Last Friday we canceled Mike and Brian’s catfishing trip because of the storms going through the area. At 11 pm I was listening to the down pour and thunder, rolled over in bed and said to myself…good call.
This last Friday it was a fantastic night that had cat written all over it. Not too humid and just warm enough to not have to think about a jacket and no so warm we wanted to take off our shirts and go swimming!
Mike’s I-Cat rod made the unmistakable snap that rattles the rod holder meaning on thing…FISH ON!
I wish I could have snapped a photo of Mikes eyes when he set the hook and the rod stopped about 10-11 o’clock! They just doubled in size!
He brought the 32 pounder to the boat perfectly by keeping the rod tip high to help keep it out of the snags. Good job Mike, I hope your eyes are back to normal for work in the morning!
It was about 9 pm when we had a flurry of runs on our bullheads. Brian was up to bat and we just couldn’t get him connected. They were just those hook ups that just didn’t hook up.
The second fish he set the hook on stopped the rod at 11 o’clock. All Right! Good fish I thought. Brian’s working hard getting him to the boat, then below the boat and then that fish just kept on trucking towards the front of the boat taking the 80 pound line all the way!!
Then the unbelievable happened. The hook AND bullhead popped out of the water. The fish was gone.
On examination, the hook was buried into the bullhead. The flathead was never hooked in the first place!
Brian never did get a chance at another large fish for the night but he did bring to the boat a couple under 10 pounds and I thought I saw him kissing one before the release. LOL!
Sunday I was lucking enough to get invited out with Pete and Shirley regular campers at Everts Resort. Shirley has been dubbed the Everts Resort Catfish Queen for a few reasons but the most important one to her is that she regularly out fishes Pete and that makes both Pete and Shirley happy.
We were fishing in 17 to 20 feet of water and it wasn’t long before The Catfish Queen set the tube bait on the first and largest fish of the evening.
The hot weather of July along with dropping water levels are making the river a cat fisherman’s paradise.
The walleye guys coming into the bait shop after fishing are regularly complaining about slime on their lines.
The buckets in the fish cleaning house are filled daily and the guest fishing out of Everts are eating good.
I wish I could say it’s only the Team Catfish bait that’s bringing in all these fish, but everything seems to be working well and yes, that includes Rapalas!!
Nice to see you put up a report BK! Now just keep the hot bite going for about 2 more weeks, OK?
Yeah, I’m slacking this year for sure.
If mother nature hold D, you’ll have the best year you’ve ever had this year. Reports from the channel cat guys are coming in with 20 to 30 fish caught in a 4 hour period in the morning and evening.
Thanks for the report Bri. I need to get the boys down there to catch some channels!
Joel
Great read and pictures Brian
When will the big ones start bitin’?
Way To Go Shirley!
The day I take Tamera out. I ‘spose you can come too.
Great report Beeks!
Awesome
Going to the visit the Ol Miss next week hopefully I’ll have the same luck. What were they biting on?
Shirley you’re my Hero
The flat came off a 8 inch bully and it’s hard to say what stink bait Shirley was using. We had a number of brands in the boat. We caught fish on all except the Tracker Brand…and I’m sure that was just a fluke.
Nice going Brian,
Jack