[wheels70]

Not that I have been out there as often as I should, but I finally found the channels tonight at Melvern (thanks to photos of Tom last weekend,,, ) We went to Melvern tonight and got into the channel cats. We anchored in what I thought was a likely looking spot and didnt catch a thing for over an hour. Finally put the trolling motor down and moved to a more gradual slope and caught the hell out of them. Couldnt fish with more than one pole at a time,, as soon as it would hit the water we had one. Our three year old had a blast! Ended up catching over 50 tonight and kept 19 eaters.

One question I have is,,I have never seen channel cat surface like I did tonight. They would surface all around us, deep and shallow. What the hell is that all about? We saw some huge channels surface in 30 foot of water as well as 4 feet of water. I did not see any shad around, what are they chasing?

What was weird is they shut it off completely around sundown. Could still see them surfacing but no matter what we threw and them, they wouldnt bite. Went like gangbusters for 2 hours and then I couldnt buy a bite!

By the way, the couple of females I did clean were almost empty of eggs so I am guessing they are getting close to being done spawning.

Keith

 

[channelin]

Nice Keith! What was your big?

 

[wheels70]

The biggest one was just a hair over 8lbs. Caught a lot of small fish that we threw back.

Keith

 

[n2fishn]

Good Job Keith......I would say you had one heck of trip this time.

I'm not sure why but when they are on the banks for the spawn they will shut off like a light switch
at dark....I have seen it many times.

 

[wheels70]

Good Job Keith......I would say you had one heck of trip this time.

I'm not sure why but when they are on the banks for the spawn they will shut off like a light switch
at dark....I have seen it many times.

Shut off like a light switch is exactly what they did! That was the weirdest thing I have seen in a while. We messed around for 30 minutes after they quit biting trying to catch just one more and never did catch another one. It sure was fun while it lasted though!

Does anyone know why they break the surface this time of year? It is more of a roll when they break the surface. It is not like a white bass or striper when they are chasing shad.

Keith

 

[n2fishn]

Yep I tried for years to catch them after dark but it wont happen.So I now I target the 1st couple hrs
after sun up and the last two hrs before sunset.And most time the evening time is best.

I have seen them rolling also.I dont know but it appers to me I will see
a Big one then small ones right in the same spot.
I dont know if its males chasing females to try to get to to drop eggs or not.Just my thought.

I have a Big jetty I fish for spawing cats and use to be able to walk to it.Being I would be a little higher than
water level I would see fish in the 10-20 range (females)swim by with 5-8 small cats (males) swimming
right with her.

 

[arkrivercatman]

Technically Tom found em and you went and caught em.:laugh:
Was there a mayfly hatch this weekend? Maybe they were feeding on them? Or Tom might be right and it might have something to do with the spawn.

 

[wheels70]

Technically Tom found em and you went and caught em.:laugh:
Was there a mayfly hatch this weekend? Maybe they were feeding on them? Or Tom might be right and it might have something to do with the spawn.

LOL. You know what they say, pictures are worth a thousand words! Actually I have fished that area several times and not caught anything. I could just tell by the picture that Tom was in that same area so I figured I would try it again. Last night just happened to be the right place at the right time I think. At first I was fishing to steep of shoreline, once I moved to a more gentle slope we started catching them.

I dont think there was a mayfly hatch recently. I sure didnt notice anything anyway. What Tom explained is exactly what I saw, large fish on surface followed by small fish in the same area. I dont think they were eating at the surface as I tried minnows and worms set 6 inches deep under a bobber and didnt get anything at all. Everything we caught was set about 2-3 feet deep.

Hope to get into them again like that! It sure was fun!

Keith

 

[n2fishn]

Keith get after them...I know from fishing there last weekend the girls were starting to lay eggs.
They hatch in about 5-7 days and males get hard to catch when on the nest, but if you get it in their
face they will strike it hard. Once the eggs hatch and the babies leave the nest its over.

Of course they all dont spawn all at the same time but I would guess with-in a week to 10 days.
So my guess by next weekend it will start to slow.