Big Cats - Rocket City Catmasters- 7.19.06 Wheeler

[Bprice]

Minner, CooperJD, and myself ditched work around 4:00 today and headed out to Ditto Landing on Wheeler for some catfishing. Minner and I have the Southern Catfisherman Association Wheeler Tourney on the 29th, so we were scouting some holes closer to the dam for the way back in from out holes down river.

We started out with our normal set up, drifting Skipjack gut sections and heads along main channel lines. Today we started out fishing a 24 ft shoal across from bluff walls. This was Coop's first trip on Minner's Kenner, and we knew we were getting into the danger zone as we approached the channel bouy on our precise drift guided by Minner's Minn Kota. As soon as the ledge hit Wham... Cooper was nailed and after a little bit pulled up a beauitful 25 lb healthy Wheeler Blue. After taking a huge dump all over the boat, we snapped a pic and let her swim for another day.

We got back on track but this time running the channel ledge, and about 10 minutes later, BAM, Coop's rod dipped again... after Minner had a battle with a channel bouy we caught back up with the fish, and it was a fine 32 lb Wheeler Blue. A quick snap and back in the water. 40-45 feet of water is where this fish came from. As we wanted to save the fish for our tourney, we left the area alone, and headed down river back towards Ditto.

We stopped off at another series of shoals and bluff walls, picking up a ton of small bites, but a 8/0 Gammy is hard for them fish to swallow. Minner and I picked up a 14 and a 13 respectively, and decided to leave the area alone, hoping bigger fish were there on the prowl, but had just not sniffed our Skippies. We saw Burger bass fishing, headed in for a delicious Taco Bell Supper. Company was better than the food of course.

I have also included some pics of our Livewell we built, 95% of the credit goes to ol' Minner on this one. But we tested it with the two smaller fish, and they acted fine. We have a high and low drain, a fill valve and a recirculation valve all running from his main livewell, add some rejuv and some ice and that will keep those big cats nice and happy during our tourney.

Great day... 4 fish, 84 lbs... we are thinking 100 lbs will get us in the money.

Lots of current, water temp on main channel around 84-85.

Video of Coop's 25:
http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e...rent=Picture423.flv&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

 

[rsimms]

Beautiful fish... and livewell. But dadgummit, you boys have got learn to smile. emoBigsmile I haven't ever seen such sourpusses holding such big fish! emoEek

 

[Guest]

Got that right Richard. When I hold fish like those I grin like a mule eatin' saw briars even someone else caught them.

Say Cheez

 

[drumking]

Aw Richard, they have their game faces on. (Johnny Majors' quote)emoGeezer

 

[Jmax]

If you just had a big cat take a dump all over you I am not sure I would be smiling all that much either. Nice cats fella's good job and nice pics also.emoBigsmile Jmax

 

[minner]

You are right Jmax, it almost smelled as bad as hog manure. It about ran us out of the boat until we could get it washed out.

BTW That was jdcooper's new personal best blue!!!

Congrats Coop

 

[MrWiskers]

Well this post confirms my theory: all of our cats have locked through and gone up/down river. We went to Racoon last night and got shut out. I stuck a 10-15 lber and for no reason my line broke. You guys better watch out as I will be really due by the time the cat battle rolls around.

Nice fish and good thing you don't have carpet. Your not fishing with Dhaun's secret bait are you? It makes the cats poop in the boat too.

 

[polo-dog]

Nice cats guys. Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Nice set up with the live well. It looks like it cramps things a bit however. Where did you get the well? Where did you get your skippies?

 

[churly]

emoLaugh emoBigsmile emoUpsmile

I have laughed all morning about that cat getting his revenge.

 

[Bprice]

Haha... that 25 lber was about 23 lbs when he got done unleashing his fury all over Cooper!

No secret bait needed, just some stankin' skipjack.

 

[Davo]

Man, I gotta do some catfishing. That looks like a blast, well except for the crap part. Are you using circle hooks?

 

[BaitBucket]

Catfishing at the Chick Dam was slow last night too. Went out with Dad and my uncle around 5:00 and we fished until about 8:30. Fish were showing up all under the boat in anywhere from 25-45 feet of water. Guess they didn't have a taste for the SuperDuper CherryDogs and cut bait. We put four in the boat. Big fish was about 5 lbs. We did manage to avoid getting dumped on, so we had that going for us.

 

[UGADAWG]

Nice!
Whats the specs on your CC?

 

[cooperjd]

yeah davo, i think we all had circle hooks, i was using gamakatsu octopus circle 7/0.. bp and minner were using bigger hooks, not sure what exactly.
minner did an excellent job of putting us on fish, if they didn't have a tourney soon i think we could'a caught more, but don't wanna ruin them for the sca in two weeks. i appreciate the invite and good luck in the tourney.
can't do that too often, it'll get in the way of bass fishin'

 

[Bprice]

Polo when we are drifting we strickly fish of the back of the boat, so the livewell doesn't cramp us as much as it would look. Also with the pentalties of dead fish in the SCA tourneys, and our desire to keep those big dudes alive, that huge tank is a must.

Minner is a skipjack master at Guntersville Dam. Burger and I were there the other night, and the bait was absolutely piled up against the walls. Would of been easy pickins'

Great job Coop, and you are right on Minner is the catfishing man. It was really fun last night, talking our way through the areas we were fishing, finding productive water, marking unproductive water off the map. Its amazing what would look to be great, and just stunk to fish on. I am going to go back and carolina rig those bars though for some bassies!!!

 

[minner]

I'll try to answer what you guys asked, lets see...

Davo- Yes all circles, all the time. I almost exclusively use Gamakatsu Octopus circles. Wide gap is a must. I use 8/0, but wish they made a 10/0. I do use a few 10/0 Owner hooks which are almost exactly like the Gama's. The 10/0 Owner is only equivalent to about a 8.5/0 Gama so not much it gained. I think the a Gama's are sharper too.

Polo-dog- I am able to still catch skipjack EARLY in the morning at the dam. I find it's best when they turn the water on around dawn, the bite is hot for about an hour but deteriorates quickly. It's usually over by about 7:30.

UGADAWG- It's a Kenner 1902. 19' long 8' beam and is a super dry ride. I have been out in 4' rollers in the Atlantic with it 6.5 miles out with no problem. (leave the wife and kids at home though). On the back it has the 125 Merc carb 2+2, and to be honest it would make a much better anchor than it does a motor.

 

[Fishin Fool]

NICE cats and one HECK of a livewell! Good job with them guys.

 

[Fat Albert]

those are great pictures guys.... the cat poop was a big much but I guess thats what happens when you bring a big'un up from 40 feet... you would do the same if you were yanked from your home. nice set up and please folks SMILE...LOL I get tired of seeing game faces... It takes 4times and many muscles to frown than it does to smile.... besides you will get early wrinkles....emoGeezer

 

[TennesseeTalker]

NICE FISH! Nice boat set up ... I used to think that slime was the number one aggravation about catfishing. I'm now thinking it's the unruly discharge of that particular fish that makes it undesirable. Is there such a thing as poop guard????

If not ... seems like someone needs to create one!

TT

 

[rsimms]

TennesseeTalker - 7/20/2006 3:18 PM
Is there such a thing as poop guard????
TT

Buy that and Slime Guard and it's "two for the price of one."