Spring River cats

[rayc]

This is a question on spring river cats. I will be fishing a channel cat tourny in March on the Rock River in Illinois (weather permiting). I have a few questions:

1. Cut bait a good idea, or bad idea?

2. If bad idea, then a suggestion

3. Places to start looking for them, should we look for them lying in holes, or up feeding near the shore?

Finally, what size rod, line, hooks should I look at using?

Thank guys!

Ray

[gofish]

where ta looks gonna depend on the river temp n current....reckn they ain gonna be far from theyre wintern holes there yet....less the rivers up....jus me but i ain no "bank runner" when it comes ta cattin an rivers..every tree you can find out in the middle a the river will hold least a couple in the scour hole by it....don stay long..catch the first 1 or 2 n bite slows MOVE..pick off the active fish...nuther thing ta look for is watch yer depthfinder upstream of outside bends n holes...look fer a sand bottom n what looks like "rollers" on the bottom..1 ta 2 ft depth changes repeated....theyre actually "waves " of sand the currents caused ta build up n lots a times cats hold in tween em....holes n outside bends are good too but yer active fish will be at the very upstream or downstream side on or above the drop...if it was me n i foun lil 1s in a spot id move a lil...big uns be close by most likely in lil heavier current......cutbait will work but id rig up least 1 with shad guts n count on gittin numbers on it...confused yet?

[gofish]

oops missed the las part...the gear ya had at the muddy will do ya but put some braid on that rod! it werent you that was missin em them days ..that rod didn have nuff backbone fer the river...braid will take care a that fer ya.......2/0 ta 5/0 circle fer cut shad n a 1 ta 2/0 kahle or circle fer the shad gut...start with the kahle fer gut till ya see ifn theyre slammin it then go ta circle........need me come up n learn ya some more? been years since i fished the rock lol

[rayc]

I think I understand. Last year they were killing the creek chubs, and I planned on trying them again. Good idea, or bad idea?

Ray

[Soupy]

STINK BAIT

[Soupy]

Feb 26, 2010 17:35:06 GMT -6 Soupy said:

STINK BAIT

Not really too early for that.

[gofish]

im jus gonna ignore some people sayn nasty words.......when i used ta fish the rock chubs was hard ta beat...ifn it was me id still go with the shad n shad gut though....scent thing ya know n this time a year dont really need ta be fresh as id insist on other times...they really key on winterkill shad at ice out....up ta you buddy

[rayc]

Thank you again guys, I appreciate it. At least here I know you will be honest, along with a little poking. Other places some people tend to treat you like you are dumb for not knowing.

Ray

[gofish]

only dumb thin is not askn lol.....who ya partnerin with?

[Soupy]

Feb 27, 2010 18:57:45 GMT -6 rayc said:

Thank you again guys, I appreciate it. At least here I know you will be honest, along with a little poking. Other places some people tend to treat you like you are dumb for not knowing.

Ray

You Dumb ? Just by lookin' at that avatar of yours, I can tell you know more than I do.......I don't know how to use scuba gear at all.

[Soupy]

Feb 25, 2010 23:19:09 GMT -6 rayc said:

This is a question on spring river cats. I will be fishing a channel cat tourny in March on the Rock River in Illinois (weather permiting). I have a few questions:

1. Cut bait a good idea, or bad idea?

2. If bad idea, then a suggestion

3. Places to start looking for them, should we look for them lying in holes, or up feeding near the shore?

Finally, what size rod, line, hooks should I look at using?

Thank guys!

Ray

Ray, I'm gonna do something that most of you have never seen me do afore....I'm gonna be serious for once.
My fishing starts by looking for good bait.....Now, most of this is down here in my area..
In the spring, after a good cold winter, the bigger cats are looking for some good fresh cut bait, be it shad, skip jack or herring (herron).
Myself , I try to use shad...Fresh caught, 3 inches up to about 8 inches , depends on the size of fish I going after...
If it's 8 inch shad, on one line I'll use the gut and most of the time I'll use the treble hook set up , like I showed you when I was at Muddy... Don't throw the rest of that big shad away, some big cats like the meat... That's when I fillet the sides frm the larger shad and use a 5 to 8 /0 Circle Wide gap hook or a 5 to 8/0 Kahle hook.
I always use the "Carolina Rigging" for my set up... That is using the "Slip/Egg" sinker on my main line and using a snap swivel at the end so I can attach my 18 to 24 inch leader line with hook on it.
The rod I use ( most of the time) is made by Shakespeare , It's call the Ugly Stik Tiger Casting Rod 7 footer 30-60 medium to heavy weight (2202)... Or when I'm fishing with somebody else and I want to show off.... I use one of my New BlackHorse Custom Built just for me rods. Both rods... The Shakespeare and the BlackHorse are by my choice because they are both good and heavy but, sensitive enough to see the lighter bite of smaller fish.
The line I use is the ZEBCO CAJUN RED "ADVANTAGE" Monofilament weight ranging from 20 lb test up too 50 lb test again this depends on what fish I'm going after and where I find them.
And as you know ...or should know by now... I use mostly the Penn Reels.... for light tackle (20 or 30 lb line) I use the Penn 209 and for the bigger fish I use the Penn 309 with 50 lb test line... Reason for this is because , these reels are affordable, strong enough to hold any size fish you'll catch and easy to take care of.
What I look for when I'm fishing.... are areas that I've learned over the years where it's a known feeding hole for fish...
DIKES ( or up North you call them Wing Dams) Rocky areas with a small ditch feeding fresh water to the river....Brush in the river ....Being visible to the naked eye or under water found with my depth finder... Or just look for a Grain Elevator, like the one we fished at when we were at Muddy...
Main thing is ... Have fun....get those Dollar Signs outta your eyes when fishing in a tournament , DON'T Chase those fish.( no matter what gofish tells you).. Find a spot and give them time to come to you... If you find a good feeding spot and you have the right bait , you'll catch more than you'll need.

71 + lbs

[gofish]

reckn i dun flushed gain buddy...ya better hit er soon....so far yer gittin 7ft n still risin...sposed ta top out tnite here