Big Catfish at Summer Camp in California

[nighthawk]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][center][/center][center][font "Chiller"][size 6]Mataguay Scout Reservation[/size][/font][/center] [center][font "Chiller"][size 6]San Ysabel, California[/size][/font][/center][/size][/font]

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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I went to Mataguay Scout Reservation this past weekend and had great time fishing in my spare time. I fished all the lakes and ponds I could get to on the reservation. Temperatures at camp ranged from 90 to 105 degrees during the day. Upper lake I caught a small bass and several bluegills. This lake is about 2 acres in size and about 20 feet deep and lots of weeds. The bugs were real bad so I had to leave this area early. I only fished it twice while I was there. It was real hard to find a good fishing spot to fish from because of the vegetation growing around it. [/size][/font] [center][/center] [center][font "Chiller"][size 6]Upper Lake[/size][/font][/center]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I tried fishing the pond between the two lakes but only found bluegill there. This pond about ½ acre in size and only 10 feet deep and was real difficult to fish from because of it high banks and poison oak along the west bank. I caught several of them even an 8 inch one. [/size][/font] [center][/center] [center] [/center] [center][/center] [center][font "Chiller"][size 6]The Pond[/size][/font][/center] [center] [/center]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I went down to Parker Lake and had better luck with the fish there. [/size][/font] [center][font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font][/center] [center][font "Chiller"][size 6]Parker Lake[/size][/font][/center]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]This lake is setup for the camps canoeing program so there isn’t much of an area to fish. This is a much larger area to fish with about 5 acres. The deepest part is 20 feet and as shallow as 4-5 feet. I wasn’t set up for catching catfish so I had to improvise a little. I even tryed some worms but they didn't work. I couldn’t leave camp to go to a local bait shop so I used the bluegill for bait instead. [/size][/font] [center][font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font][/center] [center][font "Chiller"][size 6]Bluegill[/size][/font][/center] [center][/center] [center][font "Chiller"][size 6]Bluegill[/size][/font][/center]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I[/size][/font][font "Times New Roman"][size 3] tried different methods of catching bluegill. I used salmon eggs, peanut butter, and bread. I even tried some Powerbait I had in my tackle box and to my surprise it worked! What really worked, and I didn’t have to continually replace it, was a wet fly with a bobble. I knocked them dead with it. When I caught one I would place the hook through the mouth out the gill and place the barb in the tail area. Then I would cut the fish up a little so it would bleed. The catfish went crazy over this bait method. The first Catfish I caught was a nice 4 lb cat. What a struggle he was to get in. I learned my lessen and got him in before he could run and hide in the weeds. [/size][/font] [center][font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font][/center]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The second one was smaller around 3 lbs. I used the catch and release program for both fish. [/size][/font] [center][font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font][/center] [center][font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font] [/center]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I lost 6 more fish when they broke my 6 lb SpiderLine. They have one cat they call ol’ yellow. He is one big cat somewhere around 10 –15 lbs. I believe we got him one time. I was sitting in my chair and Bam! All of a sudden I felt my pole and chair jerk real hard. I almost went swimming. I struggled to get my footing when I saw him come out of the water. He was a monster of a cat for this small lake. After about 10 minutes he was too much for my line and it broke loose. That was so exciting.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] I had a great week of camp and fishing. I helped with staff and took 33 scouts and 6 adults to the upper lake on Wednesday. Although we didn’t catch any bass we sure had great time fishing. I even got to do some fishing in-between fixing poles and showing scouts how to bait their hooks. I helped some adults that never been fishing before. It was a great learning experience for everyone and we all enjoyed it. [/font][/size]

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Make your mark take a kid fishing. I did...[/font][/size]
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[southernman]

you da man nighthawk! Way to help 'dem kids out . . .

[angelic] [angelic] [angelic]

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