Late night round two

I went out with Ben and Ben again last night to try and catch the big channel cats again. We were able to get out there a little earlier this time and scout it out a little bit. We chose our spot and were able to get set up right as the sun was setting.

Mine was the first line out and soon ended up with an okay sized channel (teenger)

unfortunately that was to be the only fish caught in that location. We fished there til about 11:30 and after not catching anything else we decided to move locations. We found another spot that looked like it had potential and fished there for a while. A kid fishing nearby and packing up came over and chatted with us and told us he caught a big one over where Brother Ben had casted out. We didn't catch anything the rest of the night except for a small carp that Friend Ben finally managed to catch (it was biting at his line all night long). Some people would call it a waist of a trip but for me it is always fun to get out and hang out with the guys. The stars were out and the moon was shining, it was a fun night out.

The Skunk

The Skunk is a word most fisherman fear most. It is a word that sends one home very disappointing, with a desire to shake it off as soon as possible. those of you not familiar with fishing terms, the skunk does not refer to an actual skunk (thank goodness). To get "skunked" means you did not catch a single fish. I took out Jedediah (name changed)on thursday to the exact same place that I took Tyrone the day before. We used the same bait, the same place, and about the same time as well, but we only had a few little nibbles. I couldn't believe our luck, Tyrone and I had a great time there just the day before but it was not to be for us this time, the fish just plain out weren't biting. Oh well, it's like they say, that's why they call it fishing and not catching...happens to the best of us.

Escaping the Sun

The last time i went out with Tyrone (name changed), we got a lot of sun mixed with a lot of annoying little mud cats. For those who don't know, mud cats are a small species of catfish that are really annoying and usually swallow the hook. They aren't any fun to catch because they don't put up a fight at all. Well, we went out today and when I asked him what he wanted to do he said "Fishing, but not where we will catch those dang mudcats". I told him I would do my best but couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be mudcats. There was a spot I've been wanting to try along the bear river for quite some time now so we headed over there. We decided to fish underneath the bridge there so we could escape the hot sun. It was worth it! It was nice and cool under there. I caught a fish within the first five minutes, got it right to shore and saw that it was a channel cat and got really excited for its decent size. (I'm in an ongoing catfish contest that lasts until the end of summer.) Right as I was bringing it to shore it got off the hook and swam away! ...(maybe I should invest in a net?). The fishing continued, Tyrone also had a channel on, it got to shore, then zipped back into deeper waters, as he was struggling to bring it in, the line snapped and it got away. (Okay it didn't snap, I apparently just didn't tie the hook on tight enough and the knot came undone.) All in all it was a pleasant afternoon. We ended up catching catfish, a baby small mouth bass, a baby walleye (pic below), and some carp. I find it funny because in Fayette, we hated catching carp. Carp in Fayette are like mudcats here, they don't hardly put up a fight and are very annoying and are everywhere it seems. Here however, some of my best fighting fish I've caught have been carp.

What it's all about

I was assigned to Ricky (name changed) about a week and a half ago, and I'd have to say he is by far my favorite. He is 11 years old and loves to fish and be outdoors. He is also really loving scouting. I've taken Ricky a couple of times to fish and he's gone with the scouts, but to no avail, he had never caught a fish. I was dumbfounded last week when we went to a money hole for trout and nothing...we saw bout ten swimming around but they just gave us the fin. I went out with him today and told myself, if he can't catch a mudcat, I don't know what he can. So off we went to Cutler Resivour and we hooked on the trusty worm and what do you know? He caught his first fish! He was so excited! I almost convinced him to kiss it ;). He blew it a kiss and kept talking about how beautiful the fish was. I can't wait to get him some bigger, more satisfying fish.

After 3 hours of sleep...

