rsimms
Well-known member
rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), (Boat Record!) Blue Catfish, Feb. 15, 2014, The Goulart Brothers
Saturday was sort of "Opening Day" of the 2014 Scenic City Fishing Charters season.
Overall it was a horrible day, at least in numbers. HOWEVER, it was an extraordinary day in regard to size. After we caught some bluegill for bait, the premier catfish of my 2014 season, hooked about 15 minutes after we started fishing, tied my boat/client record of 75 lbs. The other 75-pounder was 52-inches long, but didn't have the girth. Jerimy Goulart's beast was 49-inches long and 35 inches in girth.
It was one of the toughest catfish battles I've ever witnessed. emoEek I've seen much longer battles with big fish caught on light tackle, but this fish was hooked on HEAVY tackle while anchored in 48,000 cfs flow. After about 30 minutes I finally realized it was going to be impossible to get the fish upstream against that flow so we had to pull anchor and drift way down before finally bringing him to net (yes, I'm carrying a net these days emoAngel ).
Plus the temperature was about 32 degrees. Poor Jerimy was a cold, whipped fisherman when all was said and done. emoWorthy
Here's video of part of the battle: http://youtu.be/3bvWKxQPACY
We only caught one other catfish, a 10-pounder, all morning. We also spent considerable time drifting live shiners without catching a SINGLE fish of any variety. I'm not sure when that's ever happened to me before. emoConfused
Bottomline... it is a SLOW bite at the Riverpark right now ... it's just hoping that one "Big Bite" will come. And when it does, life is good and gettin' better every day! emoBigsmile
Saturday was sort of "Opening Day" of the 2014 Scenic City Fishing Charters season.
Overall it was a horrible day, at least in numbers. HOWEVER, it was an extraordinary day in regard to size. After we caught some bluegill for bait, the premier catfish of my 2014 season, hooked about 15 minutes after we started fishing, tied my boat/client record of 75 lbs. The other 75-pounder was 52-inches long, but didn't have the girth. Jerimy Goulart's beast was 49-inches long and 35 inches in girth.
It was one of the toughest catfish battles I've ever witnessed. emoEek I've seen much longer battles with big fish caught on light tackle, but this fish was hooked on HEAVY tackle while anchored in 48,000 cfs flow. After about 30 minutes I finally realized it was going to be impossible to get the fish upstream against that flow so we had to pull anchor and drift way down before finally bringing him to net (yes, I'm carrying a net these days emoAngel ).
Plus the temperature was about 32 degrees. Poor Jerimy was a cold, whipped fisherman when all was said and done. emoWorthy
Here's video of part of the battle: http://youtu.be/3bvWKxQPACY
We only caught one other catfish, a 10-pounder, all morning. We also spent considerable time drifting live shiners without catching a SINGLE fish of any variety. I'm not sure when that's ever happened to me before. emoConfused
Bottomline... it is a SLOW bite at the Riverpark right now ... it's just hoping that one "Big Bite" will come. And when it does, life is good and gettin' better every day! emoBigsmile
bet that net is a trophy too