The Bay of Lost Rods

I got out again Saturday night and the bite was still humming along. No monsters but here are a couple upgrades at 34×19 and 31×18. For the second week in a row, my friend Kevin Clark managed to allow a fish to drag one of my rods in the water. That put a damper on the evening. We were both kind of sick about it so we pulled our rods and began to look for it. The presentation I use is 20lb power pro, 25lb fluorocarbon leader and a splash bright bobber (modified to remove the brass on the top of the bobber. So if a rod does happen to go over, usually the bobber pops up and you might have a chance at it. You might even see the bobber glow under water. It was like the scene from jaws where the shark takes under barrels. I spotted a light right next to shore and we tooled over there under power. As we got close the bobber starts moving. The boat spooked it and headed deeper and went down. We had two chances at it that time and missed them both so we began to circle hoping we might have another chance. 20 minutes later 50 yards down the bank the light popped up again so we put the trolling motor down and eased up on it just right. Clark grabbed the bobber an found he had a tiger by the tail. The fish had broken the line above the bobber knot so the rod was history but we might get the fish and the bobber back. Once the fish felt the pressure of being handlined it took off right into the trolling motor that was still down and broke the line. It was an odd night, 4 fish got into the anchor rope. One of them was very big. It had gone on 3 very impressive long runs nothing could keep it from the anchor line and it broke my line. We got 15 channel cats, a smallmouth bass and a big old yellow belly bullhead. Our two biggest fish got away from us. The one that took the rod and the one in the anchor line. Here are a few pictures. I have renamed this spot in honor of Clark “The Bay of Lost Rods”.

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The Badgers coming from ahead to lose also sucked. The blood on the fish I am holding was only from the mouth not the gills. I release all cats caught on Mendota because they taste like an old shoe might taste. The meat is all yellow and consumption is not recommended.

Rod holders.

Nice fish, Kevin. You’ve got a nice 3rd place spot on the Channel Cat King of the Cats (KOTC) Leaderboard.

Keep after those Mendota cats – every upgrade helps at the end of the season. I’m betting Jake and Leandra will be coming after you in the next week or so with some big Red River cats.

I’m not worried about them so much because Clark just passed me like I was standing still. I think he is now in first place. I do have rod holders but I’ve learned that I miss fish when I use them. I’ve never lost a rod in over 10 years but I obviously pay closer attention than he does.

Its like the “BERMUDA TRIANGLE” for me and rods. The first lost rod was while taking pictures of my fish and the second was while answeing Wiskers voicemail that he left me from earlier that day(maybe a setup LOL) I did pay my dues to Wiskers and the fish gods for a 30 lb channel and a chance at he King of the Cats crown. I agree rr56 that or clickers. I thought that’s what fishing with buds was about, all the GREAT STORIES,true and some a little stretched.

Channels have no mercy for unattended (so to speak) rods!

Darn nice fish you guys!

Thanks BK,gotta go chase some of your beloved big flats someday(tried in the past with no luck) I am not sure I have the gear to handle them. I took my son and future son in law out lastnight in the bass boat for channels and managed to get 3 over 31″, largest was 36″,so the bass rocket was christened with a heavy dose of evidence all over the front and back decks(ahhh,the smell and SIGHT of victory lingers in the carpet LOL) and we lost no rods(i have 4 rod holders on back rails and used rod tie downs up front as rod holders, so a win win.

I wouldn’t let Clark man a rod anymore. Maybe he can handle a net without losing that over the side.

I dont know might be tough Schultz besides who would catch the BIG fish With 1 rod holder and fishing with 3 rods on front deck, and chasing small freight trains sounds inevitable. Sign me up!

Those r sum tankers. My daughter uses to live n Madison. Can’t believe I nvr fished it. Makes me wanna take a rd trip.

Well there Mr. Special, I probably have an open seat. They say the sun even shines on a dogs ass some of the time. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while. Not only can Clark reel in a couple fish when given explicit instructions, gear (that he loses), and a grid coordinate, I end up having to post his pictures for him because he didn’t pay attention in school all that much. Then he goes and lucks into an upgrade which took him all night to find. I’d be embarrassed if he wasn’t a bass guy at heart. So now the lucky bstrd is in first place when I thought my toughest competition would come from the Red River now I have to beat my own camera man/net guy. Oh well tomorrow is another day.

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Sorry for the stiff neck at least I can whoop his tail at walleyes.

Man Kev,

You have sure been kicking 10 kinds of dog doo out of the channels this year. Way to Go!

U would know about the dog n sun and bind squirrel,ask your friend.

Hey Whimper, I mean Wisker,:) let’s take the bass rocket out Friday and/or saturday, its pretty comfy to catfish out of and who knows you may get a LUCKY upgrade like I did.

WOW! KevinC has 170.5 points and 1st Place and KevinS has 166.5 points and 4th Place on the KOTC Channel Cat Leaderboard. 28 days to go and those are some tough scores to beat. You two may put Lake Mendota on every channel catman’s Bucket List. Congratulations.

Thanks Steve and if they find any ugly sticks they belong to Whiskerkev.:) I am guessing the Red river cats will show up from what i have read and been told so I plan on going a lot wthe next two weeks since i am on vacation.

Thanks for the offer but with sturgeon season around the corner i probably wont make it this yr. now next yr or even ice fishing eh =D
man i couldnt imagine hookin up into those sumos on ice gear, now that would be a blast.
not sure if they would fit through an 8″ hole tho lol

Bass rocket for catfishing? No thanks. They do fish for cats out there in the winter. The spot I would look at usually has some sketchy ice unless we get another vortex, I wouldn’t go there. You have to hand it to the rod loser, he has only fished for cats maybe 5 times this year and he sits alone atop the leader board. Now I understand why Schultz feels the big fish prize is his as long as someone in his boat catches it.

Rename the damn spot to “The bay of the lost rod” since I recovered one last night(put it in the front seat of your truck in case you didn’t notice) also came across a 41″ toothy critter(not even close to a 30″ channel cats fight) May need to go back and find other rod during daylight(so that dog and daylight show up). That darn blind squirrel is “GOOD”. Oh by the way,I upgraded too.

It appears to me that big catfish like the bass rocket, must be the sparkles in gelcoat.LOL