Got in a plug for Crappie.com

[M R Dux]

A friend of mine, Will, is the on-line editor for Field and Stream. We had not had the chance to get together to pull cranks but he's been following my fishing reports on ExploreKYLake.com. He called me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I had a free day we could get together with a film crew and try to catch some catfish pulling cranks. To most folks, catching cats on cranks is as foreign as can be. The video series they are doing is about off-the-wall tactics and such. I'm all about off-the-wall.

We met yesterday afternoon at Sportsman's Marina. His film crew was himself and a guy,Mike, from up-state NY. We got their gear loaded and headed out on the main lake. I went thru my usual spiel about the gear, how and why we do it certain ways, and got baits in the water. We hadn't gone 50 yards till we hooked into a good cat. The rod was on my side so I handed the 14 foot Southern Crappie 143T to Will and the fight was on. When you hook a catfish at 1.8mph, they will eventually pop up to the top, just not as fast as a slab crappie. When this cat surfaced, it was tail first. He brought it all the way to the boat then we realized it was lassoed around its tail, Wicked Tuna style.

We caught several more nice cats, some small crappie and 4 keeper green carp. We laughed all afternoon and Mike got in on the fun while Will filmed. We only stayed out a couple of hours but it was so nice to be on the lake when we weren't having to look over our shoulders keeping watch for idiots trying to run us down.

Will is going to let me know when the show will be posted on their site so I'll let the C.com site know. I did mention Crappie.com several times and wore my well-worn Crappie.com hat the whole time.

[Cane Pole]

Good story Doug.

[Crestliner08]

Sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Thanks for doing this. BTW, years ago when I use to troll for northern pike up here, we'd catch plenty of catfish on 6" and even 8" Believers. Cats love plugs. They'll even go after spinnerbaits, but the problem is, their jaws are so powerful (on the bigger cats) that they almost destroy spinnerbaits.

[M R Dux]

Sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Thanks for doing this. BTW, years ago when I use to troll for northern pike up here, we'd catch plenty of catfish on 6" and even 8" Believers. Cats love plugs. They'll even go after spinnerbaits, but the problem is, their jaws are so powerful (on the bigger cats) that they almost destroy spinnerbaits.

I keep extra hooks with split rings already on them with split ring pliers. A large % of the time I have to replace the trebles while still fishing. The shape of a catfish mouth plus the fact they tend to want to swallow the cranks means nothing good for hooks but nice, solid hook-ups.

[tenncrappie]

Good job brother. Now send me an autographed Mr. Dux cap!!!!!! Can't wait to see the telecast.

[Slab]

Field and Stream how cool is that. Great story.



Thanks for the plug Doug. Love that magazine. Can't wait to see the video. I thought I'd return the favor and give them a plug.

[crp4570]

Way to go go buddy. Congrats. Thx for plugging this great site.

[wicklundrh]

Pretty cool Doug. We catch some giants while trolling for walleyes. Nothing like one of them jokers detroying a $15 dollar custom crank bait... hooks and all. I've had them rip the bill right off the cranks before. All your left with is the duo-lock snap, a bill and a fish with some pretty jewelry rolling in the background!

[kycreek]

Anxious to see it..

[Boa3]

Way to go Doug. I bet this will be a great show.