Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

"Zoe" wrote in message
...
Catfish. Now there's a different type of fish.

What's it like hooking one of these ugly monsters?


They aren't really "ugly". Channel cats, for example, are sleek and
beautifully colored. They have a powerful forked tail. I usually find them
in the deep river current. When hooked, they tend to move smoothly
upstream, and unless you can turn them, they will just keep going as if they
don't notice your best efforts. They are at home in swift water, and are
difficult to turn or raise from the depths. Once hooked, their tough mouths
hold the hook well, and they will take advantage of any mistake you make;
drag too tight, short of line on your spool, forget to tie your rod down
when you open the cooler, pinch the mono with the weight, sloppy weak knots,
light wire hooks, frayed leader ......ooops. They will straighten your
hooks, find the weak spot in your line or technique and they know every snag
on the river; they will leave you telling the stories of the legendary "one
that got away".

A carp will make a sizzling run and likely turn to cross the current, a cat
feels like tying your line to a car bumper at a stop light; he just keeps
moving away.

Pepperoni

Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

They sound very exiting!




"Pepperoni" wrote in message
...
"Zoe" wrote in message
...
Catfish. Now there's a different type of fish.

What's it like hooking one of these ugly monsters?


They aren't really "ugly". Channel cats, for example, are sleek and
beautifully colored. They have a powerful forked tail. I usually find
them
in the deep river current. When hooked, they tend to move smoothly
upstream, and unless you can turn them, they will just keep going as if
they
don't notice your best efforts. They are at home in swift water, and are
difficult to turn or raise from the depths. Once hooked, their tough
mouths
hold the hook well, and they will take advantage of any mistake you make;
drag too tight, short of line on your spool, forget to tie your rod down
when you open the cooler, pinch the mono with the weight, sloppy weak
knots,
light wire hooks, frayed leader ......ooops. They will straighten
your
hooks, find the weak spot in your line or technique and they know every
snag
on the river; they will leave you telling the stories of the legendary
"one
that got away".

A carp will make a sizzling run and likely turn to cross the current, a
cat
feels like tying your line to a car bumper at a stop light; he just keeps
moving away.

Pepperoni

Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

"Zoe" wrote in message
...
They sound very exiting!



Yes. I fish corn for carp all day and usually hook up about 2 an hour. As
evening nears, the bank shadow covers the river and I switch to 1/4 inch hot
dog rings (natural casing works best--holds the hook) As the shadow covers
the shallows, the cats come up and feed. I fish from a roadway bridge with
a wide pedestrian walk on each side. (streetlight overhead....it's great)
The place is filled with carp The problem with the cats is that they almost
always run upriver and under the bridge. If you can't stop them, they are
gone, gone, gone. They average about 34 inches, but get much larger.

Carp don't seem to have a good sense of direction, they will run back and
forth across the river and seem easy to turn compared to the cats. The cats
are built for current and they slide under the bridge like submarines....no
head shaking or turns; just straight into the deepest heaviest flow.

The problem with hot dog bait is that the river is filled with soft shelled
turtles. They will home in like cruise missiles from 40 yards away. They
must have great smell and eyesight. They are also very dexterous with their
claws, and will snatch the bait right from the hook (or cut narrow "V"
notches with their narrow snout) They fight well, too, but a nuisance to
unhook with huge claws and hissing all the time. You come to hate those
turtles, tearing up your line and stealing bait. (they run a foot to 18
inches across)

The river also holds monster walleye, bass, muskie/pike, and striper
hybrids. I fish for them when I can afford minnows or leeches. The
walleyes are seasonal, preferring cold spring water, but early in the year
they hold in the shade under the bridge. (four lanes with 6 foot walk on
each side) A crawler or minnow drifted underneath when the sun is high is
excellent strategy.

Where did all these fish come from?....haha 12 years ago we had a "100 year"
flood and the fish hatchery upstream released everything into the river.
Some species didn't last (need too much gravel bottom to spawn), but most
will always be here, I suppose. Haha you should have seen the fly fishermen
chasing the brood trout from the hatchery; 15-20 pound brown trout,
steelhead and stripers. All of these fish were scheduled to be planted into
rivers running into the Great Lakes, but we had them all trapped by dams, 30
river miles inland.

Huron River between Ann Arbor and Belleville Michigan. USA (Just stay off my
bridge)
I'll take my camera down in a couple months and post some pics.

Pepperoni

Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

I take it you from USA pepperoni.


have a look at a European wells cat.

they are getting landed on rod and line in France and Spain to over 200LB
andwell over 7 foot long.

snap of rigs are one of the best, 70lb main line with a 100+braided leader.
a single hook to a livebait, row the bait out into the river and tie a weak
link of 30lb line from the marker buoy to your main line and then take your
rods back to shore.

when you get a hit from a cat you wait until the weak link brakes then the
fun starts.

http://www.catfishgroup.co.uk/page2.html

have a look as big rons fish on here to get the size

All the best.
Phil.
"Pepperoni" wrote in message
...

