Northwest Fishing Reports

i went out to the snake last weekend. smallies were plentiful good good sizes on them, but no cats. couldnt seem to figure out why not. spend almost a whole day on them after we stop bassing. anyone kno why?:-k

Did you fish during the day or at night. What were you using for bait?

we used crickets, and worms. even caught a squaw fish used that for bait too. nothing. we fished all day and nite. wen it was bass time fished bass. but most of the dead time for bass we fishin cats. we fish alot of the nite too nothing. maybe its cuz of spawning season.

This sound a little plain but my most productive bait for cats is hotdogs. I let them sit out in the sun for about 10 hours and it works prett well. It dosnt hurt to ad a liitle berkly catfish scent to it. Ive never tried this but they use it down south a lot for cats. Its called "X marks the spot" and what you do is cast out at an angle wait till you bait hits the bottom and real in VERY SLOW until youv reeled it all the way in. Then cast out at the oposite angle wait till your bait hits the bottom and real in VERY SLOW until youv reeled it all the way in. This will form an "X" in the water with a scent trail. Then what you do is cast right in the middle of the "X" and it will draw the fish from all sides of the"X" to your bait. Like I said Ive never tried it but it might be worth a shot for those uncooperative cats. But this might be totally useless depending on how strong the current is as well

gpc - Not the first time I have heard of the "X-spotting" - but it has been quite sometime..
and don't take this offensive in any way - just a fact that this is something that my Grandfather taught me when I was much, much younger. =)

As for the choice of bait - good choice - Hot Dogs (sounds sort of ironic, a hot DOG for a CAT), and the smellier the bait the better, of course if not kept in a well sealed container then you have to deal with it also...

Something my grandfather taught me was when you are off shore you can use a "V" pattern, same concept - establish the draw to a centeral location - the same also applies if you are in a boat, if the current is really strong it doesn't work as well, but anchor yourself, then cast with current, drawing towards your position.

At night - in a lake & boat - the "X" pattern works quite efficiently.

We have used Hot Dogs, rotting/spoiled meats, pretty much anything that is smelly and could be put on a hook.
Now days - there is the Power Bait type Chunks for Cats - haen't tried any of it though - Hot Dogs & sunlight is far cheaper - more for gas now days.