Great to be back at it! Utah Lake 4/25/2020

[Piscophilic]

ES: I fished out of the Utah Lake State Park Saturday 4/25 from 9-ish until about 2 P.M. Water temps were 58 to 59 and the winds less than 10 out of the SW. We ended up with 9 cats for the trip. 6 were under 25” but we got a 27, 28 and even the first 30 of the year in my boat. Fishing was typical for April and they seemed somewhat reluctant to bite as we only hooked about half the fish that hit. All fish were caught dragging thawed white bass chunks from 0.3 to 0.6 mph in 6 to 10 FOW. The rigs all had some kind of attractors varying from a couple of small beads to large FLAITS. It was great to be back at it after my neck surgery!

 

FS: This trip was a test to see if I could handle the rigors of cat fishing at one month after having 4 vertebrae fused in my neck. Julie said I needed to take someone along in case I wasn’t physically ready so I went with an extended family member named Kaipo. It was a lot of fun having him along and I got to see him catch his first cats and biggest fish ever!

When we got to the ramp a little after 8:30 I was surprised to see no other trainers in the parking lot. That would change a lot by our return. I had plenty of thawed WB but we spent half an hour in and around the harbor trying to get one that was still bleeding, not today.

We started dragging the thawed baits around 9 AM. We started in about 10 FOW and gradually moved shallower. It seems it is always slow when I bring a new guy out. It was almost 11 when the balloon rod got smacked hard and the reel started singing. Instinctively I grabbed the rod to show Kaipo the way to handle larger fish and he got a good demonstration. Right away I could tell it was a heavy fish. It wasn’t lightning fast in the cool water, but still heavy and determined. A little over halfway to the boat its tail came out of the water and I said “That’s a good looking tail!” When it saw it near the surface beside the boat I got really excited. “This might be a new PR,” I thought.

I gave Kaipo a quick tutorial on being patient with the net on a big fish, then lead it to the net and he scooped it up. “That’s a big cat,” I said 3 or 4 times and then I admitted I hadn’t seen a really good one for a long time so I might be a bit out of calibration. The bump board said right on 30” and the scale said 11 ½ pounds. What a way to start my first cat trip after a long painful winter! It wasn’t a PR, so I clearly got too excited, but I’ll take that excitement any day! After several pictures I explained to Kaipo that it is good on several levels to release the big ones and she went back in the water. I told Kaipo that fish like that one were not the norm.

We went another 40 minutes before another fish hit. All the time I was chastising myself for being such a bad host. I desperately wanted him to get some fish and it was beginning to look like I had hogged the only one. Finally another rod went down on my side of the boat and I handed it to him. It was 21 inches and just at 4 pounds. Things began to pick up after that and we had several waves of action where we had 3 or 4 hits and hooked a fish or two.

We put six eater size cats in the cooler in about 90 minutes. He got 4 and I got 2, so I was feeling better. Then he hooked one with shoulders. “This thing just won’t come up,” he said. “That’s usually a sign of a good cat,” I told him. This one turned out to be 27” and 7 ½ pounds. I told him that I usually released them if they were over 24,” but it was his choice. He wanted to take it home for his family to see, so it went in the cooler.

The action was slowing a lot so I broke out the cutting board and knife and started cleaning fish. I got the 6 smaller ones filleted and he said he wanted to leave his big one whole. Just as I was finishing he got several quick taps on a rod that had a downsized the hook and bait on to try to get a fresh white. After two more little taps I said, “I think it’s a white and it’s swimming with the bait in its mouth. Get the rod out of the holder and lift the tip.” He did and the rod just kept bending and bending. It was a cat and another good one. I mumbled something about not giving anymore guesses about what kind of fish had taken the bait and Kaipo went to work. Five minutes later a fat 28” cat came into the boat. The scale said 10 pounds. To my surprise and delight, this time he said: “This is a big one, we should release it.”

For the day he had outfished me 6 to 3 and caught the biggest fish of his life, 4 times!  I had no trouble with handling the fish or the boat so, with my recent medical clearance, I am ready for another great cat season. 


   

[Kent]

Sounds like a great trip and always fun to get an interested newbie into fish.

