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[#0000FF]Saw a short weather window. Tossed a coin for either Willard or Utah Lake. Willard won. It was tough, but I passed up fishing at the inlet for walleyes and continued on to the north marina.
Launched a little after 7. Air temp 40 and water temp still only 48. Need some more warm. But water levels were way up since my last visit. Water clarity was much better than Utah Lake but still a bit murky for Willard.
My car was the only one in the parking lot for over an hour. When I left there were 4 others.
Made my usual start...dragging a minnow on one rod and pitching plastics on the second. Had a couple of bumps on plastic on the way out of the harbor but nothing else all day on plastics.
Worked all my usual early season spots. Higher water and cold water seems to have sent the fish elsewhere. Was seeing zippo on sonar. Worked into the shallow far eastern edge of Eagle beach and then out to deeper water. Nothing on "TV" and nothing on the end of my line.
I reasoned that with all of the recent ups and downs in weather that the fish might be hunkered down in deeper water. So I worked out past the 20 foot mark. Just after seeing 21' on the depth gauge I got an inquiry on my fire tiger flig. Aggressive strike and the chunky little cookie cutter kitty hooked himself. One in the basket.
I stayed in the 21' depth zone for a while, without any further fishy love. So I worked still deeper. At 23' I went bendo again. For the next three hours I got lots of tugs and stretched my string on some nice healthy whiskery walleyes.
I hadn't gotten any hits on plain minnows, dragged along the bottom. That is usually money...for all species. Today...not so much. But as soon as I put on a fire tiger flig (floating jig) with a LHBE minnow I was a very popular guy among the kitty crowd.
I rotated through different colors of fligs. I caught most of my cats on variations of the fire tiger color, in different styles and sizes. No bites on white or blue/silver. But I did get a couple on chartreuse with a hot red eye. I really love fishing with those things. The fish hit hard...even in cold water. And with those sharp Matzuo hooks they almost always hook themselves on the strike. Only missed a couple all day today.
I probably caught about a dozen cats...keeping 7 for some "catfish wings". I didn't catch any other species today but I didn't see much on sonar and only had a couple of bites that may have been something other than a catfish.
After Utah Lake treated me so badly last week it was good to get back on the water and get some tugs.
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Very cool! Great report!
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Way to scout them out.... Nice job Pat, those kitties can't hide from you... Thanks for a fun report, I've been getting so ready to get back out after the cats... Get my taxes figured tomorrow so I'm about there... Can't wait... thanks for the fun story... Later J
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Looks like you did well at Willard. The water temp seems slow getting up to 50 degrees but with the up and down weather I guess it should be expected. Great report as always!
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Yup. I think next week ought to kick it off. Good to see old Will's Yard almost full again.
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[#0000FF]Thanks guys. Glad I was able to provide some light reading and entertainment. Also glad I caught some fish.
I am sure the water temp climbed over 50 after I left today...and it will rise a bit more tomorrow. But the weather forecrash is for another chill by end of week. Poor fishies. They just can't plan their social calendar with all the changes.
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Greetings TudeDude. New to BFT today but have been following for a couple of years. Every time you post about catfish I get more excited to get out and go after them. It seems that your fligs are the way to go. Is it possible to purchase some?
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Pat it’s always a pleasure to read your outings. Informative and teachable as always. Glad to see you had a great day on Willard, and able to get some of your wings. I’m hoping to get some on Tuesday afternoon on murky waters. Save me some fligs I want a few.
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[#0000ff]Welcome aboard. Hope you enjoy your stay.
Yeah, catfish are fun. They are not a "glamor" species but they do have a lot of fans...especially here on BFT. As you have discovered, we even got an annual cat contest. I see that you have joined in. Hope you do well.
I don't have a big commercial operation but I do try to make up enough of my trinkets to be able to "help out a brother" if somebody just have to have some. I have been experimenting with a lot of different sizes and colors over the past year or so and probably have enough to get you set up with a starter kit...to try some out.
Here is a writeup I put together for anyone interested in trying to make their own...or who just want to learn how to fish them.
