Catfish surprise

[Wallijig]

Never thought I would quit fishing from arms getting tired from reeling in and fighting fish, but today it happened. Buddy and I went to this small slough and were going to try casting for some walleyes with jigs and 4" plastic shad. To our surprise we found these feeding in shallows. We caught and released over 12 and lost another 10 or so after fighting them for while. Could not believe how aggressive they are! We would have one hit about every cast. Took forever to land one with med action pole, 8 lbs. line, and utralite reel. Thought they were going to bust my pole right in half.
Here's couple pictures:

 

[muskiemike12]

Nice! It is a blast to catch them that size.

 

[Dragonman]

Nice fish, sounds like you had a blast, I love catching cats.

 

[RickyRick]

Those are some nice size cats. With your pole set-up I bet you thought you were fighting a shark! :LOL2:

 

[Jim]

Nice job! =D>

Looks like you had a blast.

 

[catmansteve]

Awesome Those are blues, correct? Man, I wish we had some of those where I live lol

 

[FFDOZIER]

Yes those are blues

 

[Ictalurus]

AWESOME =D> =D> =D> =D>

I would have guessed channel cat, the blues are much more blue down here. Not sure of the local color pattern though. Great catch!!!

 

[Wallijig]

Guys fishing with me moved up from Texas and did lot of catfishing there. He was pretty sure they were channel cats.

I never really pursued cats before. Is it common for them to hit Jig with plastic bait?
Then in that shallow of water?
I do not believe they were spawning water temps still in low 50's around here.
Were were using 1/4oz jig with Northland Impulse 4" paddle minnow.

 

[muskiemike12]

Those are not blue cats. Not this far north. 100% channel cat. Channels can be caught an a variety of baits. I have even caught a few on topwater fishing for smallies.

 

[jerseycat9]

Were those caught in the red river area?? Nice fish!!!

 

[Wallijig]

Were those caught in the red river area?? Nice fish!!!

Nope in slough in SE South Dakota.

 

[Rock]

nice fish! here's one i caught sunday afternoon. yours looks bigger than mine. mine is 8#'s. how much did yours weigh?

 

[Wallijig]

I do not have clue what they weighed. Did not have scale and never caught catch fish before to do any kind of judgment. I stand 5'11" tall and weigh 230 lbs. They were longer and bigger around then my leg.

 

[River]

25lbs. + ?

 

[Rock]

i'd say maybe 12 lbs...

 

[JMichael]

Definitely some nice looking fish and I'm sure it was a fun fight with your rig and a cat that size. I'd guesstimate them around 17-20#. I'd also classify them as channel cat. The blue cat around here will get so blue on their back/top that you won't have any doubt about whether they're blue cat or not. Catfish around this area will bite anything that moves, smells, or that they think might be edible. I've caught them on several different types of live bait, crickets, worms, cut bait, stink bait/cheese, all types of lures, hot dogs, soap, etc etc. And yes, you read that right, I said soap. If you've never tired it before, bait a trotline out with small pieces of Ivory soap some time and see what happens. I figure cats are related to sharks since they both have a reputation for trying to eat anything.

 

[Redfox03]

i've heard of the soap technique here in wisconsin. Haven't tried it yet though. I fish the Rock and Fox river here and get them. Caught a few flatheads and one blue cat i got here. I usually use nightcrawlers on stink bait. prefer night crawlers because they're not as messy as stink bait.

 

[JMichael]

I prefer to use live bait just because it increases the chances of catching a flathead cat, since they prefer live fish as their food source. And personally, I think flathead is the best tasting catfish to eat. Most people around here prefer to use rice slicks for trotlines, and since this is rice country it increases the chances of finding their preferred bait. When bait is limited, we've even used some of those thick skinned hot dogs cut into small pieces and soaked in ATF to bait a trotline with. Something about the oil in the ATF that helps them locate the bait. And that's one of the easiest baits you'll find to bait a trotline with. :lol:

 

[muskiemike12]

Redfox if you did catch a Blue Cat, which you didn't, it would be a state record. There are no Blue Catfish in the northern tier of states. What you caught was a Channel Cat. Just like there are no Florida strain largemouth up here, there are no Blue Cats. A few years ago an angler claimed to catch a 60# Blue Cat from Minnesota waters. There was testing done on the fish and was proven that it came from the Missouri River somewhere south of I-80.