Me and pop will be gearing up for some crappie runs in a month or so at Alamo Lake. The crappie hit best during the summer here in Arizona but because of the heat we fish at night. We usually have our boat on the water and are heading to our spot just before sundown. After we anchor we thow out a couple lines for channel cat then drop in a crappie light which is basically a greenish flourescent light that draws in the little water critters which brings in the shad which brings in the crappie. Normally crappie move in schools and will start hitting like crazy for about a half hour or so then fade away till the next bunch comes through. While they're hitting you can't pull them out fast enough - as soon as you drop a minnow in you'll have a hit in a matter of seconds. There's no limit on them due to the fact that they breed like rats and the harder they get fished the better they do the next season. There was one run last season was by far the most memorable. I mentioned earlier that the crappie will hit for a half hour or so then move on but this night they started hitting like mad as soon as the sun went down and they literally did not slow down till sunrise - they never slowed down the whole night. At Alamo it's normal to pull out 10 inchers with the occasional 12 incher to get you excited but that night we were yanking out gobs of 14 and 15 inchers . I've never seen them come out of that lake that big let alone so many that big. We had two large coolers overflowing with those monsters within a couple hours and spent the rest of the night throwing 'em back cause we had nowhere to put them. We honestly could've filled three or four more coolers if we'd had them. The lake had almost entirely dried up the season before and I'm thinking most of the predatory species got killed off and the tougher crappie that survived went nuts after the lake filled back up. I'll never forget, in the wee hours I'd fallen asleep and got jarred awake when the rod was nearly yanked out of my hands, the tip was being pulled underneath the boat and line was spooling out like crazy. I figured I'd let my lines get close to the bottom and I had a nice fat channel cat on the line which gets real interesting when you're using an ultralight with 4lb test like I was. I finessed that damn fish for quite a while and nearly wet my pants when I saw about a 20 inch shape come up from the murk. I had visions of fried catfish in my mind when I finally got it reeled in close enough to see it was a goddam carp. Talk about a let down. It sure sounds like you fellas have some nice boats. Pop has a '67 Lone Star we use. It's an oldie but goodie and beats the hell out of fishing from the bank. Take care all
neph,i sure hope ye is using a Beer Batter on those crappie's heres two i use on crappie's.. at home INGREDIENTS: * 1 cup all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon salt * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed * 3/4 cup beer * 1/2 cup milk * 2 eggs * 2 quarts vegetable oil for frying DIRECTIONS: 1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and dill. Add beer, milk, and eggs; mix well. 2. Place fish fillets in batter mixture, coat well, and let stand for 15 minutes. 3. Heat deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place fish in hot oil, and fry until golden brown. Cook fish in batches to maintain oil temperature. Serve. at camp.. Beer Batter Ingredients 1 12 oz can light Beer 1 1/2 cups Flour 1/2 tsp Salt 1 tsp Paprika 1 cup Flour Directions Pour the beer into a large bowl. Sift the flour, salt, and paprika into the beer, whisking until the batter is light and frothy. (The batter may be used immediately or stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, but be sure to whisk it occasionally). Heat at least 2 inches of oil in a frying kettle or electric fryer. Just before it reaches 375F, quickly dredge the fish and shrimp with flour, shaking of excess then dip in the beer batter, coating well, and drop them into the hot fat (do this in 2 batches). When they are brown on one side - less than 1 minute - turn and brown them on the other side. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot with lemon wedges. cheers
Not to worry ireland. I'm a beer batter lover although once in a while for the catfish we'll use a corn bread batter to mix things up a bit
I usually take my dad's best friend out fishing.He's taken me since I was a kid,so I return the favor. My dad doesn't fish a whole lot.He mainly golfs and hits all the flea markets. Dad's buddy bob went with me 1 morning. I was running both planer boards and something hit. I thought it was a monster saugeye. We shut down the motor,reeled in all the boards and other rods and I spent 15 mins fighting this fish. It was also rougher than crap-windy. I finally got close to the boat and it turned out to be a snagged carp,through the last chunk of meat, before the tail. This is using 20-30 lb spiderwire and my favorite bait which I did not want to lose. The carp ended up being about 27" long,and probably weighed over 10#s. It went back into the lake -dead, LOL My lake use to have a ton of crappie in it. Those saugeye tear them up. Eating machines.A light would be nice,but the lake is so murky-nothing penetrates beyond 2 ft max. Fixins: I use Drakes fry crisp. Put fish in milk/egg-the fry crisp in a bowl,and throw those fillets in it,seal it,and shake. Then fry em up! MMMMM good! I did try to hit the white bass run last night,but came out with only 1 male and a 3 inch largemouth minny! I'll stick with the saugeye from now,through the 4th of july.I did see a beaver. BTW: Here's my fishing story-true-and I want to see if anyone can explain how it was possible. [bold] I use to work afternoon shift. Get off at 11 pm and go to the lake to catfish. Sort of like little fishing derbies and everyone puts in a couple bucks for big fish. I had a hit and when I reeled in-there was about a 6 inch yellow bullhead catfish on the end of my line,but he was not touching any of my hooks!!!!. I use 2 single hooks when I catfish-and the sinker on the bottom of that rig. How is this possible?[/bold] Think real hard.
