Chilly Willard 4-9-24

[TubeDude]

Good info on cat grub Pat. Caught the smallish cat below while fishing with a wb head. Don't know how he thought he could squeeze in another chunk of grub with a half digested wb? in his gut with tail hanging out mouth. I never figured the meal to be a mudder until I pulled the pic up again for a second look after reading your post. I never could see how a catfish could work around the spikes on a catfish. I believe the victim in this pic is a mudder... square tail and a slow swimmer. 






As others have said, good luck with the surgery. I will be thinking about you tomorrow while I am on the big pond.

Looks like a bullhead to me.  "Mudders" have been a fall-back forage species for all the predators for years...whenever the white bass population is down...or even just when a silly "yaller belly" shows up at meal time.  

All species will hit the young...which swarm in big schools in early spring.  That's why black jigs work so well in Utah Lake.  And big cats and big walleyes will continue to munch mudders even in the larger sizes...as you discovered.  Those pesky nuisances are a nutritious meal for the bigguns.  And the powerful digestive juices in the predators' tummies blunt and then dissolve the sharp spines quickly.  

I have caught several UL cats over the years with bullheads being digested.  Have also found a few in walleyes.