WV Catfish 2024

[WV Sawmiller]

  After leaving Jake's I went to see my 98 y/o aunt on Lake City about 3 hours away and spent a couple nights and one day with her and my cousin then went to my old home place near Century Fla about 40 miles N of Pensacola and about 5 miles from the Ala line. I strayed through Friday 26th which was my mom's 94'th B'day then got up and bought her back with me for a week. We stopped one night in Charlotte to see my daughter and grandkids then came here to WV.

  My daughter and 5 y/o GD and 7 y/o GS came up tonight. The kids wanted to go fishing and I wanted to see them drag in a big catfish or two so yesterday Mom and I went to the local COE Lake Bluestone and fished for bait. We caught 60 little bream, (Mostly Little Green Sunfish) pretty quick so I decided to go ahead and put lines out then instead of today. I think I put out about 40 bushhooks in my smokehouses and similar places that have always produced well.


    I woke Mom up about 6:15 and we got on the lake by about 7:00. I am afraid people will see the limbs shaking and come steal my fish. We had a10 lb channel on the first hook and in many cases they'd have 3-4 hooks in a row with fish.

(Okay gallery is not my friend so I'll post at the end)

  We literally filled up the live well. Had 18 fish that weighted 133 lbs with the biggest 12.5 lb and top 4 weighed 45 lbs. I was surprised no 20+ lb fish as I really expected several based on where I set my lines.

  I came home and cleaned fish till nearly 3 pm then about 4 pm we went back and caught another 40 bream and baited up and plan to take the grandkids tomorrow. We caught one more 3 lb while baiting so 136 lb for the day. I am a worn out puppy dog.

[YellowHammer]

Thats a boat load of fish!  

[Magicman]

My heart goes to the quality time that you spent with your Mom. 

[Jeff]

Since, you injected a gallery comment again, The gallery never will be your friend unless you quit using the drag and drop method. There is absolutely no reason you can not upload a picture into the gallery, then Absolutely no reason you can not copy and paste the code found under the gallery uploaded picture into a post.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Yes I know. I tried to copy and paste but did not have two sessions properly open and I was too tired to play with it more. I have gotten it to work (once) and agree it is totally operator error on my part.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I got everyone up around 6:30 this morning and my mom, daughter, 7 y/o GS and 5 y/o GD went to check and take up lines. Neither child had ever been catfishing so it was a new experience to them. My GS was the designated  net operator. I'd pull the line and fish up until it was securely in the net and he'd pull it in. The fish started about 4-5 lbs then 8-9 lb then a 20 lb flathead that my GS told his mom "It is Ginormus!". We caught 9 that weighed 86 lbs. The top 4 weighed 56 lbs. I cleaned the 5 biggest flatheads and gave the last 6 to a neighbor who wanted them and agreed to clean them. It was a great day on the lake with Mom, daughter and 2 very excited and fun grandkids.

    We had another live well full but not as packed as yesterday.

[WV Sawmiller]

  An odd thing or two that happened was on the first day one limb was shaking but when I got to it I pulled the line towards me and the line came untied and I looked down at the line in the water with my flag with my name on the end., I grabbed for it before the fish could take off with it and got hold of it and pulled in the 7 lb flathead catfish on it. I guess I had mis tied it or a twig  got in the loop or such causing it not to close.  Anyway I got the fish and re-tied the line.

   On another line I had a fish, threw him in the boat and when I got done unhooking it and put him in the life well I found the tip of the limb with knot on it had broken off. It was strong enough to hold the fish but I guess I pulled from a different angle and snapped it off. I retied it and caught another fish on it the second day too,

   Mostly I just put lines in my "smokehouses" or places that looked like my smokehouses. Mostly they were in fallen tree tops. Any place that you'd fish for crappie or bluegills or toss a plastic worm after a bass is a likely spot for a big predator catfish.

 

[Ron Scott]

"A lot of fish"

[WV Sawmiller]

  The best part was spending the time with my young grandkids, daughter and 94 y/o mom making some real special memories. I regret my wife did not come but she said it was too early and too cold and she would not have tolerated the drizzling rain either so it may have been for the best.

[beenthere]

"The best [art"

What is an [art ?  What is a best [art?? 

[WV Sawmiller]

Picky, picky!

[TimW]

Awesome haul Howard.  I was thinking about my wheel barrows full of dead Channel and Blue Cats, from last summer, but I smiled at all the fish Y'all caught.
Get back down and visit your Mom and daughter and Grand kids more.  You won't regret it.
Especially your Mom.