The catfish swallowed the sinker............. BTW........... Here's my boat. It's 14 yrs. old now. The shine is dull, and it needs new carpet, but it still floats.
Nope! If it did,and I waited long enough-it would have died of lead poisoning, >LOL> I thought someone would post that. Think real hard. Think like a catfisherman. Hint: Think about the equipment used for catfish like hooks. Nice boat JVC. I got a pic of mine in my user profile page. A 2000 Lowe seanymph fishing machine. 16 ft, 5 inches in length. It's got a 50 hp johnson,6 hp nissan 4 stroke kicker,and a 36 #s thrust evinrude elec motor. It's set up just like a bassboat.It's very dirty.It needs a good carpet cleaning and a coat of wax.
Ok..........he swallowed the cork, or bobber, or whatever you call it, in your part of the country? Nothing wrong with that boat! I had a 17 ft. aluminum Bass Tracker for years. Served me very well. I put more fish in it, than I ever have my Ranger. The Tracker would go in shallower water. I especially like the dining room table, with the Mercury mounted on it. Good casting deck on it! ) Cute kitten. Too bad they grow up. I love cats, but they're cuter as kittens. Here a cat pic, you cat lovers should like.
Still wrong! The fish did not touch any part of the line/hooks/or sinker-but I caught it with a hook. I just thought of another scenario,and no-I did not snag a stringer that got away from somebody that had a catfish on it. Pretty close! Cute cats. You should see some of catfreak's kittys. He pays $500 and higher for them, UGGH! It's hotter than hell right now.I'll let the saugeye get a couple days of rest before I tear into them on friday evening,saturday am and sunday am. The great heat and humidity of Ohio!
You caught somebody else's hook, that the fish had in his mouth, when he broke their line? You caught a line that was still attatched to a rod and reel, as well as to the fish?
Bingo on the first one! When I got a bite,I jerked real hard and it turned out to be a little yellowbelly catfish. When I tried to get him off the hook,that's when I notice I snagged the loop of a snelled leader that some cut off their line.That yellowbelly swallowed it bigtime,so they cut off the line at the leader and let him go.Those hooks should rust and fall out of a fish after a week or so. I happened to snag that little loop in that snelled leader. What's the odds of that happening? A very funny-true fishing story. I've caught rods and reels before,but never a fish still on them. Come on folks, Lets here some more! I use to go up to Ontario canada bluegill fishing with my dad and his buddy bob. We hit Rice lake two years and Buckhorn 2 years. The last year we went there, 9-11. We were fishing and someone had a radio blaring out on the bank. So I turned my radio on and listened after the first plane struck the world trade center..We then stopped fishing and headed back to the cabin to listen to the rest of the ordeal. Boy did we dread crossing the border 5 days after that happened.The eerie part,bob was visiting his daughter in new jersey. He went to the trade center to purchase theater tickets a week before they came down. A very sad vacation that time. I never been to canada since.
now i gotta take offense to that last comment "Think real hard. Think like a catfisherman." i love my catfish. best fishin in the world.....!!!!!!which would ya rather do catch a littleole bass/crappie etc... that might weigh 7lbs if ya get lucky or catch a 78lbs blue cat??????? [bold]BLUECAT[/bold] just horsen around guys...but catfishinn is where its at.....
