Big Catfish and Little Catfish - Dan River Virginia

Big Catfish Little Catfish

July 15th my wife and I decided to do a little Catfishing.    Truth be told I decided and she chose to come along.  Normally bait on this river is very hard to come by so I either bring my own frozen cutbait, buy goldfish, or get both.   This time for some dumb reason I decided to buy 5 tubs of night crawlers and see what I could catch with just them.   My wife was like you/we are only going to catch little cats with crawlers!!
I assured her that IF a big Catfish came up on a big glob of crawlers that it was game on!

First, we had to get the boat in the water.

  First stop produced this massive cat!    Now don't laugh it was cool catching this little guy who got a 7/0 hook in his mouth.

Was she right about we were ony going to catch little ones????????

That stop also produced a decent longnose gar that you will have to see in the Video.

We moved a few more times with not much luck.   Our final stop had me put out all  3 rods.
All of the sudden and the spinner is smoking! after an Intense battle I finally subdued the beast by sticking my hand in her mouth and hoisting her aboard.   My wife tried to net her numerous times and with her being a rookie on the net I was getting worried that that would cause me to lose this giant so that is why I lipped her.

 I have included my you tube channel video of this catch but I will confess that this cat fought way better than the video suggest.  I had to cut out a lot of the fight due to the reel just being in front of the camera and this massive cat splashed water on the lens so you couldn't see some of the fight due to it being blury .

Game On!!!!!

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July 15th
Dan River right on the North Carolina Virginia Border
Boat-  Seras Gamefisher 1232
Motor- Mercury 2.5
Outfits-   Shimano 6500 Baitrunner Loaded with 25 lb Shur strike line on a 7' Ugly stik Tiger rod,  Abu Garcia 6500c loaded with 30lb Big game on a 7' Ugly Stik and a 7000c Abu loaded with 40 lb Red Cajun on an American Spirit Night Stik
Hook would be 7/0 Gamagatsu J and Circle hooks
Bait- Night crawlers on a 3 way rig

#danriver

#catfishing

#catfish

Jeff Gets a Flathead

I  Just got back from a week in the Florida Keys crossing a few fish off of my "Bucket List".
Tarpon, Black Drum, Cuda, Mangrove Snapper, Jack are all now off of that list. I even wanted to see a Key Deer and after 2 hours of sitting still a nice Key Deer Buck came by. Ok, it was actually only 5 minutes but I got to see a Key Deer.
So, Saturday the 20th I was taking a nap recuperating and my wife comes into the bedroom and says Jeff is here. Crap, there went my nap.

Jeff talks me into going to a local flow for a short float for Bass. We look at usgs.gov and the water level looks perfect.  We arrive at our destination and the water looks like crap.  Too bad usgs.gov doesn't show water clarity.  Now I like stained to slightly muddy water but this was so muddy I think I actually saw a Raccoon track float by!  We stood there deciding on our options and after a little arm twisting  I talked Jeff into going to a nearby spot for Flatheads.

First we would have to get bait. So off to the Bait store it was. I had only brought  1 cat rod since this was originally a bass trip so we took turns fishing for cats.  I went first and caught one 20 lbs or so. Now, it was Jeff's turn .  He casted to one hole and after 15 mins or so he casted to another hole and  almost immediately his line started moving to the left. he set the hook and after a short brief battle he had his first Flathead!  Awesome! Now, if I could just get him to go after Shad on the Shad run.

Note - no Flatheads were harmed today but 7 goldfish were.   7 x $2.75 apiece and a 4.99 baitbucket = $26.24
Catching Flatheads- Priceless

Rod - 7ft Heavy American Spirit NiteStik-   This imo is the best rod on the market for the money

link to Rod........

http://www.bottomdwellerstackle.com/american_spirit.htm


Reel- Abu 7000C
Line- Cajun 40 lb
Hook- 9/0 Gama J hook
Bait-Goldfish
Weight -2 oz Bank Sinker
Time-6pm-8pm

Picture of Rig-

Picture of How I hook the Bait-

Results-

A great afternoon on the water. Mack

Danville, Virginia

#flatheadcatfish

#fishing

34 lb Flathead caught on Shiner

Date 5-6-2015
Location- Central North Carolina Stream
Outfits Used-
Abu Garcia 7000 w/ 40 lb Red Cajun line on 7' Med Hvy American Spirit Nite Stik
http://bottomdwellerstackle.com/american_spirit.htm#Nite_stik_classic
This IMHO is the best Cat Rod for the money

Penn Mag 10 loaded with 40 lb Red cajun line on Berkley Big Game 6'6" Med Hvy
I caught the cat on this out fit.

