8; how cold is the water where your catching those cats? I catch them in the Hudson River in NY. I'm guessing the river is in the mid 30's, catching quite a few big carp on black jigs, but no cats yet. Can I ask what you guys use for bait ? thx. Jerry
Not sure what the water temp is but I would guess between 45 and 55. Cats will bite in any water temp here. I have caught them in them in 35-40 when it gets that cold here.
These were caught in a spillway. I can watch USGS website for real time flow discharges and tell you what size and numbers of fish you can expect to catch. No one ever believes me till they are taking the aftermath pics. This particular night the dam was discharging 10400 cubic feet per second. That normally produces fish in the 3 - 5 range with several in the 15 - 20 lbs class. This night all we caught were 1 - 3 pounders. Not sure what was up unless it was the high pressure front that was moving through. Skeetshooter hung one really nice fish but it hung up in someones old snagging rig and he lost the fish. We always release all fish over 4 pounds unless someone we have invited wants to take one home to show off.
We use fresh caught/cut shad. If you are not fishing fresh shad here you are wasting your time. If you can't catch the shad, then the fish are not here.
We are fishing fairly heavy current. To give you an idea, we were fishing 4 oz disk weights directly behind the boat. 6 or 8 oz would not have been too much.
Hope that helps. Are yall fishing for eaters of trophies? I have heard that the blues that were introduced into some of the coastal rivers up there are really producing trophy fisheries.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
8; where we fish on the Hudson it's still a tidewater, even though we're 160 miles from the ocean. we also use cut bait & fish in heavy current. The current can be variable because of the tides, so it does change. Because of pcb's we're strictly catch & release, which is fine with me, as we have other waters to fish if we're looking to keep fish. By the look of your pics, you're a good 1-2 months ahead of us weather wise. Jerry
Awesome mess of fish! That bucket of fish reminds me of some Asian carp sampling I did this fall. We had over 400 carp in two giant tubs to take measurements on. I smelled like fish for a month.
8, I was in Mississippi and Kentucky sampling in the Mississippi River helping my advisor work on his PhD looking at silver carp (the jumpers) and bighead carp. We were taking different body measurements, as well as taking DNA samples, to see if the carp are hybridizing and how that effects their survival. During a week of sampling we did just under 1000 fish ranging from about 24" to close to 4 feet (a few were monsters!)
It was a pretty awesome experience and I got to spend a week with some cool guys. Think of a week long fishing trip with your buddies!
This is the only picture I have with me right now (I'm at school with the pictures at home), but it gives you an idea of what we were dealing with.
My actual research is on Blanding's Turtle in Illinois near Burlington, IA but I try to help with as much research as I can for experience (and buttering up my advisor never hurts either!)
Big head are similar to the silver carp, but they don't jump when spooked and they generally have a larger head to body ratio (as the name implies). They also aren't as prevalent as silver carp are.
I love catching big carp in the spring, it's really the 1st thing willing to play in my area. Caught my 1st this year on Feb. 17, which is a month earlier than we usually get them in upstate NY. The other time I fish them is around the middle of July, when the mulberries are dropping into the river, we have about 5 mulberry trees on an island that hang right over the water. The carp will take them right off the surface, we fish them with a hook & no weight so they float. If the berry does sink theres channel cats right under them, lasts about 2-3 weeks & it's more fun than it should be. Boats will be along side of us & ask what we're catching & when we tell them carp, we get an OH! & they move on. 10-25 lb fish & they aren't interested, works for me.
BH, I think the correlation is that we know how to have fun & probably go with whatever is available & don't get caught up in only going after elite targets. I like the carp cause they're huge & pull like a freight train. If I want to eat fish I kinda prefer filet o fish.
Y'all nailed it. Most turn there nose up a "trash fish and trash birds".
In my very humble opinion, Deer and other "premium" game species are ruining hunting. With all the "Managing" for the perfect buck, you know, the can kill this one buck and anything that is on the top ten most wanted list but don't shoot anything else. You have to carry a photo album with you to see if you can kill this deer or not.
Half of these jerks around here wont ever let the kids kill anything that is not on the "list". I believe it is hurting the over all sport.
OK. Off the soap box now.
I am happy to catch bream out of a creek with a cane pole. Or cats and stripes and the spillway while everyone else is fishing for crappie or bass.
Jon,
We have those big green carp here too. But most people call them Large Mouth Bass.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
Carp isn't bad to eat if it's been prepared properly. Try it smoked sometime...its pretty damn good! Those green carp sound like grass carp. They are longer and thinner than common carp.
I've never fought a fish that gave me hell as much as carp can.
We have those big green carp here too. But most people call them Large Mouth Bass.
HAHAHAHA! Thats funny right there. I get all kinds of upset when fishing cut bait under a bobber and I keep getting bass instead of channels. I ought to start keeping them and fileting them.
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This particular night the dam was discharging 10400 cubic feet per second. That normally produces fish in the 3 - 5 range with several in the 15 - 20 lbs class. This night all we caught were 1 - 3 pounders. Not sure what was up unless it was the high pressure front that was moving through. Skeetshooter hung one really nice fish but it hung up in someones old snagging rig and he lost the fish. We always release all fish over 4 pounds unless someone we have invited wants to take one home to show off.