Caught a few cats

I went to a local reservoir yesterday evening for a while. I caught these guys on a #8 Bluegill Bugger in peacock/black.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...3/IMG_0556.jpg
I also caught several smaller ones.
Steve

Nice fish. Was that a right place right time type of thing or do you normally catch that many nice cats with a flyrod?

joe cool,
It is a seasonal thing. The channel cats are moving in to spawn.
Steve

Steve -

Sounds like a great time. I'm assuming those fishies make for good eating ??

John

John,
They do make some fine eating, and they are fun to catch, too!
Steve

bm,

Way to go!! Those are some nice cats and to get them that consistently, your timing was right. As you mentioned, you know their pattern if they were coming in!

I fish the rivers now and again but have never taken any cats. Must've been a blast! Nice going...

Jeremy.

Nice batch of fish, Steve. Man, I wish I had the time to get out as often as you do. Right now I'm just waiting for my Colorado trip in July. :mrgreen:

Nice going, Steve! :D

Nice ones, Steve. Fried catfish. Yum.:)

Yum, yum! Well done.

Kelly

Never heard of a Bluegill Bugger. Sounds like fun!

WOW! Cats on a fly rod. I bet that was some fun!
Pardon my ignorance, but were you fishing wet flies? Or dry? I've never known cats to grab a fly and will be on the lower area of the Colorado later this month where there are cats as well as LM Bass, and some Crappie.
But sounds like the timing is the most critical. Just curious about the wet or dry aspect.
OK, I'll sit back and look dumb now.... :grin:

Sonny,
Here is a pic of the fly that I was using.
http://www.thebluegillpond.com/index...d&productId=34
Steve

What was your presentation, Steve? And were you able to sight fish or were you just going blind?

I caught this 20" channel catfish on a fly during lunch today, plus 4 bluegills.

I saw the catfish rooting around the base of a bed of algae in some shallow water, brought the fly by him and let it drop, and he turned and grabbed it. Pretty cool!

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...atfish_fly.jpg

I caught this one by sightfishing, but usually I catch them without seeing them, while fishing for bluegills or bass. I've caught them during the day on woolly worms, woolly buggers, mohair leeches. I've also caught a number of them on foam bass poppers (evenings or after dark). I've had them hit clousers and crayfish patterns, but haven't landed them on those patterns yet.

Quote:

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I went to a local reservoir yesterday evening for a while. I caught these guys on a #8 Bluegill Bugger in peacock/black.

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An episode of Keystone Cats, eh?

Wild. My lifetime total on the fly is three, so your results look like a real accomplishment.

Ictalurus punctatus is a great species ? sporty and, yes, delicious.

Poke,
I was fishing the fly about 3 1/2 feet under an indicator, letting it bounce around on the waves ( had about a 15-20 mph wind). I was not able to sight fish to them, but past experience gave me a good idea where they would be.

Swellcat,
Nope, it wasn't Keystone. I was fishing Lake Yahola in Mohawk Park. The nice thing about Yahola is that it is just a few miles from my house, and it holds some good fish. Besides the channel cats, I've caught crappie, walleye, white bass, black bass, bluegills, green sunfish, and drum. I've seen some huge carp there, but haven't hooked up with one yet.
Steve

Thanks for the reply and the link, Steve!
Yep, that's the kind of stuff I need to learn for the new fishing areas.
I was raised a creek fisherman for trout, and dry flies. But where ever we are that there is water I'm looking for fish.
Lately (7-8 years now) we have been frequenting the lower Colorado River. Over those years the Grand Kids and I have learned to find the fish.
Now I want to fly fish for them and there are cats there.
Thanks again!

Went to a public pond last night....caught a nice 19" channel cat on the fly rod that just SMASHED a yellow woolly bugger,... a couple of bluegills, and 22 crappies. That puts me over 1,000 fish for this year so far!! :headbang: (Yeah, I'm one of those that keeps a Fishing Log!) Fished from 8:45pm - 10:30pm.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...hA_6-11-09.jpg


A co-worker asked me,"If you put all those fish end-to-end...how far would it reach?" I hadn't thought of that. Well, the bluegills have been pretty decent this year, the crappies mostly NOT very big, plus decent bass & catfish... If I estimate the average fish length of 9", that would be 750' or 2.5 football fields! If the average is more like 8", that's still 2.33 football fields! But who thinks of stuff like that??