Liveliner and Shsimons take it to the Nuke Cats! 9/10/2006

[shsimons]

hey everybody,

This is Sam, and I had the pleasure of fishing with Liveliner yesterday at the nuke plant. I was scared to start the day, as liveliner caught 2 of them really fast. I think he caught them on hot dogs. I was fishing with skipjack heads and really did not want to fish with hot dog. I highly believe in my stinky friend skipjack. After that though, my luck seemed to change. I started using some skipjack fillets and that made a huge difference. For whatever reason, they would not touch a head and only a fillet. I did lose one pretty good fish on a head. I think I had 2 fish on my rods at the same time on 3 different occasions. Overall, it was a really great day. Liveliner showed me a great time and it meant a lot to me having a stranger take me out fishing in his boat. Strangers no more, liveliner is a great guy and I would call him my friend any day. Here are some pics. The first fish is my first ever chickamauga blue. The other 2 pics are of my 11 lb blue and my double with a nice channel and another 11 lb blue.

Liveliner is due a for a 50 lber, let's just hope it hits on his big grouper rod and not the mighty zebco 33! It is only a matter of time as he knows what he is doing.

Thanks again Liveliner, you are a class act and I only hope I can repay you someday when I eventually get my own boat.

Sam

 

[rsimms]

Those side-by-side shots of blues and channels really show the difference well. Congrats on a good day!

 

[Zunker]

Going to try some catfishing. When you fish hotdogs do you use whole?

 

[shsimons]

Liveliner was using a chunk of hotdog, I think maybe cutting one into about 3 pieces, onto a treble hook. He said they were usually good for about one hit.

 

[WLG]

Great looking fish man. I was right beside you guys in my Blue glassmaster and we were using hot dogs with jello cut into 1 inch chunks. Caught around 15 or so...most over 10 lbs with the largest being 16.5 lbs. My co worker went with me and brought along his 11 year old son and I brought my 11 year old daughter. his son caught a 9 pounder on a zebco 33 with 10lb line on a small rod. I didnt think he was gonna get it in but man he sure was excited when I pulled him in the boat. Then my daughter pulled in the 16.5 on a zebco 808 that we bought at wally world the night before. We all had a blast.. I am taking a few days off here in a week or so and I would like to go find some big fish. Maybe some of you guys can chime in with your favorite baits and tackle ( possibly secret holes???) but maybe thats asking too muchemoScratch ... I know Ive read alot of posts on here that says the hot dogs are good up to about 20 lbs or so. I bought some chicken breasts but the largest hooks ive found so far a 5/0. is that big enough to go after the 30 40 50 lb fish??? Maybe if one of you guys need a fishin pal for the day we could hook up and go....I could supply the boat and bait. Just a thought,,,and another question I have is how do I get a CFF sticker???

 

[shsimons]

WLG,

My favorite bait is skipjack. Everyone has their own opinion and what they are confident in, but it has been my experience that when using things such as liver, or hot dogs, you generally do not catch the biggest fish. Now, there is always an exception, look at DHAUN, he caught that 48 inch cat on spam, so when they are feeding heavily, I don't think it matters much. I caught a 62 lb blue on a skipjack head and my buddy caught a 70 lb on a head as well, so I believe in that bait. I just know from experience fishing on the Ohio River that cats would take a skipjack over shad or bluegill almost every time. I generally like to fish with 30 lb line and use a 50 lb or greater piece of line for my leader. This is really important in fishing a hangy area, as I have seen a 80 lb leader just completely shredded from a big fish hanging up in a tree or something. With Josh's 70 lb blue, it hung him up in a tree briefly and the 80 lb leader was beat to heck. The 30 lb line would have broken easily. I generally like to use a size 7 or 8 circle hook, from Gamakatsu. Daichi is just as good or better of a brand. I picked my last set of hooks up at Sportsman's Warehouse, don't think Wal-Mart has any of those. I started using circles a few years ago fishing for big channel cats in my backyard and I love that they almost never swallow it. survival rate is better and the fish does all the work hooking up. As far as good spots around here in Chattanooga, I am pretty much clueless as I just moved down here. I know some good spots in Alabama from fishing with Mike Mitchell, but that's about it down here. There are some really interesting looking bluffs that I'm sure hold some big fish, would love to fish those sometime here on Chickamauga. I know I write a lot, but I just love discussing techniques and opinions.