After a late dinner with the group, the next morning we set up for white catfish.  These fish truly are a rarity, so the fact that Pat and Ben had caught two of them at this spot was very exciting.  After an already successful species-hunting trip, they would truly be a remarkable bonus.  We set up two rods each, two with worms and two with cut bait.

A striped bass came to say hello.

What happened next was absolutely ridiculous.  After a few white perch catches, I had a stronger take on my worm-baited rod.  As I reeled the fish in, I thought it was a strange-looking channel catfish so I called for the net.  George netted the fish and immediately had a take on his cut-bait rod.  I didn’t have time to take my catfish out of the net so I scooped George’s catfish in with mine.

We walked back to examine what we had.  They were bullhead-like, with all-white whiskers and rounded anal fins.  Two white catfish. Two white catfish, back-to-back, scooped in the same net.  These fish are rare?

White catfish

Not five minutes later, I had back-to-back striper and another white catfish!

George and I were in disbelief.  What an incredible and completely unexpected species to add to our lists.

As high tide approached, the bite slowed and George and I had some extra time to revisit the spot for shiners.  The water had cleared substantially.  Still, all I found were mummichog and redbreast sunfish.

The mummichog in this area were gorgeously coloured up, for spawning I presume.

Redbreast sunfish

Ken and Pat’s advice to check downstream areas panned out and we eventually intercepted the shiners!

Satinfin shiner

Swollowtail shiner

What a great way to finish off a trip that, despite the weather being fully against us, completely panned out!  White catfish were an immense bonus that I will not soon forget.  Huge thanks to Pat once again for guiding us this weekend!