Cat Chat

[Tin-Can]

John, I ordered 2 boxes last night. Shipping & tax for 2 only came to less than $20.00. Should have it sometime next week. Hopefully the weather will start behaving. 

[SkunkedAgain]

I vote for better weather as well. Man it's cold when that wind gets blowing. Tough cattin lately. Later J

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Not sure whats happening Jeff.  I have had fish that pick up the bait and run without getting the hook and fish that get hooked in the wiskers. When using circle hooks the main thing to remmber snell them with the leader comming out of the front of the eye

Hey John I've never learned to tie a snell hook, I use the Palomar knot and it's easy and doesn't fail me. So that's my knot of choice. I let that last one take its time with the take and it swallowed it deep, but luckily it was easy to get out without hurting the fish. Poor fish looked like it had been fighting already, it had quite the wounds already. Maybe it found a boat motor. Hope the coming week will be better fishen. Later J

[Jig-fisher]

Had to work this morning so I dunked some bait for a bit on the Bear on my way home It was crowded. Nearly every turnoff/turnout had a vehicle and someone fishing. It was also cold, 41 degrees with the wind blowing. Hiked out to a spot and actually caught a couple. They were small, one about 15" and then a 22.5". I also missed 2 bites, which is more action than any day I've fished the Bear so far this year. Only had a couple of hours to fish. Come on and warm up! Go North.

[SkunkedAgain]

Weather was anything but what I like to fish, it was windy cold and lots of waves but the cats didn't care. Had my best night in a long time. Caught 8, half over 26" the others were 22-24" and fat nice fish. Had a pair of 27's to help my score, it was a fun night, but nothing like the south is catching. Later J

[Boatloadakids]

Hey Jeff, the weather sure ain't slowin' you down. Nice cats you just entered. The weather has most of us southern catters sitting around just waiting for fishable water. I think most of us fish Utah Lake and the weather has been cold and windy. I've been out twice now and I have only caught one cat, a good one at 28 inches but we should be making some hefty catches by now. Top fish(s) entered so far are 28.5 inchers. I've been expecting John to post up a 30+er any day now. Better weather coming so watch for the south to rize -- fast!

And another thing; last time I checked there were a dozen or so more southern catters than northern. All the more reason for you nothern guys to be looking over your shoulders. This is the year for the south! 

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Lynn, it might be the south's year you definitely have us out gunned, but with John and Paul and the rest of us misfits and a little luck, I expect we won't make it easy. Been saving all my 30 plus fish for this year. Let's hope the weather will cooperate soon. I was a little surprised to see so many big fish out of Utah Lake this early. Hope we start finding some better fish up here soon. Be a shame if we have to play catch up. Later Jeff

[Ahi1953]

Where are the Fish? The bird refuge has always been good to me this time of year. This year I can't even catch bait. 
The southern boys are pulling out some nice fish, catrat with a nice 29 inch tieing it up with Jeff 81 inch total.

[Jig-fisher]

I don't know what it is, but you are right, the fish just aren't biting. I haven't seen many carp acrobatics either, which usually gets going when the river starts to warm. Water is still pretty cold right now. There is snow on the ground at work this morning and the Bear runs just to the east of here on its way down to the refuge.

[SkunkedAgain]

Looks like winter again in Cache Valley this moring... Hope this white stuff melts off by noon... Bound to make the water cold again....  Guess we'll see what happens... Jeff

[Boatloadakids]

I think it is the cold weather. The cats are there and should be looking for grub but they just don't seem interested now. I know you, John, have always had very good early success. I've been looking for your first 30+er to show up any time. The weather has been rough where I fish on UL and the water temp has never made it to 48 degrees, lots of wind too. Four inches of snow in my yard today and forcast calls for more storms in the coming days. Ain't right!

At least we are lucky in that we can fish and maintain the social distancing thing. I figure to be fishing alone most of the time in my boat this year. I fished with Catrat (g-son) earlier this week and we wore gloves and masks while in the truck; took the masks off while we fished and stayed away from each other. This might be the new style for fisherman.

