Early Morning Catfish

Have you ever had one of those mornings when you head to the field or water and everything just seems to work out perfectly? This morning was one of those days in my neck of the woods! Brad (my hunting and fishing sidekick) and I headed out at 5:30AM to a nearby lake to find a few decent bluegills with our flyrods. It was the most picturesque morning I've ever seen! A cool breeze blew from the southeast, which was a relief from all the scorching-hot weather we've had the past week. With little luck for the gills, however, we moved to a different lake down the road.

We managed a few gills there, but nothing with size. We kept a few smaller fish for bait and headed to where a creek flows into the lake. We rigged up the fish on our catfish rods (which we always keep with us for such an occasion) and tossed our bait into the creek. Within 3 minutes of my bait being in the water, I felt a hefty tug on the line and pulled in a nice 5 1/2 pound channel catfish from the creek. As I was working the treble hook out of the fish's mouth, Brad pulled in a channel cat a little over 6 pounds!

Within the next hour, Brad managed to snag into this brute: a nine pound channel catfish. When he reeled it in, we saw a large wound on the fish's side. This wound we could only guess to be from a large snapping turtle. I originally thought it could have been from a boat motor prop, but the wound is on the bottom side of the fish, which suggests something was trying to make dinner out of him!

We both managed to get a few more bites this morning, but no more fish. Either way, we were not at all disappointed with how well the trip went. It was amazing catching fish out of a small creek. Those cats sure put up a great fight. All fish were successfully released in the water to fight another day. I hope to head back soon and try my luck again.