Lisa booked a half day trip to celebrate her Dad’s 80th birthday and brought her Mom and Daughter along for the celebration. We had some bait in the cooler when the group arrived and had the gill net soaking to collect a little bit more. We loaded the crew on the boat and showed them how we use the gill net to catch fresh bait. The gill net is a great tool and we had all the bait we needed for the trip and got to fishing.
The recent weather patterns had the fish scattered but after a little scanning, we found a group of fish and started to drag baits. The february bite has been slow but quality and today looked to be much of the same. We were pulling our AlphaBoardz over big fish after big fish and found they were buried in the mud and not very interested in our presentation. We continued to drag and adjusted water depth, where we started seeing fish suspended off the bottom. We sent a few planer boards over towards the bank and it wasn’t long until a rod folded over.
Our birthday boy grabbed the rod and started to fight the fish. The fish was fired up and refused to quit. We ended up using a Smackdown rod holder to hold the Catch the Fever rod until the fish tired out. We scooped the fish up and enjoyed celebrating a new pb for the birthday boy at 20 lbs. What a great way to start the day!
We continued dragging and the bite was quiet for about an hour. We passed over a few really nice marks without even a tap. We freshened up bait, putting on some giant pieces and some smaller pieces, giving the fish plenty of options. We also let the boards pull a bit further away from the boat. A little bit more waiting and then the second rod went down. This fish also came on a planer board and Linda had the opportunity to reel it in.
The fish gave her a heck of a battle but she handled it like a professional and we were able to land the fish, despite it running for the motor a few times. Linda was wiped out but rewarded with her new personal best blue catfish at 25 lbs! This fish had a big belly, a clear indication it had been munching!
This fish tangled up a few lines and we had some sorting out to do but we quickly got the rods back out and put some fresh bait on the hooks. We didn’t have to wait long when the planer board rocketed under water and the rod tip was buried. Linda’s daughter hunkered down on the rod and began the battle. The fish was pulling hard and we could see giant head shakes showing up at the rod tip and through the planer board. When we unclipped the planer board, we could tell it was going to be a really nice fish. It started to pull drag and did not like the sight of the boat. After a few more big pulls, the fight was over and the fish was in the net. It took a bit more heft to get this fish over the rails and we were met with a trophy fish weighing 32 lbs!
We wanted to try a few more locations and it took some scanning before finding another group of fish. We had to double anchor on this group of fish due to the wind and only had about 20 minutes left in the trip. A few taps, and a few convincing takes but no fish came in on this anchor. We pulled into the ramp and grabbed a few group photos with all the fish before releasing them to swim back into the river.
The bite was slow but we caught some quality fish in a short amount of time. You can tell by the smiling faces that everybody had a great time and enjoyed a gorgeous break from the cold weather. Couldn’t have asked for a better weather forecast on the day. Thanks for joining us on the water and we can’t wait for the next trip!
Gear We Trust:
Rods from Catch the Fever (Discount code GOOBER10 for 10% off)
Line from Slime Line (Discount code GOOBER10 for 10% off)
Terminal Tackle from Mid Atlantic Catfish Co (Discount code Goober15 for 15% off)
Planer Boards from AlphaBoardz (Discount code GOOBER10 for 10% off)
Reels from Shimano https://amzn.to/49Xxyq7
Anchors from Never Lost Anchors (Discount code GOOBER5 for 5% off)
Rod Holders from Smackdown Rod Holders
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