Grand Lake Blues

[Quillback]

A couple of times a year I striper fish with my buddy Ken.  He lives in Neosho and every time we go fishing, I'd tell him how good the blue cat fishing is in Grand and how good to eat those fish are.

We finally made it over there today, first time in 15 years I have fished for blues at Grand.  We started off on my sure fire flat, we marked fish, had a few bites but no fish in the boat.  I was getting nervous, all the stories about the great blue fishing I'd been telling Ken and here we are after about 4 hours, skunked.

We'd bene using some brined shad that I bought at WalMart and some tilapia strips that Ken had soaked in some garlic concoction he'd made up.  Those fish just weren't interested in that stuff, so we made a decision to go to the bank and get some bream for bait.  Fortunately, we caught 4 green perch.

We went across the lake to another flat which was out of the wind and would allow us to drift slower, cut those perch up, and we finally started getting some fish.  We caught 10 or so, couple of 5 lbers., with the rest being 1-2 lb. fish.

Our best depth for the cats was in the 30 foot range.  We marked lots of shad out there.

It was good to get reacquainted with fishing for the cats, if we get out another time I think we'll do a lot better.

Lots of bass boats on the lake, must be a big tourney this weekend.  Lots of big rec boats too.  

 

[Ham]

You caught perfect fish for eating. A 30 lber is fun to catch and brag on, but you got way better eats. 

[Quillback]

37 minutes ago, Ham said:

You caught perfect fish for eating. A 30 lber is fun to catch and brag on, but you got way better eats. 

I tell people all the time that these Grand Lake blues are one of the best eating fish I've eaten.  And I've heard the same on the big ones, that you don't want to eat them.  Should I ever catch one over 8 lbs. or so, it will go back on the lake.  

[Quillback]

Phoenix BFL this weekend - explains the number of bass boats out there.

[Terrierman]

Those are great Jeff.  But when it comes to big blues:  I've never thought a 30 lb. blue cat was anything but a nice big fish fry.  No red left at all.  Belly and cheeks are the best ever.  These are from the Missouri River, long ago sadly.

[Quillback]

Big ol' cats there Rick!