So John, are you out at the river already? Going to try to get up there today or this weekend if the weather will at least stay dry. Good luck, and try to leave me a couple kitties over the 25 inch size. [;)]
Well day 1 didn’t work. The baby catfish didn’t even want to play. Big Skunk . Best thing about that is it will only get better.
Seen Forest out today. Waiting to see if he found anything.
only found 1 today.
See a new comer found 3 fish already . Way to go kfisher. And he’s Team North!!
Nice fish to start with. I know it’s probably just a kitten to you but I would be happy with one that size. How long was it anyway?
Tail just hit the 29 inch mark.
Picture for the contest wasn’t the best so may get a 28.5 out of it. Just waiting for Jeff to make it official.
John, nice start for this year. 28.5 / 29.0 either one would make me happy.
Had same results you did Friday…not even a Bull Head nibble.
If I read that right, you got the same number of cats as we did on day one. I don’t feel quite as bad now!
I hope my second outing finds one as big as yours though, Way to start off the year!
Hey John nice first fish. I’ll try to get those fish scored today. Nice job. Jeff
Hey Jeff do we need to send you a pic of the bump board ruler we will be using. I bought a 40" ruler off amazon with a bump on it and wondering if I need to get you a pic of it for clearance. To use.
Yup, please send me a photo with a tape measure lined up next to it so I can verify that everything is good to go… I wish I had a 40" ruler to cover my cat this year… Well maybe a 24" one would work for me, but it sounds like a great one… Thanks for asking… Jeff
Hey Jeff, I’m still working on my new bump board. But I found a really nice Swanson Metal 48" ruler about 2" wide. Bright yellow, large black numbers. Gonna keep that one on the boat. Takes up lot less space.
New bump board: I’ve borrowed an idea I got from John. Wanted to have a larger filleting board to take to the river in my truck. Was initially intended just as something to cut up carp for bait without getting blood all over the tail gate. But it kinda morphed into something I hope to have multi task abilities. Took a clip off of an old cracked plastic fillet board I had. Bolted it to a piece of particle board I had in the shed about 40" long by 18" wide. Then put 4 very thick coats of exterior enamel on it to seal the wood. Have added 2 36" adhesive backed fish tapes bought at Sportsman’s, one on each edge. I have been coating the whole board with spray on quick dry polyurethane, got about 12 coats on it as of last night. Soon as I can get some decent outside light in the afternoon, I’ll get some photos to send ya for blessing.
Sounds really nice… look forward to the pictures… Jeff
Jeff here is that pic of my aluminum bump board ruler I bought.
I don’t see a picture did you forget to attach it? Sounds like a great scale. Thanks Jeff
Ya I’m a idiot here’s the pic
Looks good to me, go ahead and use it and find one to max it out… Later J
I was going to buy the 32" board but then I thought with my luck one of us would catch a 32.5" or 33"er and the 40" was $2 cheaper. So I thought what the heck. I hope we can put something big on it
I’d gladly accept the kind of bad luck that causes me to catch a cat over 32". [;)]
My luck would be to catch one that couldn’t be measured on the other end of your board.
What’s your guess??
So… as I sit and stare out the window at falling snow, ravaged by the cravings of cataholicism, I ponder this years contest. Who will walk off with the top cat? Will the north prevail again or will the south rise from the depths of two years of defeat?
Here’s my guess: I see Ahi being very tough to beat as he seems to have the bigguns’ dialed in. Also, there are some tough catters on the north team who have been rather quiet for the past couple of years. Tough competition up that way.
For the south, the top catter appears to be Ice-Sled but he has some pretty good back up catters to help the south hit a new high. We have a good supply of new participants in the south and among them probably lies a supper-catter. Time will tell. Best of all for the south is that it appears we will have enough water so get us through the entire contest. Yeah!!
If memory serves, the top cat since the annual contest began is a 33 incher?? I believe this year will produce the first cat over 35 inches; lots of participants, good water levels, and an abundance of cataholics, with good weather not too far away.
So what’s your guess for top catter and biggest fish his year??
Best of luck to all and lets have some fun!
BLK
There are some very large cats out there. The odds are good