"Zoe" wrote in message
...
They sound very exiting!



Yes. I fish corn for carp all day and usually hook up about 2 an hour. As
evening nears, the bank shadow covers the river and I switch to 1/4 inch
hot
dog rings (natural casing works best--holds the hook) As the shadow covers
the shallows, the cats come up and feed. I fish from a roadway bridge
with
a wide pedestrian walk on each side. (streetlight overhead....it's great)
The place is filled with carp The problem with the cats is that they
almost
always run upriver and under the bridge. If you can't stop them, they are
gone, gone, gone. They average about 34 inches, but get much larger.

Carp don't seem to have a good sense of direction, they will run back and
forth across the river and seem easy to turn compared to the cats. The
cats
are built for current and they slide under the bridge like
submarines....no
head shaking or turns; just straight into the deepest heaviest flow.

The problem with hot dog bait is that the river is filled with soft
shelled
turtles. They will home in like cruise missiles from 40 yards away. They
must have great smell and eyesight. They are also very dexterous with
their
claws, and will snatch the bait right from the hook (or cut narrow "V"
notches with their narrow snout) They fight well, too, but a nuisance to
unhook with huge claws and hissing all the time. You come to hate those
turtles, tearing up your line and stealing bait. (they run a foot to 18
inches across)

The river also holds monster walleye, bass, muskie/pike, and striper
hybrids. I fish for them when I can afford minnows or leeches. The
walleyes are seasonal, preferring cold spring water, but early in the year
they hold in the shade under the bridge. (four lanes with 6 foot walk on
each side) A crawler or minnow drifted underneath when the sun is high is
excellent strategy.

Where did all these fish come from?....haha 12 years ago we had a "100
year"
flood and the fish hatchery upstream released everything into the river.
Some species didn't last (need too much gravel bottom to spawn), but most
will always be here, I suppose. Haha you should have seen the fly
fishermen
chasing the brood trout from the hatchery; 15-20 pound brown trout,
steelhead and stripers. All of these fish were scheduled to be planted
into
rivers running into the Great Lakes, but we had them all trapped by dams,
30
river miles inland.

Huron River between Ann Arbor and Belleville Michigan. USA (Just stay off
my
bridge)
I'll take my camera down in a couple months and post some pics.

Pepperoni

Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

I've seen those sites before. Monsters, aren't they. We don't have
anything quite like the wels.

There is a new record catfish caught last month; taken alive and put on
live display in Texas.
121+ pound Blue cat,
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/..._Burkhead.html
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/inf...bigbluecat.htm

The worlds largest catfish, however , is the Mekong catfish.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ntcatfish.html

"Activeviii" wrote in message
...
I take it you from USA pepperoni.


have a look at a European wells cat.

they are getting landed on rod and line in France and Spain to over 200LB
andwell over 7 foot long.

snap of rigs are one of the best, 70lb main line with a 100+braided
leader.
a single hook to a livebait, row the bait out into the river and tie a
weak
link of 30lb line from the marker buoy to your main line and then take
your
rods back to shore.

when you get a hit from a cat you wait until the weak link brakes then the
fun starts.

http://www.catfishgroup.co.uk/page2.html

have a look as big rons fish on here to get the size

All the best.
Phil.

Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

Hi,

Reading over some of these posts. I guess
I can add my two cents worth,in answering Zoe's question. Hooking into
a very large catfish means a very long dogged underwater
fight. Especially with channel or blue catfish.
I have seen men use meduim size carp for
bait to catch catfish up to 100 pounds,when
trotlining or jugging. They are faster then you
think, I had caught a 25 pound channel cat and
found two rainbow trout in the stomach. They
were about two pounds in weight.
Also fresh caught catfish is very delicious on
table.
Trouter

Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

A friend of mine was out Piking a couple of weeks ago. Whole Mackerel as
bait, 20lb line, 3lb test curve rod.

Apparently, just after midnight he had a screaming run, he struck into it,
and it just kept running! Eventually the fish took all the line of his
spool and snapped the line.

Sounds like those Cats are one hell or a fish! What gear do you use to
tackle them?



"Todd Norris" wrote in message
...

Hi,

Reading over some of these posts. I guess
I can add my two cents worth,in answering Zoe's question. Hooking into
a very large catfish means a very long dogged underwater
fight. Especially with channel or blue catfish.
I have seen men use meduim size carp for
bait to catch catfish up to 100 pounds,when
trotlining or jugging. They are faster then you
think, I had caught a 25 pound channel cat and
found two rainbow trout in the stomach. They
were about two pounds in weight.
Also fresh caught catfish is very delicious on
table.
Trouter

Carp Fishing?.... or the Cat that got away
 

I usually use a heavy spinning or spincast
rods and with reels that have 20 to 25 lb test
line. Terminal gear is a heavy egg sinker and
two hooks baited small baitfish or nightcrawler
worms.
Best time to fish is at night here in Michigan
for the big channel catfish or blues.

Trouter