Lake Arthur report 6/8/14

Nightfishing!  Might have been the perfect night too.  Got to the launch @ 8:30, had to wait for some rtards to retrieve but got out there before the sun fully set.  Ton of trailers in the lot and lots of boats, but they weren't packed up like normal.  Maybe there's a new "sekret spot" that I'm not privvy to.  That's fine, since we went and did our own thing anyway.  No stripers of size, I think we caught 4 or 5 total in the 10-12" range.  Couple of rather large LMBs, would have been keepers next week.  And one I'd have boxed because the *(@&$)* ate my good hook.  Again.  WTF LMBs, why are you eating chunk baits anyway?  I cut the line and let him live though.  
 
Made a living on small catfish, enough to keep the rods bent all night.  Not most guy's cup of tea, but I enjoy catching bullheads and they are tasty.  List of fish we boated was pretty long actually:
 
wiper
walleye
LMB
perch
crappie
bluegill
channel cat
bullhead
alwives
snapping turtle  (technically I was home when I caught him, but same day counts)
 
We had quite a few runoffs that bit the baits in half.  They were toothy... thinking walleye.  Should have used stingers I guess?  Reminded me of blues chopping up bait in the ocean.  The one walleye I caught was a yearling.  12" or so.  He looked tasty, but alas he went back.  All the bullheads but one or two were yellows.  Not sure why the yellows only hit at night... probably some science to that.  
 
The last thing to mention is that I need some **** practice with the cast net.  I got it to open one time on the bait ball under our boat all night, and put a couple three dozen baits in the well.  But mostly I flailed about like a tourist.  Net's been in the bucket too long I guess.  A word to those who might never have gone after alwives before... they are scaley as all get out and they will kill everything in your baitwell in short order if you try to keep too many.  They are fantastic cut baits so don't be afraid to dump a few of them on ice or in a bucket without water and use them dead.  Also worth noting, when alive they swim like tuna.  If you plan on freelining them, you better hope they get eaten before they loop your boat.  Speaking from experience there.  And don't think that dragging a bobber will help slow them down.  
 
Good luck out there.