Cutler catfishing...

[gaardvark]

I got out of work just a little early today, so headed over to Cutler. I went looking for a spot to set up, and found a bank where the carp were think and looking preoccupied. I decided to set up even though my only bait was carp chunks. I put a smaller piece on in hopes that I might hook up with a hungry fish, and tossed it out a foot under a bobber. Before I could even get a second line rigged, my bobber was behaving suspiciously, and as I watched, it was yanked under. I set the hook and it was game on. It fought hard, and I thought I might have foul hooked one of the carp, but then it got close and rolled near enough to see it was the biggest cat I have caught this year, and of course, I didn't have a net. It was interesting to see the carp ignore the commotion until one hard run, all of the carp that had been ignoring me before and during the fight suddenly spooked all at once. Not sure what the trigger might have been. It was another 20-30 minutes before I saw them coming back. And in the meantime, I caught a couple of other cats. It was a good trip, possibly the most successful I have ever had in terms of quality fish per hour. The big one was about 36 inches long until I got it near a yardstick, then it shrank down to 27. The others were both 22. I brought them all home, but only one of the 22" had eggs, and the others had no distinct indicators of gender, either eggs or milt. I don't think it's likely that they have spawned yet, but I'm no expert. The one with eggs was a lot brighter yellow in color.
Interestingly, I also found a vacant turtle shell, though it was still smelly enough I didn't pick it up. I can't recall ever seeing a wild turtle in Cache Valley.
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