bear river kitty cats

[setthehook]

took my first cat fishing trip of the year on friday night, didnt do too bad.....---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[theboilermaker]

Nice cats. I was out there sat. night alot of bites but did not land any. Were you on the bear river refuge?
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Ok - I officially have kitty envy. Looks like you were out at night, or you found some albino cats! haha

Those look like some niced sized ones. Would love to know where on the river you were (roughly - like where'd you launch) and what you were using.
PM is fine.

Guess night time is the right time! Thanks for the post.

[Jazzperch1]

nice kitties, looks like alot of fun to do at night.
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[Jethro]

Send me a PM with the bait you were using.
I have been lauching my boat every weekend and have not caught anything like these big-uns
I have found a few deep spots and need some bait tips.
Thanks.
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[FishinDoll]

Beautiful catch!
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[setthehook]

secret honey hole near benson
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[setthehook]

most cats where caught on nothing more than a night cralwer, and one was on some sucker cut bait... worms where the ticket... not usually the case for catching big ones.... the largest one was just over 10 pounds man they put up a fight!!!!
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Crawlers - like he sez are popular.

I use whole raw shrimp. Cutbait - carp strips, and minnows are a good target.
Some folks go for chicken liver. I'd rather handle the shrimp!

Think shallow in early spring. At least that's where I've had best success.

[setthehook]

its interesting how it worked out all of those cats i caught where on the rod i was trying to catch bait with.. usually all i ever catch with worms is sucker carp and small cats and of course those bait robbing yellow bellysss.
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[kokonee]

How do you guys cook them?
My wife won't eat them, she says
they taste like catfish.
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[CoyoteSpinner]

[quote kokonee]How do you guys cook them?
My wife won't eat them, she says
they taste like catfish.[/quote]

That's funny. Then you must have done something right! If they tasted like Tuna, I'd say you took a left turn somewhere! Nyuck!

Ah - let me count the ways.... baked, broiled, fried, bar-b-q'd, and let us not forget SMOKED! Best of all!

Tubedude has a number of writeups on Catfish prep/recipes, if you do some searches.

I think one of the keys, especially with bigger cats, is to properly fillet and skin them. You want to be sure to cut out the fatty "grey line" as I call it - or red along the lateral. Also the belly and tail sections can be pretty fatty. That gives it more of a "fishy" taste.

If you can take the heat - Cajun Blackening powder, and/or Creole spice adds a real nice flavor to baked cats, IMHO. I've been accused of making food TOO spicy and hot. [:p] Like adding "too" much garlic (seriously!!!)
Take my dipping sauce - below: mix of Tapatio hot sauce, ketchup, and horseradish (the real stuff, not the creamy crap).

If you're around Cache Valley you are welcome to throw cats in my smoker. Always room for extras, and I'll take any excuse to run it I can! Hmmmmmm.

[inline "smoked cats.jpg"]

[setthehook]

usually i release when they come out of that nasty river but in the spring the water seams to be much cleaner, even the color of the fish is affected later in the summer they tend to take on a greenish color, but when i do keep one to eat i soak the meat in milk for a couple hours (removes alot of the undesired fishy taste) then bread and fry, but be sure to remove the leather like skin,,,,, all these fish were fat and looked like they where getting ready to spawn..... And i always release pres pawn fish especially the hens, unless its a record catch ..... I will be out again this weekend in search of the state record......
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[lavaman]

Way to C&R! Too bad more people don't practice that...although, I certainly have no problem when folks keep their limits.
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[Bama_Boy]

Nice fish! What was the size on that biggest one? I agree about the water in that place affecting the fish. I usually release all the kitties I catch - especially the bigger ones. They just don't seem to have as good of quality of meat. My cut-off is around 3 pounds.

I am hoping to get out this afternoon/evening. Got a lot on the plate with school this week and I am hoping to relax a little before I hit the books hard tomorrow. Hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend too. I want to get out Saturday. We will see. Good luck this weekend!
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[setthehook]

didn't have the scale with me but i had a tape. largest fish was 28" 17" girth.. not sure what the calculates into weight... Not at all the biggest one i've seen...... But with ten lb line sure is a fun fight.. any time i have no choice but to loosen my drag while fighting a fish i cant help but ... I'm determined to break that state record! I would have the catch and release record but i didn't have a tape or a even a camera when i caught this toad....... [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=529949;#529949"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=529949;#529949[/url]
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[wormsinker]

nice fish, ive been wondering about the catfish in my bayou, havnt been able to make it out yet.[]
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[Bama_Boy]

The wind out there has been ridiculous so far this year. It's nuts. The other day, lavaman was up at Cache Junction, and I was at Benson. The wind was wreaking havoc on him, but wasn't doing anything to me. But I have had my challenges this year out there with my little boat.
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[lavaman]

We're gonna get a River Monster outta there one of these days. Wind or not.
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[UTExplorer]

I was wondering what the mount looked like on that giant catfish you caught. I would love to see it.
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