iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

2019 WV Catfish

Started by WV Sawmiller, May 14, 2019, 10:36:55 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

tule peak timber

Super, even without pics !
persistence personified - never let up , never let down

WV Sawmiller

 

 
   Well, a moderately pitiful catch but actually there is still a decent mess of fish there for me and my wife with one small bass and 5 bream (2 bluegills and 3 redbellies) and we did have a real good time. The three local granddaughters 13, 11 & 7 spent the night here last night after their our DIL took them to our local state park to the indoor pool. We took advantage of the recent cooler weather and the younger girls and I picked up a few limbs in and around the yard and had a small fire at the lot and cooked hot dogs and made smores and had a real good time. 

   This morning I got up and about 9:30 a.m. Abbie, 11, and Molly, 7, and I went to our local lake. The water was up from the recent rain so I went up above the main lake to fish for bluegills. My first smokehouse, a bunch of bream beds at the mouth of a small run-off, was a dud with only one little throwback for Abbie. My next spot yielded 2-3 bluegills and redbellies. Abbie wanted to learn to use a spinning rod so I started her on a Zebco #11 ultralight with a jig spinner with a piece of a nightcrawler instead of a plastic grub tail on the  jig. This rig was pretty forgiving about getting hung up and a good starting lure for Abbie to learn on. I switched from a pole to the same. We were making short casts to the bank under trees . I picked up a couple more bream and a small bass which really put on a show on that light rig. Abbie actually did pretty well for her first try using a spinning rod although she did not catch any fish. She was still having a good time. Molly got bored and mostly played with the fish in the live well. She really thinks the redbellies are pretty. About noon we headed back. Molly came back and wanted to drive the boat so I cranked it and handed her the tiller while I sat there beside her just in case. I only let her run us aground one time and that was at slow speed so she had fun doing that.

    The wildlife was back on the lake and we saw 2 young bald eagles first then an adult one overlooking a shallow backwater cove. We spotted 5-6 ospreys and a couple dozen blue herons which have been gone from the lake all summer till now. We saw 3 white herons, several little green herons, a cormorant, many Canada geese, some ducks, etc. The birds were not alarmed and we got within 30 yards of eagles and herons and one osprey. A spike buck walked out on the bank about 30' from us and watched a while and a mink ran up the bank to within 10-12 feet of us. 

    Again, a pretty poor catch of fish but adequate for a decent meal for the two of us and a priceless day on the water with my granddaughters.
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

thecfarm

I would of enjoyed that too!!!
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

WV Sawmiller

   I took the wife out yesterday for the first fishing trip of the year for her and conditions were worse but we had a great time observing and taking pictures of the wildlife including the old doe feeding on submerged grass shown in my other thread. On earlier photo trips the herons and many of the eagles were absent but they are back in plenty now and the most ospreys we have ever seen. We came home and had the bream and bass for lunch. I liked the bream and Becky liked the bass so it worked great for both of us. Now I need to schedule another trip for Abbie to practice her rod & reel use and get her hooked on using a fly rod too.
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 son advised their church annual fish fry is 3 weeks off and I generally supply the fish. Rather than break into our stock packaged for the 2 of us I figured I'd just go catch some more. Put minnow traps out and got 70-80 minnows and put out 39 hooks yesterday afternoon then went and caught 60 or so little bream for bait. I rebaited the hooks adding a bream to each. I picked up 2 small channel cats before dark. I fished another hour or so till dark then check one time in the dark. I picked up 2 more fish including an 18 lb flathead and a 7 lb channel. Total for the afternoon 4 fish at 28.5 lbs.

   I returned this morning with my wife and her photo mentee. Checked and took up lines with 6 more fish,biggest 11 lb flathead. Total today 6 fish 38.5 lbs. Total for the trip 10 fish, 67 lbs or about 1 fish for every 4 lines out. 

