Big Cat on what i think is a lost jug???? Maybe????

[WOBBLE HEAD]

Here's one for you cat fishermen....On Nick-A-Jack out in the channel across from Shell Mound there is about a 40 to 50 lbs channel or blue cat swimming around on what I think is a lost jug. IT'S NOT REALLY A MILK JUG, i don't know what you call them but it looks like one of the noodle's that kids play with in a swimming pool. Some one has put in a lot of work building this kind of jug. It has a eye hook in top of noodle, the color is a redish orange with black stripes. The reason i think this one is lost is i saw it earlly in the morning around the I-24 bridge and later that afternoon he had made it down to Shell Mound, there are not any other of these type jugs anywhere around. i didn't want to let it go just in case it did belong to some one who was jug fishing. But if you might know who was jug fishing and lost it, it's down around the dam and the fish has know problem taking the whole jug under the water and swimming for a long time. It look like JAWS taking off when it saw us getting close to it.

 

[SpurHunter]

That is a jug! The term jug is loose now-a-days as there are lots of better things to use, hence the noodle you saw. You are supposed to lable the jugs with your name and phone number by law. I would say that jug is lost, and if I had seen it, I would have scopped it up, and released the fish.

 

[Fishing machine]

Thanks for your post, it is a jug and I hope someone else finds it and releases that fish. We need to take care of catfish this size.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Spur on this one. If you can't abide by the laws, then you do not have the right to see what you catch. I would have let the kitten go and taken the noodle to a DNR officer. Perhaps it would have put a bug in their ear and they will pay more attention to anglers using the noodles.

My father and I used to just use 2 liter Coke Bottles. Worked perfectly. We fashioned a "gaff" from an old butt section of a surf rod and a hook bought from BPS for sharks, which is HUGE! We used the "gaff" to grab the line that led to the hook, and would rotate the shaft so that the line would twist. Worked every time.

 

[Guest]

Maybe someone will turn the big cat loose tomorrow.

 

[WOBBLE HEAD]

We were trying to catch the noodle but i had know ideal at that time that the cat on the other end was so large. With a one handed quick grad I found out, and didn't get a good grip. On our second try the fish saw us and took the noodle right under and we didn't see it again for about 30 min.'s.......Now that i know that they have to be labled, I'll turn the unlabled one's loose. IF I think it's lost again......Thanks for the info.....So maybe some one will be it today and turn it loose.

 

[pondguy]

if its holding the noodle down for 30 min at a time the fish will go 75+ lbs

 

[WOBBLE HEAD]

....I've never seen a cat this large before....but...It took the noodle under the water at the grass line out in the channel across from shell mound, and the noodle did not come up again untill if was on the other side of the barge tie up closer to shell mound. We were looking for it because we wanted to get a better good at it again. The fish appeared to be over four feet in length easy, but proabley not 5. It had a huge upper body and mid section. i don't cat fish so I'm not use to weighting them. BUT NOW that you said this i have seen what i was told to be a 10 pound cat and 3 of those 10 pounders would have not came close to what this one fish was....Maybe some one can find it and let us know.

 

[WOBBLE HEAD]

The photo of the cat that fishing machine is holding is about the same size or maybe his is a little bit smaller......How much did the cat that fishing machine is holding weight

 

[Bprice]

75 lbs... I'm not sure what the laws are in Tennessee, but you have to have your jugs marked in Bama

 

[WOBBLE HEAD]

yep my bpric.......
spurhunter said they were suppose to be marked for this one was not....

 

[WOBBLE HEAD]

pondguy ........It looks like your proalbey right.....fishingmachine said that his fish in the photo weighted 75 lbs......The one we saw was at least as big as the one in the photo.....

 

[foodsaver]

tagged or not a fish like that is getting turned loose if I stumble across it! I mean thats like an 8 lb bass just bobbing up and down all down the river

 

[WOBBLE HEAD]

foodsaver

your proabley right....but....i didn't really get a chance to set it free....after the first grab the fish got off and we could't catch it a second time. the cat always went under when out boat got anywhere near it.

 

[Guest]

If you find him and get sorta close, throw some kind of bait toward the jug and get hold of the jug, he is probably wore down by now if he is still there. Be sure and have a big dipnet.

 

[foodsaver]

I just reread that post and I think I came across wrong. I didn't mean you were wrong for not letting it go and from your posts it seems like you did what you could. It just frustrates me that people (the guy with the jug) would not mark the jug possibly taking that big catfish out of the water so none of us can catch him.

 

[WOBBLE HEAD]

foodsaver....

Know problem....I just wanted you to know that we didn't have a second chance at it........If your a cat fisherman i can understand...I'd hate to see a bass done like that.....and that cat would be a nice one for any one.....after talking to fishingmachine this cat proabley wieghted closer to 75 lbs or larger.....