Cats are Callin’...

With my wife and daughter spending the evening with a friend tonight, I had hopes for a little evening session in the neighborhood lake.  I’ve been wanting to try out a couple of bank sticks I bought awhile back that I’ve never as yet used.  As almost all of my carp fishing in the neighborhood lake this past spring and summer was either float (fishing with a float) or floater (fishing with floating bait like bread pieces) fishing, I’ve been wanting to try a little bolt rig fishing with the bank sticks and bite alarms.

First off, I had to work later today until 5 PM (I normally get off at 4 PM.) to make up for a day earlier this week that I had to leave an hour early to meet the installer for our new dishwasher (another story for another time).  Secondly, on the way home, Carolyn called me, telling me that she had gone to Greenbrier Mall to buy Alyssa some polo shirts on sale, only to find that Aeropostale is no longer taking personal checks.  Since she had a commitment to meet her friend at a certain time, she asked me to go and pick up the items she wasn’t able to purchase with a check.  As I was already on the way home, I stopped by to see if my son Joseph wanted to ride with me.  He didn’t, so it was off to Aeropostale solo.  With that task done, it was time to take Joseph out for his Friday night fast food (a Venable family tradition!).  After a quick and satisfying trip to McDonald’s we got back home around 7:30 PM.  Joseph was eager to do some computer tasks, and, as I walked into the kitchen, it was a mess!  I decided that I would like to surprise Carolyn upon her return by cleaning the kitchen for her.  I washed, dried, and put away the dishes, then wiped the countertops, then took out a few accumulated recyclables to the bin on the side of the house, then finished off by a quick once-over sweep of the kitchen floor.  By the time I had finished, it was about 8:30 PM!  I asked my son if he was OK with me fishing a bit while he computerized, and he was OK with it.  Since it was going on 9 PM, I decided that carp fishing with the bank sticks would have to wait—too much prep time!   I quickly rigged my 6.5 ‘ Ugly Stik spinning outfit with a slip bobber and #6 treble hook for channel cat punch bait fishing.  Grabbed my newly-packed Fox jumbo rucksack and net and I was out the back gate in a flash.

My first stop was a small bit of open bank 20 yards or so down toward the left.  I threw out some greenish chicken livers for a bit of chum, then started my usual fan casting with punch bait.  I decided to fish shallow—about a foot deep—to reduce the chance of snagging on underwater branches, logs, etc.   After a complete cycle of casting a dozen times or so from left to right without a hit, it was time for a move.

There was another open spot about fifty yards further down to the left, so I sat down on my weighing mat to start another cycle of fan casting.  This time, about the third cast toward a bush overhanging the left bank, I got my first hit, and, after a pretty decent fight, landed my first channel cat of the night—a nice 3-pounder.  Over the course of the next couple of hours, I hooked and landed a total of four channel cats; one was about a pound (and fat!) and the others were fairly dinkish.    Two were caught fishing shallow (about 1 foot deep), and the other two were caught fishing deeper (about 3 feet deep).

It was a cool, breezy, and very pleasant evening on the water.  I mostly sat and fished in darkness, only illuminating my head torch (battery-powered LED head lamp on an elastic headband) when I was re-baiting or dealing with a fish (netting, unhooking, etc.).  I thoroughly enjoyed the quiet and peace of being on the water and soaking up the sights and sounds.

That last cast is always hard for me to come by, but I finally called it quits around midnight and brought myself and my gear back to the house to be stowed in the garage against the advent of my next fishing opportunity.

I may not have captured that elusive 12-pound trophy channel cat, but I started the weekend off nicely!