[WV Sawmiller]

  No pictures yet but we have had our 12 y/o GD has been staying with us the last 3 days so this afternoon I took her fishing on our local COE lake. We were just catching small green sunfish and bluegills for catfish bait. They were biting fast and furious  so we caught our limit pretty quick and I put out all my bushhooks/limb lines. One of these days I will remember to count them but I think I have between 45-50 hooks out now in my normal "smokehouses" and similar looking places. Tomorrow morning I will see if I guessed right.

  I'll bait them again tomorrow night and take the lines up Tuesday morning as I have a mobile sawing job scheduled Wednesday. I wanted to stock up on fish now as my wife is having hip replacement surgery next month and I'm afraid I may not be able to go later. I've got at least one church fish fry to provide for out of this catch and may be several more.

  Anyway I had a great afternoon fishing with my GD. We saw one coon on the bank, one young adult eagle (I'm guessing about 3 y/o based on the amount of white on his head and tail) several blue herons, ducks including a clutch of young ones that could not fly yet, several deer on the bank and in the water, etc.

[SwampDonkey]

Sounds like a perfect day. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Okay, my apprentice said she was on strike and not to wake her up at 6 am to go check catfish lines. She even posted a door note like one of those do not disturb notices on hotel room doors to be sure I did not forget.

   Here was my time line:

0550 local birds wake me up and let me know daylight is just around the corner so I get up.

0605 I waked up Sampson and load him in the truck and off to the lake.

0630 I have the boat unloaded and crank up the outboard to go check lines. 

(A guy got tickled and complimented my boat unloading technique. I get to the lake, back the boat to within a couple feet of the water's edge, unroll about 50' of anchor rope and tie it to the trailer tongue, unhook the boat winch and safety hook, unplug the lights, loosen the 2 straps on the back of the boat, get back in the truck and slowly start backing into lake until I see the back of the boat start to float off the trailer, hit the brakes and watch the boat slide off into the lake, pull up until the end of the ramp on the trailer is right at the water's edge so I can run the boat up on it when I return.)

0730 finish checking lines - total catch was 7 catfish. One Blue cat was too small to keep and I threw it back. Total count on the lines was 48 hooks (give or take a couple)

0800 Finish the trip home and back the boat in the boathouse and unhook it.

0830 Return from the house with a newly sharpened fillet knife and Leatherman blade, a pan, and finish taking pictures of my catch. Start cleaning fish.

1000 Finish skinning, cleaning and filleting the fish. (If I was a fish monger I'd likely get fired the first day) (Note to self - Next time before swatting the mosquito at my ear be sure to put down fillet knife).


Two biggest flatheads - 13 lbs and 16 lbs




Total catch is 46 lbs - 4 flatheads, 2 channel cats

 Total yield 26 lbs of boneless fillets. (Note to self - get a bigger pan) Enough for my son's church to have their September fish fry.

   It started raining before I left the lake and poured on the way home. I'm hoping it stops long enough for me to catch bait and bait up my lines tonihgt.

[JJ]

pull up until the end of the ramp on the trailer is right at the water's edge so I can run the boat up on it when I return.)

Howard,
You can leave your truck and trailer on the ramp?  That would draw the ire of folks around here.

      JJ

[WV Sawmiller]

    It would here too if I left it on the boat ramp but the shore line to the lake is a gradual slope with deep enough water to launch directly from the bank. We do have a 2 space boat ramp where delays are not allowed. You will see dozens of boats launched directly from the shoreline with no issues.

    The ramp is mostly used for bigger boats like pontoon boats and such.

[SwampDonkey]

Well, you're getting your freezer full unless you're feeding the friends and neighbors every weekend.  

[WV Sawmiller]

SD,
  The first nights catch are all earmarked for my son's church for their annual fish fry in September. I will save some from today's catch for a family get-together/reunion in October if that pans put and also for some local fish fries like we had last week.

JJ,
  Here is what it looks like where I unload and park my truck and trailer at the lake. This was right after sunrise today and the dawn to dusk lights had not shut off yet.

  Here is Sampson is his designated seat. He has to leave it at times to come bark at a catfish as I land them.
    We have a lot of bald eagles around the lake. Here is a young one. Many people mistake them for hawks or golden eagles at this stage because because they do not have the stereotypical white head and tail. In fact, when I was at Auburn in the wildlife department they had a mounted eagle and listed it as a Golden Eagle then someone noticed and posted a correction that it was actually an immature bald eagle. I saw one this size yesterday (may have been this one) who was fleeing from a songbird about the size of your fist.
    We also have a bumper crop of blue herons at the lake this year.

  This one was at the loading area as I was leaving.

  So are these guys. They appear in large numbers to eat carp and such people catch and don't want and get leftover/dead bait and any scraps people leave. They roost on the parked cars and have been known to scratch up new paint jobs on the cars there.

