This morning at about five I went to the bridge by the Belknap Mill to try my hand at trout and salmon fishing. Naturally I caught two little rock bass. Nothing exciting but two fish for me in one day is still a pretty big deal. I caught one with my Berkley Gulp Minnow (far and away my champion lure) and the other with my biggest dud lure, the Rage Tail baby craw. The Rage Tail is such a slick looking lure but with plenty of opportunity today was the first time I caught a fish of any size using it, meanwhile 11 of the 18 fish that I have caught have been chasing the Gulp Minnow. It was almost 60 degrees by five am with clear skies and little wind, so it was a pleasant morning for fishing.
By seven am I had tired of the limited action under and on the bridge so I figured while I had a couple of hours I would head back to the Laconia Citizen parking lot. It had started to get warm so I took off my sweatshirt and spent the better part of two hours watching little bass float feet away from me mocking lure after lure. Then as I was starting to think about leaving I caught a flash of black out of the corner of my eye. At this point all I have caught is basically lake trout which is kind of a silvery color and bass which is mostly greenish so black struck me as odd. After watching the spot for a few minutes a beautiful little catfish swam into view. Catfish favor amateurs like myself because basically they are scavengers who will eat just about anything. So I pulled my lure and switched to a leftover chicken finger that I had brought with me. I dropped it where I had seen the cat and got nothing. Then I saw the cat on the other side of the little pier and when I cast to the other side I almost hit him in the head spooking him a bit. With a little bit of frustration setting in I took a break to see if I could spot the cat again. Looking back where I had seen him originally sure enough he was there and he was rooting around where I had dropped the chicken originally. Now I'm no brain surgeon but even I could tell he was sensed the chicken with his barbels and was looking for it. I slowly dropped the chicken back in the water and after settling for not more than a minute the cat swallowed it whole. The fight was brief but the best that I have had at this point having to let him back out a little a couple of times so I didn't snap my line (at this point I am using the 8 lb test that came with the reel).
When I pulled him into my hands I was impressed with his size and beauty (for me anyway). At 14" and a pound and a quarter the all black cat is the largest fish which I have caught and it made for three in one day. I wanted to snap a picture of my catfish but I struggled a bit with the hook and I needed to get him back in the water. The only thing that was odd was that I couldn't find the exact species in the NH Freshwater Fishing Digest. The digest lists one catfish species, the brown bullhead, which is brownish with a white belly, this fish was definitely all black and definitely in the catfish family. He actually looked like this fella' who apparently lives in Brazil, go figure? Anyway, I am excited for this Army stop-loss pay, Renee and I discussed, and if it isn't a scam I will probably get a little one-man kayak and a roof rack.
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