fishinChristian
6/8/2014 9:03:00 AMor going somewhere that has fish dying to get out of the water... River cats are a different fishery, and somtimes tough to harvest.
SnoKing
6/8/2014 10:59:00 AMtluedeke ,
I feel your pain brother! I've never fished the Yakima for cats but I've heard the same stories of people loading up with cats. Personally, I've approached catfish fishing scientifically and still get tricked. I've focused my attention down at the Palouse River where it dumps into the Snake. Water temperatures are critical for the big boys to get active as is the bait. The last two years my wife and I did real well going up the Palouse River and fishing the holes that are between 10 and 20' deep. The trick here is to wait until the cats finish gorging on spawning carp roe and start up river to spawn themselves. Night time finds them in the shallows by reedy patches next to holes where they will spawn. During the day, they hang out in the cooler holes...but still feed. Two weeks ago my wife and I went down to the Lyons ferry KOA and launched our skiff and spent two days banging away. I caught only a slug of yellow bullheads...no blues. Last year at the same time I had great luck catching a 16lb, 11lb, and a fair number in the 2 to 5 lb range. The difference being the water temps. We're heading over there this coming week for a return bout. I'll take cut trout (that I buy), livers, and night crawlers with the livers being my favorite bait. Use a slip sinker with a 2-0 circle hook tied to an 18" leader (10 lb fluorocarbon). From the swivel where you attach the leader, put a small split shot to keep the slide sinker from banging away on the swivel. Above the split shot, you'll have your slide sinker. These cats are fairly sensitive and I've proven that the slide sinker works very well as opposed to sinker that is permanently fixed. If you have one, take a depth sounder so you can spot the holes....very important. You can buy one for $30 that works just fine. You do need a boat to make it up the river. If you are serious about this, buy one; your luck will improve.
Don't give up tluedeke , you can't let the cats get the better of you. We are homosapiens and smarter than catfish.
SnoKing
I feel your pain brother! I've never fished the Yakima for cats but I've heard the same stories of people loading up with cats. Personally, I've approached catfish fishing scientifically and still get tricked. I've focused my attention down at the Palouse River where it dumps into the Snake. Water temperatures are critical for the big boys to get active as is the bait. The last two years my wife and I did real well going up the Palouse River and fishing the holes that are between 10 and 20' deep. The trick here is to wait until the cats finish gorging on spawning carp roe and start up river to spawn themselves. Night time finds them in the shallows by reedy patches next to holes where they will spawn. During the day, they hang out in the cooler holes...but still feed. Two weeks ago my wife and I went down to the Lyons ferry KOA and launched our skiff and spent two days banging away. I caught only a slug of yellow bullheads...no blues. Last year at the same time I had great luck catching a 16lb, 11lb, and a fair number in the 2 to 5 lb range. The difference being the water temps. We're heading over there this coming week for a return bout. I'll take cut trout (that I buy), livers, and night crawlers with the livers being my favorite bait. Use a slip sinker with a 2-0 circle hook tied to an 18" leader (10 lb fluorocarbon). From the swivel where you attach the leader, put a small split shot to keep the slide sinker from banging away on the swivel. Above the split shot, you'll have your slide sinker. These cats are fairly sensitive and I've proven that the slide sinker works very well as opposed to sinker that is permanently fixed. If you have one, take a depth sounder so you can spot the holes....very important. You can buy one for $30 that works just fine. You do need a boat to make it up the river. If you are serious about this, buy one; your luck will improve.
Don't give up tluedeke , you can't let the cats get the better of you. We are homosapiens and smarter than catfish.
SnoKing
fishinChristian
6/8/2014 9:02:00 PMAnd here I was agreeing with him right up to the "smarter than catfish!"
fshgrl
8/24/2017 10:21:12 AMuse 3oz. ball weight and cut bait (sucker fish). You can catch the sucker fish all day long on the Columbia.