iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

WV Catfish 2022

Started by WV Sawmiller, June 28, 2022, 01:55:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

WV Sawmiller

   After last weeks trip to the lake and seeing the bait we readily available and easy to catch I decided to try putting out some lines so I started with a bunch of minnows and chubs from the creek in my front yard. Lots of them a darters and such and if any are on the endangered list they may be on the extinct list now. I put out 40-50 lines (limblines) on a bank I have not fished much. I stayed till dark and caught more bait and checked the lines in the dark to make sure they were all baited with a live bait.


I got up about 5:30 a.m. and topped up my #2 tank and was on the lake by 6:00 a.m. I checked a few lines on one bank and passed some camp sites on the opposite side of the lake that are accessible only by boat. This guy was stilling on one of the docks at 6:30 a.m. By the time I got my camera ready he had flown up in a nearby tree. From the dark feathers in his chest I'd say this is a mature eagle (White head and tail and yellow beak and feet) about 3-4 years old. They will still have some of the dark feathers in their hard and tail till about 5 years and I assume he has not lost lost all the mottled colors on his chest yet. He is the first one I've seen on a dock.


Down the lake I picked up a 2 lb channel cat who had twisted himself out of the water. I don't use a swivel but find the ones that twist off tend to be the little ones anyway. A few lines up this one was moving and shaking the tree but not violently. Turned out to be an 8 lb channel cat on the line.


Turned out to be a poor day. Only had 5 catfish, 2- channels, one blue and 2 flatheads. Total weight about 27 lbs. Nothing over 8 lbs. I fished for bait after checking my lines and lost another 2 lb catfish at the boat after he got on my crappie pole and wrapped around a snag. I was only fishing in a foot of water by the bank so not common to catch them there.


Total catch was about 16 lbs (about 2 gallons)of boneless fillets. Maybe the next few days will be better.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Walnut Beast

The catch looks pretty good and successful to me. Nice pictures 👍

Wlmedley

Howard, I caught this one in Kanawha river a few years ago in sight of the capital building.29 pounds flathead.Threw it back in.Would be afraid to eat it.Where are you fishing,Bluestone?

 
Bill Medley WM 126-14hp , Husky372xp ,MF1020 ,Homemade log arch,Yamaha Grizzly 450,GMC2500,Oregon log splitter

WV Sawmiller

   Yes I am fishing in Bluestone Lake. My first line is about 1/4 mile above the dam. 
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

   Still slow catch rate. Had 7 flatheads on lines this morning. Unusual not to catch a few channels and a blue or two. No big ones yet. 2-3 around 8 lbs and several 3-4 lbs. 38 lbs total catch. 21 lbs of fillets. No eagle today but spotted a few herons and a doe and fawn walked within 20 yards as I was catching bait. 


 

About 3 gallons. If I were planning a fish fry this would feed 60 people real well.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

   My wife went with me yesterday afternoon to bait up and piddle around. My eagle was back. Evidently he is hanging around a temporarily shut down campground on the other side of the lake. The COW is doing work on the dam a mile downstream and they keep messing with the water levels. As you ride down the lake you can see a distinct water line on the trees about 30' above the current water level.

   May flies (I think some people call them Willow flies in other areas) have hatched and are hanging on all the overhanging trees and if you bump a limb you get swarmed. My wife does not like getting a face full of them. The bream are smacking them and sometimes jumping completely out of the water to catch them.


My second line I check is running in circles but when I pull it up it is only about a 1 lb flathead so I throw him back. In other times I'd have kept him and put him on for bait. My son was withme and pulled up a line after a big struggle and had a dead 5 lb flathead on it that was completely skinned where a big one had swallowed and was digesting him. The big one did not get hooked and he is still the one I am after. 

   I moved on to the other lines and the first one of them had about a 10 lb striper on it but he had gotten the line tangled in his gills and drowned. Occasionally I will catch such a game fish as a striper, largemouth or smallmouth bass or crappie. In other states I have fished you could not keep game fish caught on set hooks. WV does not mention any such restriction or prohibition. The gills on this one were already dull colored and looked like he had been dead a while so I threw him back in the lake.


 I caught a couple of small flathead then saw a Troy Landry tree shaker up ahead and knew I had a monster but when I got there this 5 lb flathead was pulled up on the bank with his belly ripped open. He was still breathing. Evidently a mink or otter had gotten hold of him. From the nature of the tree shaking I'm betting it was an otter. Sometimes mink eat my bait off and I "rescued" one 3 lb channel cat one had just dragged on the bank a few years ago.

Total catch I brought home was these 2 that weighed between 5-6 lbs total I'd guess. 

Not a lot but still plenty to feed 6-8 people.

   I'll bait up one more time this evening then take up my lines in the morning.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

   We had to get our winter hay supply at noon yesterday so I got a late start baiting up last night. When I emptied up my bait bucket I found most of them were dead. I'd guess the water warmed up and there was not enough O2 in the water. I caught a few decent bluegills feeding on Mayflies. I used a fly rod and cork bug for the most past and a few on reconstituted, sun dried nightcrawlers (Don't ask why they were sun-dried ::)). When it looked like I would be short I went back and caught more till I decided/hoped I had enough to bait all my lines with a fresh, live bait. Flathead catfish do not bite dead baits. Blues and channel cats will bit dead or live but seem to prefer live bait too. I started baiting up right at dark then I broke the plastic arm/cam that connects to the shifter to shift the motor between forward and reverse and put it out if gear. It had broken before and I or my dealer/repair guy had epoxied it back together which is what I will do again. I found I could shift it in and out of gear by just pulling or the rod but the handle sure makes it easier, especially to put it in reverse.

