|
Lake McConaughy, Nebraska catfishing report
by B Robinson on 06/28/2009
|
 the 9 pounder, almost big
fish of the tourny Lake McConaughy may be tough for walleyes right now, but if you want catfish, it's the place to be! My friend Jim Mosely, who I fished the King Kat tourny with a few years ago at Milford Res in Kansas, called and needed a partner for the Central Nebraska Cat tournament this past weekend at Lake McConaughy, and I'm glad he did. He was able to get a little time in on Friday to see if he could find some fish, which was a real help. With that plan, we set out Saturday morning to catch some fish.
 basket of kitties Our plan was to river fish. Lake McConaughy is really up the last couple of years with all the water coming into the lake. We were fishing in areas that have been dry for numerous years now, so it was a regular jungle back there. We drove up the North Platte river about as far as we could, and found a couple spots that were better than others, as the pictures show. The farther you went upstream, the stiffer the current. This is a new thing to a lot of us here in central Nebraska, because we just don't have rivers here we can put boats on. We have the Tri County canal, but it's just not the same. The Platte is known for being a mile wide and inch deep, but this isn't the case right now.
Finding cuts in the bends of the river channels was one of the keys for us. You might find an area that was 6' deep, and that's where the cats seemed to be. If you could find any kind of current break, that was even better. We didn't catch any cats real early, but after about 9am, as the water temp warmed, so did the action. There were numerous times when we'd throw one rod, try to get the other rod ready, and look up to see the 1st rod doubled over. The best bait for us was cut shad, the cats just seemed to love it. I'd say we caught about 25 fish all day, and who knows how many we missed. We moved around a lot all day long, and I think that was the 2nd big key for us. This was a tournament where laziness killed.
We ended up weighing our 5 best fish for 36.4 lbs, which was good enough to win the tournament. 2nd was 29.7 lbs, and I believe that team had big fish as well. We thought our 9 pounder, above, would hold up. They brought in one that went, if you can believe this, 9.2! The cat that Jim is holding is the blackest channel cat I've ever seen. I imagine with all that dirty water and places to hide, maybe he was just coming up out of the muck.
We didn't have the turnout we were expecting, but it was still a great time. There were guys out drifting the main lake, and they were catching fish, but we found the better quality fish up the river. A variety of baits were catching fish, but some were better than others. The higher water has made walleye fishing tough to say the least. Outside of the spawn, it's been a tough bite for the eyes. As for catfish...they can be found about everywhere. No better time to go for cats at Big Mac than right now, so get out there and enjoy the beaches, but don't forget about the cats!
|
Location
|
:
|
Nebraska
|
|
Water Body
|
:
|
Lake McConaughy
|
|
Species
|
:
|
catfish
|
|
Water Temp
|
:
|
74
|
|
Technique
|
:
|
rigging
|
|
|
--------------------
Brian
fishhunter44
I now have seen god. His name is J Mascis.
|
|
|
|
Abe
|
|
Nice fish and thanks for the report! 
What Kind of catfish are those?
|
Pete Bauer
|
|
Nice report Brian, Congrats on the tournament Win
|
Chad Mayer
|
|
Nice job Brian!  Congrats on the tourney win. That is a great weight for 5 fish.
--------------------
"What a ride" Bob Musil 1944-2009
|
Ben Garver
|
|
Congrats Brian!! Great detailed report to help get people on some fish. Sounds like it would be a good bite to put kids on. Will you be fishing another King Cat tournament??
--------------------
Ben Garver
Bass Pro Shops Pro Staff
Salt Valley Guide Service - Guiding available on all Nebraska waters.
Call 402-890-3057
I say we work 2 days and fish 5!!!
|
Joel Ballweg
|
|
Nice report Brian!
Congrats on the tournament win for you & your fishing buddy!
--------------------
JOEL BALLWEG - IDO FIELD STAFF
SAUK-PRAIRIE LIVE BAIT & TACKLE
www.lakewisconsinfishing.com
|
Whiskerkev
|
|
Nice report. Channel cats always like a little bit of current. Otherwise they have to hunt much harder for their food.
|
B Robinson
|
|
Thanks guys! They were all channel cats, and I believe that was all that was caught tourny-wide.
Looking doubtful that I'll fish another King Kat tourny this year, but who knows for next year. We've got another CNC tourny in the canal in about 3 weeks, so we'll see how that one pans out first.
--------------------
Brian
fishhunter44
I now have seen god. His name is J Mascis.
|
duckhuntrrus
|
|
Thanks for the report Brian. Do you have any pictures of Martin Bay?
|
Chris Tuckner
|
|
Congrats!!!!
Great job!!!!
|
B Robinson
|
|
Thanks!
You know, I didn't get any pics of Martin Bay, but I was surprised at how little vegetation and tree growth it had. Water is, in fact, rolling into Martin Bay right now, looks good to see water in there after it being dry for so many years. Don't expect a lot of water to get in there before they start releasing for irrigation, but it'll be nice for a month or two.
--------------------
Brian
fishhunter44
I now have seen god. His name is J Mascis.
|
Zachary Fries
|
|
CONGRATS B  Great report and that is a neat picture to see of the river!!
Water in Martin, that's AWESOME 
--------------------
AKA Fisherman Zach
R&D Trucking -
Matt Pawloski State Farm - www.mattpawloski.com
The Boat Dock - theboatdock@charterinternet.com
Jolly Ann Marine - www.jollyannsales.com
|
Briank
|
|
Hey Brian!
I didn't see this when you posted it! Congrats!!
--------------------
Briank's Trophy Catfishing and Sturgeon Adventures
'09 Photo's<<
|
|
|
|
|
|
| © Copyright In-DepthOutdoors.com, Inc. 2001 - 2009, All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
Re: Lake McConaughy, Nebraska catfishing report
