Cats for Days - Part 4

[Latimeria]

I'm going to wrap up a few days in one post because it was all about the same, except whether it was raining on me or not.

By now, the family knew the drill and I checked all of the boxes besides taking my wife out to a resort for the night.  That was all set up so I ran across the street to the retention pond anytime I had at least 20 minutes to spare from family activities.

These cats were all feeding at the surface and I tied on a zara spook.  I was blown away when I saw a catfish come up and slam it!  WTF is going on around here?!?!



The trebles were a serious danger in a catfish mouth however and probably should have re-tied as after I caught a second on on it, disaster struck.  It started doiing a crocodile roll and got all twisted up.  I got the picture, but on the next cast the lure went into orbit iand crashed down in the middle of the lake.



I tied on an LC next and it got slammed!  Trying to get the trebles out of the mouth were unbearable and I wound up bending all the hooks in doing so.  I need to figure out a better way to keep the bait off the bottome, but present the lure slow enough for the cats to crush it.

I didn't want to deal with treble hooks or netting and I only had a little gear, so I tried something.  I zip tied a cork to my line and tied on a 1/4 oz jig head about a foot under it, kind of like a Redfish popping rig.  Since I opened the crack the other day, I didn't want it leaking everywhere, so pinned one on.  To my amazement, it was about 30/70 where the catfish would attack the cork over the jig underneath!  The water was murky, so you had to pop the cork to get their attention and I almost reeled one in that had the cork wedged in it's mouth!  I seriously have never seen such aggressive cats before.  I had to go, but the lights went on upstairs after this experiment.



Next day I did something fun for my wife and daughter as well as brought the old farts up with me to Ocala.  I booked some horseback riding for the girls in Horse Country and just chilled with the folks while they went on a trail ride.

Instant points...





We had an early dinner on the way home from Horse Country, so I knew I had some fishing time when I got back.  No night fishing here because of the gators and hawk sized mosquitoes, so I had to stick with my wine cork plan.  I used my zip tied cork rig which was the ultimate rig for this time and place.


Most were about 3 pounds, but they kept getting bigger as the week was going on.  I think I would call my biggest one 7 or 8 pounds, and that was a blast!



In a two-hour period I caught 11 cats with a few dandy's in the mix....





The the surprise happened.  I knew it wasn't a cat, but it was fun.  I then slid up one of the biggest Bluegills I think I've caught!



What a beast!



My mind quickly switched from Cats to trying to catch big BG's!  Unfortunately, the light was fading but I get slammed by another, although not as big.  No matter, what fun little bruisers!



Next morning some more fishing before taking the wife out to the resort and spa.

Woke up to rain... and it rained.  Only rainjacket around was a Giants one and it pained me to put it on...



I caught a couple, but got drenched in the process, so headed back to get ready.



I even got me a softshell turtle!  He was not a happy camper and a bitch to unhook without getting bit!



We get to the resort and it's really nice.  Unfortunately, we were supposed to go to the beach, but at 2 hours in either direction in pouring rain, we decided to switch gears and go somewhere else.  Some big storm was F-ing up the beaches and we didn't want to drive 2 hours in that crap.  Plan B was quite the hotel though!  I hate horses, but my wife thought this was a fabulous idea!





We enjoyed a spa day and I took her to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant for dinner.  That was one pricey restaurant, but I have to say that all of the food we ordered was spectacular!  It was weird because every chef that prepared each appetizer and dish would personally walk it out to your table in case you had any questions about the food.  Almost too fancy for me, but I loved it.

We then made our way to the bar to enjoy plenty of libations and a little night cap.

The final post will cover the rest....    Thanks for reading!

[jrodda]

Wow some nice cats and gills there. The topwater catfish sounds crazy. And that hotel looks really nice. Looks like you really made the most of the trip.

[sasquatch]

You put your loved ones on horses? Wow!

This looks like it was a pretty good time overall.

[Tim524]

Corks and Horses for the Win, nice getaway for sure

[Pinoyfisher]

Them some purty bluegills!

[KogaHead]

Nice trip for "not a fishing trip"

[vdisney]

Nice trip for "not a fishing trip"

That's what I was thinking   

[Latimeria]

Probably what my wife and parents thought also.  It's all about the timing.  lol