Jump to content
Carp Anglers Group Forums

Carpaholic

CAG Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    6,000

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Carpaholic

    Here Fishy, fishy, fishy...

    in Other Species Stories

    Posted

    All -

    I've got a nearby catfish pond. I usually fish dough or punch bait and manage a few between 1 and 4 lbs. I got to thinking though (yes that explains the smell). Since boilies seem to do so well catching catfish when we are targeting carp, I thought I'd give them a try while fishing expressly for catfish.

    As luck would have it, I still had a few small bags of Red Demon boilies from back at the Sunshine tourney. It seems that catfish like strawberry so I baited up some small hair rigs with a single 10 mm strawberry boilie. I only chummed a handful of freebies around each hookbait.

    Within an hour I had my first take. I landed a nice little 3 or 4 lber and released it. About an hour later I had another of about the same size. As the sun began to set, the weather shifted much cooler and the wind swung around from blowing out of the south to blowing out of the north.

    I considered leaving, but the Solunar minor was just beginning and I get so few hours on the water anyways. Well, I sat there shivering and decided I'd give it another half an hour. I sure am glad I stayed. About 15 minutes later I got a good take. When I struck the fish with my little Ugly Stik Lite rod it hooped over into nearly a complete circle. The 8 lb mono began to peel from my little Okuma EB30. This fish though it was a carp and made several drag peeling runs. In fact, I began to wonder if maybe just maybe I'd hooked a carp in my little catfish pond.

    After at least 10 minutes of deep, zig zag runs, I started to get that nervous little voice in my head (no, not the one that says bring an assault rifle to work, but the other one that says be careful, you don't want to loose this fish!) After what seemed forever the fish finally boiled the surface, but I still couldn't get a look at it in the fading light.

    Another run from left to right and I finally got it to the surface again. For a moment I though it must be an amur (grass carp) based on the length, but that thought vanished when it opened its big maw. This fish was definitely a channel catfish. It's mouth was large enough to engulf my whole fist should I be silly enough to put my hand in it's mouth. It almost seemed funny to see the tiny red boilie dangling from it's lip.

    I managed to scoop this big kitten into my net and then admired it as I unhooked it in the grass. It has been quite awhile since a catfish has gotten my adrenaline flowing. This one caught on fairly light tackle certainly did the trick. I was so jazzed by the catch that I didn't even remember that my cell phone has a camera. I eyeball estimated the cat at about 12 lbs or so. It was easily twice as large as any other I had caught in this pond.

    I was still buzzing as I released it back into the chilly waters. As I was packing up to leave another small foot-long catfish took off on my other rod. I guess I'd have to say that Strawberry boilies really do catch catfish, and not just by accident. I'm pretty sure, I just caught my PB channel cat. Thanks for listening.

    A Pictoral History of my CAG Experience

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    I believe I mentioned that earlier in 2005 Neil had invited Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Mukhtar Farooqi to the ATC. He witnessed and recorded Vaughan Osmond's state record fish. Thanks to Neil's and Mukhtar's efforts, the efforts of ACS, and the growing visibility of carp fishing both on the CAG forum and on local forums such as the Texas Fishing Forum, we were invited to visit with several Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept officials including the cheif of Inland Fisheries Phil Durocher and many of the heads of the regional fisheries offices. We had a very cordial meeting and discussed how in many areas our objectives overlapped. In particular we saw opportunities to help promote urban angling and to help draw new anglers into the sport. One of the observations made by the biologists was that old style fisheries management held that roughfish and gamefish species were incompatible. However, newer fisheries management approaches were observing that strong populations of both can and often do co-exist. (Present day Lake Fork is a prime example world class Largemouth Bass fishing and trophy carp and buffalo co-existing in the same waters!). This truly was a milestone event. Carp were beginning to be seen as yet another potential fishery resource rather than always undesireable.

    Pictured here is Inland Fisheries Director Phil Durocher and other TPWD officials.

    post-8-1197001398.jpg

    A Pictoral History of my CAG Experience

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    I know I've enjoyed recalling my experiences at this awesome event. I also know that others have memories just as grand and just as thrilling. I encourage everyone to search the archives to relive these grand moments. Thanks to David, Sean, and Wayne and all of the volunteers including Head Marshal Al Kowalski for putting on an event that produced such spectacular memories.

    A Pictoral History of my CAG Experience

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    In the end Val and I managed to place 11th. Not too bad out of a field of more than 100 teams. However, our results paled in comparison to fellow teams comprised of CAG members. Past and present NACA publisher Stewart McKenzie and John Tillbrook took 2nd place. Future CAG Pres Louis Cook and Matt Col took 3rd place.

    Here's a pic of the winning team of Tim Paisley from the winning team of Paisley and Steven Briggs.

    post-8-1196999553.jpg

×
×
  • Create New...