Arkansas River 5/25/2012

[Allen Morgan]

Headed out again today, back to where I was Monday.  This time there was more water coming down-river.  When I got there, the water flow was 2.3 K cfs.  I could wade it, and there was enough current to draw some bigger fish in.

 

It took me awhile to catch some shad.  I actually started out with artificial lures, but didn’t catch anything.  Once I had some shad, I started throwing some cut shad on a hook, leaving the bait on bottom.  I got a brief hookup with something BIG, not sure what, but it broke a 20 lbs-test leader.  I’m thinking a big Flathead.  The bite was inconsistent.  I added a float to my rig on more than one occasion, and managed to catch a big Drum with that.  I went to live-lining shad without the float, and had a brief hookup with a presumed Striper, that also broke a 20 lbs-test leader.  After that, I upgraded to 40 lbs-test mono for my leaders.  I managed to catch a small Flathead:

 

[IMG]http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1218/20120525flatheadcatfish.jpg[/IMG]

 

I let this one go.  It didn’t look big enough; I didn’t even pull out my tape measure.

 

I went back to cut shad, on bottom.  I caught two decent Blue Cats right off the bat, with bait in the water for just a few minutes. 

 

[IMG]http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/883/20120525bluecatfish1.jpg[/IMG]

 

[IMG]http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/3984/20120525bluecatfish2.jpg[/IMG]

 

Those darn fish about pulled my pole out of my hands.  They engulf the bait, turn sideways, and head back downstream.  Channel cats just peck-peck-peck, and you have to try to set the hook while they have it in their mouth.

 

I managed to catch 5 Channels, one of which was tiny, and snagged.  I let that one go.  Here’s the video, which has the four Channels I kept.  My apologies, on the final fish (8 lbs), I didn’t even know I was out of the frame.  You do get to see the fish, just not me fighting it, dodging it (I thought it was a big Gar, headed right for my legs), etc.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8hZzpsACWI&feature=youtu.be

[dick tabbert]

Nice cats Allen love them little short videos but you need to slow down so you won't be fallin in.

[Allen Morgan]

I actually fell in about 4 times.  I thought I had them all on camera, but only that one was captured.  I'll have to start work on an "outtake" video with all the bloopers.

[dick tabbert]

Bloopers are good as long as no injury's are involved.

[Ronnie M.]

Nice catch. Looks like you had a good time fighting those cats, congrats.

[Allen Morgan]

What didn't make the video, on that last cat, was how it almost charged me while I was in the water.  I honestly thought I had a Gar, and the fish was making a beeline between my legs.  I started backing up, got tripped by those rocks, managed to keep from wiping out, kept my hand on the pole, etc.  When I regained my footing, it was only about 8' away.  It came up to the top, and I realized it was a big channel.

[dick tabbert]

Pure fun.

[John Sheehan]

Nice report and video Allen! Great fish and awesome River!