Well, as to my Catfish Calendar, the first strong BlueCat Weekend is about to arrive this weekend of the year 2011. Since the CTC tourney was cancelled, my uncle (JW) & I are going for it. We will arrive Saturday AM at RB on Lake Limestone, and head out armed with perch & goldfish for our set lines. And James (JW) says somewhere in here, we will attempt at trying to get shad work for us. [Alert the Candid Camera crew]

We will be running from the Running Branch fork (in the No Wake Zone) all the way to the Near Corner & then also across the bottom near the dam to the other side. Basically 3, make that 4, OK, actually 5, strategic spots. We will run them at least 2 times following (Sat PM & Sunday AM). However, we wanted to finally try out the juglines at the Near Corner (inside & outside) with the glow sticks Saturday night. We have had traces of some big cats recently on the jugs, as they have vanished & reappeared days later. Only to have them mangled up like balls of yarn.

Even though only spending one night, we hope to make the most of it, as I have a big family fish fry on the 22nd for my son-in-law's clan. While I am in the mode of processing the fish to eventually go to the freezer, I will instead divert it directly to the fish fry. I'm hoping that saves me a lot of time (& I could use the sleep).

Next big trip targeted will be another Big BlueCat weekend in May. We plan to target an early Memorial Day Trip the weekend before the actual holiday weekend. In that one, from Friday thru Monday (a 3 day trip with the slide-on camper), we are looking at BC/BC/BC/BFT days on the Catfish Calendar for May 20th/21st/22nd/23rd with bookoodles of good days in front & behind those 4. In fact, if you are going fishing in May, it's non-stop action from 14th thru 27th, especially since it also falls into some spawning.

As to the April trip this weekend, I do hope to find that big gate valve & crank down some on this strong wind we have had for so long. It seems the March winds are still marching thru April.

got that right about the winds. every time i get out there its a struggle to find a spot that isnt getting hammered by heavy winds. thanks for the advice on when to catch em! wish yall the best of luck!

Looks like Me and my Fishing Partners have to go this weekend. Get ready boys for some fishing.

Good Luck Lynn, I'll be waiting for the results. The wind is so bad out west I can only think about fishing. it's been almost a month now and I'm dying to go...

Yes, hard to believe, but due to the high winds & such, we were unable to do our normal set-out before the T-Day trip. Another blew in on T-Day which prevented us from setting out the 2 "Planters" until the Saturday of that trip. Naturally, we jumped into the 2 ZIP days of the Trip (that Saturday & Sunday). And those 2 produced exactly that later that night & the next morning. At max, had only 3 baits cleaned off on both lines. So I emptied them & we have yet been able to utilize them. I've kept them running blanks & empty since then. But finally, hopefully, we can get them going this weekend. Plus I have a new style 4 hook juglines, some at 24' long & some at 28' long we will be using at the Near Corner.

Lake Limestone is about 3 feet low currently. As to rain, we may not see any significant amount for a bit longer, as we've been stuck in the opposite pattern they call La Nina. El Nino is the one that brings way too much rain.

I forget if it was in February or January, but we were cleaning & redating the "Planter" on the opposite side & it kicked on up to about 20 MPH or so. I had to really hold on & tug to run it. And I noticed the line I was letting go, was heading out to the front of the boat. First thought was it was hung. Second thought was I must have broken the line due to the wind. But I glanced out across the waves & saw the other set of fender floats (the end we started on) as we passed by heading uplake. I realized due to the waves (buoyancy) & the wind, with my tugging, had ripped the 72# anchor up & it was bobbing. And we were turning the trotline around, in so that the southeast end would now be the northwest end. Since going with the 3.5 gallon anchors, that is the first time, I have "unplanted" one. That's how powerful the wind & waves were.

I'm hopin' for a little lighter wind this weekend.