Good luck and I'll be watching for your 30+er.
BLK

[SkunkedAgain]

Rumor is, John can't get on line... He is experiencing the same issues as Forest... Hope we don't have too many others in the same shape... Curt has a trouble call in and folks working this issue, hope to see all back on line soon... Hoping John has some big cats to add in to help reduce the rebel lead...  Later J

[Tin-Can]

WOW, all of a sudden, BFT let me back on........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This sure isn't the user friendly system it once was.
But now maybe I can get caught up on the Cat Standings.

[Ahi1953]

Me To Forest But I had to change PW again. 
Anyways glad it did  now if I could only find some catfish. See the south is tearing them up. Nice 29.5 from Ben (ice sled).

[Tin-Can]

Well John glad to see you made it back on. Wife and I hope to put the boat in t he river Saturday. At least maybe get some carp.

[Cowboypirate]

I wont post this on the general board as its not much of report, but Cookie, Buckwheat and I hit the Bird refuge for a few hrs this afternoon. Was way slow. A little carp surface action but they are still not real active. Cookie did hook into a real nice one on a big Kong Carp flig. He came up once to say hi and then dove down and popped the line. Looks like the line had rubbed on the tail gate of my truck when we hole hopped and I missed it. Tough as the kitty looked good. A couple other hits that did not hook up. All on kong sized fligs with a bloddy chub and a strip of carp. Nothing on santee or bottom rigs.

We will geta good one on the board soon for the North.

[Ahi1953]

Was  real slow yesterday. only a few tugs on the line for me. Seen Forest think he was doing about the same. I found that the santee rig works best later in the season when the big boys (30+incher) are out.

[Tin-Can]

Yea, I did just as good...........or bad  Did start seeing carp splashin just off the far side bank. Tried to cast a worm rig out in their general area. But even with a 3 oz. pyramid weight, couldn't quite get the line far enough out. I had 2 lines in, 1 with a 5/0 circle hook on 50lb. braid, and a new (for me) bait. Stopped at Kents on the way out yesterday looking for some chicken livers. They were out, but saw a small bag of "gator" tail meat. Now I have eaten gator tail, deep fried in south Georgia / Florida. But never tried it as a bait. It's tougher than chicken liver, stays on the hook better without a bait bag. Think I may have had some nibbles on it, but nothing wanter the wole chunk. Will try it again this Saturday. 2nd line was a smaller bait hook with worm and changed it up a few times for a medium flig, small Santee rig, and no float just on the bottom. Got my worm back a few times with evidence something had been biting it, but again, not taking hook. If this nicer weather holds to Saturday, wife and I will try putting the boat in and work up the river on the far side bank.
I did land a big 60 inch plus.....tree limb........

[Jig-fisher]

I fished for a bit yesterday as well. I actually caught one, but it was only around 20 inches. It was super fat with an extended belly. Looked like those full of eggs momma cats just before the spawn. I don't know what it had been eating but it was in great shape. Maybe that explains a bit on why we are not catching much. They are full and just aren't hungry. I had one other bite that just ended up letting go of the bait, never got a chance to set the hook. The carp were really active and jumping around.

[catchinon]

Well, I'm pretty surprised and pleased that I'm doing so well in the early going. I get a little surge of pride when I consider my score. I know it's a sin, but there it is. And I like what Steinbeck wrote in The Pearl :

“For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.”

 Anyway, I believe in setting goals and visualizing your success. I have plotted out my goals throughout the season and I'm way above the curve. I know it's a cliche, but having a boat is a real game changer. I am blessed.

It's fun to be ahead as a team this year. We've taken a beating the last two years and I think we'll get the bragging rights back this year. But I know it's silly to declare a winner in a horse race when they're only two jumps out of the starting gates, so don't think we aren't wary of you Northerners. Once you get untracked it will be a real horse race. But we have some prime players waiting in the wings. Both Pisco and R2U2 are on the injured reserve list but should be back soon. (Don't you love mixed metaphors?)

I heard once that goals that aren't written down are just wishes. I don't want to be a "coffee-cat" (as my kids said when they were little), of Jeff with his goal of 90, but that is mine too.  

Good luck to all. I hope to see you on the water soon. We all better jiggy with it--there are only 205 days left in the contest  .

[SkunkedAgain]

I've been catching fish, but can't find anything over 27".. Think I've got 7-8 at 27" so far but nothing better. Starting to wonder if there are any bigger fish this year. Wife says I'm grounded from fishing till I get my old tractor fixed and sold so I may have to work on that. Later J