I'd love to fish for blue cat some day. We have flatheads here in AZ but the truly big ones are hard to find. I think the state record was a 74 pounder. Some other AZ state records for the heck of it, Largemouth - 16 lb. 7.68 oz 28.0 in. Striper - 23 lb. 8.32 oz. 39.25 in. Channel cat - 32 lb. 4.0 oz. 38.75 in Walleye - 16 lb. 1.76 oz. 31 in. Northern Pike - 32 lb. 5.6 oz. 49 in. White crappie - 3 lb. 5.28 oz. 16.75 in. Brown trout - 22 lb. 14.5 oz. 36.0 in. My cousin has a pontoon boat on Lake Powell and God willing I'd like to get up there one of these summers to fish for stripers with her. I've never been bass fishing but she says setting up a lawn chair right by a cooler full of beer (gotta love pontoons) and catching some striper may make me a convert. I think she might be right.
yea thats what i like about catfishin set right on the river bank throw you a couple of lines out sit back crack open a ice cold budweiser and enjoy the day. catch ya few bluecat or shovelhead if night fishin drink ya some more of them budweisers, catch a few more blues,a few more bud's you get the picture....lmao. man im thirsty.....tomorrow opps later this morning for me.i'll talk about some of the tackle and type of gear ya need for them big ole cats i love to catch...but im sure everyone knows the only thing ya really need to catfish is a good rod and real and about 30 budwieser's and time
BlueCats: A few years ago,they were on the protective list.You weren't allowed to keep them in ohio. I don't know how many ohioans knew about that,because it was in very fine print in the regulation book. Stripers: Not many of them around me,anymore. Grand Lake St.Marys use to have them. Every couple years you'd hear someone catching a monster. They never really took to that lake. Again,shallow-avg 6 ft deep,muddy and very windy lake. The land over on that side of the state is flat as a pancake. They can't stock saugeye in that lake because it actally feeds into Lake erie,going through indiana and then back up to the maumee river. Down in tennessee,they call stripers: RockFish! Every state seems to have their own names for fish. Cincyrob: I got a buddy at work who fishes the Ohio River.He said you'll be fishing the bank,and then you'll see a refrigerator/washer/dryer/or even a hot water heater float by you, LOL. He catches some big cats,but he won't eat them.
Yeah, I was looking at a newspaper from my former state. A kid caught a,"I think," 47 pound, 46 inch long flathead. This is in the deep south, somewhere between noahs ark, and kansas. I remember running trot lines, jugs, and yo yo's. Got plenty of rope burns and got pulled out of the boat a couple of times. But it was a lot of fun. I was pulling a line up one day and there was a fresh water river eel on the hook. I damn near walked on water, that is the strangest looking thing. Snake head eel body. Sound like you guys like the blues, hauled plenty of them in. But there is a mercury problem in the ouachita mountains. People are starting to catch and release, which is fine in my book. They can only get bigger.
Water pollution is tragedy. We have PVC's/lead/ethyl mercury/pesticides. You'd think Michigan would be cleaner,but it's the opposite. Heck,you even read about those salmon farms out west that the fish are contaminated with lead and mercury. How about those chinese snakehead fish? I haven't heard much about them lately. We catch water dogs at a river I fish at.Also called salamanders. These are creepy,especially when caught at night and you hear their yelping.Some of them go almost 2 ft.
I haven't seen them that big. But anything that looks like a snake is wise to be out of my site. I'll try to find a pix of a river eel. I gave it to an old man, he said it tastes like catfish. I took his word for it.
here's a pic. here's the link. Funny they mentioned ohio. http://www.fish.state.pa.us/Fish/pafish/fishhtms/chap9.htm
That critter looks creepy! I think I'd cut my line if I had something like that at the end, LOL Here's one: This town has a lake in which all the townspeople get their fish,so they can eat. An eel gets into the lake and starts eating all the fish.So all the villagers went out fishing for it. One of them caught it. So the entire town gathered around the man with that eel. They had a decision to make. How to kill that eel? One villager said "throw it in fire",and another said to "cut it up into pcs". The mayor said that was too inhumane. Then another villager yells out: [bold]THROW HIM BACK INTO THE LAKE AND DROWN HIS SORRY ASS![/bold] So the mayor threw it back into the lake to drown, LOL It's an old one.