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"Save me some fligs I want a few."
[#0000FF]Give me a heads-up next time you make it up this way.
And the offer is always open to show you how to make your own stuff...including fligs.
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Hey Pat while your factory is up and going, I need a few of the newer style fligs, the ones I got from you before had the float on the whole body of the hooks and I can't get a glob of cat food on them, although they work great for the minnows... I also found some at the warehouse that look like your new design except they have wimpy hooks on them that don't stand up to a cat, plus they are in orange and white, no firetiger available... Anyway if you have a few extra, I'd love to pick some up at the flotilla if you happen to have room to bring a few up... Thanks Pat... Later J
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[#0000FF]I can bring some. Right now I am making some more "Gorilla Fligs" and some new "Super Fligs) (see pics). These have bigger and stronger hooks...just for presenting bigger baits to big ol' kitties. You will also notice in the Super Flig pic that I am adding some little spinner blades to some fligs. Those propeller spinners really spin with the slightest movement...and spin both with forward or backward moves. Flash and vibration really work on kitties. I get a lot of big cats in both Utah Lake and Willard on the small spinnered jigs I use for other species.
In the batch on my flig table right now I will also be making some GLOW fligs...for nighttime fliggin'. And I have some little glass beads I will be adding to a few for some extra noise attraction.
By the way, if there is any way you can get your cat rods to me before the "gathering" I can have the tips all glow painted for your summertime nighttime cattin' adventures...and can hand them off to you then.
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Hey Pat I like those fligs they got some muscle to them. That's what kind I'd like. Glows would be great too!! There's a chance I can get a cat rod down before. I'll let ya know when, if it works out. Thanks a bunch. J
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Nice haul Pat, glad to see the fish are finally getting active. We will see how our next outing there plays out but I'm liking your new bigger fligs, might have to pick some up, if the fish are still preferring things on the slow troll side. If you don't mind me asking, how much line did you have between your weight and the Flig? So far this year the shorter leaders have been working good for us.
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[#0000FF]I'll let you know whenever I am headed to Willard and maybe we can meet up on your way to work. I will likely be up there a couple of times before the end of the month.
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[#0000FF]I didn't get any love on the large models yesterday. I did better with the smaller sizes we were using in the late fall last year. But as the fish get more active I am thinking the larger ones will be money.
I was doing about 14 to 16 inches of leader yesterday. I had one rig with a longer leader and I didn't get bit until I shortened it.
When the walleyes and wipers get more active I am suspecting that a longer leader might be more effective. I have done well in the past with my bobberhead jigs...fished about 5-7 feet deep over deeper water. Even walleyes and cats come up off the bottom to hit shallower presentations. My record was a cat caught in 22 feet of water...less than 5' below a bobber.
So I am guessing that longer leaders on fligs will not be a problem when the fish are "on the chew". My first experience with floating jigs, in Arizona, had us fishing about 3 feet of leader with a floating jig head and a crawler. Walleye candy.
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Sounds good thanks Pat
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I love the idea of floating jig heads and want to try some this year. I have what is probably a silly question about hook direction.
In your fligs and other commercial floating jigs I've seen, the eye and the point of the hook are on the same side. So when the jig floats, the hook ends up pointing down toward the ground.
Would having a hook that points up be better for easier and more secure fish hook-ups? Or would it make no difference?
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[#0000FF]Good question. I too wondered about that. But my experience has proven that when a fish chomps down on the bait/flig combo it tends to rotate the hook sideways. This results in the hook penetrating the side of the mouth...much like a circle hook. Out of the hundreds of pictures I have of fish caught on fligs almost all are hooks in the corner of the mouth. However, I have had a few fish hooked solidly in the lower jaw as well.
One of the ideas I have been toying with is adding a stinger hook...with the hook pointing up. Easy enough to do in several ways. But I haven't felt the need to try it yet since I have a very high percentage of hookups to strikes. If I were missing more fish I would be more concerned.
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That's good to hear! I'm excited to try using some floating jigs for the first time. Thanks for your insight.
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