When do you start getting the itch?

I have the itch like crazy….As usual. I’m going to try for some catfish soon. I’m excited to continue to learn this new fishery.

Last year my buddy says, “You can just grab a big cat by the lip. No big deal”. So I catch a pretty big one (to me) and text, “My thumb is turning a little purple and hurts from grabbing it by the lip. WTF?!” He says, “Oh that isn’t a catfish, that is a bullhead.”

Turns out I caught a really big for the species “bullhead” catfish and that they have a mouth that can smash. It wasn’t really a big deal but it was alarming to have that thing clamped on my thumb and my finger throbbing for the rest of the afternoon.

It is nice those times it is funny instead of terrible, when you don’t know what you don’t know, and it bites you in the ass. Could be worse when the you don’t knows come for you…I will do more research if I ever take up shark fishing.

So now you know if you didn’t already; a bullhead catfish is not a “catfish” to an experienced cat fisherman.
 
HauntedByWaters said:
I have the itch like crazy….As usual. I’m going to try for some catfish soon. I’m excited to continue to learn this new fishery.

Last year my buddy says, “You can just grab a big cat by the lip. No big deal”. So I catch a pretty big one (to me) and text, “My thumb is turning a little purple and hurts from grabbing it by the lip. WTF?!” He says, “Oh that isn’t a catfish, that is a bullhead.”

Turns out I caught a really big for the species “bullhead” catfish and that they have a mouth that can smash. It wasn’t really a big deal but it was alarming to have that thing clamped on my thumb and my finger throbbing for the rest of the afternoon.

It is nice those times it is funny instead of terrible, when you don’t know what you don’t know, and it bites you in the ass. Could be worse when the you don’t knows come for you…I will do more research if I ever take up shark fishing.

So now you know if you didn’t already; a bullhead catfish is not a “catfish” to an experienced cat fisherman.
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That is kinda funny. Yeah all catfish that I’ve encountered may have gummy looking lips but they still have strong jaws and a bony crusher plate and will bite the snot out of you given half a chance. Pick them up from behind the pectoral fins. Watch those pectoral and dorsal spines. Catfish are cool. Are you soaking bait and eating them? I do like fried catfish. Meaty.
 
Although I may fish a time or two in the winter, I get the itch in March when I also get the itch to golf. I went to a fly shop yesterday to buy some fly tying materials and I really have the itch today.
 
swimmy said:
Sounds like my wife. "Umm, aren't you fishing or something today? Leave me alone."
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I am curious about those that fish year round...do you not ever get burned out? Are you able to still find stoke? That's another reason I like taking a break. Come spring I realize how much I've missed it and ready to get back after it.
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I fish year round, but it's definitely in the "weekend warrior" manner (work, kid, wife) so there's no way to get burnt out when you only get to fish once a week or once every other week.
 
Matt B said:
That is kinda funny. Yeah all catfish that I’ve encountered may have gummy looking lips but they still have strong jaws and a bony crusher plate and will bite the snot out of you given half a chance. Pick them up from behind the pectoral fins. Watch those pectoral and dorsal spines. Catfish are cool. Are you soaking bait and eating them? I do like fried catfish. Meaty.
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The local spot to fish for them is on an old garbage dump so I am not eating them from there. I will eat some eventually from other places. I need to learn how to clean them and process them. I could fillet a salmon with my eyes closed so it is fun to get into a species that is polar opposite and have so much new to learn.

I also am getting old and plunking is more and more fun. I can bird watch or eat a sandwich or just fart away in a chair, while I fish. That a lot different than my hike 5 miles fishing for salmon and steelhead routine that I typically do.
 
A lifetime ago I left the land of bluegill and moved to Missoula to attend U of M. A year or so in, one of my buddies introduced me to fly fishing and my girlfriend (now wife) got me 6 weeks of fly tying lessons at a local shop. Although I don't recall the month, I strongly remember getting more and more anxious as winter turned to spring. I'd be unable to sleep and up until the wee hours of the morning tying up shitty ass flies to get ready for go time.:)

A couple states and 35 years later I've landed in NW Washington with year round opportunities. I don't travel a lot to fish and for years my goal was to get in one day per week. This would still kind of present me with similar 'opener' dates....at least in my mind. For example, steelheading just closed so I switched to low land lakes that are open...now a lower stretch of a nearby river has opened...then there will be another opener in a couple months and so on.

In regard to does one get tired of it? I do...but that's just me...now that I'm retired, three days per week is my max. Yeah...I know first world problems and all that stuff :rolleyes:....and maybe it's not the fishing so much, but I start looking at or thinking about all the crap I gotta be doing around the house...that I'm not getting done when flinging flies...so I need to step back, get some of that stuff done, and drive my wife nuts for a couple days so I can get back out there with a clear head.(y)
 
I'll never get burned out. I usually get quite a bit of snowboarding in, but this year we found a deal on a car for my daughter, and couldn't pass it up. That burned up a good chunk of the cash I had squirreled away for the mountain. The local ski hills didn't get crap for snow this year anyway. So I fished even more than usual. I have already caught a couple hundred trout in 2022.
 
