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Went up in the evening and found a huge crowd of people on the sand near the boat launch having a great time swimming, kayaking and hanging out on the courtesy dock. The boat parking lot was full, but we paid and launched anyway. Lots of pleasure boaters skiing, wakeboarding, etc. I brought my wife and daughter, set up on the east side and proceeded to start catching small gills. They were plentiful and willing to bite. Now comes the disappointment. My daughter looks at me and asks, "Are there any bigger fish in here?" I reply that there are some nice bass and trout, but most of what we'll catch are bluegill. She put her pole down and said, "Well these fish don't even fight hard and are too small." My wife and I both laughed. The reason we went to Mantua was for some fast action. I guess our trip to the community pond last week and her catfish success had skewed her view of fishing. I won't deny that I like to catch big fish as well, so Mantua is now off the table for places to go. I thought my wife and daughter would enjoy catching a lot of fish, but I guess quality over quantity will now be more of the focus.
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I will go catch them gills all day long with ya. It helps erase those days when I only catch a cold. I bet a muti rig double up would get her smiling again - but after big wisker fish - maybe not
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For what it's worth, I've seen very decent cats in Mantua the last three times I've been up. Maybe toss out some cat bait while you reel in the gills.
I've also been having good success for very healthy large mouths on wacky rigged senkos.
Best of luck!
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The bluegill in that first picture looks a lot like a bass[
]. I'd love to catch me some of those. Did you get many?
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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Hey Paul, Mantua is usually a good place this time of year to get a new fisher-person introduced to the sport. You probably did spoil the daughter by her catching a bigger Catfish first. When I bought my first boat in 2004, Mantua was about the second place we used it. My daughter boated over 30 Perch, Bluegill, and a couple Trout.
I have heard that they stocked Catfish in Mantua, but I haven't been on that pond in over a year.
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
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Cowboypirate wrote that a multi rig would be good. Skip over the double and tie on a triple. Awfully good giggly-fun when you are reeling in three of those guys together.
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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Yep, that is a Large Mouth Bass. A smaller one, but a Bass.
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
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It was the only bass we caught. There were swarms of these little guys around the boat docks when we left, although this one was caught on the east side along with the gills.
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That's a great picture Forest. A lot of memories made when you take a kid fishing.
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