Well we backed off a bit on the plans, no jugs or limb lines, we just
decided to do a little bank fishing, I got to the lake before dark and
caught some 3 inch bream, a bit smaller than I like but I caught a bunch
of them. I threw my net and only caught one 1/2 pound Gizzard shad, no
thread fins within reach.
When my son and grand daughter arrived about 9:00, I had all kinds of
bait,, but no crawfish, I guess I put it where there wasn't any.
I caught about a dozen creek chubs earlier in my trap (big ones, about 5
inches long) so we had live creek chubs, cut gizzard shad, live bream,
wienies, and a tub of fresh liver.
Loaded the big reels with live baits, I thought it might be early for
the big cats, but we were still equipped for them, after an hour or so ,
no bites, so I had a little reel I had been bass fishing with (8 lb
test) a 2500 Daiwa , and decided to but just a small piece of liver on
the StandOut hook it was rigged with, just to see if some small cats
were out there. In about fifteen min. that rod got a hit, I rear back on
it, and the line goes the other way, and goes, and goes, and goes, my
son is freaking out :-)
It ran for over a 100 yds, without letting up (it had to be the rod with
the 8 lb instead of one of the ones with 30 lb line), it slowed a
little, and I told my son I had to put more on the drag, as we were
talking it took off full speed again, he was saying don't add any more
the line is loaded now, I looked at my spool, I could see the spool
under what line was left , I had no choice, I added a little, ever so
gently , the fish slowed then stopped, my son counted 8 wraps of line on
the spool, that was all that was left, and we were at a draw, I couldn't
gain any, the fish couldn't take more, if felt like an eternity, and
finally my rod started coming up, I gained a few turns, then a few
more, gradually the fish was coming to me, I got about half my line
back, then off to the races again. I ended up with 5 good runs out of
the fish, the last two after we had got it close enough to get a good
look at it. About 40 min of heart pounding action. It was the only fish
we stuck a hook into tonight, (we had a number of hits on the cut
shad,, must have been blues, as soon as they felt the rod, they dropped
the bait). The grand daughter got tired and cold, so at 1 PM we called
it a night.
Ok I'll tell you
I landed the fish (thank God for a good BIG net)
see the attached photo
21 1/2 lbs, good fish for the first cat of the year.
It was not blue, but I think it was a blue cat, had a big mouth, that
both fist would go in, but it was not a flat head
--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Nutri Shield insect repellent. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com