  I took up my lines this morning. Pretty poor catch with only 6 fish total weight 32.5 lbs. I got a little over 18 lbs of boneless fillets out of them. 5 channel/blue cats and one small flathead.

  I'm in the process of washing out the boat and reorganizing everything, putting new lines on the poles and such and getting ready for the next trip.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, herons, eagles and osprey are in abundance up here. The herons and eagles fly past once in awhile, and I'm in a potato field. But, the osprey stick to the creeks and river. People have put up a lot of nest platforms for the ospreys.

[WV Sawmiller]

SD,

   I thought the power companies made all the platforms for the ospreys.

   Sometimes the herons come up here in my creek and catch chubs under the bridge and other deep holes especially when we are having a dry summer. I have seen them light on the well house roof in my back yard. Early in the season they are pretty skittish and fly when you get around them. Now they sit there and let me motor by them 20-30 yards away. 

   Also blue herons are pretty territorial early in the year but now I am seeing 3-4 in the same tree and small area. I watched one fly in and light on a dead limb about 10' above the lake one day. The limb broke and he fell into the lake and could not recover in time to fly away so he flopped his way to the shore where he could stand and later flew away.

   Several times I have seen eagles light on dead limbs that broke under them but they were always able to regain their flight. A time or two my wife was taking their pictures and even got them falling. 

[SwampDonkey]

They use some of them platforms to. 

Herons nest in rookeries, whole colonies of nests. A forest company up here got fined for building a road through one of their rookeries. They softened the fine by allowing them to donate to an avion cause of some sort. I've only found one rookery, it was along a dead water,  which was full of brook trout, one time. :D

https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/abstracts/zoology/Great_Blue_Heron_Rookery.pdf

[WV Sawmiller]

  Well, actually there are no catfish involved here but since fishing in WV was involved I'll use this thread.

    We got up and realized it is our son's 46th birthday. He was born in Okinawa while I was in the USMC there. Born just before midnight after wife had been there in labor 24 hours. I went home, got up and we had a typhoon coming so I had to go get disaster rations for the troops in case they were (and they were) locked in their barracks for a day or two. When I got done with that I went to the hospital at noon, saw my wife but before I saw our son again (I was in the delivery room) they declared condition I Emergency and kicked me and everyone else not deemed essential out of the hospital and brought in all pregnant women due within the next 30 days.

  I was locked down for the storm watching old war movies on the Armed Forces Network and such on a 9" B&W TV all day on the 29th. On the 30th it was clear and I went to pick up my wife and son but that was also the day Okinawa changed their driving from the right side to the left side of the road. We got home safely in spite of that.

  Anyway I took my wife and Sampson fishing this afternoon. The shore where I launch was packed and the only open spot had a 20' log drifted up against the shore (which was why it had not been used). I had to push it back then I backed down and unloaded. When we pulled off I towed the drift log several hundred yards down the lake away from the loading area so my civic duty for the month is done.

  We were taking pictures and fishing for bluegills with 10' fiberglass poles. Along the first bank I spotted a water snake but my wife did not want to take a picture. A few dozen yards up the lake I spotted a small copperhead on a rock at the water's edge. My wife got a few pictures of it and we left it along.

  We'd fish a while then motor up the lake a while watching the blue herons and lots of ospreys were out today. On the way back we spotted a fawn wading in the water in mud flat behind an island across the river/lake from a big campground. The fawn had birds dive bombing him then he started running then swimming.

I followed it thinking it would swim to the island 40-50 yards away but it swam right past the end and across the main channel to the campground on the opposite side of the lake/river. (This is the very upper end of Bluestone Lake and I can't tell you where the lake ends and the New River starts).

    Deer are excellent swimmers and the fawn made it across easily. I followed in case it had problems and to try to make sure it did not turn and just swim straight the river. I don't know how it will ever link up with the doe again.

  Several campers saw us and the deer and came to watch it reach the shore. It came ashore and went into the bushes under a tree on the bank. It was in fine chape when it came ashore.

    We motored on down the lake and fished till my battery on my trolling motor died. We headed to the landing. I had spotted one young eagle flying across the lake and several more ospreys. We passed this young eagle on a dead tree. He never left his perch.
  We got to the landing about 7:45 and I only had about half dozen bluegills so I gave them to a guy at the landing to eat or use for catfish bait. I came home and put the boat away and loaded up the mill for a mobile job tomorrow.

[WV Sawmiller]

BTW the fawn probably swam 400-500 yards crossing the river from where it started which was in the middle of a mud flat. I don't know if it had waded or swam to that starting point where we first saw it.