Getting into Catfishing

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.

https://i.postimg.cc/mgcB6sws/754-BE...BE9-E7-CFD.jpg

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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.

https://i.postimg.cc/mgcB6sws/754-BE...BE9-E7-CFD.jpg

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

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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.


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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.


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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. Attachment 350267

Attachment 350268

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

lmao! no i havent, but you cant ever tell

I have spent many hours watching Steve Douglas on U - Tube. Watched him catch the Skip Jack behind Dams on the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers. His Bait is still frozen when cut and pretty sure it was Vaccium Sealed .. He only uses Circle hooks because 99% are released when caught ... Watching steve the Mystery finding where to fish becomes Second nature if the Boat has a good fish finder and you know what you see on the thing

Something I've heard about for freezing baitfish is to salt the fire out of them to draw as much moisture out then freeze fast and hard.

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Thanks for all the replies. We used some of the frozen skipjack yesterday and the result of it is posted in this forum too. The bait was in good shape, not mushy.

Back in July my brother in law caught an 87lb blue. It was his personal best ever. He was in a boat and fishing at night on Guntersville lake. I can’t say for sure the bait he was using but I know that in the past he has much favored live bream. I can find out and clarify for sure if you so wish.

Last week I caught a really nice channel cat on a piece of slim Jim. Just put it on a circle hook on my bottom rig. Cheap bait that you can eat if you get hungry!

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