The Bait Paid Off

Licking my wounds from my failed casting lesson, Francisco and I hit the Jordan river for a few hours last night. We set up, and shortly we both had hits. While most of the night all I had were hits, Francisco was putting on a cat fishing clinic! He was consistently reeling in fish, and I got better with my netting skills. He landed several quality fish (20-25 inches), and even a bullhead catfish, which we haven't seen much of since we started using white bass.

 

As the night went on, I stopped even getting bites on my poles. By this time I had gone a little complacent with the lack of action. I was checking my other rod when my new cat fishing setup shot out of the pole holder,  and into the water. I managed to grab the end of the rod when most of it was in the water and set the hook. My pole double over as my reel started singing soprano with how fast line was ripping off it. I just held on for several seconds, until the fish turned. I fought him in only to have him run again. After several minutes, I finally got him within net shot, only to have him dart for a root system on the side on the bank. Luckily, I was able to pull him out, and Francisco got the net on it. We were both amazed at how thick this channel cat was. I pulled out the tape, and the cat measured 29.5 inches! This ended up being my only fish of the night, but with a new personal best, I'd take nights like this all the time!

 

About 20 minutes later, Francisco had a giant of his own on. he fought it all the way in, and just like my big one, his also darted to the roots. Unfortunately, Once he made it in, the catfish broke the line! As many can attest, It's a gut-wrenching feeling to lose a fish so close to the net. We called it a night on that note, to end another great fishing adventure.

One of the few bullheads caught lately.

A few unwanted guests came to see how we were doing.

My only fish of the night. Just a half inch shy of 30 inches! A new personal best!

 

Francisco's keepers. His biggest was 25 inches.