9/21 Am

[TimK]

Got out this morning with a neighbor that has never fished Shab let alone from a boat. He was interested in cats so I took what little cat knowledge I have of Shab and applied it. Boy did it work.

We only had to anchor in two spots and ended up going home with 22lbs of cats, weighed at the tackle shop, with two nearing the 5lb mark; total of 7. All very nice and all gave a great fight and my neighbor was quite happy with the action catching some of the biggest cats he ever has.

The action was steady enough to keep us interested and we were even able to release 3 that, though they were great eaters, we thought were a bit small.

So for knowing nothing about catching cats at Shab we probably boated around 24lbs of cats in about 6 hours; I'll take it.

Saw a lot of musky guys pounding the water hard, didn't look like any of them had any luck.

Surface temp is now down to 65/66 all around the lake.

Thanks for a great day Shabbona Lake!!

[dave_goodlaxson]

Thanks for the report! Sounds like you had some great luck. Cats that size can be fun, especially on light to medium tackle.

[jjkessler]

Nice catch. What part of the lake and what depth were you fishing at? What were you using for bait?

[TimK]

I was using worms in the East Bay in about 10 - 13 feet of water casting out into the deeper dropoff area. Boats around me were also bringing in some nice cats.

Technique hint: If you can keep the bait, (worms, liver, etc) off the bottom you'll have better chances of hooking up with ol' whiskers.

[TimK]

jj......

How did you do Friday with the topwater bite? I know they were going nuts Sunday morn but couldn't get anything to hit.

[jjkessler]

TimK

Took the day off but, had to postpone fishing that day.
Will try again next Friday.