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Turtles!
Did not get out Friday morning like i wanted to. Probably could've had some luck given the morning clouds. Oh well, i shot out to Halleck this morning around 630 am with a can of corn and hot dogs. I wanted to bring some catfish home to my grandmother. It started out promising, but i had a flaw with my rig, the hook was too big and was allowing them to take off the hot dog piece without getting the whole hook in their mouths. So i downsized after bout an hour and that is when i landed the first one, good size too. I didn't measure him, but it was probably a good 16 - 17" with a lot of meat on him. After i caught him, i noticed the little heads popping up out of the water and knew it was the snapping turtles, but i stayed and kept casting. I would feel little ticks on the line, but i wrote that off as panfish nipping at it, then the line would jerk about a foot or two and then stop. A lot of times i grabbed the pole and went to set the hook but it would stop or i would jerk it through foliage at the bottom and lose the bait. After going through 1 hot dog (8 casts) i moved further away to fishing a different spot away from the turtles. Wasn't having much luck in this new spot as it was more in direct sunlight, needless to say i got a little bored and took some corn kernels to feed the little sunfish so close to the bank. While i was doing this, i had the rod in my lap with the baitcasting switch on so if something took the bait i would know, as i threw little corn kernels into the water, the reel started whirling very fast, i dropped the corn kernels to grab the rod and start reeling. I think through me fumbling around to get a grip on the rod and the beginning to reel, i let too much slack form near the reel and it jammed, i felt a strong tug and then a snap. I tugged on the line and felt nothing, realized whatever it was, was long gone now. I fiddled around trying to get the huge knot out that formed.
15 minutes later i got it untangled and put new bait on the line, somehow the hook was still on the line, but i lost the bait. Casted it roughly in the same spot, still felt the same little ticks but nothing really concrete until another catfish took it, but as soon as i hooked him, i knew he was going back into the water. Bout half the size of the bigger one with little meat on him, so i put him back and kept fishing around until once again i saw the turtles had followed me and were messing around the bait again.
I decided to switch my tactic and instead of just throwing a hook and hot dog in the water and letting it sink to the bottom, i put a bobber about 2 feet from the bait, eventually it got to 5 feet from the bait and i still wasn't having luck, not even the little ticks. I felt the only way i was going to catch catfish out here was letting it sink to the bottom and hope a catfish would pick it up before the combination of panfish and turtles would eventually tear it off.
Went home at 1045 with just the one catfish, not enough to really have a catfish fry at my grandmothers. But it did give me an opportunity to try out the filet knife. Boy, it made a hell of a difference. I started at the top of the catfish and worked my way down to the rib cage and cut along it. Still wasn't perfect, but i give myself a lot of credit for doing a much better job with this filet knife than the other one. :)
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Didn't head out Sunday, it was a family day to celebrate my sister's 23rd birthday at a local restaurant. But i did head out Monday morning and this morning at both Halleck pond and Offutt Base lake. Monday was all Halleck at 5am, caught 3 catfish, and it should have been more (but i will get to that later). Two went back considering their size and amount of meat they had on them, the 3rd was about 3 lbs 18". I took that over to my grandmothers house to filet and really got two nice filets off it. Turned out great. I still had problems with pulling the hook out of their mouths and not getting it through the jaw losing alot of the bait. I'm thinking about larger treble hooks for a better chance to hook them.
Today i headed out at the same time, 5am to Offutt Base lake with the intent to use hot dogs as bait for catfish. After 2 hours, 4 different spots and one unattended campfire, i got no bites and nothing indicating that something was interested in the bait at all. So i shot over to Halleck pond around 7am with 3 hot dogs left, i only hook one catfish which once again wasn't large enough for me to filet him. The rest was either picked apart by green sunfish/bluegills or i set the hook and wasn't able to hook them through the mouth. Which backs my idea of larger treble hooks with the hot dogs.
Couldn't believe hot dogs didn't work at Offutt Base lake. Oh well. Least the catfish out of Halleck pond was good.
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Keep at it Chris, nothing better than experience.
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