Willard kitties

[crazykid]

Got up at the butt crack of dawn and headed to Willard. Used mussels, shrimp, and worms. All of which produced fish. Ended with about 4 cats. Some medium some small. Just fishin fromShore today. Left once it started to get windy and a big rain monster showed up in the distance. No wipers this trip
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the report, always nice to see the fish are still biting.... Looks like they are getting beat up for the spawn in Willard as well... Cats sure get hammered this time of year... Wonder what they do that tears them up as bad as some of them get... Anyway thanks for the update... J
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[crazykid]

Yeah they are looking pretty beat up. They must be rubbing all over the rocks or something to make them look like that. I ain't no fish expert though.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Got one the other night that had a big ugly festering sore in its side, don't know what would cause a hole like it had. Later J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]A lot of those wounds are not from rocks or sharp sticks. While cats do not have BIG teeth, they do have some raspy teeth...and a strong bite. Males chomp on each other while fighting. And they also use their biting ability to "persuade" females to drop a few eggs in the nests they have built.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that each female may deposit eggs in several nests before she is spawned out. It is not a one male and one female thing for catfish spawning. The male establishes a suitable nest...after fighting for it with other males. Then a succession of pregnant girls come by to check out the maternity ward. If satisfactory, they drop a few future kids and go looking for another hot daddy cat.

This helps insure that there is a larger number of nests and less chance of any individual nest or area suffering a major catastrophe that will wipe out the entire spawn.

But it also ensures that there is a lot of competition for nest spots and mama cats. That competition gets brutal and the fish will wear the scars for a few months afterward.

You always hurt the one you love?
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