Catawba report 2-6 & 7

[EYEHUNTER]

Got to Catawba Fri at 7:30. Met by guys in parking lot that said they were headed home. Side by side kept getting stuck. Forgot my gas auger at home so had to use hand auger. Not a good start ! Headed west about one mile before turning north for about 2.5 miles. Followed Christmas trees to area where a lot of broken ice is sticking up everywhere. We did ok with 3 guys on large quad as long as we stayed in another quads tracks. We stopped just south of the broken ice sticking up and were fishing at 9 am. I marked a ton of fish immediately and had my limit and lost 3 in less than 30 mins. My 2 buddies where about 200 yds south of me and they caught 3 quickly as well. When they saw how fast I was hooking up they moved beside me and fishing was great until about 11 am. After that it was ok until we left at 4 pm. We hooked up at least 4 fish per hr after 11. Fish varied in size from 15.5" to the largest we landed 8-9 pounds. Lost a lot of fish. Hand auger didn't finish holes well and didn't have a spud so had several too large to fit through hole. Ended up with our 3 man limit and threw several back.

Today we went back to same holes. Didn't mark many fish all day. Fished from 7 am to 1 pm and caught 3. Tried to make one move north through the area with broken ice. Sleds did fine. Quads no way. Foot of snow on top of foot of slush. Stuck it out at original spot. Might have been able to find some fish, but with hand auger not excited about multiple moves.

Ice was fine with 12" clear ice. No open cracks, but the crack nearest to ramp was starting to lift a little this afternoon. No problems crossing though. Need rain to melt the snow. If we get the rain then cold weather next week that is predicted we should have at least a few more weeks.

We only used jigging Rapalas. Mostly chrome / blue or chrome black. Size didn't seem to matter for us. Caught just as many on large as we did smaller. just lost more on the smaller baits. Tipped with 2 shiners

[Jawbreaker]

Sounds like it was worth the trip. Good job (except for forgetting the gas auger).

[jiggineye69]

Thanks for the update hope to fish Erie in a couple weeks, it will be my first time so hope to get on dome fish.