when we arrived at the Island at last. We unloaded the remaining gear as quickly as we could and got started baiting up. I mixed up a ¾ full 5-gallon bucket full of maize, chili hemp, tigers, mixed boilies, and robin red. Along with a bucket of range cubes, we loaded up the boat and Mirko and I began to shovel the bait into the swim over where we were going to fish. We put about half of what I had prepped. Enough to fend off the catfish and turtles and then some. We felt confident. I set my rod pod up and got my rods sorted sort of quickly. I opted to put my tips into the air again to try to force the fish out of the snags before they could drive me into them. I made up a quick method mix and got my rods cast out with their respective hookbaits and rigs. I launched about 20 balls over that lot to try to get the fish on the feed quickly. Mirko did the same and we soon had our rigs sorted out confidently. The quick baiting must have worked because I immediately attracted the attention of a couple catfish, catching four within about 15 minutes of casting. Everything settled down quickly after that and I began quietly milling around, moving gear and organizing stuff the best I could. Not easy in the pitch dark!
About eleven we heard the first crash. Being close in, it was expectedly loud but it sounded really big. Like someone dropped a small car in the water. It was a typical nighttime big buffalo crash, right over our rods. The loud VRRROOOSSSHHHH echoed through the nighttime air. Our confidence rose but no takes. Another miserable night of no sleep and squadrons of mosquitoes. I decided to have a 2am brew in my lucky Obsessive Carp Disorder cup. Half way through it I realized, “You dumbass that has loads of caffeine in it!” and I basically screwed my thoughts of sleep for the entire night. About 4:50 I had a screaming take. I lifted into the fish, which felt solid, and surprise, it snagged me up within a couple seconds. I broke everything off and it was already time for my first rig change of the session. Something prompted me to put on one of the Mulberry Scopex boilies I’d rolled. Within about a minute I had landed a fat catfish. Fantastic! One more try before going back to a less sweet hookbait. I launched more baits out, carefully casted a ball of pack connected to the rig, and sat in wait.