This last week I had to take some use it or lose it vacation time. After I looked at the weather I decided to go catfishing for the first two days, then take a day off to see my uncle for his birthday, then fish on Tuesday. Well I started out on Saturday after catfish and I was happy to see that the 48 degree water temp and 30 degree air temp was not going to put a damper on the day. I took my Steelheader with my 4 hp Johnson to tackle the river.



I got 10 cats on Saturday and not one was under 25" and I had one fish that was 30".







On to Sunday. I have wanted to go farther up river but the water is so low that it was fast and I was hitting bottom with my motor. So I got out and I walked it up river. In all It took me 4 hours to get about 4 miles up river. So I started fishing about noon. Right off the bat I get into some big one's. After I left that hole there was another hole I passed last year that I wanted to fish but didn't get a chance to. So I stopped there and was happy to see that my thinking was right. I got 9 cats on Sunday and nothing under 26" and four of them were 30" .







Well Monday was a blow out. I mean a BLOW OUT!!!! We had winds of up to 70 mph and four trucks blew over on bridges. I saw my family and headed home because the weather forecast was wind for Tuesday. I sit out Tuesday and got ready for Wednesday.

I took my Sportsman's 9 into the sturgeon hole. The air temp was mid 20's and the water was in the 40's.



I have to drag my boat through a set of rapids. Something I have done a ton of times. This time the water lever was the lowest I have ever seen it. I was about 1/2 way through and I slipped on the ice on the rocks. I went down into the flow and was washed down a few feet. I went to get up on a rock and either slipped or was washed off that rock into deeper water. I was up to the top of the waders and it happened so fast I didn't have time to think I just powered my way on the boat and didn't lose anything. I hopped back off and finished the drag into the hole.

I hit the hole early but I didn't get a bite for a couple hours. The first fish I got was a fat 6 foot fish.





I hooked up with several more fish but didn't land them. I was bummed out big time for all the bad luck.
I took off Thursday due to wind, so I got ready for Friday.

Friday was the last day for the week of fishing. Sturgeon was again the fish of choice. On Wednesday I had a lot of hook ups but I broke line and they spit the hooks. About everything that could go wrong did. To top it off I fell in the river, so I wanted to end the week on a good note
When I got up the temp was 21 degrees at my house. So I took a couple of hours to let the day warm a bit. The last thing I needed was to have a bunch of ice again on the rocks and fall again. So I got there later and filmed the portage into the hole.
I got to the hole at 9 am and didn't get my first hook up until 10:00. I sure wished it would have jumped but I don't get jumps until the water warms up a bit. This fish pulled HARD. It took a while to whip a fish that big. After I got him to the boat I was wishing I had someone there to take a picture so I did the best I could.
This fish was the biggest of the day.




I got three more about the size of this little guy.




Over all I had a real good week. I got to catfish, sturgeon fish and visit family in the Nampa area. I had a great vacation. Ron

Those catfish are real good eating fish I bet.

I had a neighbor lady and she was from Arkansas.I was about eighteen and went to a river known to be thick with blue and channel cat. I brought home a 5 gallon pail of blue catfish one day. WeI used to bury them in the garden. She saw them and begged me to let her have them and that she would invite me for dinner. She cooked them Catfish and I never buried another fish after that. Now I am hooked on fried Catfish.

Do you eat any of the fish you catch? Smoked Sturgeon ins really good. And well catfish are just great. Especially out of cold water rivers.

Catfish from cleaner water is outstanding fried. I prefer the 2-3lb size channel cat fried whole. Bigger cat like blues or flat heads from the Missouri or Mississippi river get strong tasting. It still goes pretty good with hot sauce though.

I eat cats quite often. I don't get to as much as I would like since I have to drive 400 miles round trip to fish for them. Our Sturgeon is catch and release only. They are protected. Ron

I love fried catfish. I'm ready to head down to the tri river area and give it a whirl. I hadnt been down there since last oct. and I'm itching to go. A good weekend of catfishing there can yield over a 100 head of cats. The wife and me caught over 150 head one weekend last summer. Ron what do you use for bait.

Nice job Ron, I'll bet you had a blast despite the mishaps!!

Yea.. Catfish (they looked like Channel Cats) are a ball to catch!! We fish for them here at home on the Susquehanna and the average size is 4-7 lbs. but I've caught a number of 8-10 pounders as well. There are bigger ones... I just don't fish them often enough to have caught anything bigger. I do know several individuals that have caught them in the 14-16 lb. range. That said, it doesn't matter where they're caught, they're hard fighters and always fun to catch. I don't eat them but I know folks that do so once in a while I'll save a smaller one for somebody.

BPS

I use trout for cut bait. Ron

Nice!! That second pic, the cat looks like it has a bunch of bumps all over its side? Any idea what's up with that?

no I have seen a lot of them with those bumps but I don't know what they are. Ron

Very nice cats.
I used to catch big catfish in the Greybull River of northern Wyoming. Good eating, though the big ones can be stronger tasting, as someone noted earlier.
Later, I caught much smaller cats (bullheads) in the St. Joe River of northern Idaho.
This was fun fishing, because you never quite knew what you might pick up. Species overlapped in places, so you might get a bullhead, perch, bass, crappie or even a cutthroat trout.
Rather like fishing the ocean.
One day I pulled in my line and found a big crawfish hanging onto my bait. Crawfish let go once they break water, as did this guy. He drifted back to the bottom, out of sight. Bass LOVE crayfish; it's like candy for them. I've caught bass in areas that people swore were fished out. They weren't, but the bass were educated to all the angler tricks, but couldn't resist a live crayfish hooked through the tail and pulled herky-jerky near the surface.
Fish are designed to see UP more than they see down. Pull a crayfish along, near the surface where it contrasts against the sunlight, and fish will shoot out of the depths for dinner!

But I digest ... <burp>
All this talk of fish has got me hungry for some ...