   I staked out the fish and we motored upstream a few hours seeing young but no adult bald eagles, several ospreys including one who seems to have stake out a particular treetop as he has been there last 4 trips I was up there, several kingfishers, white/blue/little green herons, and a couple of anhingas, a bedded down fawn on an island with doe walking in the willows. Nice day but nothing spectacular compared to most trips.

   I came home and cleaned fish. Took me 2 hour and 10 minutes to clean and fillet them so I will likely never have a career as a fish monger. Total yield about 36 lbs of fillets which is plenty for the fish fry and enough left over for friends or another small church fish fry. Oh yeah, and we cooked the smallest fish for lunch and Becky said was best she has eaten. Maybe because straight from the river to the cleaning station to the skillet. 

    One odd thing last night was I found several hooks with the bream knocked off but the minnow still on the hook. I don't know how a fish removed one without the other. ???

    I may put lines out after Labor Day and outfit some other folks. We will see how work and weather work out.
 

 


 

 
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 waited till late afternoon for the worst of the holiday crowd at the lake to leave then went down and caught 70-80 little bream for bait and put out about 50 lines in the Bluestone River side and even a little further up than I have fished with lines before. I checked the lines at/after dark and rebaited several hooks the bass and crappie had stripped. No catfish. Went back at daylight. I did stop to fill my second outboard tank and a guy saw my door sign and asked about my sawing service and took a card so maybe that will pay off. He said he had logs sounded very interested in me coming instead of having to move them to a mill. Anyway I had a moderate catch of 5 fish (Lost another 6-7 channel cat at the boat - I did not want to use my monster net. My old net broke last night after 25-30 years. I will sure miss it. I'll look for a tangle free replacement at Cabelas or BassPro in Charlotte the next time I go there. Hard to find the size I need.) of about 34 lbs. Two flatheads weighed just over 20 lbs together. One had survived a broken back. Earlier this year I had a 2-3 lb channel cat also with a broken back. I guess they had survived a snapping turtle or such as a smaller fish. Only thing I can think of here to do that unless maybe a mink or otter got them. Biggest channel cat I had was just over 6 lbs and smallest about 3 lbs. Total yield was 18 lbs of fillets.


 Note the hunched back on the flathead next to the bench seat. Both of them weighed within a few ounces of each other.

   I'll go back and rebait at dark again and hope for better luck in the am.
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

DPatton

Nice flatties WV, I'm kinda jealous because the Missouri River has been out of her banks all year with no access. I don't have a single flathead in the freezer this year.  :-\
TimberKing 1600, 30' gooseneck trailer, Chevy HD2500, Echo Chainsaw, 60" Logrite.

Work isn't so bad when you enjoy what your doing.
D & S Sawmill Services

WV Sawmiller

   Some of the best fishing for catfish especially with bushhooks is when the water is out of its banks. We used to love to set hooks in the backwater.

   I ran my lines this afternoon and had one channel cat about 15 lbs I guess. I have him staked out in the creek for the night and will clean him with tomorrow's catch.

   Back to the broken backed fish I wonder if that could also be caused by eagles and ospreys and such. We have a lot of them here. Maybe they caught the catfish and broke their backs in the process but dropped them before they could eat them. Any other thought or experiences others have had with this would be welcome.
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

WDH

That broke back catfish was mighty lucky, just like the Auburn Tigers War Eagles Plainsmen or whatever they are called, besides lucky :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

WV Sawmiller

Danny,

   Hushpuppy expert or not that was uncalled for. If you have a question about AU football just ask them ducks!



 Seems like I am going downhill. 5 fish that weighed 30 lbs with biggest a 9 lb channel cat. I also had the 10 lb channel staked out in the creek I caught yesterday afternoon. total yield 22 lbs of fillets.