My friend Ben and I were crazy enough to think that waking up at 630 am to go fishing after a late night fishing trip and 3 hours of sleep was a great idea. Wke got up and headed out to a spot along the bear river where I had pulled out a decent size Catfish a couple of weeks ago. We met our friends John and Derick there and set up for a fun day. The fishing was hot at first. I have a two pole permit and I couldn't keep both in the water, one hit after another. All of them were pretty little. The problem of the day, was that the river was really low and we kept getting our lines snagged. I lost probably 3 different hook sets. I finally gave up and packed most of the stuff up. I walked over and talked to Derick for a while and was about to start casting a spinner in when Ben came up with his gear packed wanting to try a different spot on the river. The only thing i caught were two mudcats though. It was a fun day of fishing, if only I hadn't been so tired, it would have been even more fun.

Late night with Ben and Ben

Friday after work my Friend Ben, brother Ben, and I decided that it would be a great idea to do some late night fishing at the Bear River Bird Refuge. I asked Kat if she was okay with baby and she was a sport and told me to go and have fun...( I guess I didn't really tell her exactly HOW late I was going to be, we didn't get back til 3:30 am) Well, Friend Ben and I decided that we would leave around 8. By the time we got the car loaded, it was 8:30. We headed down to Brigham City to meet brother Ben.

We picked brother Ben up in Brigham City along with some cold beverages (Mt. Dew) and snacks and we were on our way to the refuge. We arrived just as it was getting dark and the bugs and sqeeters were nuts! We used a lot of bug spray to finally ward them off a little bit. We set up our poles and chairs and set out to wait. I had brought some old glow sticks that I wasn't sure worked and we were able to get four to work and hung them on the tips of mine and brother Ben's poles so we could see if we had a bite. They seemed to work alright. Friend Ben just set his drag real low so that if he had a bite he would hear the line being took.

The fishing was slow to start but eventually picked up. We didn't ever catch a giant Cat that we were after but we had few decent ones and lots of babies. Friend Ben had the best catch of the night with this 22 incher...

Friend Ben also brought some gigs with him in case we saw/caught carp. They were fun to play with.

Brother Ben had the idea to cut up one of the carp we caught to use as bait. He caught one I believe on that bait. Over all, it was a great night. I enjoyed being able to hang out with my friends and have a guys night out. Another night adventure is definitely in the works. Here are a few more pics from the night.

A hot summer day

For the sake of privacy, I will be changing the names of the foster kids I take out. I took johnny out today at three and we decided to hit up the cache junction marina on Cutler Res. We got out there and not two minutes into the first cast and Johnny had himself a nice little small mouth caught on a worm.

Unfortunately it didn't survive but lucky for us my friend Ben was coming out to fish and said he'd take it and fry it up. Ben arrived and Johnny caught himself a mudcat. (mudcat's aren't worthy of a picture in my book.) Johnny seemed to have all the luck today and pulled in another small mouth and a pretty decent sized bluegill...

Ben decided to keep both bass and the bluegill to fry up. (and they were both tasty!) I finally had a tug on my line and pulled in a small carp. I killed him and cut him up for some bait because channel cat's tend to have a taste for carp meat. Unfortunately time had the best of us and it was time to go home before I had a real chance to fish with the carp very long. A man fishing near us under the bridge did pull up a really nice channel though. He brought it over to show his dad/friend? who was napping under a picnic table. (I know weird) That was a nice cat! I wish I would have snapped a photo of it. My guess is it managed an upwords of 26-28 inches long.

last night Johnny also snagged this 10 lb carp. I had to help him bring it in because that was the hardest fighting fish I had ever felt. He wore the poor kid down lol.

Intro

I love to fish. I don't claim to be an expert fisherman by any means, I learn new things every day, but I have a few friends who are near enough experts and have showed me and continue to show me the ropes to some really fun fishing adventures. One of my jobs I have involves taking youth out, so lately I have done a lot of fishing. This blog is to help me tell the stories of my fishing adventures. Here are a few pics of recent outings I've been on...here on out my posts will include stories of sucess or failure with the pictures.

One of my first ever small mouth bass

A nice brown out of blacksmith fork

Another really nice brown.

My biggest catfish of the summer so far

My first ever green sunfish

My first ever walleye