Mr. Whiskers returns and you will never guess what happened to him

"oh hai! my name iz mr wiskers!"

Sitting by the campfire on Saturday night at along Potomac River, Karen said, "You haven't caught a catfish in awhile."

Pondering that for a bit, I couldn't remember the last time Mr. Whiskers found me. Probably our 2020 road trip where we fished Lewis and Clark Lake (Missouri River) on the Nebraska-South Dakota border. (I don't write this blog for its tens of views -- I write it so I can "remember" stuff like this.)

This is foreshadowing.

Sunday morning, waking bright and early, ambling down from our campsite to wade in the Potomac River, before I even stepped foot in the water, I spotted a wee catfish cruising around a rock.

More foreshadowing.

After about 45 minutes casting a Cabela's swimbait and a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, I didn't have a bite. But my persistence rewarded me with a hard strike after firing the swimbait toward a dark formation of submerged rocks in the middle of the river. This was an actual smallmouth bass that looked to be around 12 inches.

Smallmouth bass clearing the area before Mr. Whiskers showed up.

With only one other bite the entire time, I glanced at the fish watch and saw it had been almost two hours since dipping my toes in the river. Figuring maybe only another five or 10 minutes before heading back to the campsite, I made a few more casts. Again making long casts with the swimbait near the middle of the river, something grabbed on. The fish wallowed on the surface, and I could see that distinctive dorsal fin -- catfish.

It was a good "eatin' size" so I decided to do just that -- keep it for fileting! Catfish is among my favorite freshwater fish to eat. Walleye > perch > catfish. Although I haven't had crappie or sunfish for a long, long time.

This was also in the general area where a catfish stole a Whopper Plopper a few years ago. Who needs chicken livers when you can use swimbaits and topwater lures?!

That catfish and the smallmouth weren't the only fish I caught over the weekend. 

After arriving at the campsite on Saturday, I went upriver and caught a 12-inch smallmouth on the same flavor of Cabela's swimbait that would land Mr. Whiskers and another 12-inch smallmouth the next day. However, a smallmouth that was around 16 inches missed a picture-taking opportunity when the line snapped just as I was about ready to "lip" the fish. The fish put up a good tussle and had briefly burrowed into the rocky bottom, and the line frayed at the knot. "Snap!" and the fish was gone.

First fish of the weekend, a 12-inch smallmouth bass.

I also had a few more misses Saturday, but those fish merely unhooked themselves.

The Whopper Plopper yielded a couple blowups (which I think was the same fish) Saturday at dusk. My gut told me topwaters would be killing it since the river was so low and clear, but the fish thought otherwise.

Next up is our annual roadtrip with a date set again with RainyDaze Guide Service on Rainy Lake bordering Minnesota and Canada. We fished with them first in 2019 and then again in 2021. They have been posting pictures on their Facebook page of beast walleye and northern pike, so hopefully there are some left when we get there!

Bonus content:

Nah, you guys can have that spot.

Mr. Whiskers was rewarded as dinner.

Sunrise on the Potomac.