[Outfishing13]

Nice report!  Thanks for sharing your experience.  Looking forward to getting out on the water soon and hooking into some big cats.

Matthew

[Boatloadakids]

Good to have you back in action Jim. Wish you a speedy and continuous recovery from your surgery. Great start with a 30 incher first trip out. Will be watching for more and bigger in the future.

[TubeDude]

It was nice of the kitties to give you a welcome back party. 

Hope your back holds up and doesn't  cause you any pain...or difficulty in pursuing the important things...like fishing.

[Mooseman75]

That neck looks mighty familiar...I have one just like it haha. Great report. Ive been waiting to hear about it. My wife asked if you were going fishing Saturday as she thought she saw you pulling your boat and I said yep that was him.  I'm so glad your back on the water and among the fishing folk again. I hope maybe one day we cam team up out there.

[Tin-Can]

Jim, that was a great return to the water. I didn't know you had surgery this winter.......ouch...... that photo made me hurt from neck to toe.  Glad to hear that it was a successful procedure. Stay healthy, stay safe. 

[fast_randy]

Great report. What is a good fish scale? I need a new one. Mine only goes to 8 lbs. The 26 Inchers I caught this weekend buried the needle on it and I guessed them to be around 10. Am I too high? I really try hard not to exaggerate. Too much. Lol

[catchinon]

I did quite a bit of length/weight research a couple of years ago. The long and short of it (pun intended) is that you can take the length, add one, and that's your cat's approximate weight. So your 26"ers by this rule would be 7 pounders. But just as in humans, horses and hounds, weights can vary a lot. Were they fat and round or thin and stringy? Well, you get the idea. Most fish will weigh the most just before the spawn and the least after. Just one codicil: they weigh more when there is no scale handy  .

[Tin-Can]

You know TubeDude's rule ?  If no one else saw it, it can be as big as you want

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Great report. What is a good fish scale? I need a new one. Mine only goes to 8 lbs. The 26 Inchers I caught this weekend buried the needle on it and I guessed them to be around 10. Am I too high? I really try hard not to exaggerate. Too much. Lol

I have had several fish scales (weighing scales). The one I have now seems to be the most reliable one I've found. It is digital, will weigh in both lbs. (up to 50 lbs. I believe, runs on 3 AAA battreies. I just can't remember if it is a Berkley or a Rapala      

[fast_randy]

When I was shopping for them on-line a couple months ago, I couldn't find one that didn't have a bunch of bad reviews. Not accurate, quit working ext. I do want a good dependable one. My old Zebco, the spring loaded scale, still tests out perfect with a five pound weight. But only goes to 8.

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I've never said this before, I loved those two guys and wouldn't want to bad mouth them,  it really isn't so bad, a lot of fishermen exaggerate. lol But my mentors, the Mortensen brothers were extreme exagerators. So I made it a point to weigh a bunch of cats back them to learn the truth. I have always been able to handle with one hand cats up to 6 lbs. But back then we rarely caught them bigger. They called five pounders ten. When I caught my biggest one that I guessed at 13, they tried to tell me it was over 20.

[fish_digger]

Great report. What is a good fish scale? I need a new one. Mine only goes to 8 lbs. The 26 Inchers I caught this weekend buried the needle on it and I guessed them to be around 10. Am I too high? I really try hard not to exaggerate. Too much. Lol

This is what I use. Good to 15lbs (there is also a 30 and 60 lb version). 1/4 lb resolution. Comes with Calibration certificate. IFGA will certify it as well. It will allow the fish to spin and not hurt itself. Works great on a tube. It isn't cheap, but should last forever. $125 on Amazon. There are cheap Chinese nockoffs that are cheaper, but you get what you pay for.

https://www.bogagrip.com/bogagrip315

[Piscophilic]

Sounds like a great trip and always fun to get an interested newbie into fish.

It was great to be out and pretty lucky to get a rally good one first time out this year. I suspect I won't see another like that for a while.

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Nice report!  Thanks for sharing your experience.  Looking forward to getting out on the water soon and hooking into some big cats.

