On a trip to the Little Miami in early June, I was trying to catch any straggling white bass in the river. I did catch a few small ones no bigger than 8 or ten inches but it was obvious that the run was over. I did however see lots of gar surfacing. These prehistoric looking fish come to the surface for air so if you are still enough, you can see them break the surface. I can always seem to hook into them or at least get them to chase but keeping a hook set into their boney thin mouths is tough. In fact, I've only done it once. They are frustrating and a major tease.
After catching the small white bass, I walked further downstream because the water level was a little lower than it had been and it was deeper down past Bass Island. I had been trying spinners, rooster tails, and rapalas but decided in this deeper water I would try to drift a grub. I put a bright green two inch twister tail onto a eighth once jig head and started to let it drift along the bottom of a deep hole that I was standing along side. Instantly, on the second cast, I felt a huge resistance. There was no noticeable strike but instead just a large wieght on the end of my line. After a short tug, I felt massive head shakes and rolls. I got excited hoping for a big bass. I fought it in the deep for quite a while without even seeing it surface once. Finally though I saw its massive head and was instantly disappointed when I thought I saw a big carp. I wasn't that happy because carp taste like mud. It wasn't until I nearly had it netted that I saw the whiskers and its scaleless skin and realized that I had a big cat fish. Whew! Something to take home! This was the biggest fish I have ever caught and it was eadible! I was excited.
I walked back to the car after gathering my pole and net up. Everyone walking or driving past gawked at my fish and commented on not realizing the river held fish like this. I threw it in my small Igloo cooler by nearly folding it in half because I had only hoped to be bringing home white bass. I now bring what I call my ambitious cooler whenever I go (it's the biggest one I have).
When I came home, I told Sara that I had caught a small fish and brought it home. She was happy with just that much. She and the kids were amazed when I took out the 31 inch, 15lb cat fish. Sara didn't know they were even in the river. I then gutted and filleted the fish to the best of my ability (big fish are tough to fillet up I found) and we had it for dinner that night. I breaded it and pan fried all of it. It was enough to feed our family twice. Everyone loved it, even Lilly!
