Thread: 3 Fish

This rain and the virus have me doing things differently lately. Had to get out or go nuts so I packed extra light and only 3 rods, all 5’6”. Turns out that with the rain the crappie bite I’ve been enjoying isn’t the same, and the light jigs get blown around a lot. Had to go with a heavier jig and a bigger body. I came not expecting much activity and that was mostly what I found. There were shad about and an occasional sploosh when something big and predatory had breakfast. I went about my adapted presentation and got no small fish, as expected. Little fish have to work hard to fight the current. Stayed about 2 hours, a very light rain with me most of the time. I wound up with a 12” crappie as my first, and a 13+ as my second. Had I kept them, dinner would have been pretty good as they both had good shoulders. So I pick around some different areas, looking for where they may have gotten off to. Had a stout little rod with 2lb mono and a 4lb leader in my hand when I got a good little thump. Little til I set the hook. I knew this was no crappie, and my first thought was to get to more open water. He went where he wanted, when he wanted, and all I could do was hold on and enjoy the drag music which abounded. A couple of minutes go by and I still hadn’t seen what this was, but I had my suspicions. Strip drag, recover, and so on. Finally I made some headway, and eventually I saw my leader knot. Then it was gone yet again. Finally I got him close and felt I was gaining line and able to keep it, and there he was. A catfish that still wasn’t net ready but I was getting closer. I grabbed the net and after a few tries was able to lift him aboard. Still in the net, I got him stretched out on top of the yardstick, he covered the 23” mark. What a fight he gave up. I don’t know my cats but I think it was a channel cat, mostly black in color. I asked the few folks around if they wanted dinner, everyone felt like I did, no thanks. At this point I have yet to ever clean or fillet a catfish. This one would have fed a few folks but I eventually put him back where he came from and called it a day. Sorry, no pics. Too wet and nasty but a good relaxing trip on a day when most folks stayed home, hiding from the conditions that really weren’t that bad. Hope y’all are able to get out soon and get a few, maybe I’ll see you there. Til then....... Skeet

Not hard to clean a catfish, you missed out on some excellent eating fillets!