So today was Christmas in November... My new Mad Catz rods and my new Shimano Tekota came today! Also, my Grandson Jer was off school so that was all the excuse I needed to head for the lake and to use Blue Cat Bob's phrase, I was looking for some redemption.

So Jer and I headed out about high noon. Not the best time to be looking for bait but there we were. I threw the net 8 or 10 times and came up empty. Next throw netted a buffalo about 10 pounds. Good enough to start. We started dragging baits just outside Collin Park Marina. We were marking loads of fish. No bueno. Next we headed east a little and tried again went for 40 minutes without a bite then had a good takedown and boated a 9 pounder. Was marking a lot of shad in 30 feet of water so I threw the new and caught one 16 inch shad. Put the head of that thing on a 10/0 triple threat and in 15 minutes we had a good takedown. Boated a 25. We had pulled boards all the way across the lake and so we picked up and headed back west and south and started again. the lower the sun got, the better the bite got. We had to head for home about sunset but I wish we could have stayed. Jer ended up missing his PB by about 2 pounds. Final tally was a 25, 13, 12, 9, 8, 6, 6, and 3 smaller eaters. all fish were released. Caught them from 30' up to about 15'. Caught them equally on the shad and cut buffalo. Water was in the low 60s at the surface.

What a blessing today was. Great time spent with my grandson...







As for the new gear, those MH rods could winch a car up off the bottom. More stiff than my Warrior Cat rods but the tip is still pretty good at detecting the bite. That rod with the Tekota is the ultimate catfish rig. I am going to like that set up a lot.

Bravo, Tim!!

That kids smile says it all.

Memories to last a lifetime.

Tim, that reel looks like you can put some serious torque on a fish. Did you get the 500 or 600? I'm hoping my wife will see the value in getting a quality reel when she's ordering my Christmas gift this year! I told her all I wanted this year was toys.

By the way, I love how you would rather take a kid fishing than to go solo. I had an uncle that always called my dad when he was going to the lake to find out if I could go. I had another uncle who'd get mad if he "had" to take one of us kids with him. Thankfully, I only went a couple of times with the latter. My first uncle taught me so much and fostered my true passion. The memories I have with him are priceless. You'll be cherished by those little ones all the days of their lives! Hats off to you.

Love the lime green setup!

Way to go Tim and Jer! Those Mad Katz rods paired with the Tekotas are the best in the game! Now you know why I’ve been raving about them so much since getting mine! Makes your Whisker Seekers feel like Wal-Mart rods no doubt! You won’t hear a single bad thing about those rods anywhere! One of the best things about them is how good they sit in the rod holders without moving or twisting with every wave. Every other rod I’ve owned would move a little with every wave and the reels would end up upside down in the rod holders over time. I fished my MH next to Jimmy’s Mediums on Sunday and I gotta say I like the Mediums Action a little better. The Mad Katz Medium is a lot more like the MH action I’m used to. Now I need to find someone to buy all my Whisker Seekers and Warrior Cat rods so I can go all Mad Katz! You can’t go wrong with Tekotas either. I’ve been running them now going on 6 yrs without a single issue. Jimmy has been running his for 8 yrs without a single issue. I bet I’ve broke 75% of my 15 Abus in that same time frame. I still like my Abus for anchor fishing but they don’t hold a candle to Tekotas when it comes to drifting and pulling boards. We’re off the water this weekend with a wedding so hope y’all hang a monster! Welcome to Mad Katz Nation buddy.

Awesome. New gear is always fun. Great day and good fish.

We went to Lewisville sunday... there's no fish in that lake.

Several things I would suggest for your side image is to toggle your grid to on so you know how far the fish are out on the sides of the boat. You also want to adjust your graph speed to the speed your scanning. If your scanning at 5mph then set your graph speed to 5. If your drifting or anchored then adjust your graph speed down to 1. This will give you a better representation of fish size instead of stretching out your returns.

I hear guys all the time say Lewisville will make you want to take up golf! Lol…You guys from Twok, Lavon, Texoma, Worth, Ray Hubbard don’t know how good y’all have it! Why on earth would leave those fisheries to come fish dinkville Lewisville?

Thanks fellas! Yesterday was a lot of fun. Jer said his arm was sore after haulin in all those fish! Skeetmaster, I got the 600 HGA and it is a tank of a reel. I agree with Chris it is better suited for pulling boards than anchor fishing but It is still reasonably castable. I L-O-V-E my new rods. I ordered three of them and I'm gonna order 3 more as soon as I can. Chris, I agree that the Mad Catz version of medium heavy is more like other rod builders heavy but I like it. I can see getting a set of the mediums for anchor fishing and maybe pairing them with some 500s. $$$$$$...

I boated the 25 on that new set up and I was fully in control all the time. The drag was smooth and that rod was like a crane boom. Now, it was 25 pounds not 50 but it really gave me confidence.

Nick, your comment about Lewisville made me laugh. you and I are doubly blessed to be close to to a lake as great as Lavon.

Chris you always give good advice. The Mad Catz and the Tekotas are simply the best. I know there are other opinions about that, but for me, I think I made it to the top. And I will look at making those adjustments to the settings on my side scan. I'm still learning how to use it...

Jer is still talking about yesterday even as he was going out the door to school this morning...

Nice fish Tim. A great day for sure with lots of memories made.

I guess I am going to have to try those MADKATZ rods. HAHA. I'm sure it is just the picture but in the first pic it looks like the 3rd eye up is not in line with the rest of them?

If you have any issues or if that eye isn’t lined up correctly then call Mickey at Mad Katz snd he will take care of you Tim.

Nice work Tim, and congrats on the early Christmas!

Good day with your grandson!

Ken

Funny story... So the daycare that Wyatt and his sister go to was closed today so they could clean it after they had a case of covid. So they were home today. By about 8:30 my wife said "why don't you just take him fishing?" I replied "oh alright. I guess I can do that" Hahahahaha!

So we divided and concurred. She kept Sawyer and I took Wy fishing. After the bite Jer and I left yesterday, I was good with that. Clouding and a bit of wind. Heck yeah. Lets see what happens. Bait was scattered but we got some. Started pulling boards. Ended up with a 20 and 8 others that all looked like they could have been the same fish. Just like the one Wy is pictured with. Probably 8 or 9 pounds.

Way to go boys! Gotta love that pre-front south wind! Wish I could get back out there for redemption but that will have to wait until until the 20th