CATZILLA

Sometimes there are fishermen that just make you crazy… You know the type. The ones that seem to catch more fish in the same exact location using the same lures, tactics, etc. So you switch sides of the boat with them, or even swap to their pole, and STILL on their next cast they get a hook up. My oldest son can be like that sometimes. 

The family went to Utah Lake a few days ago to try and repeat the good trip we had on Memorial Day. We were on the water and heading to the North side from the Lindon ramp around noonish and were on fish at our first stop. Cool. Even my youngest was able to land a few on his own. Double cool.



The fishing wasn’t what many would call “hot,” but we were catching fish fairly steady throughout the day. Except for my wife, she had several take her bubble under, but the fish just managed to elude her hook sets. I felt bad for her, though she always inspires with her good attitude and is just happy to come along. I’m grateful when she comes, and it’s not just because she packs way better munchies than yours truly. Can’t say that the bag of Doritos did my health any good, but it helped keep my spirits up, specially when I was unhooking fish, rebaiting or rerigging our lines after getting snagged on the weeds. Those kind of problems are easy to manage even without "self medication" of the junk food kind.
The fish didn’t go for minnows much, nor the carp chunks. A good ole home grown night crawler was the trick, again. The sun was shining and the water was 78 degrees. It was just before both boys went for a swim to cool off that my oldest went on his hook-up streak.



And again….



OK, so they weren’t all huge... This had to be the smallest channel cat I’ve ever seen. Kinda cute in a way. A kiss on the head and it was sent it on its way.



This one really didn’t want to go in the net and taught us to be mindful of proper drag settings on the reel.



Yikes…, these things sure get ugly when they get older…. Maybe that’s why so many dedicated catfishermen drink so much beer – they remind us too much of ourselves as time goes on. (Note to self, pick up more bags of Doritos on the way home… ) But, we kissed it on the… uhh…. patted it on the head, set it back in the water, and commanded it to be fruitful and multiply.



A couple more channel cats and a few mudders later and we felt like we’d had another good day. It was after dusk when we pulled in, just in time to be eaten alive by mosquitoes as we got the boat unloaded.... It’s one of the reasons that I’ve never fished for cats after dark. I hear you can catch some real bigguns that way. Hmmm..... I wonder..... maybe, just maybe, it’s something like this????



Maybe I've been eating too many bags of Doritos!