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Went out to AF boat harbor on the evening of 5/30 with a buddy. Within 10 seconds of my friend's first cast he had a huge cat on. All I saw was a massive tail after a good 15 min fight that drug my canoe up and down the shore and broke 20# mono. That thing had to be way bigger than the 10 pounders that we occationaly hook into out there.
The bugs were HORRIBLE. Because of them we only stayed a little under two hours. We ended up catching and throwing back tons of mud cats and came home with the 4 of about 8 channels that we were able to land. The smallest was 19" and the longest 23"....all between 3-4 pounds.
We used fresh shrimp. My buddy fished under a bobber and I just cast mine out with nothing but hook and bait. He seemed to get a lot more fish overall, but I hooked into more channel cats. I don't know if it was coincidence, or if my setup had something to do with it.
-Jack
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im not a expert on utah lake but i can speak out shrimp in general and the way we have used it. shells dont matter that we found. we used the jumbo shrimp. pretty spendy unless you grocer will clearance them after hours or so, thats when we bought them. run on hook fish on bottom real occasionally and pick up. i always bait fish like this with my pole in my hand so when the pick it up i have a chance to let them run with it before setting the hook. hope this helps.
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Hey thanks for the good post, it couldn't have came at a better time, i am headed there sunday night with some friends. I am also going to fish for catfish so i will let everyone know how i do. Also does anyone know a good way to cook catfish? The last time i ate it it was gross.
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Hey ChinCheck, here's my take on preparing good catfish.
Bleed them real good while they are alive. Fillet the fish and put the fillets in a brine solution for 24 hours. Take them out of the brine and wash them until they loose that slimy feel. Lay the fillets skin side down on the edge of a cutting board and slice a 1/4" layer off the bottom of the fillet. That gets rid of the fishy tasting part that gets real soft while cooking.
Mix up one cup of flour, a teaspoon of Thyme,a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and a teaspoon of lemmon pepper.
Cut the fillets in 1" thick strips and wet with water, beer, egg, whatever you like.
Coat with the flour mixture and deep fry.
Dip in cocktail sauce.
Pretty yummy.
Walleyebob
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Sorry its taken me so long to reply. I was down in Phoenix, I mean the FACE OF THE SUN, all weekend visiting my wife's family.
To tell you the truth...I'm relatively new to fishing for catfish. I'm told that this time of year is best for fishing in the harbors and bays because they are coming in to spawn. At Utah Lake I usually only fish in AF boat harbor. Sometimes we just drift with the shrimp under a bobber....other times we land the boat and cast out 7 or 8 feet from the shore or boat docks. I like to use shrimp with the shells still on them because they don't fall off as easily and you can sometimes reuse them. I like to get shrimp that is just a bit bigger than a #2 hook. Last summer I was convinced that I was going to catch fish on my light action rod with 6lb test, but after only landing about 1 in three of the big channels I hooked into, I threw that idea out the window. Now I use a Med rod with 20lb test and we still get fish on that break the line. It can be really fun out there, but is seems that the bite usually dies down by about the end of June/first of July.
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The way WalleyeBob cooks them sounds good but I just soak the fillets in sprite for at least 20 min., longer if you want, roll them in corn meal or flour and what ever spices you want, then fry them until done. WH2
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]Tincanfsh
