VAN BUREN STATE PARK....channel cats and crappie

read thru this and the next entry i'll tell you right where they are;
we took this fish , then cut him into little chunks and caught these cats...........first one 2#, second 4#, 3rd 2#
then we switched to minnows and the crappie were on.....brought home 16.

Thats really cool!!
Like the action shots
Also like how you get the whole family out and always manage to have a good time!!!!

Congrtz on the multi species spot!!!

every year right around this time at the end of march the channel cats start their migration up this little creek that feeds van buren state park. with the flood a week ago they really aren't in there yet, but they are starting. we have been up there in years past and the fishing is insane. 7 and 8 pounders , one right after another. now when i say 1 after the other i mean bait hits the water and lays down, and i am not kidding you 2 minutes tops and there is another 7 pounder. it's almost like bass fishing, they even jump out of the water. i have never seen anything like it. liver and cutbait really produce with nightcrawlers being a close 3rd. heres where you go. on the east side of the lake there is a boat ramp...park there. cross the bridge to the south side and then head north on the horse trail. walk in about 150 yards and you can see the creek and open bank. fish from there on up till water is less than a foot. you can go about a half mile. now i know i said boat ramp, but lake has been filling in for years so 2-3 feet deep is all you have so you would need a john boat and raise the electric motor all the way up.

DDAAANNNGG Gunna have to hit this place with you!!!

nice stream any smallies in their. great pics of u holding the cats with your cat gloves

1 last thing....tons of snags.....use a no snag sinker, trust me it helps, and you'll only need a half ounce tops to throw all the way across the creek

we can meet whenever anyone is ready...you'll probably never fish anything like it again in your life. i'm 40 and have fished all over and never found a spot like this. biggest i have heard of coming out of there is 15 pounds, but i have literally seen guys come off the trail with no line left on their rods.

lake is really shallow but lots of largemouth in the 3-5 pound range don't know of any smallmouth.

Nice trip jig!

went again today. not exactly ideal conditions with 30 mph winds and rain all night long. and then rain while i was there, and even a little snow, but got a few. 2 channel cats....21", and 22". 1 crappie....12". 4 bluegills....8". and 1 largemouth...2 1/2 pounds.

Looks like you have yourself a great spot there, congrats on the fish

Nice

really great place to fish!

beetlespinprincess wrote:really great place to fish!

I wonder who this is???
minnowseinetackle!!
ha

OhioFisher wrote:

beetlespinprincess wrote:really great place to fish!

I wonder who this is???
minnowseinetackle!!
ha

Yes that is me! Did the picture give it away? It is bugeyedjig's favorite of me fishing!

Yes it was the picture

great pics as usual bejig, glad to see u always get the whole family involved

the boy i gues your son had a nice catch with that catfish and that was a really nice crappie next to teh bass

got off early today, grabbed some waxworms and hit the lake again. wonderful wind was blowing 100 mph again, and the direction was north, southeast, westnorth and east which made casting ultralight a blast. but got to go and that made the day. got a few. 9 nice bluegills, 1- 11 inch crappie, and 1- 1 pound bass that i put back. here they are;. if you guys get this way, you need to fish this place soon. the crappie will shutoff and so will the bass, about june, then it's only catfish, and that is chuck and chance it.

looks like youll be eatin good again tonight.

since sunnies are small how do you fillet them and get meat and not all bones?

They look better than 7in. to be, easy to fillet... They are easy keepers!!!!!
That crappie looks great in Elliots? hands
Nice catch today!
:featured:
O yeah, ha for sure the wind was WOW!!!!

we beat on them again this afternoon. kim even got to go. elliott and i caught these. the princess can post her own monsters. big enough to eat elliotts and mine. but we got a kicker. elliott caught couple of small frogs in his net. picture included.

Here is how you do it...First you spend 2 hours catching nothing while the boys catch what we thought at the time were big fish then enters the princess who has to show them how to catch big fish! . See twice the size of theirs. Eventually I will educate them at the Princess School of Fishing!

Ha DAANNGG!!!!

You all tore em up, now as for this princess school of fishing I don't no

How big were they?
Good Job