Went out for a while this morning and had a hard time finding them. I finally found a mass of blue cats in 25.3’ of water. They were suspended at 6’! What is up with that? I saw them on my graph but thought they were baitfish. There were so many that they showed up as one long mass. I probably caught more than 50 of them as fast as I could drop a bait. Shame none of them were over 8” long. Well, a few may have been 9” but not many. It got too hot to catch fish the size you’d stock your pond with. 😁 But I found them!

I've had a rough time the last couple trips as well. I haven't been punch bait fishing there though. Been dragging baits and catching some but not worth the heat. Punch baiters are catching them.

I know most (including myself) probably prefer 1-3lbers for eating, but if you're eager to have a fish fry, and little ones are all you're catching, they'll do. Those little 8" cats are super easy to clean. If you catch enough (which you definitely did), you'd have a good bit of food.

I’m almost 70 and I’ve just now started using punch bait. I still catch shad but lately, they don’t seem to want it. I use a blood punch bait. As purchased, it doesn’t stay on the hook very well at all so I pull Cotten balls into small bits and mix it in. Sometimes I also use the elastic fishing thread to secure it to the hook. It’s good stuff and keeps the small ones from stealing your bait.