Back home after my recent Tawakoni trip, and excited to get back on my home lake, Lake Lavon.

I hooked up the boat and headed out yesterday, a calm day but forecast storms in the pm and a humid 92F with a heat index of 100F.

It was hot and sticky, and I motored off to head up towards the north end of the lake. The bite was on and first cast didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes before a big take down.

First up, a really nice blue weighing in at 19 pounds.



Happy Bluecat Bob!



The bite would continue and a number of smaller blues, interestingly they were all were caught on big ole head baits!

A nice 11 pound fish and a 10 plus a handful of smaller fish, and a total of 66 pounds in the boat.



It was hotter than hell and I ended up pouring bottled water on my head to cool down. I was hot! I saw a big ole storm rolling in and decided to head back to the ramp.

Just in time, a big downpour as I was hooking up to the trailer.

What a fantastic day.

It's so good to be back home.

Way to go BCB! The time of year we've been waiting for is just around the corner. I was out today on the east side and put 145 pounds in the boat! Big fish was 30 pounds. Left 'em biting too. Best bite by a long shot since the winter bite last year.

Tim, you just keep bashing those big cats man!

That's an amazing morning....145 pounds!

Wowza!!!

Bob and Tim,

Nice work and nice pictures. Bob, you just keep getting better at this stuff!

Tim, hope you guys do great today. Look forward to hearing about it on Monday.

Ken

nice fish whats the lake temp now with all the rain and clouds

Excellent day on the water...not many people have a chance to have a day like that. Give them cats another month...they will be pot bellied with a stomach full of shad!

Way nice fish...

We finally got some nice rain with runoff and I am still waiting on my trim unit parts after UPS destroyed all the parts, look like they ran over it. So they are shipping more. By the time I get this stuff all the super hot fishing action is going to be pretty much over.

Thank goodness for this site here, I can at least see some of the catches. These look awesome. Hopefully the 100 degree Temps are over also

Nice post and fish. Good job.


Side Note: Nothing beats being back home!

A brief update from this week.

I spent two days fishing Lake Lavon for catfish this week. Day 1 was a 'brisk' easterly wind.



It was forecast to be 5-10mph but was way more than that with white caps and fairly big waves. I trolled with two socks out and was still drifting at 0.8 mph. The bite was not existent in 20-30 feet off of the points but eventually a big take down and I hook up a decent fish. It fought hard reeling him in and once he spotted the boat was off for round 2. Quite the battle. I get him almost back in and grab my landing net, and 'puff' just like that he is gone. Dag blasted!!! The most sickening feeling, but then it got worse when I see this wrinkly end of my leader and realized my hook had come untied.



Nothing worse, and feel like a complete idiot.

Day 2, yesterday, and just fished the afternoon in an actual 5-10moh SE breeze, and just about perfect.





I positioned my boat to get blown into a creek that started out at 30 feet and went up to 15 feet towards the mouth of the creek. Using fresh gizzard shad cut bait I got bites from the get go, landing about 15 fish in less than 3 hours. Nothing over 10 pounds but some nice dinks and just nice to get some decent bites. I'll take it!



A good time for sure, and things will only get better from here in.

Praying for some RAIN!!!

Hi there!

Haven't seen you on the lake lately. The water is still at 86F, if you can believe that.

Looks like a blast bob, thanks for the info.

Bob, I'd recommend snelling those circles for a better hookup ratio. Looks like a nice day to be out there.

No comment...

Thanks, and just to be clear, I agree the snell knot is superior.

A bit of background here. Tim very kindly gave me coaching on all things 'Bluecat' when I first started catfishing, everything from rigs for trolling, planer boards, fish patterns and indeed hooks and rigs.

I tried the snell knot and didn't have confidence in them after one of the knots 'slipped' and I lost a fish (sound familiar?). I lost confidence in the knot and switched to the palomar knot which I find easier to tie.

However, I have come to realize two important things.

1. The effectiveness and security of the knot tied is directly related to the skill of the knot tier, meaning me, more than the type of knot.
2. The snell knot is a far better presentation and more optimal than the palomar knot for hooks.

I am going to spend some time and cycles practicing the snell knot this week.

I am a man with a mission!

I've had a few snell knots slip in the past when I started using as well. I did find eventually through trial and error (and tons of videos) a couple of different ways to tie them to be a bit more stable. Pre rigging a bunch of them before your trips in batches of 10 or so will also make for better quality knots than doing on the water (less shad/catfish slime hands prior)