Cataract Indiana

Went to Cataract (Cagles Mill) yesterday for the first time this year. I didn't know the Cataract Slab Masters were having a make-up tourney or I would have brought more money to join. Anyways, I took my new-to-me 18' yacht along with my hairy daughter Sophie Sue and we caught a few fish. I made my way up to the North end and got my rigs ready. As Cevans said, the water was around 75*-77*. Well, within minutes I caught my first crappie in 35' fow down around 15'. Boy, I thought it was going to be a good day. Didn't catch anything else on minnows all day. So I went back to what has caught fish when nothing else does. I started trolling my trusty Berkley Flicker Shad. I trolled across one of the fingers and caught a 9", trolled the shoreline and caught 3 more along with a 12" crappie. I have never seen so many carp back in the fingers, they were everywhere. Well, while trolling I caught something else and it ran. I was stupidly using my ultra-light 5' spinning rod with 6 lb. line. I figured I had snagged one of those darn carp. I finally got the fish close to the yacht and he ran again. Got him close again and he ran under the yacht. I figured I had better loosen the drag because he was so close. I finally got him to the yacht and it was a 20" catfish. I couldn't reach my net so I had to grab the line to get him in. I know this only took maybe a minute or so but it seemed like many minutes. I did catch a couple junior walleyes casting to shore with the Flicker Shad. Well, that was it for the day. Had some tangles, Sophie was hot, so we headed to the Cunot ramp. It was so nice to have a larger motor on the boat so we could get there faster than with my 10hp. When I got home and cleaned all of these monsters, I found that the crappie were still full of eggs. I figured they were all finished by now. I guess I'll head to Monroe on Monday but stay in the idle zones. Oh another recommendation, I love my 2 way fillet board. It seems to make cleaning easier along with my outdoor cleaning table with sink. I don't have to strain my back bending over to clean the fish.

Chance