Really enjoying the late Summer fishing for panfish... great eating too! Haven't really tried for Brown Bullhead, a.k.a. "catfish" this Summer, so Pete and I targeted them this outing... at nearby Lake Stiickney. Arrived at the boat launch at 4:00 AM, giving us about two hours of darkness to catch fish before the light sends them scurrying back to the depths. Air temp at 62 degrees at the outset, water temp a surprisingly cooler 72 degrees. Expected warmer water temp, as much larger lakes are in the 75 to 78 range. Not a cloud in the dark sky. With worms for bait, set up one rig with drop-shot weight and hook about 1 1/2' above. The other rig was set up with a Thill float with a light inside, hook set about 4' under the float. In the next two hours, both Pete and I landed four Brown Bullhead and lost several more bringing them to the shore... all caught on the float rigs. Only managed one small Bluegill on the DS rig, in total darkness.
As soon as the sun began to make it's appearance, the catfish bite was off. We continued fishing with worms under a small float and had a blast catching several perch (7" to 8"), lots of small LMB, with two much larger (12" and 10"), and a dozen or so small Bluegill before calling it a day at about 10:00. Sun was high and getting very warm. PTL!

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