Thread: Rooster tailin at Egner's ferry bridge

Well...finally got away from the yard word to try the rooster tailin at Egner's ferry bridge...

Fished from 12:30 to 3:30 and this is the only result



Lucky for me I had stopped and picked up some leeches on the way and this is the result...



This guy was 1 of 6 we caught from 3:30 to 7:00...

TVA never turned the water on that I could tell.....

Sure was nice to get out on the lake with the wife...

Way to go changing up to the cats...good eatin. Went to the bridge several days ago and nada!

I was really kinda surprised to catch any catfish at all beings that the dam was not pullin any water that I could tell.....

Seems to me the cats are there more when there is some current....

Anyway...never hurts to have some leeches below the bridge...

Also, caught a slew of big bluegill while fishin with the leeches.....wish I would have kept them...I would have had a good mess of gills....

Might go back next week with more leeches just to catch the gills.....

About how deep did you get the cats?
Craig

Using the TM, I'm bottom bouncing (straight down) a 2 hook "Ky lake rig" around the pilings tipped with leeches...

Marshall co. side pilings are about 22 ft. deep....Trigg co. side pilings are about 29 ft. deep...main river channel pilings are about 65 ft. deep (but I don't usually fish the deep river channel pilings)

I fish each corner of the square bridge support pilings just long enough to bounce around the outside edges of the concrete verticle support I can reach....then I move on to the next corner and do the same......I probably spend about a minute at each corner before moving....

When I get to the last piling I reverse my course and do the same thing towards the other side...I think the cats move in and out all day....

If there's a catfish next to the piling he'll slam it because he's there feeding and looking for an easy meal....I suppose...

I always seem to do better in the afternoon when TVA is pulling water thru the dam but there was no current thur. and I still caught 6 fish in 3 1/2 hours.....the one in the pic went about 10 lb....I had another about 8 lb....4 more about 5 lb. each......

I use a medium action 7 ft. spinning rod with 10 lb. fireline....spinning gear gets the bait down quicker.....fireline gives me excellent feel for the bottom....

I use Eagle Claw 072a #6 2X long shank hooks because they are stout enough to catch the cats and small enough to catch bluegill and the 2X long shank hook makes the hook easier to work with....even with this small a hook, the cats are hooked in the lips 99% of the time...

Thanks for the detailed reply! By the way last week, after the rains I did well rooster tailing in the mornings while they were pulling current. This morning it was back to being dead.

I think it's supposed to warm up this week and possible rain every day...maybe TVA will pull some water by thur. when I work off nightshift...

Originally Posted by rnvinc

Using the TM, I'm bottom bouncing (straight down) a 2 hook "Ky lake rig" around the pilings tipped with leeches...

Marshall co. side pilings are about 22 ft. deep....Trigg co. side pilings are about 29 ft. deep...main river channel pilings are about 65 ft. deep (but I don't usually fish the deep river channel pilings)

I fish each corner of the square bridge support pilings just long enough to bounce around the outside edges of the concrete verticle support I can reach....then I move on to the next corner and do the same......I probably spend about a minute at each corner before moving....

When I get to the last piling I reverse my course and do the same thing towards the other side...I think the cats move in and out all day....

If there's a catfish next to the piling he'll slam it because he's there feeding and looking for an easy meal....I suppose...

I always seem to do better in the afternoon when TVA is pulling water thru the dam but there was no current thur. and I still caught 6 fish in 3 1/2 hours.....the one in the pic went about 10 lb....I had another about 8 lb....4 more about 5 lb. each......

I use a medium action 7 ft. spinning rod with 10 lb. fireline....spinning gear gets the bait down quicker.....fireline gives me excellent feel for the bottom....

I use Eagle Claw 072a #6 2X long shank hooks because they are stout enough to catch the cats and small enough to catch bluegill and the 2X long shank hook makes the hook easier to work with....even with this small a hook, the cats are hooked in the lips 99% of the time...

Nice report.....I'm not after the cats, but there are several on here that this should help out.