Do you love big bluegill?

I know this isn't a Bluegill post, but I thought you all might like to see this one....

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.

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.

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey D. Abney on April 16, 2012 at 2:32pm

Good job Allen and great testimony!.....Consider joining our "Big and Ugly" group sometime....we love to share our stories and pictures of the other fish we catch.....Catfish are always welcome! Check it out....Great place for your personal best to live on!

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Permalink Reply by JBplusThuy on April 16, 2012 at 2:33pm

Very nice! My wife'd be thrilled if I brought something like that home, but wow, you had a fish snap a 20-pound *leader* ?! I don't even have any line that heavy :-)

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Permalink Reply by Leo Nguyen on April 16, 2012 at 2:50pm

Good grief, that is a monster! I would love to exercise with its whole family on the water. WOW!

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Permalink Reply by Allen Morgan on April 16, 2012 at 3:15pm

@ Jeffrey, Thanks for the heads-up. I joined and made a couple posts already.

@ JB - since I'm a multi-species angler, I have to be prepared for all sorts of conditions and fish species, which usually means lots of poles (check), lots of gear (check), lots of different kinds of line (check), spinning reels with spare spools (check), you get the idea. This way I have a good chance of catching something, even if I decide to switch my target species while in the field.

For me, "leader material" is just about any kind of line I have available. My default leader materials that I always have on hand are spools of 8 lbs test mono, 20 lbs test mono (in two colors, red and clear), and 40 lbs test mono in clear (Big Game). However, I will also keep "leftover" line from when I spool line onto a reel. Of those, I have available 4 lbs test mono, 10 lbs test mono, 15 pound test mono (day-glo green), and possibly some others. I also have some "leftover" 10 lbs test PowerPro, 40 lbs test PowerPro, and 65 lbs test PowerPro. While I haven't used the braid for leader material, I do know of folks that do.

Personally, since most of my reels are spooled with braid, I tend to go with a lighter-pound-test mono leader. This way, when I get snagged, I can just pop my leader, and recover my braid. Braid ain't cheap.

All the heavier-duty stuff is for catfish. Most of my catfish rigs are spooled with at least 40 lbs test braid, as it's still rather narrow diameter, allowing for easier casting, but gives me pulling power like you wouldn't believe. The heavier leader materials are also for catfish; but they also serve another purpose. I've got three 12' surf rods, which I use at certain places. I was using one of them today. Throwing a 5 oz weight on a surf rod poses a problem; you can literally generate so much force during the cast that you break your line during the cast, before you release. This is dangerous; a 5 oz weight going who-knows-where at that velocity can severely injure, possibly kill someone. The solution is a Shock Leader; a length of heavy-duty line that runs from butt of the pole to the tip, then down through the eyes to the reel, and wrapped around the spool/spindle 3 - 4 times. The rule of thumb is 10 lbs of test for every ounce of weight; a 5 oz weight should have a 50 lbs test shock leader.

I don't do the whole "shock leader" thing; as I rarely, if ever, bread braid. But, I still go heavy-duty on the leader material to keep from throwing my sinkers off.