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Well, I told my fishing bud, RiverRat, that I would let him post. So I'm a lier. [shocked] Anyway, we had a great time. He caught a lot more than me, but hey, he didn't have to keep track and put up with Sparky. Some areas were a little far/out of site from shore and I wanted to keep him in site and not let him get all hung up in reeds and stuff and maybe drown. He also has a habit of resting on my swim fins for exteded periods of time which kind of hampers my mobility and watching my line. That's ok though, that's our deal and I love him. Anywho, I did catch a few. Kept 3 - 4.5#, 5#, and 6 3/4#. Now I have enough meals to last a while so catch and release from now on. Thanks to Tube Dude for eucating me on how to cook em.[  ] Caught 5 in about 6 hrs of fishing in my small area while River caught about 3 times that number. At least I've got rid of the skunk now and had quite a tussel with the ones I did catch. Great fun. Thanks River!!!! [  ]
Leaky
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[cool][#0000ff]Way to go, Leaky. Sounds like you got 'em dialed in.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]How did the last batch of "fish fingers" turn out?[/#0000ff]
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Hey Leaky, its ok that you went ahead and posted up. I will throw my report on here even though I didn't get my film developed yet. Wendy (the girlfriend) had a graduation to go to so I didn't have the digital this time. Anyway, I got there early,... about six thirty. I fished all along the tule's and didn't get anything. I was fishing the bobber rig that the Dude showed me. About the time that Leaky pulled up, I finally got my first bite and fought in a kittie that went about four pounds. I'm just guestimating here because I don't have an accurate scale that I can take. ANyway, I kicked back over to Leaky's launch point because I wanted to fish with he and Sparky. We worked north along the shore and caught fish along the cattails for the most part. It seemed like everytime we'd put a bobber tight to the cattails, we'd get a bite. I had caught about three channels, with one going probably eight or nine pounds (big old daddy cat). To date, I believe thats the biggest catfish I've ever caught out of this spot.... [cool] It was AWESOME!!! Leaky finally got his bobber on track and it went down... he had hooked into a mudcat. I tried to give him credit for ditching the skunk but he wouldn't take it unless it was a channel cat. Well, I let him kick over in front of me and fish a spot where cattails and tules mixed and WHAM.... as soon as he cast his bobber out, he looked away for a sec and it disappeared. That was definitely one of the highlights of the day... watching my good bud hook into his first good channel cat out of Utah Lake. We kept catching fish and I gave him some fresh carp meat to try... I believe thats what his first cat came on. Anyway, he was fishing the cattail point so I kicked around on the north side of him to keep working up the shore. I fished up against the cattails and in and out of the little cuts along the weedline and was doing really well.... About every fifteen minutes or so, the bobber would disappear and I'd have another fish. There were some times when I messed around with bait and hooks and that and wasted time but I fished pretty hard and did really well as long as I fished right next to the weeds. I caught several pretty large fish but I'd say the average was around 4-6 pounds. I did catch another really big blue headed daddy channel cat and it has to be the ugliest fish I've seen. It looked mostly normal except for the face. His left eye was all grown over, basically covered with transparent skin. It was all bloodshot looking and his mouth was all torn up too. The other side of his face was ok, but man, he was just an awful looking gray color and was ugly as sin. He put up a good fight and because he was so big, I let him go as well. Anyway, on the day, I fished for about 8 hours, caught 14-16 cats... I didn't really keep count. It was sure fun though. I was kinda worried because I didn't catch a fish all morning until Leaky showed up and then he had trouble getting on fish at first but once we figured them out, it was fast fishing... as fast as catfishing can really be I guess.... [ ] Great day on the water with two great fishing buddies.... glad we could steal some time to fish together down there. I'll post up the pics as soon as I get them burned on a CD and onto the internet.... should be a couple days yet.
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Dude - Had mixed results. Pan fried em with your coating for what I thought was a long time but the fish still seemed soft with the coating giving the allusion of firmness???? Was going to try again last night for longer cooking but sandy cooked em like she does other fish before I could jump in and ended up the same soft texture. Maybe deep frying is the answer? Anyway, Sandy liked it. Don't get me wrong, I like kitties, just prefer a firmer taste.[ ]
RiverRat - your stories are always better. Thanks again. Sparky wants to know when the next time is? He misses yuh.
Leaky
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[cool]Hey RiverRat77, that story about the ugly daddy cat sounds an awful lot like the ugly cat (that I'm famous for), the 8 pounder that I caught two years ago at 3rd Springs (Lincoln Beach). Where were you guys fishing? I'm guesssing along the West side of the lake, am I correct?
Congrats on a great day of kittie chasing. I still have yet to do that this year (SHAME ON ME!!), but look forward to doing so around July or August. We need to have another "gorilla floatilla" like we did on a full moon last August. That's when the 5 pounder in my avatar pic was caught. Good times indeed. Anybody know when the full moon is in July and August?
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So what was the secret to the bobber technique you were using? I have used a bobber in the past without much luck and am wondering what I could be doing better. Any suggestions on set up, etc. would be appreciated.
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[cool][#0000ff]A plain old red and white bobber will work, with a piece of meat on a plain or circle bait hook. However, what those guys were using was some of my "bobber head" jigs. These are special jig heads, poured on Matsuo red sickle hooks, made with a dart jig mold. See this link: [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=221089;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"][#333366][size 1]BOBBER-HEAD JIGS[/size][/#333366][/url][#000000][size 1] [/size][/#000000]
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[#0000ff]There are a couple of things the bobber head jigs do that plain hooks usually do not do as well. First, with a little bit of weight, they keep the bait straight down below the bobber...and wiggle when the bobber wiggles. Second, those Matsuo hooks are super sharp. If you leave the tip of them exposed in the bait they bite into the cat when it chomps down and pulls against the bobber...starting the hookset process. It is rare to miss one that has taken the bobber down or to have one come unbuttoned after you set the hook.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have now fished them in as little as two feet of water and as deep as 7 feet on a slip bobber. If you get the depth set right, they are really effective. Since they also add bright color, they are almost like fishing a corky rig from the surface. My best results have come on the chartreuse with a hot red eye.[/#0000ff]
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The dude is right.... on the day that he and I fished together, I didn't miss a fish. On the day that Leaky and I went out, I tied on a jighead that he had poured on a normal jig hook. I missed a couple cats that came unbuttoned on the hook set so I think the Matzuo's definitely give you a little edge on the hookup. The bobbers we were using that day were the standard red and white and I was using one of the slim weighted head bobbers. I just like it because the bright color makes it easy to see for me. Just a personal preference. [ ] I love fishing the bobber from a tube and since the setup the dude showed me has worked like a charm so far, I'm not about to mess with something that isn't broken. [cool] I only wish I had tried this earlier... it would have saved me from wading "too deep" into water after cats and being soaked all the time. I used to use the sliding egg sinker method for all my cats and because I couldn't get my tube to hold still so I could watch the line for a bite, I just waded the shoreline. This new way is MUCH better for me... allows me to be more mobile and fish very effectively in a little deeper water.
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