It was a cool morning with little wind and no fog. My brother and I drove to the lake to see what we could get the fish to bite on. There were a number of other fisherman looking to bring home some dinner or at least looking to just stay out of the house. We passed by a few of the fisherman as we walked to our spot on the lake. "Any luck?", we ask as we pass. It seems like it's the de rigueur thing to say when you see another fisherman. One person had some luck with a small catfish and bass on their stringer. The other people we asked haven't caught anything yet. They looked like they were planning on being there a while with their cooler of drinks and snacks.
We reached the spot we planned on fishing for the rest of the day. It was a nice stretch of bank with a few open areas to stand and cast. I stopped at this mini peninsula. It had a tree jutting out from the point and a number of its roots spidering all over the small spot making it difficult to walk. A few times as I was setting up my rods my foot either slipped off a root or got caught and caused me to scramble to keep from falling.
My brother kept walking on ahead and found his own peninsula to stand. He rigged his poles at home so in no time he was casting. He chose to try out some top water baits. I can tell by the sound alone he's using a Whopper Plopper . When it's reeled in it sounds like some hippy taking a long drag on a water bong. Bubbly.
First fish of the day - bluegill
On one of my rods I setup a drop shot rig with a ball of worms on the hook and cast it out as far as I can. The tree on my little oasis is in the way so it's an abbreviated cast which doesn't allow me to put the bait exactly where I want it. But it will do there. I setup my other rod with a chatter bait. I love to feel the wiggling the chatter bait does as I reel it in. I can literally feel the vibration of the line onto the rod. The idea is that it causes a big commotion under the water and pisses the fish off enough that they react to it.
After about twenty minutes of casting neither of us get a bite. My brother keeps at it with a variety of other lures. I switch tactics and bring out my third rod with a bobber for some pan fishing. On my first cast I catch a small bluegill. I consider using him as cut bait on my dropshot rod. After talking with the fish it turns out he didn't like the idea so I release him back into the water. He goes back home without a thank you.
Another bluegill from that spot.
I cast out again and check on my brother. He hasn't had a bite yet but we both witnessed a few large bowfins jumping near us. They don't appear to be interested in anything we pitch out there but we keep trying anyway. While I was changing lures I noticed my dropshot line go taut and the rod start to bend down. I drop what I'm doing and pick up the rod. After feeling the line I exclaim, "Fish on!" I can tell by the fight it's a small catfish but I still have to be careful that I don't get him tangled in the surrounding weeds and downed tree branches.
Fun little fight - catfish
At last I get the catfish onto the shore and get the hook out. In typical catfish fashion he makes these guttural squeaky noises as if to tell me he's had his fun now it's time for him to get back into the water. And for good measure he digs one of his pectoral spikes into my thumb. I can't blame him for his outrage so I take one more selfie and release him in the water and watch as he slowly shakes his tail at me and scoots away.
My brother and I spent a few more hours fishing a variety of different spots and lures but nothing was biting. The bowfin were still jumping but again, they weren't interested in any lures we tried. On our trek back to the car we ran into some of the other fisherman. We asked again if they caught anything. They didn't and it didn't look like it bothered them at all. I get that. While we didn't reel in many fish, I wouldn't trade the time I got to fish with my brother for the world.
Happy little catfish selfie