Catfishing in the bay of pigs AKA the (cathouse)

[idahoron]

After seeing smartweed (Phil) talk about cats I had to get over to try it out. I was not disappointed.
I headed out Thursday night and camped over since it is a 3 hour drive. At 7:00 am I decided to get ready and hit the water. Water temp was 60 at launch and only got to 62 for a high. I ran into a fisherman that told me the river was extremely low. That was not news. What was news was he said I would not be able to go very far before the water was too swift to go up. He was right, he also said do not go down stream you won't be able to come back with my boat. Now that was news I can use!!

Well I tried the hot rod pontoon in the fast water. He was right I could not make it. I got to a spot that was 1.7' deep and that was all the farther I could go. The water speed was right at 6 MPH. So I backed off and tried to go up through some islands. More shallow and fast water [bobmad]

I settled down and started to pick apart the habitat. I normally do drifts but that wasn't going to work. So I targeted cover with cut bait. That worked[bobhappy]. One thing I didn't do was pay attention to the sunlight behind be. I need to work on that.




I caught a lot of fish today. I started out well with a big one, but I didn't get a picture. It was 28" and heavy. A little bit later I got lucky and landed into this pig.



I can't remember a time that I got broke off so many times. I normally fish deeper water with little to no wood or rock to mess me up. I should have had 15 or 20 pound line on. They were snapping the 10 pound easy if they really tried.
I know I lost a couple fish that would have been personal best sized fish.

Speaking of Personal best I got a personal best Flathead today. We got a storm and I put on my rain gear. I tucked in under a tree and waited it out. I tossed out the line into a spot just off the edge of some willows.



BANG!!! I was dragging in a 27" flathead with the ultra light.



That one followed up with a lot more CC's.




I caught 35 fish in less than 7 hours today. I am stunned at that to be honest. I knew they should be hitting but wow! I ended up keeping 4 fish that were hooked too far down and were bleeding. The largest Channel was just over 30" and the Flathead was 27. What a day I am beat time for bed. Ron
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[MMDon]

Wow! Great report Ron! Theirs more cats there than you can shake an ugly stik at!
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[cattrapr]

Where were you at? I would love to get into some cats like that!!
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[idahoron]

The Snake river []
Ron
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[Maxcat]

Wow,

It looks that it was worth the trip over. I am new to board and the state. I have been here over a year now. I love fishing for cats and have been fishing the snake too. I have followed your exploits with your pontoon and power. I have a drift boat with a trolling motor and could not over come the current in the Snake. I now own an old smokercraft with an outboard jet.

I am from Montana.
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[Duck-Slayer]

yea those cats are fun, I like too catch the big one's in April, when the river is high and not that many weeds, the big one's congregate in the deeper hole's, but all my cat fishing is catch and release for the most part, I got my personal best this spring also, was a 11 lbs, even.... caught it in 6 ft. of water in april, crazy...
Matt

here's a pic,

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[dma_ayotte]

FREAKING AWESOME! !!!!!!!!!! BEYOND JEALOUS! CONGRATULATIONS! !!!
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[idahopanfish]

Great job Ron and thanks for the report![fishin]
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[forgiven]

Way to go! Nice lookin' cats![] Great Report
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[cpierce]

Wow! I'd call that a great trip and well worth the extra miles. Congrats on some amazing cats!
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[Nick1983]

Holy wow! Nicely done Ron!
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[idahoron]

Thanks guys. Catfishing has just begun so I hope to be getting into some real good numbers soon []

Ron
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[DeeCee]

I have always dreamed of catfishing and catching catfish like you just showed us Ron. The difference between you and me is that you have paid the price to succeed. You have paid the dues to earn what you have caught. Also I live near the upper portion of the Snake River and it is not catfishing territory per se. Oh I have caught a few bullheads here and there and a few dink channel cats in the few places we have them. Thanks for stirring up the catfishing dreams of mine. Just wish I had the time and gas money and CJ Srtike and and the lower Snake were a few hours closer. My fishing trips are about 90 miles out max most times. Great pictures, great job and great success, you earned it.

DeeCee
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[idahoron]

Thanks. If you do go for cats on the "west coast" don't stop at CJ. There are much better catfishing areas farther down river. And it is worth the extra drive. Ron
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[drowning_flys]

Great fish i bet you were tickled pink [cool]
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[idahoron]

All the colors of the rainbow[]
Ron
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[windriver]

Thanks for the report. The nearest good cat fishing to me is at least two hours away and then it is iffy. So I enjoy reading your cat experiences.

WIndriver
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