03-28-2014, 02:59 PM
So, after work last night I found myself looking at fishing videos on my phone and wishing it wasn't snowing and got the bright idea to give Mother Nature the bird and make the hour long treck to cutler to try the years first night time catfishing.
It was really out of sick determination to prove that even in a nasty, cold, snowy mess that I could find some catfish that wanted to play, so armed with some flathead minnows and night crawlers, my son an I headed out to freeze! The decision was made to bank tangle since we would only be fishing for a couple hours or so and motoring around on cutler in a storm sounded pretty foolish.
When we got out to the lake, we did a quick assessment of the wind direction, where the channel came closest to a wind blown shore line and decided to pitch our baits out there. The thinking was that like so many times in the past, if there is wind in your face pushing bait toward shore then the kitties will be there to slurp up the easy pickings.
We hadn't had our lines out for more than a couple minutes and had the first hit, a little mud cat. For the next couple hours it was pretty fast and steady for a mix of mud cats and channel cats. We caught probably a dozen channel cats in the 10-12" range and one that was 22" and if course we have the story of the big one that got away.
I had a hit that almost relieved me if my fishing pole ( took it half way in the water) and as soon as I grabbed it and felt the weight of it, I got really excited and thought that THIS could be my first contest fish! Well I fought it to the surface enough to see it twice, the second time only 10' from shore and flopping on top. It was a channel cat alright, a great big, heavy set, wide headed channel cat! I've caught a lot of big cats in my day and this one ranked up there. I know that excitement and "the big one that got away" situation tends to make the story better than it really was, but I'm guessing the weight to be well above the 10-12 pound mark! It was absolutely bigger than the biggest one my son caught a couple of Sundays ago and his was 29". It was probably in the 31-33" range and really chunky!
So anyway, like I was saying, he took a dive and next thing I know he wasn't moving and there was a very solid sort of feeling on the end of the line. I'm thinking that he wrapped around a rock or stick or something because when I let the pressure off, he would start tugging and I could feel him still trying to get away, but he was as stuck in this battle as I was. I gave him some slack and played the waiting game for about 15 minutes or more, periodically checking to feel if he was still there and at one point I thought he freed up and I'd get him in, but alas, it was not to be and after I felt him yanking really hard I felt it pop free and I pulled in my line with the hook gone and a twisted, frayed end about halfway through the length of leader.
I swore a few times unfortunately and fished a bit longer before giving up and heading home. I did take a couple picks to show the typical little channel cat and the 22" dinner kitty, but I didn't get to take the pic with my BFT logo next to the one that got away! Blast!!
Oh well, I know he's still in there and most likely in the same general spot for now so I'll go for him again on Saturday most likely.
The point of all this though is that they can still be caught in crappy weather and just knowing a little about where they feed makes all the difference on bites or no bites. So far, I've only had one trip to the swamp this year and not caught a channel cat so I'm positive the drawdown didn't screw with them much and the body condition has been chunky and healthy.
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It was really out of sick determination to prove that even in a nasty, cold, snowy mess that I could find some catfish that wanted to play, so armed with some flathead minnows and night crawlers, my son an I headed out to freeze! The decision was made to bank tangle since we would only be fishing for a couple hours or so and motoring around on cutler in a storm sounded pretty foolish.
When we got out to the lake, we did a quick assessment of the wind direction, where the channel came closest to a wind blown shore line and decided to pitch our baits out there. The thinking was that like so many times in the past, if there is wind in your face pushing bait toward shore then the kitties will be there to slurp up the easy pickings.
We hadn't had our lines out for more than a couple minutes and had the first hit, a little mud cat. For the next couple hours it was pretty fast and steady for a mix of mud cats and channel cats. We caught probably a dozen channel cats in the 10-12" range and one that was 22" and if course we have the story of the big one that got away.
I had a hit that almost relieved me if my fishing pole ( took it half way in the water) and as soon as I grabbed it and felt the weight of it, I got really excited and thought that THIS could be my first contest fish! Well I fought it to the surface enough to see it twice, the second time only 10' from shore and flopping on top. It was a channel cat alright, a great big, heavy set, wide headed channel cat! I've caught a lot of big cats in my day and this one ranked up there. I know that excitement and "the big one that got away" situation tends to make the story better than it really was, but I'm guessing the weight to be well above the 10-12 pound mark! It was absolutely bigger than the biggest one my son caught a couple of Sundays ago and his was 29". It was probably in the 31-33" range and really chunky!
So anyway, like I was saying, he took a dive and next thing I know he wasn't moving and there was a very solid sort of feeling on the end of the line. I'm thinking that he wrapped around a rock or stick or something because when I let the pressure off, he would start tugging and I could feel him still trying to get away, but he was as stuck in this battle as I was. I gave him some slack and played the waiting game for about 15 minutes or more, periodically checking to feel if he was still there and at one point I thought he freed up and I'd get him in, but alas, it was not to be and after I felt him yanking really hard I felt it pop free and I pulled in my line with the hook gone and a twisted, frayed end about halfway through the length of leader.
I swore a few times unfortunately and fished a bit longer before giving up and heading home. I did take a couple picks to show the typical little channel cat and the 22" dinner kitty, but I didn't get to take the pic with my BFT logo next to the one that got away! Blast!!
Oh well, I know he's still in there and most likely in the same general spot for now so I'll go for him again on Saturday most likely.
The point of all this though is that they can still be caught in crappy weather and just knowing a little about where they feed makes all the difference on bites or no bites. So far, I've only had one trip to the swamp this year and not caught a channel cat so I'm positive the drawdown didn't screw with them much and the body condition has been chunky and healthy.
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. Mr Palomar himself doesn't understand that even a 5lb fish can put 10lbs or torque on the line with a solid thrust. So his 4lb mono might be fine for ice fishing for perch and troutlets, but when you're getting serious with the big boys, a solid double digits of braid can be a good friend of mine.