A little preparation...

After an evening spent doing various chores and errands, about 9 PM I decided to prepare for my next sortie in the neighborhood lake. First, my catfish rod (6 1/2 foot Ugly Stik spinning combo with 12-lb. mono) needed a hook and leader change-out. The hook had lost its sticky sharpness after repeated catches, and the leader was too short to merely tie on a new hook. Secondly, my favored float rod (12' crappie pole paired with an ultralight spinning reel and 6 lb. test mono) was only rigged with a #10 Korda Krank hook from my last floater fishing session. This rig was not what I have in mind for my next session.

What do I have in mind, you ask? I want to chum pretty close to shore using dry dog food on the surface. Once the channel cats and carp show up and start feeding, I want to try float fishing for them below the surface with two different baits. Once before I fished doughballs made of bread squeezed onto the hook about a foot deep underneath floating chum. I quickly caught a channel cat and three carp. I want to try this again using my catfish rod.

On the float rod I want to try, under the same conditions (fishing under floating chummed dry dog food), some little chunks of Slim Jim (thin spicy cylindrical sausage sticks). I have heard of using Pepperami in the UK as a carp bait, and Luke Nichols says Slim Jims are a wonder bait for bluegills. I'm betting that, with both carp and cats swimming around and in a feeding mode, I should get some quick action from both on this (new to me ) bait.

With this plan in mind, I rigged my float rod with a sliding float adapter (a small swivel attached to a small, cylindrical piece of stretchy rubber tubing designed to grab and hold the base of a waggler float) sandwiched between two float stops. A couple of split shot 6" above the #10 Korda Krank hook completes the rig. I should be able to fish small pieces of Slim Jim directly on this hook, still leaving the hook point exposed to make setting the hook easier and more consistent.

I fantasized a bit about trying this out tonight between 9 PM and midnight, but decided against it after completing the re-rigging cited above. At any rate, I am ready now to be able to quickly get out on the water, rigged and ready for action, on short notice.

By the way, I am thoroughly enjoying my Fox large rucksack. Last week I transferred all my tackle and bait items from another carryall. This rucksack, while pretty heavy when fully loaded, allows me to carry ALL my carp AND catfish tackle and gear in one hands-free place. This makes it easy and quick to go for either a carp or channel cat session, whether I'm stalking, floater fishing, float fishing, or even fishing bolt rigs with bank sticks and bite alarms. Mobility and portability is a beautiful thing!