Thread: Getting into Catfishing

Originally Posted by FurFlyin

I took my son catfishing a few times last summer. We live on the mountain above lake Guntersville and the TN river, so we are in prime catfishing territory. My son really enjoys it so that's what we're going to do. We've been a couple times this summer. I'm enjoying it more. I do not like any catfish to eat, other than Flatheads. However, I want to catch a 50+ lb fish, so we're going to start fishing for Blues. I've always heard that Skipjack are the premier bait for Catfish. I've kept a few to use, but catching them is sporadic this time of year. We took care of that yesterday afternoon. I'm in the process of freezing these skipjack whole, then I'm going to vacuum seal them, so they'll last a long while. I may go back and catch more. I have no idea how many there are but I've counted 40 out of the cooler so far. I guess when I get finished, I'll know exactly how many large skipjack will fit in a 48 quart cooler. LOL We quit because we ran out of room in the cooler, not because they quit biting. We started with 20 lbs of ice in the cooler, then I added about 2 gallons of water when we started catching fish. When I had to drain the cooler to have more room, we topped it off with fish in about 15 minutes, then stopped and got more ice to sit on top of the fish until we could get home and put them in 2 coolers with ice. They should be very fresh.

Looks like a good haul of skippy! What dam did you catch them at?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

nice haul! That’s the best bait their is for cats when they are fresh .in the past I used to do a lot of trot lines and would catch ship jack up and freeze em but they seemed to get mushy after they been in the freezer for a bit but I never vacuum sealed em hope that works great for you ! ��

Guntersville dam.

Thanks Mitch. I've caught and frozen a few at a time before. 3-5 at a time, but I've never done a big bunch like this. They may get mushy, I don't know.

No sure but it’s worth mentioning, some things gets mushy because the cells burst when freezing.
If you freeze them fast the cells don’t have a chance to burst.
Think dry ice or liquid Nitrogen.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

Originally Posted by Redge

No sure but it’s worth mentioning, some things gets mushy because the cells burst when freezing.
If you freeze them fast the cells don’t have a chance to burst.
Think dry ice or liquid Nitrogen.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

X2


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

Brad I can’t help you much on the Tenn River, even though I’ve fished it my whole life, we always have fished it for eating size fish. But I caught a pile of 30 plus here on Wedowee. Got a 47 and 52lber 2 years ago when I got after em hard. Patience is a huge key, I’ve sat 5-6 hours without a bite, then Boom, there he would be. I used 8-9 inch bream cut in half for bait here. But we don’t have nothing but Threadfin shad and they are hard to catch. Fish drop off and holes with structure in them. My go to hole is 30 feet deep coming out of 12 feet deep, has a lot of rocks and a huge log pile in it. Caught hundred of pounds of big fish out of it over the years.

Thanks for the info man. You ran over any donkeys lately?

lmao! no i havent, but you cant ever tell