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I cruised over to a rentention pond today for the last hour of daylight to try my hand at some gills. The weapon of choice was a small ice jig tipped with 2 waxies under tiny slip float on 4lb. Fireline. The action was slow and I had only 3 within the first half hour or so. I then had a fish hit, peel of about 20 feet of drag, only to come up with a pile of weeds. I lost another nice one before finally connecting with a decent bass.
When the bobber went down this time and the line started peeling I knew I was in trouble. Luckily the cat only had 2 good runs in it before I beached it. Definitly in the my Top 5 for biggest channel cat caught. I had a hard time trying to get the whole thing in the camera frame taking the picture with the self timer. She was released to fight another day.
After some early skunkings last year I started fishing the early open water season like I was ice fishing. Just a simple set up with light line, a tiny ice jig, and a waxie or fathead under a slip float. It really upped the odds for a variety of fish. Once the water warms a few more degrees I change to a mini-mite tipped with the same baits and get similar results. Give it a try at some of the ponds you fish during the Spring and Summer, and you may be suprised at whats biting :wink:

When the bobber went down this time and the line started peeling I knew I was in trouble. Luckily the cat only had 2 good runs in it before I beached it. Definitly in the my Top 5 for biggest channel cat caught. I had a hard time trying to get the whole thing in the camera frame taking the picture with the self timer. She was released to fight another day.

After some early skunkings last year I started fishing the early open water season like I was ice fishing. Just a simple set up with light line, a tiny ice jig, and a waxie or fathead under a slip float. It really upped the odds for a variety of fish. Once the water warms a few more degrees I change to a mini-mite tipped with the same baits and get similar results. Give it a try at some of the ponds you fish during the Spring and Summer, and you may be suprised at whats biting :wink: