Trophy Catfish do travel in herds!

[etucker1959]

We had the pleasure of fishing Irvine Lake twice this past week. (Friday & Sunday) I'll say this to start with, "every day in fishing is different!" We did real good on Friday and had a big nothing burger on Sunday! Let me start with Sunday. I had 1 hit and run bite and had no chance at that fish and Phil had 1 good bite I wish he swung at it! That was it and I saw only 1 person get any action at all on the Trophy Catfish.

Now Friday was a completely different story!

We got there as usual right before they opened at 7:00 am. We made a bee line to the secret spot we caught 2 Trophy Catfish 2 weeks ago. Their was only 1 other person on Friday headed in the same direction as we did. We stopped at the secret spot and he kept going a couple of hundred yards past us to the right. I thought he was Bass fishing, till I saw him sit down in a chair. (he's Catfishing) We started fishing at 7:20, so I estimated we were .5 to .6 miles away from the parking lot. We brought some Bass gear with us, so after I cast my line out, I took a small walk looking for some Bass structure. Phil hadn't even cast his line out and Wham I'm hammered by a trophy Catfish! I wasn't even near my pole, so I yelled to Phil to grab my pole and set the hook! He did and as I'm running back, he say's "it's a Trophy Catfish on the line!" As I'm fighting this fish, I can tell he's bigger then the #8 pounder I got last week! He put up a great fight and eventually he get's netted! After a quick picture and fast weigh job, back he went into the lake! He was a cool #14 pounder! I think Phil needs to check his scale it looked bigger! Lol

A little while later, that 1 guy who walked way past us to the right. He caught a Trophy Catfish and he left the lake by 9:00 am. ( I guess he had enough fun for 1 day!) Lol I eventually started moving my pole farther to the right looking for some more action! In the mean time 2 other Catfishermen set up to our left. Now it was Phil's turn to get a couple of bites. Unfortunately he didn't connect on any of them. In the mean time the other guy's to our left get some action! It goes quiet for an hour and I'm thinking it's over for the day!

Around 11:00 am I'm thinking the Catfishing is probably done for the day. So I'm starting to get my Bass gear ready and give it a go before we leave. By now my pole is way to the right trying to find another productive spot! When it goes Bendo big time! I know it's another trophy Catfish as I'm running down the Bank! I pick up the rod and it's for sure is a nice one by the way it's fighting! I turn to yell a Phil to bring the net and his rod goes off on another Trophy Catfish! We got a double going and we are pretty far apart! Phil yells at me to bring it towards him, so we can some how net these things! Then I notice the guy's next to us on the left are bit on Trophy Catfish too! Their is a triple going on Trophy Catfish in this one little area! Obviously a whole school (Herd) of them came swimming together from an East to West direction! We landed both of our fish, but was rather comical to say the least. Mine weighed in at #11 pounds and Phil's was #9.5 pounds! After that we packed it up and left! (we were 2 very happy campers!)

Now remember we came back to the same spot on Sunday for Nada! So everyday is going to be different! Speaking of different, I learned a lot about catching catfish in the ponds. Sure the fresh planters are where you get your big numbers of fish caught because they bite suicidaly. But the holdovers that have survived or were caught and released start to bit a lot different then the fresh ones! I'm thinking we got our first taste of some educated fish that have been caught before! So some new tactics might need to be employed real soon! Lol

Thanks again for reading my story!

p.s. If they close this Lake down again in as soon as a year! Or 3-4 years at the latest and then don't reopen it again to us fishermen. That would be a total crime against all of us sportsmen!