Strange year for one lake I've been fishing since July 4

Open water is usually not my best fishing during the daytime hours, but a local county lake has yielded some striking numbers with or without a partner. Solo: 50,60,60,64; with a partner: 96, 108. Species caught: yellow perch, crappie, sunfish, bass and 5 catfish – all on soft plastics rigged on light ball head jigs.

Lure shape, size and action make all the difference in my book with color a consideration based on a few things.
Here are the variety of lures (modified or hand poured) that have done great recently:
Straight thin tail grub:

Clear and pearl stubby-tail grubs:

Spike tail grubs:

Claw grub made using the body and tail of a Mr Twister 3″ curly tail grub:

…and one cut from a bass craw lure:

Crappie Magnet Grub:

..and used with a Beetle Spin:

Can’t say I need to buy lures considering the stock accumulated over many decades – especially soft plastic lures. I don’t target any species such as bass, but enjoy the strike & fight of any species including this 2 lb catfish that wouldn’t leave my lure alone:

My partner caught 4 in one outing – I swear!

Looks more like a bullhead than a catfish.

That is a bullhead. Good eats!!

Channel catfish have fork in tail.
Flathead, don’t look like that

Keep it up. Looks like your having fun creating and trialing new baits.

A bullhead is a catfish. Correct?

When one opines on the true nature of being, I suppose we are all catfish, in one way or another.

Spoon Minnow wrote:

A bullhead is a catfish. Correct?

If it walks like a duck and…..you know the saying. It has whiskers and looks like a small version of a cat so I would say yes

A bullhead is not a catfish. It comes from the same family of fish as catfish do (Ictalurde) but it is not in the same species class as a catfish. It would be like calling a walleye a perch because they are both from the perch family of fish. And no one I know calls a walleye a perch, they call it a walleye.

So says the science book on fish.

philtickelson wrote:

When one opines on the true nature of being, I suppose we are all catfish, in one way or another.

“Ameiurus is a genus of catfishes in the family Ictaluridae. It contains the three common types of bullhead catfish found in waters of the United States, the black bullhead (Ameiurus melas), the brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus), and the yellow bullhead (Ameiurus natalis), as well as other species, such as the white catfish (Ameiurus catus or Ictalurus catus), which are not typically called “bullheads”.”

Spoon Minnow wrote:

“Ameiurus is a genus of catfishes in the family Ictaluridae. It contains the three common types of bullhead catfish found in waters of the United States, the black bullhead (Ameiurus melas), the brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus), and the yellow bullhead (Ameiurus natalis), as well as other species, such as the white catfish (Ameiurus catus or Ictalurus catus), which are not typically called “bullheads”.”

Goood un! Touche`!

I have caught yellow catfish in a local river and you’d swear they looked jaundiced, same for crappie I caught in one pond but nowhere else.