Outdoorsmen Adventures.com

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

AKRON, Iowa – The Big Sioux Cat Anglers Club began like most others. A bunch of guys sitting around a table talking about fishing and suddenly the idea of forming a club comes up.

For this group, it was back in November of 2008 when the club formed.

“A bunch of us were just talking in Dad’s garage,” Bobby Walrod remembers. “Darrell Carter brought up the idea. There were nine of us there and we thought that was a good idea.

“That’s how the club came about,” he says.

“We wanted to be more than just a group of guys with like fishing interests,” he continues. “We wanted to organize tournaments, but we also felt there was a lot of good a club could do up and down the Big Sioux River.”

Access points along the river are few and far between and that would be one area where an organized club might make a difference, the group felt.

“We would like to do some community service projects,” he says.

“There is grant money out there for projects such as boat ramps that would improve our river and access,” Bobby says. “That’s what we would like to grow into.

“We’d like to work with the IDNR and county conservation groups to have a river clean-up day on the Big Sioux next year,” he says.

From that initial group of nine guys, the club has grown to over 40 members today. Most are from Akron, Hawarden, Elk Point, Sioux City and nearby areas.

The charter members include Bobby, his father Bob, Akron; Carter, Elk Point; Austin Walrod, Sioux City; Dick Hendricksen and Stacy Rabey, both of Akron; Keith Copenhaver, Hinton, Jeff Nohava and Carl Harry, both of Hawarden.

The group held their first tournament in 2009 and have now grown to five tournaments a year. Those include Brown’s Lake; Pro Sport Bistro (the club runs that tournament in cooperation with Pro Sport Bistro Restaurant in Hawarden); the Sioux City Missouri River tournament (canceled due to high water); the Skily Slam (a memorial for Bobby’s brother Chris “Skil” Walrod); The Lewis and Clark Tournament (Aug. 14 out of Weigand Marina) and the Big Sioux Triple Crown (Sept. 18 on the Big Sioux).

When I’m doing in store promotions and fishing seminars, I get a lot of questions, the one that’s asked the most often is “how can I catch fish”?

It’s not really all that complicated; first you have to understand why fish do certain things and when they’ll do it!

What you need to do is to think like a fish.

In order to understand fish, you first need to understand the senses a fish uses to survive.

One of the most misunderstood senses of the fish would be its lateral line.

A fish’s lateral line is made up of a bundle of nerves whose projecting hairs is enclosed in a gelatinous substance located on either side of the fish.

The lateral line is sensitive to changes in the water pressure and as the pressure changes either by a change in depth or an approaching fish or creature causes the hairs to vibrate, sending signals to the brain allowing the fish to detect movement that they may not have see.

The lateral line also helps fish to swim in tight schools with out running into each other.

The eyesight of a fish is similar to that of we humans, they’re able to detect both brightness and color.

Fish that roam the shallow water, such as bass have excellent eyesight.  In bright light, bass see many of the colors that humans are able to see.

Other species of fish won’t have the full line of color perception that humans do.

Since water filters out colors, fish located in deeper water can’t detect all the colors that shallow water cousins can.

Walleyes for instance see primarily orange and green, with all other colors appearing as different shades of gray.

Fluorescence hold their color longer in deeper water, what this means is that the fish are more apt to see a florescent colored lure better in deeper water.

Fish that feed in deep water aren’t able to distinguish the different colors so instead of responding to color, they respond to vibration and the flashes of light coming off predators, prey fish or your lure.

All species of fish have an excellent sense of hearing.  Part of the reason that a fish hears so well is because water conducts sound better than air.

Fish don’t have ears like other animals; they pick up sound through the bones located in their head.

The way one species of fish will relate to sound varies from one species to another.  The vibration made by an angler walking along a bank can spook trout, but panfish don’t seemed to be bothered by noise.

I can attest for this first hand as a few years ago, we were SCUBA diving in Lake Francis Case, most of the fish in the area that we were working, moved away when from the bubbles coming from our gear.  The panfish weren’t afraid at all and came closer with the more racket we made.

Taste is another sense that fish have.  Taste is not one of their primary senses and not many fish rely heavily on just this sense when feeding.

The exception to this rule is the bullhead and catfish family.  They have very poor eyesight and rely heavily on the taste receptors located on the outside of their mouth in their barbells or whiskers to help locate food.

The sense of smell is excellent in most species of fish.  As they move through the water, their sense of smell is continually being used, checking out the surrounding body of water.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

TEKAMAH, NEB. — It probably wasn’t the kind of day you would pick for catfishing, but nobody told the cats.

Pat Carter, Elk Point, S.D., and I arrived at Summit Lake in the middle of a morning rainstorm, but when the downpour turned to sprinkles, we launched my boat and headed out.

Pat had fished the lake a couple times before and was impressed with the channel catfish to be found there. When he suggested we give it a try, I was quick to agree.

For the past seven years, Pat and I have gotten together prior to Sioux City’s one and only catfish tournament and spend a day or an evening chasing “ole whiskers.”