Matthew

Thanks! I hope you get out there and find some soon. They are fun anytime, but another 5 or 10 degrees of water temperature and they really get going.

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Good to have you back in action Jim. Wish you a speedy and continuous recovery from your surgery. Great start with a 30 incher first trip out. Will be watching for more and bigger in the future.

Thanks Lynn, it is really good to be back. They tell me I'm a poster child for the recovery. Pain and numbness all gone and only a small loss in the range of motion. I was sort of stiff in the neck before though 

Will be watching for more and bigger in the future.

It took until July or so to get a 30 last year. I like you optimism though. I'll try not to dissapoint too much.

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It was nice of the kitties to give you a welcome back party. 

Hope your back holds up and doesn't  cause you any pain...or difficulty in pursuing the important things...like fishing.

Thanks Pat! it was a neck surgery. I'm told that they have a much higher success rate and easier recovery. I hope to never be able to compare.

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That neck looks mighty familiar...I have one just like it haha. Great report. Ive been waiting to hear about it. My wife asked if you were going fishing Saturday as she thought she saw you pulling your boat and I said yep that was him.  I'm so glad your back on the water and among the fishing folk again. I hope maybe one day we cam team up out there.

Thanks Justin! I hope we can gang up on them sometime too. Lots of good days ahead!

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Jim, that was a great return to the water. I didn't know you had surgery this winter.......ouch...... that photo made me hurt from neck to toe.  Glad to hear that it was a successful procedure. Stay healthy, stay safe. 

Thanks Forest! That picture makes me feel a lot better than last winter. It sounds like you have been harrassing a lot of those northern cats. Have fun!

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You know TubeDude's rule ?  If no one else saw it, it can be as big as you want

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Great report. What is a good fish scale? I need a new one. Mine only goes to 8 lbs. The 26 Inchers I caught this weekend buried the needle on it and I guessed them to be around 10. Am I too high? I really try hard not to exaggerate. Too much. Lol

I have had several fish scales (weighing scales). The one I have now seems to be the most reliable one I've found. It is digital, will weigh in both lbs. (up to 50 lbs. I believe, runs on 3 AAA battreies. I just can't remember if it is a Berkley or a Rapala      

Thanks! I think my scale is a Rapala. Certainly wouldn't get certified by the IFGA, but I don't need that. That is often why I say "..scale said" rather than stating. I also round the digital readout to the nearest half pound because I don't beleive it is any closer than that.  It is only for reference for me. The 26 we got Saturday marked at 7.5 and that could go plus or minus a pound or so depending on the health of th fish and time of year.

[fast_randy]

Tube Dude rule! LOL That must be why Pat didn't say anything when I was saying my 26 inchers where 10 lbs. Saturday.

[fast_randy]

Thanks fish_digger, that's is what I ordered. It is pricy, but no bad reviews. Guees, there is a million of them and very few don't have negative reviews. But I got it free with my Amazon miles.

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And thanks to you Jim, for that great post. I was feeling way to cocky, and you put me back inplace.

[gripy111]

Thanks for the great report. Got my juices flowing.

[catchinon]

I was sitting out in the middle of the lake the other day thinking about catching a big catfish when it suddenly dawned on me that in my post above I had left out an important step in calculating catfish weight from length. Corrected: take the length of the cat and DROP THE 2 then add one to get the approximate weight. Example: 26" cat, drop the 2 = 6, add one = ~7 pounder. This works for channel cats in the 24-29" range. For longer fish you should add 1.5.

[Piscophilic]

I was sitting out in the middle of the lake the other day thinking about catching a big catfish when it suddenly dawned on me that in my post above I had left out an important step in calculating catfish weight from length. Corrected: take the length of the cat and DROP THE 2 then add one to get the approximate weight. Example: 26" cat, drop the 2 = 6, add one = ~7 pounder. This works for channel cats in the 24-29" range. For longer fish you should add 1.5.

If I understand this, for a 30" cat you would drop the 2 (actually subtract 20), that wouild give you 10 + 1.5 = 11.5 poounds. That was right on for the one I got, but Julie's was slender and only weighed 9.5. I like the simplicity and it seems pretty close.