Cattin' Saturday Night

[Rich]

Crappieperchhunter, Sugarpacket and I have been planning a trip for channel cats since the beginning of the month, and the time finally came Saturday night. When he first got here, I told him we could hit a guaranteed spot, or we could scout out a spot that I know SHOULD have cats in it. But like always, if I haven't been there, it's a gamble. He said he was up for it so we brought the bucket o' stink bait out there to give it a shot.

 

Action was slow most of the night. I put on a float and worm and played with the bullheads for a while, and there were a couple of missed hits before dark. I kept telling CPH about our giant carp, and regretted the whole time not bringing corn to give him a taste of carp fishing in our spots.

 

An odd event was when a fish swam up to the shoreline and sat there, docile for quite some time. Sugarpacket and CPH were having trouble determining what species it was, but I was pretty sure it was a nice crappie. Since it was so docile, I grabbed the net and brought it to shore to figure out what it was. Sure enough, it was a nice white crappie. CPH said he has never seen one before. To me, it's rarer to see a black crappie in these parts than a white one.

 

A pic of me and my specialized crappie fishing equipment.

 

As the night wore on, I caught mostly these.

 

 

Sugarpacket tried a different approach and made the catfish some rotten meat kebobs.

 

 

Finally, Sugarpacket's drag started screaming and she hooked into the one and only channel cat of the night. A good 7 pounder, which is cool because I was hoping we'd get one that big to bring home and barbecue.

 

 

The interesting thing about this fish was the fact that when we got it in the net, we realized it wasn't hooked by Sugarpacket's hook. What had happened, we figured, is that long ago somebody broke this fish off while perch fishing (it had a pickerel rig down it's throat). It had grabbed her meat and her sinker became entangled with the old pickerel rig. So by the time she landed the fish, her own hook had come out.

 

Here's the mess it left:

 

 

SP and I both felt really bad for Crappieperchhunter. He came all the way down here and ended up with a skunk. Though I have to say to CPH, you were great company. I was having so much fun talking to you, that 2 or 3 times I actually forgot I was there to fish. I'd look down at my rod and realize "oh yeah, I am fishing". LOL

 

I hope you had as great a time as SP and I both had even though the fish weren't as co-operative as I had hoped.

 

Thanks from Sugarpacket and I both for coming out we both had a great time. We'll have to go up one day and fish in your neck of the woods for carp or perch.

[snag]

Nice fish,

 

Better haircut!

 

Was that cat really white or was it the pic?

[Minnow]

Nice Cat!

[MJL]

Great catch, great report

 

Top angling

[Rich]

Nice fish,

 

Better haircut!

 

Was that cat really white or was it the pic?

 

Yeah, we joked about it being an albino catfish. Truth is, most of the cats we get in this spot have the white tinge to them. Not sure why, maybe the shallow muddy water has something to do with it. They tend to be darker during the day.