Had trip on thursday that was suppose to be a husband and wife but the wife ended up being under the weather. We left the ramp at about 7:00am at 10 to 12 degrees per the truck temp gauge. Little ice on the ramp but nothing to be to worried about. Already had some bait which was a good thing because my thrownet was frozen solid and would not come apart. I thought it was going to rip. So we went ahead and just went looking for the fish to give the net sometime to thaw out which I had to hang it over in the water and it took about about hour to thaw enough. The water was 36degrees to start the day and warmed to 38 and there was a threadfin kill going on to some degree. The thermal shocked threadfin where dead or swimming upside down all over the lake. Well the first stop produced 2 solid bites and no hook ups. So I moved us pretty quick. Anchor ropes froze solid almost instantly once being pulled from the water. Next set up was a money spot. Had a fish on before I got six rods out. Had to use very small bait to get the catfish to take the bait. Ended the day with 20 eaters from 5 pounds to 15 pounds all fish but 3 were over 8 pounds with about 8 of them in the 15 pound range. These fish were as fat as I have ever seen them. They must have been feeding like crazy on the threadfin. Their guts were full of fresh threadfin all about 2 inches or smaller. Big fish for the day was a new personal best at 23 pounds. The fish was released. I always try to release anything over 15 pounds. This trip was one aimed at being educational so I spent some time idleing around explaining what I am looking for. Pic of the eaters.
Author
