Went out yesterday (Thursday) fished near the island on the south side of the Vine.

Looking at the graph I could see tons of really nice suspended fish! These fish were hanging out just above the thermocline in about 18 to 20 ft over 35ft. Based on the size of the arches I was pretty sure these were large Blue cat or potentially some sort of rough fish.

Hooked on a whole 4-in bluegill slit his stomach open sprayed him with some Dead red for good measure and slowly lowered it down to the desired depth on a 5/0 gamakatsu circle hook.

Blamo!! Hooked up! Caught a really nice blue cat my hand held scale was saying that he was 9 lb. I stringered him up to the side of the kayak excited about eating him but a few minutes later after a quick photo shoot had second thoughts and ultimately he was let go. I'm thinking I'll stick to those fish there are 5 lb or under for eating for the most part. This one seemed pretty young and healthy she could be the next 60 pounder.

That was the only bite I had in that area all day however I did move shallower and was able to catch three decent channel cats to take for dinner.

Definitely making a mental note of these catfish suspending like that below bait and above the thermocline. I would think the only way to go after them would be to do what I did and act like you're dead sticking for sand bass or something and just lower the bait to the desired depth straight up and down fishing vertically.

All the action completely stopped by 10:30 I wasn't seeing fish chasing bait or really much of anything going on.

Water temp at the surface was 85° when I left at about 11:00 a.m. the water level is back to normal. Some of the spots that I was fishing when the water was 8 to 10 ft high are much less appealing now. I went and graphed them there's just not anything there of interest now.

Give it another run next week! Until then you guys keep it up good luck out there hopefully somebody catches into a summertime suspended giant!

Nice fish, Dan!

Nice Dan! 👍. That’s how we fish for them when we find them suspended. We also suspend baits with the planer boards instead of dragging bottom. Nice release too amigo. we’ve gotten in the habit of turning loose everything over 5 lbs also. 10 lbrs are right on the cusp of being a Big fish and not very many Blues make it yo that size so we turn em loose in hopes that they will make it to trophy size. For every 10 lbr brought in the boat, we catch 20-30 eaters. If more guys had your mindset we would have 10 times the amount of Big fish and 1000x as many eaters. Keep it up amigo!

Nice tactic and a good result. Well done Dan...

LOL pretty nifty title and great catches

I have a 10lb rule, but the 3-5 lb fish are the best size for the skillet.

I keep it under 8... usually 2-5 range

Awesome post. Glad you caught some dinner!

Hell yah Dan !