I seem to always have the itch. I don't get to scratch it as often as I would like. A day doesn't go by without me thinking about fishing though!
 
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To add—for me maybe it’s more like, when I see and hear the varied thrush in the woods, and especially the redwing blackbirds in the cattails, I get the urge to hit the lowland lakes. When the salmonberry starts blooming it’s time to think about bass and some stream trout. When the days get really long and the salmonberries ripen and the red huckleberries appear and the skunk cabbage is three feet high, it’s time for the high country, mountain streams and lakes. When I step outside one morning and there is a slight chill and I can smell the Sound, I itch to get out there on the salt for salmon. At that point, everything opens up and goes crazy for 4-6 weeks. Sprinkle in tuna here, most aforementioned fisheries are ongoing as well. When the mornings are foggy until 10 or 11, then clear up gloriously, better hurry up, don’t want to miss the searuns in the rivers before the water gets cold and comes up and stirs up the leaves and whatnot. As the salmon spawn and die (a smell unto itself) and eventually get washed out by fall floods there are other fish about that can be fun to look for. This is also my favorite time to fish the Yakima. When the rivers blow out, hit the Sound for searuns or late coho or chum. Or get the last licks in on your favorite basin or lowland lake before winter. In winter, when the riverside maples and cottonwoods are bare and brown I just want to be on the big local central/north Sound rivers, looking for the pullout where your truck is not parked (harder to find lately). And this brings us around again.

edit: I know I forgot some stuff
 
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swimmy said:
Skiing keeps my attn through most of the winter.

This was just last Monday.

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Back to the ole salt mine .... I mean grind ... Ohhh, not sure what I mean;) Glad you're having a good winter, but yeah, time to start thinkin' about flowing water.

cheers
 
cody- said:
I'm past due. Last time out was late October. First time out last year was late February, but I don't think I'll get out until late March or mid-April this year as I'm writing and defending my dissertation this spring.

If I can't get out by mid-April, then I likely won't get a trip in until the middle of May, which might kill me.
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@cody- What's it on (would love to know the title at the very least - even send me the abstract when done, if you so wish)?

Defense is actually fun (at least in hind-sight), once you get past the nerves, that is unless you have an A-hole on your Committee - have been on a few defenses that did not go well, but that was usually because the Adviser did a shit-ass job with his student - if you're prepared, should be no problem - remember, if you've broken some new ground, you're the absolute expert. Best of luck!!!

Cheers
 
Skiings been shit since January. I’ve been scratching the itch by heading to the beaches in search of a north sound SRC. Floated the big local river once this winter with a bud.

We’re planning a pre-runoff trip to ID this spring as a proper kickoff to the season. Anyone have any recs? Thinking StJoe or or North fork of the CdA
 
Here in Montana I can fish everyday if I felt like it. But getting on in years and that slows me down. I only get out when it's warm outside. I have a few favorite places to fish and I will hit them when it warms up. It involves a little driving so will have to pick and choose when to go. I've done my getting up at "O" dark thirty to get out and fish. So now I get to skinny water when I feel like it. The trout don't wake up until about noon so that's when I fish. And I'm only good for about an hour then I need to rest.

Warm Springs is about 20 miles from home. BSC is about 100 miles from home. If I get antsy to fish I will sometimes start out early in the morning and spend all day driving the back roads looking for skinny water to fish. I live in the fishless area of Montana, BUTTE.
 
I fish pretty much year around, so I don't get any particular itch. One thing I've noticed is that the more I fish, the more I want and feel the need to fish even more. Then, when I lay off because of unfavorable water or weather conditions, or when life has gotten in the way, the less need and even desire I feel to go fishing. It must be like an addiction. When I'm on the drug, I want more drugs. I haven't fished since a week ago Monday, due mainly to water and weather conditions. I hope to get out again before heading on a week-long trip the middle of this month.

We sleep with the bedroom window open when it's not freezing out. And I know the season is changing because I heard the frogs croaking the last two nights and not just the usual Great Horned owls or coyotes, which I enjoy also. That tells me that in addition to what's left of winter steelhead season (what little there has been of it this year) it's time to re-organize the trout gear for another season as well.
 
Frogs are definitely doing their thing...
 
I was in a pretty dark place after I learned our steelhead season was essentially not happening this year. I did some saltwater cutt fishing early on, but the fish "left" to do their thing in January, and I haven't wet a line since. Realizing that freshwater fishing in Western WA is now essentially 6 months of trout/spiny ray fishing with a month or two of horribly crowded salmon fishing at the end has been a bitter pill to swallow, and I am ashamed to think of the amount of alcohol I've been using to wash it down.

Back at the beginning of February, my sister called and asked if I wanted to go to the Florida Keys with her family. I don't have the money to pay for this trip right now, but there's no way that was going to be a problem, as bad as the "itch" had gotten. I leave Monday, and I have never been more ready to go on a trip. It's the first Spring Break week when we'll be there, so the fishing might be a little tough, but the prospect of 24-hour temps between 70 and 85 and sunshine should keep things "irie."

The itch is real... and it MUST be scratched.
 
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