Hookwise Kitty?

[Aquaman01]

This past weekend I spent about a total of 6 hours planted in front of the same slow-current swept timber-snarl pursueing what I think was the same cat. I was throwing a wad of crawlers and a 1/2 or whole cut sucker injected with cod-liver oil (alternating sucker/crawler) on a 3/0 Tru Turn with at first a 3/4 oz. slip-weight until I was eventually down to 3/8 oz. of split shot. Now for the fish, and the question -

I would get a tight line and then maybe a take of 1' or 2' of line from free-spool, then slack. When I checked my bait, it was "sanded" up to the hook, or with the crawler, mangled up to the hook. This happened at this spot 1/2 dozen times over the course of two days.

I was careful to keep my hands & rod grips free of foul, and kept my lower unit out of the water while sitting up-current. I was still-quiet as a corpse.

My question - do cats get hookwise? The current wasn't fast - could it have been weight-spooking? What was happening down there under that tree?

Thanx-

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Aquaman
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Peace and Fishes

[Dennis Steele]

Looks like that little kitty got the best of you.
Lately I have had to "feed" the cats,What I mean is when you see or feel a bite drop your rod tip so that the cat doesn't feel any pressure or resistance.Watch your line for any clues that he has the bait(line still going out or slight twitches) then set the hook.It might help?Its been working for me lately.

[Guest]

With all that Cod Liver Oil that Kitty has been sucking on. Odds are darn good it is spending all it's time siting in the "Litter Box"..Eh?

Find a fresh live sucker, or goldeye, slice it up in chunks varying from quarter to dollar sized and flop them right in front of the snag. Point Blank on the face of the snag, don't be shy.

No hit in 15 minutes swap out the bait for fresh. Still no hookers, move on. Don't homestead on a lazy cat, find a hooker not the lookers.

Be sure NOT to bury the hook in the bait.

Leave the throat of the hook open to do it's job.

Just hook the fresh cuts under the skin, it is tough stuff. You will up your hook-ups if you do this one thing.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 06-09-2003).]

[Aquaman01]

Thanks, ya'll! I appreciate your replies! I'll try for a hooker this weekend.

The northerns liked that oil, though, and it works for getting wrong smells off of the hands.

Looking forward to seeing you again on Saturday, Dennis - hope to run into you too someday, Eddy!

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Aquaman
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Peace and Fishes

[Guest]

Eh Aqua Sumo hunter, here is a "Backwater Eddy Talk Smart kinda tip" for you, on scent removal. And cod liver oil and hearing oil is a very good attractant for pike, I have used it too, good stuff.

If your on shore try this once. Plain Ol grass is a very good scent and fishy scent remover. Just grab a gob of green fresh grass and rub it in your hands like soap. Rinse with water if your too green, most will come off.

The chlorophyll in the grass is a neutral aspect, in short a natural scent. It will cover scent and remove fish smells. A very natural method that I feel works wonders. I use it all the time to cover scent and clean up after cutting or handling funky baits for cats. I think it is a excellent cover scent for walleye too. But...Eh..that's me?

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 06-10-2003).]

[Fisher Dave]

Aquaman ....

When I have problems with *short bites* fishing cut bait I will put on a stinger hook. put a tiny 00 spinner blade on your line before your hook and attatch a stinger hook to the eye of your hook. (same type stinger as one would use on a jig with tiny treble hook, mono line and clip). I also use this rig when making very long cast to fish structures from shore.

The spinner is obviously just to make the rig legal. I usually use about a #1 (depending on bait size) circle hook for channels with a stinger hook attatched. You will miss very few fish when fishing this way. Fish it with a tight line and set immediately.

[DARK30]

I got a real beefy 30" or so Channel tonight on a live chub.....I can see how some people will mistake some of these fish for Blues! It didn't fool around either....Smacked it and ran like heck. I like it much better when they're aggressive!

WET NETS!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[korn_fish]

Dark - Good to hear that they are getting aggressive finaly.

By the way - I got ya some pictures over the weekend Need to finish up the role and should definitely be able to get that done this coming weekend

Then I will start working on getting new pictures for updating my site.

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catchabiggun
http://www.angelfire.com/mn/flatheadpride/index.html

[CANOPY SAM]

Might notta been a catfish. Or maybe just a baby one.

I'm with Ed on this though Aquaman. The secret to catchin' cats consistently is to keep really fresh bait on you line. Also, if your not gettin' seriously rapped by something after 20-30 minutes on a good spot, pick up and start lookin' elsewhere.

Cats really respond to fresh cutbait. If they don't respond they're either full, or they're not home.

Even when Dennis and I had that honey hole full of cats down on pool 4 during the first metro LETS tourney we had to keep changing baits to keep the fish comin' outta the wood. If things started to slow a bit I'd pull up and thread on a fresh chunka meat - hook bared! Usually wouldn't take more than a coupla minutes and a kitty would come cruisin' for that fresh sushi! If we let it soak for too long things would get pretty quiet.

In your case, I woulda picked up and moved to another spot. Cat's, for the most part, are pretty aggressive feeders. That's what I love so much about cathin' em'. They just don't usually waste any time grabbin' a chunka bait. Pitch it out in front of a good snag, front or back side of a hole, or a good current break, set the rod down in the holder, and get ready to grab it up quick. It won't take long to find out if big old kitties are home and hungry - they'll smash it!

[vern]

Yep, it might not have been a cat at all. Maybe it was a bullhead. I run into that quite a bit on a couple rivers I fish. They'll just nip at your cut-bait like a bluegill. I'd say 15 minutes tops on a brush pile unless you really have confidence or are lacking other spots. Vern