The Big and Ugly

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Comment by Jim Gronaw on April 16, 2012 at 3:23pm

That's a great cattie! Congrats!

Comment by Allen Morgan on April 16, 2012 at 2:57pm

Why hadn't I found this group earlier?!?!?!?!?!?!  Thanks for the invite, Jeffrey.

I started out fishing strictly for Catfish.  Now I consider myself more of a "multi-species" type fisherman.  I don't normally target the other bigger, uglier, fish species, but should I catch one, I enjoy the fight.  I've tangled with Long-nosed Gar, Drum/sheephead, Quillbacks, Stripers, etc.  We also have a couple types of Buffalo, and I just realized that a pond in the city park about a mile away from home has one or two good-sized carp in it.

Comment by Leo Nguyen on April 16, 2012 at 2:49pm

Outstanding! Great job. That is a monster!

Comment by Allen Morgan on April 16, 2012 at 2:47pm

After hearing, on multiple occasions, that the Blue cats are tearing it up on the north bank, I decided to give it a shot today.

 

Catching bait was interesting.  The shad were up against the bank, close to the turbines.  I usually catch them further downstream.  I managed to catch one, and another gent that was fishing there tossed his net out and caught about 8 or so 5” shad which he let me have.

 

I started out almost under the cable, throwing out across current into slack water, and holding on until the sinker catches.  Last year, it would only be a few minutes until a big ol’ cat hit the bait.

 

This time, about 10 minutes went by with nothing.  I was contemplating rigging up another pole with jigs for the stripers/wipers/whites.  Then, I noticed that the gents that were fishing in the turbine enclosure were using cut bait and catching cats.  Okay!

 

I started doing what they were doing.  They let me in to their casting rotation.  It took me a bit to get the hang on drifting a large weight through there, just like a split-shot rig through a riffle.

 

Within minutes, I got a good bite.  I had a brief tussle with it, before it broke my 20 lbs test leader.  I had the drag set to tight.  The U.F.O. never broke surface, so I don’t know what it was, but from the way it fought, I’m guesstimating either large Blue, large Flathead, or big Striper.

 

The next hour and half was almost an exercise in futility.  I didn’t catch any fish, but at least I did get some casting practice in.  I haven’t thrown a 12’ surf rod in several months, and was a bit on the rusty side.  I now feel comfortable throwing 4- and 5-oz weights, with half-way decent accuracy, with that pole.  More practice, however, is needed J

 

I was beginning to run out of bait; and my other half had already called me once, wanting to know about lunch.  I didn’t think I would be able to fish for much longer.  I had just changed up to a 5-oz weight, and put some fresh bait on the hook.  I made a perfect throw, either hitting the wall and bouncing off, or landing just shy of the wall in slack water.  I tightened up the line, and felt the weight touch bottom.  Then, I started slowly cranking the handle, just to keep the weight moving.  I felt what I thought was the sinker tap-tap-tap on some rocks, so I jerked the pole up a bit to keep from snagging.  Then the pole loaded up, and I felt a throb-throb-throb as some fish started shaking it’s head.  I hollered “FISH ON!” and started pulling line in.

 

Everyone else there pulled in their lines to give me room to fight the fish.  About 30 seconds into the fight, I had the beast up on the surface, and I saw it roll.  I hollered, “It’s a monster!”  One of the other guys asked if I was going to need to borrow his net.  I answered affirmatively.  He moved into position downstream of me while I held tension on the leviathan as it swung across the current to the bank, while trying to gain some line on it.  We had to dodge another fisherman that was dealing with a snagged line, and once we got past him, I was able to get it close to the bank.  The fish kept surging away from the net.  I’m whooping and hollering, the net man was shouting, “It’s HUGE!”  We drew a pretty big crowd.

 http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2059832993?profi...

Once the fish was subdued in the net, we hauled it up.  One of the other gents told me they wanted to weigh it, I said I had a scale in my bag, then a third already had his scale out and was busy hooking the fish up.

 

Don’t trust what the scale says; the fish was flopping around and bouncing the scale up and down.  It weighed a solid 24 lbs.  This is my Personal Best Blue cat now.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on March 25, 2012 at 4:29pm

Part II, Limb Line.

Here is how the rig looks, complete with poly foam "bait."

It's ready to catch fish:

The insulated wire is left long on purpose: it is used to attach the rig to your selected branch. Loop it around the branch and back over itself, making a very strong connection. Later, it is very easy to release and take off the limb. I could not pull the one seen here off the branch, even with the branch held beneath my feet!

