Cats at Burwell

alexma

alexma

Active Member
Fished friday evening above the second marina, with worms, shrimps and fish. The place has to be well known judging by the traffic, people coming and going late in the night. Regardless of what we used we caught only sheepheads, various sizes, whereas the other people around us were catching cats as well. We were fishing the same style as everyone else, namely, on the bottom with a 1oz lead, #1 hook. Have we done something wrong cause we've never hooked a cat for the 6 hours we fished. Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thx.
 
Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong, sometimes you just don't get 'em. Just remember though, there are no accidents. I catch numbers and size in the same spots year after year. And I mean spots, 10X10ft. We pulled 7 in 15 minutes off of one little laydown yesterday. I mean little, it's one stick crossed with another, but there must be a hole, or seam, or current break there too. Because the fish are there day after day, year after year.
You may have been just too shallow, just too deep, just too far in or out of the main current, who knows. Keep at 'em. I thought the size might be all but done for the year with the little guys making their way up last week, but we boated an 18 and 20lber yesterday.
You mentioned night fishing, and I know it's big for cats, because they roam. I hate it. You can't pattern them, it's much more for the guys who just like to sit and wait. Daytime, especially morning and night is my favourite, because they are predictable and I know where to find them. Blustery warm overcast days being the best. They are in their spots, but they will move much further to take a bait.
 
I fished them in the rivers with my gradparents years ago ,but we got the real big cats off the clay banks surf casting ,.nice to get away from the bugs on the beach ,,just wondering if there are any more smeltruns down at burwell ,I got my grandpas smelt net and would love to give it a go with my kids Dutch
 
Thx Bucketsoff. We fished from 6 pm until midnight, the pros came around 9 pm and left shortly before us. There was a truck with 4 guys that just pulled in when we left, they seemed to stay for the night. We figured that there is a channel (deeper) towards the opposite shore, so we tried to cast long in the channel. There was another weird thing with the flow of the water, namely, water was flowing from right hand to left hand towards the lake and quite regularly the flow stopped and reversed and the level of water was increasing, pretty much like water was coming in from the lake. Minutes later the flow was changing again and so on for all the time that we were there. We didn't think was any tidal effect, it was happening too often. We think of going again and with the recent rain the flow will probably improve and see if that makes any difference. Thx
 
We didn't think was any tidal effect, it was happening too often.

That's what it was! I've seen it as far upstream as Vienna. Pretty cool to experience but definitely makes fishing a lot more challenging.
 
Yup, in these warm water creeks that flow slooow, it doesn't take much to alter the current. I am not sure if it can be attributed to "tidal" action, because I think that denotes some tie to the moon, and a scheduled change of flow. But wave action, lake currents, rain on or off shore, wind on or off shore all seem to cause it to stop often, and back up, then resume. I see it happen multiple times in an hour on my trib. Fish get a little out of sorts but it's not a deal breaker. Constant flow allows a baits smell stream to move downward and have a cat track it back, but zero flow can allow a smell/taste to disperse in an area when still fishing (don't much so that's why I like current). Back and forth just seems to muddy the trail, and you have to know where they are sitting and present your bait nice and close, especially in low vis.
As for times, I honestly don't shy away from fishing at any time, but I won't plan to fish just 10-4 or so. I want to at least catch dawn, or dusk, your catch rate really goes up for an hour or two...
 
The PLP rule. Presentation, location and population. You need all 3 to be successful. Looks like you were missing #3.

Iyt was the tidal effect last night. We have rocks here today that are sticking up 2 feet that were below water yesterday.
 
I've been fishing for cats before, but not in this location, I'm new to this place. Cats usually stick to a preferred location. Is there any structure (hole, through) on that section of the river? I looked on google map and the river makes a sharp bend a couple of hundred feet above and it's slightly narrow than bellow. Has anybody fished that section? Thx.
 
I can't help you with that stretch, and I fish cats a little different than most. I don't put a lot of stock in deep water holes, that's just me though. All of the 15lb+ fish I've caught this this year came from 4ft or less, with an 18lber sitting in less than a foot of water at 11am.
 
Thx Bucketsoff, I'll go this week sometime. Has the flow changed with these rains, or it takes a few days to get to the mouth of the river?
 
I bet it's chocolate milk and moving. Once the initial storm flow moves through, I would think it's still fishable. It stormed right over the area so it's at the mouth right away. Just have to get right on top of them, as the fast current, debris and zero vis will make the catch rate go down a bit. They'll still smell and taste it, but a bit of sight added in seems to be the key to really productive days...
 
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