   I have to replace the bolts in my seat before I go back this afternoon as three of the four worked out of the swivel. Kind of awkward to sit like that.
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

BradMarks

I love the fish, please send me about 20 lbs!!  And of course the reference to Auburn football and the Ducks (it is capitalized).  I will give Auburn credit for the comeback and say our coach has yet to gain that big game experience that will say: "hey, we're up, 8 minutes to go, maybe we should think about clock management". We snap the ball repeatedly with 10-15 seconds left on play clock, Auburn scores with 9 seconds left :-\.  Kids play the game, but coaches can influence the outcome.

WDH

Howard just picking at you.  Georgia and Auburn go way way back.  War is war ;D. 

Hope you got those bolts replaced so you did not have to sit cattywhompus. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

WV Sawmiller

Danny,

   Yes I would not expect any less from an UGA fan. :D I stopped on the way home at our local hardware store and got slightly bigger bolts with fiber nuts so hopefully they never work loose again. Got them installed and it worked great today.

Brad,

   DUCKS - now is that better. :D I did not mean to offend. The way your team played they certainly deserve respect and I hope we see them again at the national championship play-offs. Yes, not playing the clock was very costly and that snafu where they used up 2 timeouts was very costly but they sure made us work for it. You could not ask for better seasoning for a new young quarterback.

    Come on down and I'll fix you up with 20-30 lbs of fillets. Take the southern route and pick up Danny and he can cook up some hushpuppies and we'll have an old fashioned 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

   Had a pretty jinxed day. Only had 3 catfish and one, a 10-12 lb flathead got off at the at the boat. Maybe 7-8 lbs of fillets. The Houdini fish was playing possum and not shaking the line till I checked it and I had already passed it (I check the lines from a moving boat if they are not already moving and go back if one turns out to have a fish on) then when I backed up he got around the motor and my long handled net got in the way. Oh well, maybe he will be back with his big brother tonight. Took Becky up the river and had perfect conditions for pictures with a real cloudy day. She got several pictures of eagles, ospreys and a squirrel with a big green walnut in his mouth. I spotted a young eagle fly off a strange object up in some grass so I motored in to get a closer look. Turned out to be a brown garbage bag but I partially clogged up my water pump and later ran into a mud bank and finished stopping it up so had to stop and let it cool a time or two. Got to the landing and when I got to the highway I had a flat on the trailer. Had a spare so not a big job to change. Called my boat guy and took the motor to him and he blew out the line and it works like a champ again so that was an easy cheap fix. Replaced a trailer bulb that blew sometime since yesterday and bought a new prop as my old one has had a rough life. Boy does that new one make a difference!

    I went down and baited up right at/after dark and will take up my lines tomorrow. The water has dropped about a foot since I started this week and I generally have better luck on rising water. We will see 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

   Ok, I am done with catfishing (at least for the rest of this week :D). I took up my lines this morning. Only had 3 catfish. I did not weigh them but I weighed the fillets and had 10-11 lbs of fillets so I had at least 16-17 lbs I would guess. There were 2 channel cats and a small flathead. One of the channel cats was on the same line Houdini got off of yesterday morning.

  After running my lines my wife and I toured around the lake taking pictures of an hour or so. She got a few good pictures of wild grapes which are getting ripe now. They are very abundant and preferred food for raccoons, squirrels, birds, etc around the lake. We stopped by the local marina for a potty break and to grabs some nabs and a soda and a little green heron was on the dock about 10' from us pretty much demanding we take his picture. A anhinga was perched on a dead tree limb out in the middle of the lake. They are pretty rare around here but we saw tons of them along the cross Fla canal in the Everglades a few years ago. I love to watch them catching fish.

   I spotted several fallen trees from last Fall I guess that are aching to have a minnow or crappie jig dropped on them so that may be on the agenda in the few weeks as time and weather permits.

   I washed out the boat real well and put it up with chargers on the trolling motor and the one to the outboard which is weak and barely starting the motor. I may need to check to see if the alternator is working but the battery is old so that is likely the culprit.
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!