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hi dave, apologies for the single paragragh text up front mate, waiting for my new pc to arrive......... ive seen it a few times as well mate as i used to go mid may for 3 weeks when i started going over there.. now is the time for it mate! they certainly congregate together around areas with plenty of stuff to lay their eggs on.. i used to pull up the buoy anchor and it, and the rope, were sometimes covered in eggs! fallen or overhanging trees, back eddies and pools off the main river.. anywhere with structure and shallow (less than 10ft), especially if its close to the deeper main flow, where i think the females might retire to!............................... with regards who's shagging who (all just my humble opinion), i think when you see numbers of fish very close together then the area itself is an ideal spot for it.. a bit like birds nesting on cliffs.... who's attracting who? now theres a question! lol. a different fish but pike anglers have thought for a long time that the females move onto the shallows first which then attracts the males.. current thinking is now the opposite it seems, so much so that people take lures down to shallow areas to see if the jacks have arrived.. once they are there, the big females are not far off.. i think it is probably similar with the cats.. the males, and possibly their female mate although they may come later ( i dont know), move into a spot and start getting it on.. the smaller males then start jostling for position and maybe a quick pop at the female, which is when they get aggressive. i also think some of the aggressive displays are smaller males encroaching on a brooding male.. ive seen it where a male had taken residence over the eggs and stayed under a tree for nearly 3 weeks! several times i saw at least 2 cats splashing aggressively before one swam off.. i thought it was spawning at first but after watching it for so long i think it was just aggressiveness in protecting his brood. you could almost guarantee a take on a livebait fished further along the bank just after seeing it..... again i think aggressiveness had something to do with that as well.. a pumped up male who came for a shag and just lost a fight! and they certainly do fight! ive seen them go for one another on a mat! mindblowing!! all this is where all the bite marks come from fella but who knows, the male and female mating might give each other a lovebite, or it might just be part of the ritual mating ceremony...... who knows for sure but these are just my ramblings.. great post though mate.. interesting stuff... cheers, marc...........ps. i noticed a thing years ago mate that at this time of year if you gently tap a cats snout with your hand it will snap its mouth shut on your hand quicker than you can blink.. give it a go mate! that was a bloody lesson for me!