Lake Orange Kayak Fishing #2

 My brothers and I kayak fished on Lake Orange yesterday, and fishing was tough. I took my fish finder, and even though I could mark lots of baitfish, the fish weren't with them. We got pushed off the lake for an hour by a thunderstorm, and that really shut down the fish. We couldn't even catch the usual small crappies on the beaver huts like we always do. So we trolled some little crankbaits, Wyatt landed a white perch and a small largemouth, and I lost a white perch at the boat. We decided to fish for the big green sunfish that hang out by the dam on some rip-rap. We landed lots of 6-8" "greenies", but I decided to try to jig up some fish by the drain in the middle of the lake. It was 34 feet deep so I started working my way down the water column with a trout magnet. There were big bluegill suspended at 5-6 feet deep, and while I was fishing for those, I hooked something big. It turned out to be a 16-17" channel cat, which was surprising considering he was suspended in 34 feet of water, and they are supposed to be spawning up against the bank in heavy cover! Soon after that, I hooked an even bigger fish at the same depth of 5-6 feet. It ran me around the drain and I could feel my line rubbing on the concrete, but I managed to paddle with one hand and get away from the drain. After a 10 minute battle, I ended up gaffing the 5lb, 22" channel cat, and bringing him in the boat. I was shocked to catch a catfish of that size on a tiny little 1/64oz jig! We had to head in because we heard thunder, and ended up heading out soon after. Not one of our best days, but we managed to catch a few. Thanks for reading!

                                                         Wyatt caught a little Warmouth

 

The catfish were definitely eating the trout magnet!