Rig- Carolina Rig with 3 oz Bank sinker, swivel, 1 ft leader and 7/0 J hook. 

Time- 5:30 PM - 830 pm

Bait Used- 4 goldfish from my last trip and some river shiners and shad caught in castnet

Headed out to one of my favorite spots for Flatheads and and set up my rods in surfrod holders.
I had zero hits on Shad and goldfish. My one lone hit came on the shiner and it was also the smallest bait I had. This Flathead was a mean one.  I doubt I have ever had one fight harder. She was a real brawler and I was lucky to have landed her.   Released her unharmed for another angler to catch.

Bait-

Here is the Trophy of the day. 

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my YouTube Channel here Mack's River Fishing YouTube Channel

#catfishing

#flatheadcatfish

#NorthCarolinafishing

Catfishing Below a Dam with Todd

Saturday June 21st I called my old friend Todd and told him we were going cat fishing. He said where are we going??. To a dam where we wade out 300 feet to the middle and catch catfish I said.  Catfish during the daytime??  Yep!  Catfish during the daytime and not just channels and blues but Flatheads during the daytime.
I picked him up and off to the bait store to get aprox 20 gold fish. Not cheap at 2-3 bucks a piece so we must luv to fish.
We waded below this 600 foot long dam and tossed the goldfish right into the turbulent water below the dam.   We missed a few fish and slung off some Goldfish but it was worth it.
My rod used was a Ugly Stik Tiger Rod paired with a Shimano Baitrunner 6500 spooled with 25 lb line.   7-9/0 hooks and 2-4 oz sinkers.  
All of this video is from the 21st except the last picture which I threw in from the last trip.

Not many caught today but it was a FUN DAY.

Enjoy.   

#flatheadcatfish

#danvillevirginia

#danriver

Catfish Adventure Below a Dam

Steve and myself made a trip to one of my favorite rivers on Friday the 13TH!!!. First we had to stop and buy goldfish at 2.75 a pop but these were Jumbos. We made it to the spot and the river was a little higher than normal. After a little thought I went back to the car and got my life vest. Steve already had his on and by the look of the rushing water I had better have one on also.   
We had to pretty much swim a channel with a backpack on, rods and bait buckets. Then wade though waist deep fast water. This was all to get out in the middle where the fish are. This Dam is 600 feet long so we had to get out 300 feet . Boy was that a workout. This spot is not for the weak and is very dangerous hence the life jackets.

Anyway action was very good with slightly rising water and a full moon. The water flow today was aprox 2300 cfm.    Steve caught several Blues before I even had my first hit but we were after Flatheads. Sometime later I heard Steve yelling and look over and he is fighting a big one. Then the line went slack. Crap, cut on a rock. A short while later I get a good hit and I got her head up and kept it up. Brief hard battle and I released her back to fight again. Most of our hits came by casting the goldfish right up against the base of the dam.   An awesome day on an awesome river with a good friend. Cant beat that.

Outfit I used- Shimano 6500 Baitrunner on a  7' Ugly Stik Tiger Rod , Bait Goldfish, Terminal tackle - 2 oz bank sinker swivel then a 6 inch leader using an 8 or 9/0 Hook. 

An Awesome day!

A good night of Catfishing Using Goldfish and Cutbait

Dan River VirginiA

June 7th 2014

I went  to one of my favorite rivers in search of some cats 6/7 430pm -430am 6/8.

 I arrived at my spot a little after 4 and  I was at my first hole 430 ish, 

 Bait today would be 12 bream I caught earlier and had on ice for cutbait. These would get the garlic bath. I also bought the last 8 goldfish a bait store had so these would be my flathead bait.

Gear and Outfits used- 
Abu 7000c on American spirit Nite Stik , 40 lb Cajun with 3 oz bank sinker and 9/0 j hook.
Shimano 6500 baitrunner on Ugly stik tiger rod loaded with 25 lb big cat. 2 oz sinker with 9/0 circle hook.
Abu 6500c on white ugly stik loaded with 30 lb big game. 2 oz bank sinker with 7/0 j hook on 3 way rig.6
Oh, I cant leave out the boat.  Sears 12' Jon with 55 lb thrust motor. Water too shallow for my gas motors.

I immediately started getting hits on cutbait(didn't used goldfish till 30 min before dark) from blues 5-10 lbs with the biggest at 10-11 lbs. Moved every hr to a different hole and caught fish on each hole and also lost several big ones, still nothing big.

