Lots of Catfish!

I've been on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I've missed a couple of posts.  We were at the lake in Missouri - swimming, boating, golfing, and fishing.

Fish tend to be inactive when the weather - and water - gets as hot as it does in Central Missouri in August.  Fortunately, this time of year is great for catching catfish!

Most of the Cats we caught were Blue Catfish

None of them were nearly as big as this one!

There are tons of catfish in Lake of the Ozarks.  Although we've caught channel cats and flathead cats, we've caught more - and bigger - Blue Catfish.  Blue cats can exceed 100 pounds, although huge ones like that are relatively rare.  Fish in the 30 to 50 pound range are not uncommon, but most of the fish we catch are of modest size - from 2 to 5 pounds or so, with an occasional one that may be close to 10 pounds.  A couple of years ago, we caught one that must have been around 30 pounds - a real monster in my book.

Unlike some other fish, catfish don't mind the heat.  They'll be a little deeper when it's really hot - we caught most of our fish between 15 and 25 feet below the surface.  Catfish will eat a variety of bait - night crawlers, minnows, and cut bait.  One of the best bait is cut shad - blues can't seem to resist it.

We fish with a rod and reel, of course, and we probably caught about half the fish that way.  We also fish for catfish with jug lines, or what we call "noodling".  We cut 12" pieces of "fun noodles" (foam swim aids), and tie a 25' line on the end.  We bait the hook, then throw about 30 of these set ups in the water and wait for them to pop.  When a fish hits them, the end pops up in the air - a large blue will take them completely under water!  Once they start to move, we catch them with the boat and haul them in.  It's a different way to fish, but it's fun and you usually catch a few fish.

I still prefer to catch fish the old-fashioned way, with a rod and reel, but I enjoy using the noodles, too.  Using the noodles allows us to increase our catch, and fill up the freezer so we can enjoy fish all year long.

How much success did we have?  I'm not the world's greatest fisherman, but over the three days that Liz and Carter were visiting, I cleaned about 40 catfish.  Since most of them were blues, we were close to catching our limit of five blues apiece per day (just three of us were fishing).

I always fillet our fish, so we can avoid all the bones.  Theresa soaks them in egg, rolls them in potato buds (I know, sounds crazy, but it's good), and fries them.  Few things in life are better then fried fish straight from the lake!

Crappie Time!

We spent most of the past week at our lake home in Missouri.  The weather wasn't perfect, but we were able to do most of what we wanted to do - mainly golf and fishing.  The golf was fun, but not as successful as the fishing.

Every spring, when the water warms up over 50 degrees, the crappie spawn occurs.  Crappies are large pan fish that are valued for their tasty fillets (crappies are one of the best fish to eat - white, flaky meat, very mild).  During the spawn, they are especially active, and can be caught in the shallows near shore, where they feed on small minnows and bugs.  They're very active, and can be a lot of fun to catch.  We use light tackle (4 pound test line with lightweight spinning tackle), and small, weedless jigs - casting up into the rocks from the boat. 
I'm not the world's greatest fisherman, but we're learning the tricks, and we've been able to keep the freezer stocked with enough fish to eat (crappies in the spring, and catfish later in the summer, when it gets hot).  I've heard stories of people catching 50 or 100 crappies in a couple of hours, but we've never done anything like that.  Over the past weekend, we caught a couple dozen keepers on two trips of about 3 hours or so each time.  There's a minimum size limit of 9", so we threw back about as many fish as we caught.  Most of our fish were between 10" and 13", so we had some nice fish.
As I say, we're learning the tricks, but we still have a lot to learn.  We did, however, get the chance to watch a real pro fish - and this guy rarely misses!  Where we go from place to place, with little thought as to where we'll have the best luck, this guy carefully selects his spot.  He fishes the shallows - actually stalking his prey by walking slowly along the shore line until he sees the one he wants.  He moves so deliberately that the fish never see him until it's too late. When he's ready, he strikes so quickly that the fish is in his beak before they know what's hit them!

Wait a minute - did I say beak?  Yes, this professional fisherman is a Great Blue Heron - the ultimate professional fisherman at Lake of the Ozarks. Think about it, he's got no second income and no endorsement deals - if he doesn't catch fish, he doesn't eat.  You can't get much more professional than that!
As I watched the heron fish, I couldn't help but think about how perfectly adapted this bird is to catch fish.  He's got long, skinny legs - perfect for sneaking up on fish in the shallows.  They're so stick-like, they don't disturb the water at all, and I'm sure they look like a weed or tree branch in the water.  When he finds his prey, his long neck - coiled while stalking - uncoils and he strikes with snakelike speed.  His long beak grabs and holds the fish, killing it so he can swallow it.
Of course, I had to stop Theresa from rushing out there to tell our heron to leave "her" fish alone (she also wants to chase off the human fishermen), but once we got past that, it was fun to watch this big bird catch his dinner.  He rarely misses, and he's patient enough to stand motionless until the time is right.  He never catches more than he can eat, and he never throws gut-hooked fish back in the water to die.  No fancy equipment to buy - he doesn't even need a license!