The month of May has not provided me many opportunities to fish and it seemed like when I was able to get out it was during weather patterns and conditions that were not optimal. So I was heading into the holiday weekend with a serious itch to catch some fish. I started the weekend on Saturday by fishing Sutherland Reservoir with my Dad and brother. The target fish of the day was eater sized channel catfish. My Dad had some fishing reports that helped us find a location to fish with a good current, but kept us away from the crowds. We had steady action through the middle of the day drifting crawlers from the bank. Nearly all the fish caught were in the 15-20” length. The largest fish in the picture was caught by my Dad and went about 24” and I would estimate weighed 7 to 8 lbs. My brother and I tried to convince Dad that this one would be better off released, but his idea of selective harvest just isn’t the same as ours. We ended up taking 9 back to the house and releasing back about the same amount.
The next day I was over in my old home town of Broken Bow and had a little time to take the boys to a spot I used to fish as a kid, Melham Pond. This pond is catch and release only to anyone not under 16 or over 65. As a kid this pond was only marginally fishable, but recent work and improvements in the last few years have created an out of the way gem that can produce excellent sized bass and bluegill. With only about 2 hours to fish and with the kids along I didn’t have time to target the bass. I did have a small get caught on a jig and crawler, but the highlight was the impressive gills. I measured the first big one that we hauled in and it went 9.25”. After that I didn’t take time to measure. The ones pictured all likely were in the 8.5” to 9.5” range.
It was great weekend to get out and fish. I hope everyone 
had a great holiday weekend.
