Ray Roberts 12-11-10

Today I had first guests Steve and family out for blue catfishing.  We decided to head out at 6am because the wind was suppose to chance from the south to north and blow in the 30's by mid morning.  As soon as we got to our first spot to graph the area bam strong north wind.  Oh well, we were already out there and the crew was willing to make the best of the day.  They wanted to catch some eaters and also chase a trophy, so we threw out some jugs to start the day.  Then we anchored up on an area I marked some good fish on a drop off from 34 to 58 ft of water.  About 5 minutes after getting all the poles out the back pole goes down and Steve reels down on it.  He boats a personal best 10 pounder....however that fish managed to run up and tangle 3 rods, so we had tangled line everywhere.  We threw a different pole out off the drop where the 10 came from and down it goes again...and again...and again.  This was not helping get the other rods untangled catching these fish, but it was fun :)  The bite was quick for about 45 minutes and then just stopped.  We decided to check the jugs since we were getting some good rollers as the wind picked up.  I think we only had one jug that didn't have a good fish on it.  I had put the jugs out on a gradual point starting at 15 ft and ending in 42ft.  As we moved up the slope to shallower water the fish were getting smaller and then wham in 28 ft of water we had a 29 pound blue on.  The guys got a kick out of seeing that fish.  We put it in the live well to get energy back and then she was released for another day.  It took a team effort to pull the jugs and fish in with the wind. 
After picking up the jugs, we fished about 6 different areas marking great fish, but the bite just got lighter and lighter as the day wore on.  At the end we were catching fish that we didn't even know where on there.  We'd go to leave and have a few fish on.  The guys were troopers catching a mess of fish in adverse conditions today.  We all had a great time with good conversation.  The guys learned how to tie knots, different rigs, graph reading, baiting hooks, patterns etc.  Look forward to the next trip guys.  Thanks  I'll post the pics when they send them to me.  It was too difficult to use more than one camera today in the wind.

Most of the fish were caught in 44-68ft of water.  Very different from 2 weeks ago when they were in 2-15 ft of water.  This cold front has moved the bait out in the deeper water.