an Ugly Stik 7-foot medium action I had set up for larger trout. She was having a hard time getting a good long cast and then the wind kept blowing it in close to shore. I told her that was all right because the cats might be up close because of the spawn. I was looking over to see how she was doing and was about to tell her to pull it in and cast out again, and she was thinking the same thing. Then suddenly the bobber started going sideways. At first it looked like a bullhead was just towing the big white bass head around but then the bobber dove under with a lot of force. I ran for the net while I told her to play it easy because of the light line and the closeness to shore where the fish might get into something and break her off. This was a bigger fish than the other two. She followed my directions completely and soon led the fish into the waiting net. This was quite a bit bigger fish all around as it was a gravid female that measured 23.5" long. She was impressed that 1.5" longer fish would be that much bigger than her first one. She was amazed to imagine how big a 30"er must be.
I had added a half shrimp to the worm and had some bullheads messing with it. When Caden got there from his job interview he "caught" one but it came off as he was pulling it in. Then it was time for me to head home to meet the plumber and make sure he did the job right this time. (Only $225 to fix it right this time.) Once again our plan to go back out was scuttled but I bet it won't be long till they are asking to go again. Heck, they know enough now to go on their own. [
][fishon] Probably should get a couple more serious cat rigs though!
[signature]
As I was moving back and forth trying to keep our lines out and away from each other I noticed that the bobber with the worm had disappeared. Great. I called Hannah over so she could reel the little fish in. Two interesting things happened. First, we got two lines hopelessly tangled. Second, the fish fought a lot harder than we expected. I helped her to lighten the drag and told her to play the fish more so she could land it on the 6 lb line. Sure pulled strong for a bullhead. When she finally got it up to the net I shouted my congratulations on catching her first channel ever! It measured 22" and she was impressed with its size and heft. Our two lines were hopelessly entangled and we had to cut both lines and start over. We put the light one back out with a big half-worm on to see if we could catch another one.
We decided to just keep three lines in the water to avoid tangles. A little later I saw my bobber go under the water forcefully. I knew it was no bullhead. This fish was quite a fighter and I played it for awhile on my 25 lb line on the only real cat rig we had in the water. Hannah got a thrill netting it for me. Turned out to be only 20 inches (smallest I've ever caught) but we were happy we both had one on the bank.
She was fishing with the rig that had 12 lb test on an Ugly Stik 7-foot medium action I had set up for larger trout. She was having a hard time getting a good long cast and then the wind kept blowing it in close to shore. I told her that was all right because the cats might be up close because of the spawn. I was looking over to see how she was doing and was about to tell her to pull it in and cast out again, and she was thinking the same thing. Then suddenly the bobber started going sideways. At first it looked like a bullhead was just towing the big white bass head around but then the bobber dove under with a lot of force. I ran for the net while I told her to play it easy because of the light line and the closeness to shore where the fish might get into something and break her off. This was a bigger fish than the other two. She followed my directions completely and soon led the fish into the waiting net. This was quite a bit bigger fish all around as it was a gravid female that measured 23.5" long. She was impressed that 1.5" longer fish would be that much bigger than her first one. She was amazed to imagine how big a 30"er must be.
I had added a half shrimp to the worm and had some bullheads messing with it. When Caden got there from his job interview he "caught" one but it came off as he was pulling it in. Then it was time for me to head home to meet the plumber and make sure he did the job right this time. (Only $225 to fix it right this time.) Once again our plan to go back out was scuttled but I bet it won't be long till they are asking to go again. Heck, they know enough now to go on their own. [
][fishon] Probably should get a couple more serious cat rigs though![signature]
The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
