These are not the fish you are looking for

But they are the fish we caught today.

It has been 2 weeks since we fished the lake and since then the water temps have changed. We went at noon like prior times and today found a couple bus loads of kids on a nature learning outing. Our normal spot was open and we got lines in the water. First cast and my oldest pulls in a nice bullhead catfish. My line was in the water still and as I reeled it in another bullhead hit and I brought it to shore.

We got 2 smaller rainbows, one we kept and the other threw back. The monster bass were trying to eat the small one as I reeled it in but let it go. I will catch one of those monsters at some point.

We left with 4 catfish and a trout weighing 6.25 lbs total. Catfish are a bit of sandbaggers though since so much of their weight is bone and guts.

While filleting them I found 2 interesting things. The first was the biggest one had a nobby belly and when I cut it open it had eaten a ton of little mussels. Their hard marble like shells were lined up in the intestine/stomach. The other was a massive load of roe. Apparently I got a female prepping for the dumping.

Fillets weigh 2 pounds so out of 5.75 lbs of catfish 3.75 lbs was waste. Crazy how much bone they have. I am going to get us fishing earlier and later now to try and get the cooler water temps for the trout, where they venture into shallower waters. It is supposed to cool off by the weekend so we may get lucky yet.

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