^^^^This equals this \/ \/ \/

  
I also brought along a Banana (oh no he didn't!) because the forum post the other day had me laughing. I bring bananas a lot while fishing and it has never hurt my fishing.

anyway, aprox 245 I set up on my last hole. Apox 3 am I get a good run on the Abu 6500 set with a goldfish. I set the hook and the battle is on!!!....It was crazy for a few as I had to hold this strong fish and wind in 2 lines that were out. After 5 mins I bring in a good 35lb flathead to anchor the blues I caught today. Can you say Banana Smana??.

                                               ^^^^^ This equals this \/ \/ \/

I set the lines out again and get one more run at aprox 4 am. A small 5 lb flattie. I release her and head home. A nice night of fishing.

going to bed..........

#catfishing

#danriver

#fishing

#danvillevirginia

One Beautiful Catfish!

Black Flathead Catfish

Went fishing with my good friend Aki and James  5/20/2014 on a Central piedmont flow. We fished from aprox 4:30 to 8:30 pm.  Our quarry today was catfish and hopefully flathead catfish.   We caught bait with rod and reel(crappie and bream) and also with a castnet (shad and shiners).
Then we set out 2 rods each and began our wait . 30 mins later my rod with a crappie for bait was bent over and I reeled  in this nice 15lb flathead that was the darkest flattie I have seen.  James said he has caught a few dark ones here but this was a first for me.  All the flatheads I have ever caught were that normal yellow brown.  Not a huge fish but I was happy to of caught one that color.  We actually didn't land another fish but it was a good day.

Reels used- 

Daiwa Procaster PS55 loaded with 30 lb Cajun line
Abu Garcia 7000C loaded with 40 lb Cajun line
Both on American Spirit "Nite Stiks" 7' Med Hvy Rods

Rig was my usual Bottom rig for cats consisting of a Bank sinker and short leader with a good hook.
 

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my YouTube Channel at  Mack's River Fishing YouTube Channel


#catfishing
#flatheadcatfish
#northcarolinafishing

#crabtreecreek

Blues, Flatheads, Monster Brown Water Snakes and my new Squirrel (fishing) dog Pete

Thursday the 18th of April  I went to one of my favorites spots down east. This would be a special day even if I did not catch anything as I was taking my new Squirrel dog 'Pete" on a boat for the first time. Pete did extremely well which my wife said he wouldnt. Told ya so!...We started off trolling for Stripers and mananged a 12 incher right away but it was not going to be a good day for trolling as the oaks were putting off these tassle things that kept fouling the line. 
We then proceeeded to bream and bass fish and just like the other day the small bass were wearing out the Mepps Black Fury.The  Problem was not many bream were hitting it  and they were also not hitting crickets in the usual spots. We finally managed to catch a few for cut bait and since I had to leave at dark we motored to a spot to set out 2 lines. Right before this spot I look on this tree laying in the water and golly there is this one huge Brown water snake   Anyway we anchor up and I put a bream head on one and the next slice on the other rod. 5 minutes later one rod is bending like crazy!. I reel hard and get in a 15 lb flat head. No monster but I will take him. 1 hr later the other rod is bending and I reel in an 11 lb blue. No monster again but I am not complaining with catching fish.

Pete was loving every minute of this. A good day on the water. Mack

Caught quite a few small bass and a few bream on the Mepps Black Fury size 1.

Nice big ole Brown Water Snake!

15lb Flathead caught on Bream head

11lb Blue Cat caught on bream cutbait

A view of how I set my rods in the holder.

Pete on the way back to the ramp.

Hot Cats

Since it is so hot I decided to go to one of my favorite cat spots late and fish late....I Left the house at 4 and was on the water at 6.....Today I would be in my scanoe with my 55 lb thrust motor.....I headed upstream from the put in. The water was fairly swift and I did have to get out and pull through 2 rapids, but I made it to where I wanted to start . My first priority would be to catch bait......

I had a fairly hard time catching bait but by dark I had managed to get 3 greens, several redbreast and a few bream for bait.....Also caught 2 smallies and missed a nice one.....all bait caught on a beetle spin..

                                                                           Bait

The outfits today would be a Bantam 50 loaded with 20lb line on a black ugly stik (light cat outfit)and a Abu 6500 loaded with 30lb line on a white ugly stik(medium size cat outfit).....Hooks used were a 9/0 circle hook used on the 6500 and a 7/0 j hook on the Bantam 50. 2 of the Bream were used as cutbait sprayed with garlic juice and the rest would be used live. The bream would be kept alive in a Flow troll Bait bucket which you can see in the above picture just below the redbreast anal fin. You can see some of the fish in the bucket.

1st fish right at dark was the flathead that hit a small (4" green) on the 7/0 hook. Next fish was a blue that hit a bream head soaked in Garlic juice and the 3rd was also a blue that hit a live bream....both on the circle hook.

