gavin310
07-06-2011, 10:41 AM
This is a late report. I wasn't even going to post since it wasn't exactly epic, but there's a lack of recent catfishing reports from Irvine on here and they're biting pretty well if you fish for them correctly.
We had a total of 5 people. Donna (NachoFish) came out to fish with us, but couldn't stay for very long. Except for Donna, no one else had their own fishing equipment so I had to bring a ton of sh*t with me. 8 complete catfishing setups, chairs, ez-up.... i love introducing people to fishing, but i'm not going to make a habbit out of it.
I cured some mackerel in Hog Wild the night before (I usually use W-D-3 (http://wd3fishingsystems.com) which is amazing but I was out and couldn't get it in time for this trip). Pontoon and Trolly came by and gave us some of their bait. Fresh caught plain mackerel, and of course that turned out to be the hot bait. Those guys must put crack in their bait or something.
As per usual fishing didn't pick up until the sun started getting lower. My friend Katie actually had most of the luck on this trip. She got the first fish probably about 1.5 hours before sundown. From then on it was slow, but had the occasional bite and hookup. No missed bites. Every bite turned up a fish.
We were fishing in South Fork. Whenever I fish in this area I use a rig with my weight on the bottom and a smaller sized hook (usually a #4 or #6) 1.5 feet up the line. I use about a 4-6" leader on the hook tied to a 3 way swivel. There are lots of weeds out there and getting your bait above the weeds seems to do the trick. I use small pieces of bait. Much smaller than most people use. Usually about 0.5 x 0.5 inches and not very thick. Lots of people don't catch much in that area when I'm there, but I always do. Bait above the weeds. Don't cast out too far. People think for catfish you need bigger hooks and bigger baits. You don't.
Anyway, Katie ended up with 3 cats. I got 1 and my other buddy got 1. Katie is a newer fisherwoman and the reason I said before not to cast out too far is that me and my buddy were casting out far. Granted we both got a fish, but Katie couldn't cast out as far as us and she got the most fish. I'm assuming she got the most fish due to casting distance since we were all casting into the same spot.
Right at the end we were packing up our stuff and Katie got a nice bend in one of her rods. She ended up getting a 3.5-4 pounder. Really nice catfish. Of course Irvine kicks you out right as the bite starts picking up...............
BRING BACK THE 2AM FISHING!!!!!!! :mad:
Here's my buddy holding up our final stringer.
31574
We had a total of 5 people. Donna (NachoFish) came out to fish with us, but couldn't stay for very long. Except for Donna, no one else had their own fishing equipment so I had to bring a ton of sh*t with me. 8 complete catfishing setups, chairs, ez-up.... i love introducing people to fishing, but i'm not going to make a habbit out of it.
I cured some mackerel in Hog Wild the night before (I usually use W-D-3 (http://wd3fishingsystems.com) which is amazing but I was out and couldn't get it in time for this trip). Pontoon and Trolly came by and gave us some of their bait. Fresh caught plain mackerel, and of course that turned out to be the hot bait. Those guys must put crack in their bait or something.
As per usual fishing didn't pick up until the sun started getting lower. My friend Katie actually had most of the luck on this trip. She got the first fish probably about 1.5 hours before sundown. From then on it was slow, but had the occasional bite and hookup. No missed bites. Every bite turned up a fish.
We were fishing in South Fork. Whenever I fish in this area I use a rig with my weight on the bottom and a smaller sized hook (usually a #4 or #6) 1.5 feet up the line. I use about a 4-6" leader on the hook tied to a 3 way swivel. There are lots of weeds out there and getting your bait above the weeds seems to do the trick. I use small pieces of bait. Much smaller than most people use. Usually about 0.5 x 0.5 inches and not very thick. Lots of people don't catch much in that area when I'm there, but I always do. Bait above the weeds. Don't cast out too far. People think for catfish you need bigger hooks and bigger baits. You don't.
Anyway, Katie ended up with 3 cats. I got 1 and my other buddy got 1. Katie is a newer fisherwoman and the reason I said before not to cast out too far is that me and my buddy were casting out far. Granted we both got a fish, but Katie couldn't cast out as far as us and she got the most fish. I'm assuming she got the most fish due to casting distance since we were all casting into the same spot.
Right at the end we were packing up our stuff and Katie got a nice bend in one of her rods. She ended up getting a 3.5-4 pounder. Really nice catfish. Of course Irvine kicks you out right as the bite starts picking up...............
BRING BACK THE 2AM FISHING!!!!!!! :mad:
Here's my buddy holding up our final stringer.
31574