It’s a tradition now and what began as a U.S. CATS sponsored tournament is now a local tournament with Pat as the director. Strong sponsor support from local businesses, headed by First Class Credit Union, and individuals is quickly making this event one of the premier catfish tournaments in the country.

Last year the First Class Cat Attack attracted 51 teams with entries from a seven-state area. This year Pat hopes to top 60 boats and is well on his way. Current entries exceed last year’s.

This year, the boats will blast off from the South Sioux City boat ramp with waters of the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers eligible.

Last year’s event was won by Dean and Bruce Strobman of Sioux City with a single catch — a 56.60-pound blue catfish. Second was taken by Keith Copenhaver, Sioux City, and Chris Sharp, Merrill, Iowa with 10 fish weighing 40.90 pounds.

In all, anglers weighed in 155 fish totaling 500.15 pounds, the highest weight in the history of the tournament.

This year’s event will be July 24 with anglers fishing from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event has a $5,000 guaranteed payout. Cash awards will be given for first through 6th place with additional cash placements for over 30 teams. Seventh to 15th place teams will win door prizes. Additional door prizes will be offered including a trolling motor, depth finder and rods and reels.

Entry automatically qualifies teams for the 2010 Night Tournament from 7p.m. to 8 a.m. Sept. 4.

The public is welcome to the weigh-in at the ramp. A free cookout and drinks will be available beginning at 3 p.m.

Entry fee for the event is $100 with an optional $10 for the big fish Pot. Entries are being accepted at the Bacon Creek Country Store at 2520 Gordon Dr. Entries will also be accepted, cash only, the morning of the tournament. A mandatory rules meeting will begin at 6:30 a.m.

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

SELKIRK, Manitoba — It was back in 1986 when I first fished the Red River below the dam at Lockport, Manitoba, with Stu McKay.

Stu was working with the railroad at the time, but aspired to become a full-time guide on the Red River along the stretch long known as the Miracle Mile.

It was in early June and I just couldn’t believe that five of us boated over 1,000 pounds of channel cats in two days. I wrote about it and the next year came back. Stu had realized his dream and had purchased a concession right there called “Lily Ann’s.”

That quickly grew… Continue reading

Holly Chow, Winnipeg, a full-time guide for Cats

on the Red at Lockport, Manitoba, nets a catfish for a client. (Submitted photo)

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

LOCKPORT, Manitoba — When Holly Chow steps into her guide boat, she has to catch fish.

After all, anyone with the nickname, “Mama Cat” has to live up to her reputation.

And she does. A lifetime of experience in waters throughout the country sees to that.

But she didn’t really begin to fish for catfish until last spring. That’s when she began guiding full time for Stu McKay’s “Cats on the Red” resort.

“A typical day would be eight guys standing at the dock and they’d see two boats there and they’d see the girl and they’d go, ‘Oh, god, somebody’s got to fish with the girl,’” she said. “Then we’d come in with 24 fish and they’d go, “We were with ‘Mama Cat!’”

The Red River below the Lockport dam is recognized worldwide as a premier big catfish river in the summertime.

“The average size channel cat is about 20 pounds,” Holly said. “I would be ashamed if I took you out and we didn’t get three over 36 inches weighing between 24 and 26 pounds.”… Continue reading

They’re big, they’re ugly and they lurk on the bottom of just about every body of water in the upper Midwest.

Although many of the larger ones may look like it, they’re not the creature from the black lagoon, it’s the catfish, one of the most popular yet under utilized sport fish species in the Midwest.

Catfish are very highly regarded for their food and sports value with thousands of them being raised commercially throughout the U.S.

They can be found in about any body of water, while some species prefer bodies of water that have clean bottoms of sand and gravel.

Other areas that they haunt include logjams, beneath tree roots protruding into the water, beaver runs and they can also be found in rocky turbid areas as long as a food source is in that area.

Found throughout the U.S. with the biggest populations being located in the central part of the U.S.

Several species of catfish can be found in all types of water, including rivers, creeks, ponds and in our larger lakes and reservoirs.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

All it took was one fish to win last Saturday’s sixth annual “First Class Cat Attack!” on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers here.

That fish weighed 56.60 pounds.

Dean and Bruce Stroman, Sioux City, caught the big blue cat only a couple hours into the tourney.

They also ended the five-year Carter family dynasty of first place wins in this event.

It was the only fish they caught all day, but it was plenty big enough to beat the second place team of Keith Copenhaver, Sioux City, and Chris Sharp, Merrill, Iowa, who weighed in a limit stringer of 10 fish for 40.90 pounds.

The big blue turned out to be pretty valuable for the Stromans. They netted $1,530 for the first place win, $406 ($100 from First Class Credit Union and $306 from the Big Fish pot) for the Big Fish award and the $1,000 Carter Bounty donated by First Class Credit Union for a total of $2,936.

The second place team cashed a check for $1,071. They had four channel catfish and six flathead catfish. Their biggest fish was a 14.7-pound flathead and won third place for big fish. That paid $50.… Continue reading