Big Cats - Wilson/Pickwick 9/24/06 Minner-Bprice

[Bprice]

Allen and I hit Wilson and Pickwick today to practice for the upcoming SCA Classic and Cabela's King Kat. Allen and I have really struggled establishing any kind of pattern in the past couple of weeks, which was making us very nervous. We finally established a good pattern today... We started the day out by fishing submerged bluff walls in 30 - 60 ft of water... with our old trust skipjack steaks w/ 8/0 Gammy Octipus Circles. We normally like to drift, but we have found that anchoring is more productive on these lakes... within 10 minutes Allen had boated a nice 35 lber and then I pulled in a 21 lber.... as always Allen had me beat! We decided to leave this area alone, and head out and try somewhat of a new pattern to us.

We headed into flats with wood cover, dropped anchor and papered the water with skipjack. We saw several other competitors out scouting for areas, so we didn't hit our "hot" spots.... but I think we found a new one. At the moment I decided to sit down for a minute and relax Allen yells from the front of the boat, "Black rod, black rod, fish on!" I run to the back and take the bait clicker off and reel down on the fish, to slide the circle into the corner of his mouth, and then the drag started ripping. I took extra care with this fish knowing it was going to be my personal best, and there was only 40 lb test on the reel. the fish was very strong and made a few horizontal runs, but after 2 minutes I had her at the surface and she filled our net up... hand shaking and heart pounding Allen helped me out by taking the hook out and we hooked her up to the scales... and baaam 68 pounds!!! Shaking nervously I carefully picked her up, gave her a hug, snapped a pic and immediately release the beast to be caught again! Her skin was beautifully marbled, but she had only one eye!

We decided that was enough excitement for the day, and started to head in, when a fellow Cabelas competitor pulled up and asked us if we had a camera and scales, which of course we did. Out from his livewell came a HUGE Blue, which stretched the scales at 92 LBS!!! What a beast! He was a real nice fella and released her back into water.

Our confidence is up some from the past few weeks of tough fishing.... we had 4 keepers weighing in at 140 lbs. We are hoping numbers like that will keep us competitive on both tourneys...

Here are some pics of the 21, 35, 68, and my slime from my cat hug!

 

[Fat Albert]

W A Y T O G O.....guys. great pictures and nice fish.... you all done gooood. My favorite picture is number 4..... the smell and grin tells it all....emoGeezer

 

[bprice_paterfamilias]

BP...Mom said she way glad she doesn't have to wash that shirt but she liked the grin. Ya'll slayed them...

 

[rsimms]

Woohoo! That should eliminate some of those pre-tournament jitters! Good luck!

 

[DHaun]

Awesome Minner and BPrice! Congrats on that marbled-skin 68 lb fattie! That last pic perfectly captures the bliss of a bad case of the monster cat grins! emoThumbsup

Do you happen to have a pic of that 92 pounder?

 

[Bprice]

Thanks Richard! Hopefully we can stick a few of those when you come on down!

Dad, I'll gladly come to visit and bring over my cat clothes if ya'll will wash them!

 

[foodsaver]

great job! I hope you find them in the same place for the tourney.

 

[jason]

Awesome cats, guys! I can't imagine hoisting a 68lb fish out of the water! Out of curiousity, what kind of livewell holds a 92lbr?

 

[Bprice]

It was a big ole sea ark livewell... it was pretty full!

If anyone wants to see the pic of the 92 lber PM me... i don't want to post his pic on here, since he didn't gimme consent.

 

[Fishing machine]

You're the manemoWorthy You shouldn't have any trouble in the tx. with fish like that. Will the fish stay deep in the fall or will they move up?
Also, I would like to see the pic of that 90 lb. fish

 

[Bprice]

Thanks FM... there are going to be some excellent catfisherman at these two tourneys so it will no doubt be tough.... I'm going to give the nod though to CFFs and SCAs Mike Mitchell for the upper hand in these tourneys.... I think we are going to see some big fish from Mike.

As far as depth, that is a great question, and I can't say I know... we did see a very large catfish bust shad on the surface yesterday, which was interesting to say the least. As of now, the big ones are still on the bottom though. That all could change in a few days/weeks.

FM, pm me your email address, i don't think I have it anymore.

 

[TennesseeTalker]

BPrice .. I'm very impressed with your story and your pictures! And like everyone else .. the slimmed pic is the BEST!!! No good catfish story should go without the slime saga.

Good luck with your tx. But I'm sure you will impress them there as well.

TT

 

[cooperjd]

I was sitting in my treestand when my phone started buzzing. i ignored the call, then saw it was brandon. within seconds he called back. now i thought he knew i'd be hunting, so i thought something bad might've happened so i answered. a very out of breath brandon says 'hey, you're not gonna believe this'... now my mind is racing, i'm thinking someone had a car wreck, something bad. 'I JUST CAUGHT A 68 POUNDER''.. to which i replied, holy expletive, thats' expletive awesome. then i went back to hunting... i'll tell that story later after the pain subsides...

way to go guys, after the tourney maybe i can bum a ride on the ol kenner.

 

[Bprice]

I knew you'd be in the stand, and sorry for frightening you! Yes, you bum come on... remember, you can't do this in DC emoPoke

Did you miss a big buck?

 

[minner]

My boats always open. No pun intended.

 

[drc]

WTG guys!!! Were you surprised to find big fish that shallow? I should probably fish shallower more often, but during the day I feel better fishing deep (35-45ft).

 

[shsimons]

Congratulations guys, those are some monster cats. Mike has told me about what good fisherman you guys are. Someday I hope to be in your place fighting those big blues with my best bud Josh on the water. Take care, and again, wow!

shsimons

 

[Bprice]

drc,

Those blues that were in that depth range were definately in fall mode, and were located on bait, near the mouths of coves, as you can see from Allen's pictures... other than them following the bunching bait, we feel more comfortable deep as well.

Shsimons... Mike is too kind to us man, we are just a couple of country boys trying to live out a Hank Jr lyric, "I can catch catfish from dusk til dawn." Thats really our only motivation.... emoLaugh emoLaugh

Myself, Minner, and the Bprice paterfamilias (my dad) will be heading to Wheeler to do some prep Wednesday evening... well until, Minner cancels on me, as has been a recent Wednesday night tradition.

 

[polo-dog]

Wow Bprice, you really getting onto the big ones. It sounds like you have figured out where the big ones are stacking up.