Channel catfish are bigger this year

Last summer I started to notice that the channel catfish that are normally somewhat of a nuisance on the lake but never were very big, maybe a pound or two, were starting to show a little more size. Lately I have also seen that trend continue. Yesterday I caught a channel that weighed in excess of 5 pounds and was 24 inches long. It also showed more fight than a normal channel.
                                                                     

                                                               Not only is it unusual to catch these larger channels but there seems also to be somewhat of a scarcity of the normal smaller channels. I have contacted some other catfishermen to see if they are observing the same situation but I have not received any answer that makes and scientific sense to me. If any reader is seeing the same situation, please contact me with your feelings.

Active bass and large shad schools again

Once again in a three hour trip, I was run out of bait by the active bass. I needed to work a little to find the fish but when found they kept me very busy. With one exception all the fish were god size, around 2 pounds or more.

As important as the fish, and I caught 10 bass, was the large school of shad that was visible near one of the groups of bass.

It was a good three hours. Tried some new hooks and found that some of the cheaper circles do not function as well as the more expensive ones. Had three gut hooks but fortunately they were on perch.

Water in the coves and creeks was clean dispite the week-end storms. 

All Species are Active on The Lake

The recent cooler weather has lowered the water temperature a little. It is now sitting around 65 degrees F and it seems like nearly every species is very active. The bass and crappie are in small groups. They are a little hard to find but when you do find them it gets exciting. Yesterday in a short period of fishing I ran into three groups of fish, mostly bass and crappie. The crappie were smaller than usual and the bass were the standard "cookie cutters" and I had several multiple hits at the same time. They all ran me out of bait in half an hour, despite the variable winds. Boating rules still seem to be a problem with some people but it seems that its worse than ever this year. Get out on the lake and stay safe and healthy.

Family Social Distancing

Took my Grandson Anthony out Thursday. The wind was a little heavier than I desired but we managed to get some nice fish. In two hours he caught 10 nice bass, three crappie, one big catfish and a couple perch, all on live bait. See photos below.

The fish are very active and hitting hard. They seem to be in small groups as the spawn has started. Get out and fish, the action is great.

Hot Fishing During the Spawn

Social distancing is a good opportunity to get out on the lake for some great fishing. The past ten days have provided me some of the best fishing that I have seen in several years. The most interesting fact is that the shad seem to be coming back into the coves and I am seeing large schools of bass that are feeding heavily. What a wonderful image on sonar to see the action below.

All six lines went down when I saw this sonar image and I did manage to boat three nice bass and one channel catfish here. (Shown below)

My total for a two hour fish with fairly heavy wind was 17 bass, three catfish, two perch and one crappie. The day ended with this nice 18 pound blue cat. All these fish were caught with live bait, trollig at various depths, but most fish were caught below 20 feet deep.

Don't sit around, get out on the lake and get the fresh air and a lot of action.