09-02-2007, 01:24 AM
[cool][#0000ff]The algae bloom is not bad...yet. It is just starting to form in the afternoon heat. Likely to get worse as the water cools a bit.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Don't be too optimistic about the kitties. I have been fishing them all year, since April. Earlier in the year all of the cats we kept and filleted were fat and had internal body fat. Most had remnants of crawdads, fish or other kitty type food. And, because they were well fed, they were less aggressive and more difficult to hook.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The cats we caught yesterday were lean and mean. They were visibly thinner than those of early summer. What's more, they had guts full of algae...not protein. They are scavenging to find anything to fill them up.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]With the low water this year, there was no rocky cover for them to get a good spawn. They need structure in which to build and guard nests. The water was down below the rocks this year and will be next year too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We caught egg-laden females that had not spawned, clear into July. In most years they will spawn by late may to mid June. The water temps were well past the 65 degree spawning range in May, so they would have spawned if there was nesting cover. Instead, the females just dump their eggs and the spawn is lost. In some species, the unspawned females reabsorb their eggs but catfish do not seem to do this.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I really do not think the water has dropped much in the last two or three weeks. The exposed rock piles I reference, straight out from Eagle Beach, are just about at the same level they were the last time I was out there. As you know, there are some variables that might make different sonars read slightly differently...including the depth the transducer runs and the angle at which it is set in relation to your craft. Anything less than a foot, between two units on two different craft is subject to question.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was pleasantly surprised to see SOME visibility in the water. It was "stained" but still some visibility. Not enough to get sight feeders like the wipers up on the boil, but enough for them to hit a slow moving lure in their strike zone.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Don't be too optimistic about the kitties. I have been fishing them all year, since April. Earlier in the year all of the cats we kept and filleted were fat and had internal body fat. Most had remnants of crawdads, fish or other kitty type food. And, because they were well fed, they were less aggressive and more difficult to hook.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The cats we caught yesterday were lean and mean. They were visibly thinner than those of early summer. What's more, they had guts full of algae...not protein. They are scavenging to find anything to fill them up.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With the low water this year, there was no rocky cover for them to get a good spawn. They need structure in which to build and guard nests. The water was down below the rocks this year and will be next year too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We caught egg-laden females that had not spawned, clear into July. In most years they will spawn by late may to mid June. The water temps were well past the 65 degree spawning range in May, so they would have spawned if there was nesting cover. Instead, the females just dump their eggs and the spawn is lost. In some species, the unspawned females reabsorb their eggs but catfish do not seem to do this.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I really do not think the water has dropped much in the last two or three weeks. The exposed rock piles I reference, straight out from Eagle Beach, are just about at the same level they were the last time I was out there. As you know, there are some variables that might make different sonars read slightly differently...including the depth the transducer runs and the angle at which it is set in relation to your craft. Anything less than a foot, between two units on two different craft is subject to question.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I was pleasantly surprised to see SOME visibility in the water. It was "stained" but still some visibility. Not enough to get sight feeders like the wipers up on the boil, but enough for them to hit a slow moving lure in their strike zone.[/#0000ff]
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