Catfish & Crappies

[rk_diver]

Hit the Westport area this morning to see if the fish I'd spotted on the side scan two days earlier were catfish. Two boats were there in the general area when I arrived. One boat landed a cat, the other boat netted one fish that I couldn't see, the second one they netted was a cat (to the best of my eyesight). Two more boats came in a little bit later. There weren't as many fish grouped together, but again this was in the morning and water temps were down. As I was running the side scan I came across a large school of (what looked to be) panfish. I threw into the middle of them and caught a decent sized Crappie (didn't measure, figured around 10"). I don't like Crappie or Catfish, main purpose was to identify what they were. Thinking back, one of the boats appeared to be using small minnows. Since I don't usually fish for cats on purpose I'm not familiar with the tactics. After seeing the Crappies though I'm betting that's what they were targeting, with an extra "bonus" of slimy, ugly cats! People who fish from shore may have some luck off the Gov. Nelson breakwater (though I didn't go over there to see what was hanging around there). FYI, they don't have their piers in yet at Gov. Nelson.

[channelcat]

did you happen to see how big the cats were they were landing?

[rk_diver]

I'd say around 24", but I'm a terrible guesser of size and weight. Be advised also that the DNR took in over 1000 catfish in their fyke nets up the river. I guess they clipped the fins on all the ones in one net, and when they checked the next time up stream there weren't any there that had clipped fins. Rick

[channelcat]

would that mean that they finished spawning and moved back out to the lake i find that im catching big female with bellies full of eggs in streams and creek that connect to larger bodies of water up until the 1st week of June it would seem to me a little early for them to quit spawning they must have been feeding in the swallows on what washed in from all this rain and melt we had this spring?