I did lose 2 nice fish and called it quits at 1230 am......Back home and finished cleaning fish at 330am.....

Nothing huge tonight but a few decent size cats....Highlight of the trip was right at 1030pm i hear some splashing in the water river left and shine my light there. 1 doe and 2little bitty fawns in the shallow water and they stayed there probably 30 minutes......Mack

Big Bream, Shellcrackers and some suprises....

Since my son is on trackout,  I had promised to take him fishing downeast for some big catfish. I told him the catfishin would be better next month  but he still wanted to go anyway . Thata boy!.....
We headed to one of my favorite rivers, the Neuse.  Now I  will not gona say exactly where we were,  but any blackwater creek off the Neuse between Smithfield and NewBern will give you some really nice bream and the main Neuse  will get you the Flatheads and Blue Cats.. 
We arrived at our destination at 1pm and fished untill 11pm. The Boat for today would be my Trusty 1984 vintage Coleman Scanoe with a Mercury 2.5 hp motor.  
First business of the day would be to fish for Bream.  For 2 reasons, they are fun,  and we need bait.  Bait of choice was crickets on 2 ul rods fished 2 ' under corks on #6 long shank hooks.  Man! did we have a blast and  we really got on to some good bream. My son actually lost one that was 1.5 lbs to 2 lbs and I had a similar one break 4 lb test at the boat!!!!. all of the big Bream were released for another day and a few of the smaller ones kept for bait.  Oh, I did catch a few on my 4wgt fly rod with a yellow popper and a black ant trailer.
Here are a few pics of some of the bream.

Not a big shellcracker but he fought like crazy!

Maybe my biggest of the day

One for the Longrod.... All fly rod caught fish caught on Yellow popper with Ant trailer.

This was probably my sons biggest of the day.

Here is the type of areas we were fishing. Throwing right up against Cypress trees and gum trees.

Right before dark we headed out to one of  my catfish hot spots and set up.

3 rods would be used tonight.

1. An  Abu 7000 loaded with 40 lb cajun line on a 7' mh American Spirit Nite Stik. This IMO is the best catrod on the market.

2. A Shimano 6500 Baitrunner loaded with 25 lb Golden stren on a 7' ugly Stik Tiger Rod. 

3. A calcutta 700 loaded with 30 lb big game on a custom made 8' rod that I can thank my Great freind Todd for!!!

All rigs were modified Carolina rigs with 2 oz sinkers, short leaders and 5/0 hooks. I left the 9/0 hooks at home!

The first spot yielded this decent striper that my son got in fairly easy on the calcuata 700. This Striper hit a piece of cut bream soaked in garlic juice.

After a couple of missed hits,   we moved down to another spot and right away I caught this small flattie.

After  a couple more missed hits we moved down to another spot and nada. 

Not a great day for bottom fishing but can't complain with a Flathead and a Striper caught,  and the joy of the day was seeing my son have fun with  those Big  Ole Bull Bream. Other wildlife seen was 2 Black Fox Squirrels , alot of white Ibis, some ducks and the usual Herons. Oh! on the ride down I did see that one unfortunate Fox Squirrel didn't make it across the rode and now I know someone who may have a red Fox squirrel tail for some Fly tying.

Mack

Neuse River Cats, Shellcrackers and Shooting stars

Made a trip to the Neuse Aug 14,15 with my son and his Friend Tyler for some catfishing on the Neuse River. We launched at a private ramp on the Neuse at aprox 4pm sat and fished until Sunday 4:30 am.

Here is a video of our journey down one creek at about 1/4 throttle.

  The first part of the day was spent fishing for bait. We caught a lot of bream and some very nice shellcrackers on crickets fishing around wood structure , namely cypress trees and blowdowns.
Most were avg size to small which is good in a way as I don't really like to use big bream for bait as they do attract flatheads better but I don't like wasting a a big ole bream. here is a nice shellcracker that my son caught. This shellcracker was released along with all the very nice sized ones we caught. The water temperature in 2 creeks that we fished was a toasty 92 degrees, while the main river was 88 degrees.

Right before dark we started catfishin .  The action was decent dark -12midnight and then it picked up again aprox 2-4.  Here is Tylers first Flathead.

 Here is my sons first of the night at aprox 22lbs

Above is a gar I caught and a 24 lb flattie.

Here is the best cat of the night caught by my son at 34 lbs. Caught on a live bream hooked to a 9/0 hook on 8 inches of leader and held down with a 2 ox weight. You do not want a long leader as they will wrap you around something if you do.

Was a great night. We saw over 20 shooting stars as there is a meteor shower going on this week and heard a lot of owls. Mack