The ID tag is incorporated into the rig so you don't need a separate one. I used duct tape because it is strong, weatherproof and discrete.

Cost for one rig:

Cord - from the salvage stash .... $0.00

Swivel - 12/$1.26 at Walmart .... $ 0.10

Snelled hook - from my fishing stash ..... we'll call it $0.10

Clip - 25/$0.88 at Goodwill .... $0.04

Wire - from the salvage stash .... $0.00

Duct tape - You're kidding, right? We'll call it $0.01

Total..... $0.25

I've salvaged items here and saved some money; it's my nature to re-purpose stuff. But you get the idea; these are low cost.

The hook clip is crucial. These make it safer to run the rig, since you attach the baited hook separately and only at the very end. I'll be using a kayak this season and this will be a great improvement. Try tying lines in branches, juggling open hooks and bait, all while balancing in a kayak, paddling, holding on to branches, fending off snakes....well, you get the idea.

You can also prebait the hooks, if you are using dough baits, shrimp, soap, punch baits, livers.... all can be pre-hooked and kept ready for clipping on. And when you catch a fish - you don't have to fool with unhooking it. Just take the clip off, leader, fish and all! Then remove the line from the branch and move on.

You can get your hook back later when you process the fish.

Note: Most states have specific guidelines for set hooking methods (trotlines and jugging are included) so check that out first where you live. Usually, limb lines are allowed only at night and there are limits as to how many you can run. Also, it is normal that you cannot possess game fish or equipment to catch them with, when you're set lining. So double check if you wanna try it.

Tight Lines and Bouncing Branches!

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on March 25, 2012 at 3:58pm

PART I - Went to the Edisto with Lori today and got a few ideas for limb lines. For those unfamiliar with it, a limb line is a baited hook suspended just beneath the waters surface, but attached to a green tree branch which hangs out OVER the water.

Here is my idea, as foto montage:

The basic apparatus: 6-8 feet of sash cord (#18 woven nylon twine) large swivel, 8" length of #12 insulated copper wire, and ID tag made from duct tape (required by law in SC.

The leaders: #2 snelled bait holder hooks, homemade line clips, styrofoam block for holding the leaders.

The rig, assembled. The clip is a kind of doubled, or "S"-hook. One side into the swivel eye, and the snell loop is passed over the other leg.

It very simple to make - just bend a drapery hook into the shape shown!

The Working End. Take note of the TWO two knots here. The lower one attaches the swivel to the main beam; it's a simple Improved Clinch knot. The upper knot is a two loop slip knot, tied as terminal end to *double* the main beam.... it is actually a 4' DOUBLED line at this point.

This is the "magic" part. Limb lines are mostly set late in the day. The bait is suspended just an inch or two deep at most. They are left overnight, untended, and checked again in the AM.

So along comes Mr. Catfish, Nocturnal Forager. He homes in on the  bait, takes it, and turns to run - and the slip knot SLIDES!

The twisted end of the wire rig is shown here with it's large eye loop. The loop facilitates the line slipping, but halts it when the knot gets to the eye. The slip knot itself is only taut enough to hold the bait in place and gives under the pull of a fish. This doubles the lines length and the hooked fish can go back into the seclusion of the water.

If this didn't happen, the fish would thrash around at the surface on a tight line. This would wear it out or attract attention. This way, the fish is kept hale and strong, and we thwart most line poachers and alligators!   Cont'd....

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on March 13, 2012 at 3:04am

Yeah Jeff, I do fish the South Fork of the Edisto. It is a different beast down there where you are, however. Large and probably brackish by the time you see it, has run nearly two hundred miles to get to your location.

Here, though, it is more like a large coffee colored stream. I expect to be hitting it this weekend, in fact.

Comment by Jim Gronaw on March 12, 2012 at 9:07pm

Bullheads are cool! I used to work at a lake that held the Maryland record for bullheads. We used to fish for them at night with my Dad when we were kids...great memories!

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 12, 2012 at 7:34pm

It looked to be about a mile long but not that much of it was accessible from the bank David...its off the Ashley River down near Charleston....If I get time tomorrow , I'm invited to fish the Edisto River......the longest free flowing black water river that I know you've fished up near Aiken....

Comment by Leo Nguyen on March 12, 2012 at 7:10pm

Nice! The bulls are rushing the creek. LOL

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