I was going to mow the lawn today, but all that rain had left things pretty soggy. I was still feelingly rather unsatisfied with yesterday's adventure, so I went after the elusive catfish again. I hadn't been down to The Little Bear since I first moved up here, so I thought I would start there. I arrived to find some dirt baggy guy and two rambunctious dogs galumphing about. The guy left while I was taking a whiz, but only one dog went with him. The other dog tore around being obnoxious the whole time I was there. I also noticed a creepy old guy sitting in his car blasting talk radio. He eventually pulled around to another part of the parking lot and sat for another ten minutes. Then he honked his horn at nobody several times before pulling back around to his initial spot. He got out and sat at a picnic table for another ten minutes before getting back in his car and driving back around to a new spot. He honked again at some phantom, and eventually drove off. As for the fishing, nothing really happened. I didn't notice a single hit on the carp meat, and nothing hit my jig or x-rap.
After about 30 minutes I left and went back to the marina.
I was hoping to go hit my old spot where I got into the nice channel cats previously, but it was now under about 8 inches of water. I hiked about a quarter mile north before finding some dry land that abutted the water. Unfortunately it was in a large shallow bay with no current whatsoever. I tossed out my bait and fished a spinnerbait around the rushes for a bit, but nothing happened. I saw a point maybe another quarter mile up that might give me channel access. I hoofed it over there, and found deeper, cleaner looking water. Unfortunately I had the same results as the last spot. I felt it was time to give up on finding the channel, so I walked back to the bridge. Despite the warmer weather, things were slower than the previous day. I managed to land two bullhead and lose a few rigs to the rip-rap. They were decent sized for bullhead, but that's not saying a whole lot.
I had about 45 minutes left before work, so I packed it up and decided to give the oxbow a try. Within five minutes something grabbed the carp meat. It had some good weight behind it, but after a few seconds it pulled free. A moment later I snagged a small carp through the dorsal fin with my jig. That poor rod. It's my nicest spinning rod, and it's become my carp catching rod. I still had a pretty nice pile of carp flesh from earlier trips, and I didn't feel like stinking any worse than I already did, so his life was spared. That ended up being it for the spot. I didn't have a single bite after that, though I did manage to lose my new Super Spot to a big wad of braided line. It was pretty frustrating to see it, a rod's length away, but hopelessly snarled in the bird's nest.
So off I went to work, two bullhead and a snagged carp my only glory after several hours of fishing. I should have gone to Idaho. I should have gone fly fishing for trout. Instead I stunk like carp and garlic ridden shrimp, and I didn't catch Jack crap.
Work was slow, and everything was done by 7:45. I was still feeling bugged by my lack of success, and I kept thinking about that big cat that grabbed my bait. I really had no choice but to leave early and stop off at the oxbow on the way home. I arrived to discover a melee of geese, cranes and peacocks. It was seriously dissonant, but in a pleasant sort of way. Carp were jumping and swirling all over the glassy surface. I got a bite pretty quickly on the shrimp, but I was having the same struggles as before. Even on the carp, I just wasn't hooking up, though both baits were seeing more and more frequent visits as the sun began to set. Finally I was able to bury the steel into this little "eater" cat.
Things kept on like that as the sun descended. Finally, when it was almost dark, I caught another channel cat that was a little bigger than the last, maybe about 14". I didn't take a picture as it was too dark to bother. My hands were growing rather cold, and I didn't bring a flashlight or lantern, so I packed it up for the night.
Overall it was a pretty disappointing day. I spent a good four hours fishing, and all I had to show for it was 5 smallish fish. Those two channel catfish at the end helped ease the pain a little though.
Final Tally: 2 Bullhead, 2 Channel Catfish, 1 Carp
Year Tally: 197 Fish
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