  I barely had enough live bait to finish baiting and still had 10-12 dead or dying buegills when I got to the landing. I asked a couple of ladies there if they wanted them, they did and they took them for me.

  I got up this morning and went out to check and pull my lines. About 3 miles from home I felt a shimmy and got out and found a flat tire on my boat trailer. I got my truck jack out from under the seat, the 4 way lug wrench out of the back of the truck and the spare tire off the front of the trailer and 15 minutes later I was back on the road. The tire was worn out and I had ordered another one 2 days ago. I had planned to go by the shop today and let them jack up the trailer, pull the bad tire, put the spare on and leave it there to mount when the replacement arrived.

  I started pulling the lines and near the lower end I found a bush shaking and pulled up a 5 lb flathead. I did not use the net and swung it in the boat and it let go of the large bluegill it was holding. I should have lost that one since I did not use the net like I usually do and he was never even hooked - just holding the bait in his mouth. I netted a 9 lb flathead on a trotline in Albany Ga one time and it let go of the 1 lb channel cat I had previously caught and it was swallowing. I have pulled up several large one stealing my catch like that and lost them before at the boat in the past.

  I continued to pull lines and on the line where the otter stole my fish yesterday I had a 6 lb channel cat. He was well hooked so I did not net him and landed him okay. A few lines ahead I had a 12 lb flathead in shallow water but when I reached for my net it was gone. I'd lost it down the lake somewhere. I saw the fish was barely hooked in the lip by a small thread so I eased him in and lip locked him and swung him in. By rights I probably should have lost him. I went back several lines and found my net where it had hung on a limb and was barely showing. I finished and fished from bream and caught several and a decent crappie on flies and using Mayflies for bait where the flies were swarming and the fish were boiling after them.


 Today's catch. About 28 lbs of catfish, a crappie and 3 small bream.

A little over 2 gallons/16 lbs of catfish fillets and panfish.

  I stopped by and dropped off the tire and picked it up after lunch. I gave 2 gallons of fish to a recently widowed neighbor and 3 gallons at a luncheon of retired teachers. Now I just need to wash out my boat good, repair my shifter handle and put everything away till the next trip.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

Before:

 
After:


 (I should have used a bucket as I did not have a bigger pan).

   Since Ian seems dead set on sending us some water and otherwise disrupting our lifestyle I decided to take this opportunity to put some lines out. I'll check the weather to decide whether to take them up tomorrow or wait till Saturday. I put them yesterday afternoon and ran them one time right at and after dark to be sure they all still had bait during the peak feeding times. I caught one 4-5 lb channel cat and one little 1.5 lb flathead. (Not shown in the first picture put in the second.)

   I started with minnows and chubs from my creek but in spite of the wind I was able to catch enough small bream to bait the lines using 1-2 worms and cut up minnows for bait. The lake has large patches of floating grass which messed up several spots I normally fish and hindered access to some of my lines this morning. Several of the fish had been able to wrap themselves around underwater obstacles but I was able to free them. I knew it was a risk but structure like that attracts the bait fish catfish like this are looking for.

   The 6 fish in the first pictured weighed 40 lbs with the biggest about 9 lbs. The pan full of fillets weighed between 27-28 lbs and that much fish with the normal trimmings would typically feed 80-90 people at a normal southern style fish fry.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

   My wife went with me this afternoon. We fished for bait for an hour or so and caught 45 or so little bream which was enough for bait since several of the lines had live bait still on them which did not need replacing.

  The floating grass had shifted and I had to take up several of them as they were too hard to reach and I could not get the bait down through it where the fish were. I moved several to other locations

  On one line I pulled up the head of channel cat that looked like he had weighed 4-6 lbs. I assume an otter had raided my lines like on my last trip. We did collect one nice channel cat that weighed about 12 lbs before the otter got to him. Remember, I checked the lines this morning so the fish bit and the otter was active in the daylight hours.


12 lb channel catfish.

Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

 

Due to weather reports indicating the rain from Ian and such would reach us this afternoon and worse the next few days so I went ahead and pulled my lines today and probably will not get another chance this year. I had the 5 catfish shown above on my lines. Four are channel cats and the one flathead. The 2 in the sink each weigh 8 lbs each and the other 3 on the sideboard weigh 14 lbs. Total catch this morning was 30 lbs. Total catch for the 2 nights was right at 90 lbs. The biggest fish was 12 lbs. Average weight just under 6.5 lbs. Nothing special compared to trips when nightly catches would be over 100 lbs and several 20-25 lb fish daily. I'll give most of the fillets away, may have a retired teachers fish fry here in a couple of weeks and we are well set for the winter on our fish supply.

   I don't know how many I lost to my otter friends and lots of my bait were gone or half eaten but that is the price you pay to nature.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

 

 
I figured I'd include an "after" picture to close out the fishing trip. Fried catfish fingers/nuggets, grits and baked beans. We ran out of cabbage so no cole slaw but still made for a tasty meal.

I gave  several gallons of fillets away yesterday. Our housecleaner picked out several of the side fillets and planned to bake them. I guess the side fillets bake better than the belly fillets.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Thank You Sponsors!