2024 Cat Chat

[Ahi1953]

Well no official word yet on If there will be a contest this year. 
Even thought I'm sure there well be a few of us Catfisher people. Hitting Utah Lake down south and The Bear River, and Cutler

 up here in the north. Contest or not It would be nice to see how the season is going. We can always post here in cat chat or even in Utah fishing General. 
As ever year I'll be fishing the lower Bear River from Corinne down to the Bird refuge. Still in my old gray F150. If you see me don't be shy come by and say hi. I'm always happy to chat, and offer any help to new catters and old alike. If I've got some fresh bait or even some spare tackle ,and rig ideas that work for them 30+ fish, I'm always willing to share.

Good luck you you all and have a fun season

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey John, I think it looks like we have enough to run the contest one more time. Jim has offered to run the contest for us and I'll cover the challenge... Good luck and we'll try to get the new labels in the rules post... Thanks Jeff

[Piscophilic]

Hi Jon,

I posted placards on the "rules" thread. I don't have a list of who is participating yet, but we can get that put together as we go.

I hope you have a great year, as usual

[Ahi1953]

Oh well Day one of contest was a cold and windy one. Rods were bonusing around so much you wouldn't know if you had a bite or not. If winds slow down I may run down there today if not, looks like Sunday should be better.

[SkunkedAgain]

Did you get out John? I went past Willard on Saturday expecting wind and it was pretty flat... got down the road a little ways and was nearly blown off the road... So I suspect it wasn't the best weekend for fishing... Temperatures are getting nice, I had 60+ yesterday, that should help get the cats into the feeding mode... Good luck... J

[Ahi1953]

Did you get out John?  I went past Willard on Saturday expecting wind and it was pretty flat... got down the road a little ways and was nearly blown off the road... So I suspect it wasn't the best weekend for fishing... Temperatures are getting nice, I had 60+ yesterday, that should help get the cats into the feeding mode... Good luck... J

Made it out today (Monday) got 2 catfish a 20" and a 25 1/2 inch and 1 crap caught the 25 on carp guts

[SkunkedAgain]

Way to go John, I worked on my trolling motor so I had to go check it out and I happened to take a couple worms... Motors still not pumping after replacing the impeller, but the fish were really active, so I had to cast out and try it... I got a 20"er and had a bigger one grab it , but I failed to set the hook so it would stick... For the activity I was seeing I should have done better, but I didn't really go prepared to fish... Might have to sneak out again tonight if I can do it... Fun fight, I ended up tail hooking the one I caught and they sure do pull bigger than their size when you catch them from that angle... Funny deal last night, they wouldn't take a dead stick bait. Both hits were when I was moving the bait... Later J

[Ahi1953]

not a catfish but a lot of bait.  33 inch carp she was as round as a football. Need to get a cheap sewing kit with a soft ruler so I can measure the girth, and get a scale. Anyways what do you guys think she weighed

[Boatloadakids]

not a catfish but a lot of bait.  33 inch carp she was as round as a football. Need to get a cheap sewing kit with a soft ruler so I can measure the girth, and get a scale. Anyways what do you guys think she weighed

Beast of a carp there John. Gotta be better than 20 pounds?? My guess would be 22 pounds, a lot of cat bait. What did ya ketch 'im on? My guess is that you were fishing for cats -- ketch 'im on cat bait? or were you targeting carp with worm or dough ball? Had to have been a pretty good tussle to bring that one to net. Years supply of cat bait.

Still waiting for the weather to calm here but ready to get after them.
Good luck on the cats.
BLK

[Ahi1953]

not a catfish but a lot of bait.  33 inch carp she was as round as a football. Need to get a cheap sewing kit with a soft ruler so I can measure the girth, and get a scale. Anyways what do you guys think she weighed

Beast of a carp there John. Gotta be better than 20 pounds?? My guess would be 22 pounds, a lot of cat bait. What did ya ketch 'im on? My guess is that you were fishing for cats -- ketch 'im on cat bait? or were you targeting carp with worm or dough ball? Had to have been a pretty good tussle to bring that one to net. Years supply of cat bait.

Still waiting for the weather to calm here but ready to get after them.
Good luck on the cats.
BLK

I was fishing for bait with a worm . she was fun on my light tackle.

[SkunkedAgain]

John,
Are you doing the summer challenge this year? That monster carp would likely win that contest bracket, but you need to enter it to get credit... Great fish, way to go.... Later Jeff

[Ahi1953]

John,
Are you doing the summer challenge this year?  That monster carp would likely win that contest bracket, but you need to enter it to get credit... Great fish, way to go.... Later Jeff

I don't know Jiff . Don't really get to fish for much else once catfishing starts. do get carp since that is my main bait, and once in a while I'll catch a hungry walleye. But not much else down here on the lower Bear.

[SkunkedAgain]

Understand, John, no worries I won't add your fish to the contest then... Thanks for letting me know... Jeff

[SkunkedAgain]

So not sure if this will help others, but I've been catching about 3 to 1 cats on nightcrawlers verses carp chunks... Anyone else noticing this for this time of year??? Later J

[BRL1]

Not just this time of year, I always catch more on nightcrawlers than anything else.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Bryce, hope you'll join in on the cat contest again this year... We need some help up north...

I do like crawlers when I can find them throughout the year, but so do the yellowbellies, so I usually start to abandon them when the bullheads get too plentiful in my area... and I see the channels are full onto the carp chunks... but it seems like lately they must be on a soft diet because it was really slow on the carp so far this year.... I've got 3-4 on the carp, but I've been getting a lot more on the worms, just not much size so far..

There must of been a really good spawn the year that makes 20"ers, there seems to be a bunch of that size this year... Sure hope I can find something better than 27" this year, I've had two low scoring years in a row and I hate to have to go south to find a good cat... In fact it's been so long since I got a good fish, that I'm starting to lose my calibration that tells how big a fish is before it hits the bump board. I got the 25" the other night and I thought it was such a big fish as I was watching it come to the net.. Then I measured it and I think it shrunk 2" as it hit the bump board... Later Jeff

[Piscophilic]

Hey all you cataholics out there. I just got word back from Jeff and he asked me to pass it along. You can use either placard (catfish contest or summer challenge) for either contest, al long as you are already entered in both and post the pictures to both contests threads if applicable.

Things are warming up for cat catches. Good Luck out there!

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Jim,
I think we mentioned this last year as well, but we just wanted to update this for this year. It's so difficult to get the fish to hold still long enough to get a picture we don't want to have you have to take another with the other placard, especially if you are releasing the fish, we want less stress where ever possible... So hope this will be okay for all... Good luck.. J