More Duct Cats and a Striper

[yolo]

I had the urge to fish again this afternoon so I text MM to see if he wants to join for some catfishing. We hit the first spot close to home in Palmdale and are using my 90% effective method with chicken liver. Well it didn't take long and within a few minutes I am hooked up and catch and release a small catfish. Within a few more minutes, I hook up again and it's a good one. We actually have a double hook up because MM is on one at the same time. I get mine closer and it surfaces. It does a LMB style head and bosy shake at the top and spits the hook. MM lands his. Another 5 minutes later and I am hooked up again and catch and release another one. Maybe 10 minutes go by and I get a hit that hauls up flow and I let it run with some slack line. I set the hook and it immediately feels different. I tell MM I think it's a striper. It is running and peeling drag and we are battling it and I see it surface and it is a striper. Makes another little run and I get it in. Unfortunately this one could not be released because it swallowed the hook and was already bleeding when landed. It was a chunky one but nowhere as big as the one I caught yesterday. It was a welcome surprise as I have not caught a striper on bait in ages. My technique is not bait and wait even though bait is used. It is more finesse style fishing but with bait. we keep working the area and MM hooks up on another catfish.

Now there are a few kids walking around throwing rocks in the water and pulling our stringer of fish out of the water. We were down flow quite a ways from the stringer so we head back to deter the punks. We decide to try another spot for 20 minutes but nothing there and call it a day.

The catfish bite is really good imo as we only worked a 1/4 mile stretch and hooked up on 7 cats and a striper within a little over an hour.

My first C&R cat


My 2nd C&R cat


My 3rd cat that MM kept


My bleeding striper that MM kept

[trail blazer]

Great jom YOLO and M,M,,,,Thought that all the punks were up here in BAKO,,guess not!

Nice batch of SPINEY CARP you got there too,,,LOL

[Marine_Michael]

Striper was 23" nice fat male, the two catfish I caught and kept were just over 19" and the smaller catfish Yolo gut-hooked was just a tad over 16" and would have been released to grow and fight another day had he not been practically disemboweled by the hook. All the catfish were males as well. Kind of makes you wonder where all the big girls were.

Great day out on the water even with the stupid kids throwing rocks at the two fish left on a stringer while we worked further down stream.

[smken59]

nice cats
would love to go up there and try my luck

[yolo]

The one I lost that was acting like a LMB shaking on top was bigger than the striper. I think I caught it today, lol and he didn't get off this time. Report in another thread.

smken59, go try your luck. Every time I have fished for catfish recently I have caught at least 2 within a half hour.