Thriller's 2005 Open Water Adventures

[grumpymoe]

Nice bellies on those carp bud!!!.....any shots of the leverage marks on yours??.....Great Job!!!!....Grump

[Thriller]

Nice bellies on those carp bud!!!.....any shots of the leverage marks on yours??.....Great Job!!!!....Grump

Thankfully not...I'd prefer not to scare any youngsters from the site by showing them my vast expanse of white flesh.   

[Deposit]

Nice carp thriller! I did the same thing, left the turney card on the coffee table! LOL

[Thriller]

Well we went out to the same spot late this morning and bumped into a friend and his wife who I had told about yesterday.  He was pretty excited as they were having a blast with both carp and channel cats.

It was pretty tough to start - I could see lots of fish in the grass, but couldn't get bait to them as I would have liked.  Anyway, once I started fishing the more open part of the pond, I got a little carp.



A little while later I had a hit and a great fight on.  While the fight was on, Suzanne had a hit...double header.  The result was 2 Manitoba master anglers...a 34.5" channel cat for me and a 31" carp for Suzanne.  Here's a photo I like to call fish crossed lovers.



I had a couple more fish on, but lost them...I got a smaller cat as well - about 32".  Then we were thinking about packing up when a thunderstorm hit us - it was short, but we got wet and there was a bit of hail.

It wasn't perfect, but we had fun with some nice fish.

[Reelmaster]

Way to go Derek and suzanne. Those days with double headers leave you with good memories for a long time. Nice fish you guys got there. Nice pic.

[TroutFishingBear]

nice cat and carp. The red river sounds like an unbelieveable fishery. That's awesome that every cat over 24" has to be released, here our CDOW and USFWS urge everyone to keep and kill every catfish so endangered chubs and suckers can live. I'm sure the colorado wouldn't be a fishery even close to the red river but it would be maybe a poor man's hudson. Nice cat though, what's the biggest you've gotten in there?

[Thriller]

TFB...I only began targeting them last year and have really only been out a few times...so far, my biggest is 37.5"...that will change in time.  Channel cats, carp, freshwater drum, walleye - there are many other species in the Red that can be a lot of fun, but these are the ones most targeted...it is an awesome fishery...throw in a crawler and who knows what you'll get.

We have very high waters right now due to rainfall, which does limit access - many places now if you cast from shore you will cast into trees...a number of the available launches are closed...somehow we persevere 

[Thriller]

It's hardly worth posting, but I walked to the Assiniboine River this morning (about 3 blocks)...you get some looks carrying a 7' rod in the heart of the city...anyway, the river is high and just downstream from the Osborne Bridge, there is some slack water...I thought I might find some goldeye there...set up with a bobber and crawler...had a few tugs...probably bait-stealing stonecats...I saw a couple fish in the grass that the water is up to...it was a nice morning to be out as I beat the heat, saw a duck family, and saw some fish activity...I was about to walk home for breakfast when this little kitty came up to wash the skunk smell off...



They sure are pretty when they are smaller.

[Thriller]

OK, here's a response that is a bit more worthy...we figured we would get out for an hour or so this morning...we were at the spot about 3.5 hours as the fishing was good.

Luke started things off with a pretty little drum.



So the kids pretty much wound up taking turns with the one cat rod...here is Joseph fighting a fish with a bit of help from Suzanne...



And here is the result...a 34.5" channel cat...Joseph picks up his second Master Angler fish in a second species.



Next up was the princess of just and inch too short...she got a big channel cat, but it was about 33", one inch too short for a Master Angler award.



Somewhere in there, I was catching a few fish too...got a smallish drum and a couple of cats in the 32-33" range, as well as some smaller ones.  Anyway, since it was Luke's turn, he wound up with this 32.5" beauty...he was a bit disappointed it wasn't a master though...



Suzanne got in the action with the only carp of the day...a 31.5" Master.



After that, things get blurry...between baiting, casting, catching, netting, it was a busy time.  Anyway, after a while, Luke did finally get his first Master Angler    - a 34.5" channel catfish...it was quite a bit more colourful than Joseph's...unfortunately, the photo with Luke didn't turn out very well.  However, here is a photo of the fish.



Toward the end, things slowed down a bit...we got a bit tired as evidenced by us losing fish...here is a parting shot of Teresa fighting a fish...we stayed as long as our little bag of bait lasted 

[TJ Bauer]

looks like a good time nice lookinf fish WTG.   

                                                             TJ Bauer

[Hood]

Boy that looks like fun, i'd like to angle with one of those on my trout rod  nice fish WTG

[gillmaniac]

nice pics!!

gill

[Thriller]

There are some folks around here who do catch these cats on fly rods...I'm not a fly fisher (at the momeny anyway), but I believe they typically use an 8 wt rod.

[Hood]

Flyrod would be cool too, i was thinkin about my spinnig outfit with  8 lb fireline, nice long fight 

[Thriller]

Um, there can be plenty long fight with a 7.5' heavy action rod and 20 lb. test...besides, any cats over 24" have to be released, so minimizing fight is best for the fish.

I caught a 26.5" carp on a general purpose med-light with 8 lb. IronSilk on it...that poor rod had me worried for a while.