fishin pics

bigben · July 03, 2010, 08:39:06 AM

for some reason the last 7 or so years I haven't been doing much fishing. not sure why just haven't made time for it. well this spring I started fishing again heavy. over the season I took some pics of some of the catchs.

to start it off here is a big rainbow that I caught at a local lake. caught him using a artificial lure. this was one of three we had hooked that were big or bigger then this one. just had some troubles getting them landed.

another type of fishing I enjoyed when I was younger was fly fishing. an old farm pond and some dry flys always produced sunnies on a nice warm day. here are three colored ones I caught in early summer.

here is a smallmouth i caught on first fork sinnimahoning.

another smallmouth that fell for a topwater on the susky.

heres a largmouth that fell for a soft plastic at a local farm pond.

as of late I have been wanting to start catfishing. looking to find something that fights back more then trout do. last saturday a friend took me out in his boat on my first trip for cats on the river. ended up with some filletable channels.

flat head

Thursday night I borrowed my fathers boat and hit the river with my uncle. here is the first fish of the night.

second fish of the night layin in the boat. a nice sized channel cat

here are the big ones we kept to fillet. I did learn something and thats that them flatheads for as big as they are do not have hardly anything to em to fillet. they looked like they would put a nice fillet out and nothing.

fishin at the local farm pond.

Hawks Feather · July 03, 2010, 08:48:02 AM

WOW, that rainbow looks tasty.

Jerry

bigben · July 03, 2010, 09:26:36 AM

he ended up getting put in the smoker. and yes so far he has been tasty. still got one fillet yet to eat

FinsnFur · July 04, 2010, 01:11:04 AM

You need to make more time for fishing

I've always filleted my cats by laying them on the table upright (belly down) and stabbing them right behind the head on one side of the spine and cutting them back clear to the tail, all the way through, riding the spine all the way down.

Then stab him again right behind the head on the other side of the dorsal and follow the spins all the way down again.
It makes some beautiful fillets.

alscalls · July 04, 2010, 05:59:04 AM

Sounds like a lot of fun!

I been eating a good bit of catfish fillets myself......... There a little different to do up but once you get it down there is a good bit of meat there...

pitw · July 04, 2010, 06:12:40 AM

You guys eat cats

.

CCP · July 04, 2010, 07:13:03 AM

QuoteYou guys eat cats

Barry why you think we fish?? Lay the fish outside on the porch come out a little later and the porch is full of tasty cats......

Ben nice fish and hope your back in the fishin game...

bigben · July 04, 2010, 10:47:22 AM

I might not be filleting them right. I was layin em on their belly then cutting straight down to the ribs then goin down across the ribs till it cuts the skin. then fillet straight back. do they have a bunch of meat in their belly?

and one more thing I think a flathead catfish is the toughest fish I have ever caught. after being in the boat for 6 hours they were still breathing yet. couldn't believe it.

FinsnFur · July 04, 2010, 11:06:56 AM

No there's not a lot of meat over the stomach, but there is above it and behind it.
So if you fillet it the whole length, you can just scrape out the stomach and it's lining, and then you got a clean, full length fillet with a small cup shape out of it where the stomach was.

bigben · July 07, 2010, 04:11:54 PM

Think i am gonna hit a spot this friday fishing off the bank. Lately been way to hot. Probably the first time in two months i didnt fish every other day. I cant wait till we get out pond fixed and filled back up.

bigben · July 11, 2010, 05:38:38 PM

this last friday was a successful trip fishing but couldn't find anything close to home. 10lb 28in channel.

FinsnFur · July 11, 2010, 06:52:31 PM

You better get a big bun

bigben · July 11, 2010, 07:00:11 PM

actually what i have been doing is cutting them width wise into 1in long pieces and making catfish sticks. and then pan fry em. makes em easier to cook. i do not have a deep fryer.

bigben · August 02, 2010, 03:36:39 PM

more catfish photos.

my father, a friend, and my catch from a friday on the river a few weekends ago.

latest catfish I caught on saturday night. didnt have a scale on me but he was big or bigger then the other big one pictured above. pretty sure he is bigger. he had a wide head on him. I spent the weekend on the river fishing with the members of the ppha and had a heck of a time. caught 5 cats all over 24". one had a wide head on him. allmost looked like a flathead at first. all from this weekend swam again to fight again. it was neat having a large cat weekend compared to a large numbers weekend.

the below attached photo was from two weeks ago. we kept the little ones pictured because they swallowed the hook which is something I have noticed happens when you use punch bait or a manufactured bait. we threw a bunch back that were in the 18 inch range.

as of lately I have been expirimenting with different hooks. mainly the circle hooks and specialty hook. I really like the kahles that eagle claw makes but they are normally bent after fishing them out of a catfish mouth. they dig in deep and give a good solid hookset. I only tried these in 4/0 and they seem to work well. other then bending when you pull em out. I tried some gamakatsu's in a octopus circle in a 6/0 size. these suckers are strong and dont bend but are $. cheapest I found is 3 bux for 6. the kahles are 50 for 4.50 at wally world. but the gamas dont bend. as long as you dont leave em in a snag at the bottom of the river your set for a few fish. I did pick up some team catfish branded hooks that look beefy as all get out. but they are even more expensive. 3bux for 4. but you can let em work like a circle or set the hook with em. if they work like that I dont mind spending the money on them.

FinsnFur · August 02, 2010, 10:15:45 PM

Thats a nice pile of fillets

Looks like they are breeding down there.

I bought some lazer wire hooks the other day that I thought was the keenest thing since sliced bread. They were designed to be snag proof. You get hooked on a snag you just pull it out and the hook straitens out just enough to release it, and then retains it's shape after wards.

Sounds like a good way to lose a fish, but they dont and they are awesome.

bigben · August 03, 2010, 07:39:06 AM

do you mean the sores on a few of em? I am still trying to figure it out. someone told me it was from them fighting but I wasn't sure. normally every time I go out at least one has a few skinned up portions on em.

the problem with these kahles if you bend em back to what you think was where they should be they don't preform the same. with as cheap as they are I just throw the used bent ones in a soda bottle and then throw em away when I get home. so far these are the only ones that bend like that. they make a king kahle hook also but not sure if that means they are thicker or bigger in size.

FinsnFur · August 03, 2010, 09:25:18 AM

No I'm talking about the patchy colored skin

bigben · August 03, 2010, 03:14:08 PM

The patchy looking skin is from them laying in a bucket next to each other for a few hours on the boat. I didnt have a stringer that would hold em to keep em in the water. I just got a better stringer though that has swivels. I was having problems before that they would start to roll and pop the hooks open. this one is made of rope and has swivels so it shouldnt bind up as much.

FinsnFur · August 03, 2010, 05:58:46 PM

They get patched up like that during spawn too.

bigben · August 03, 2010, 08:30:53 PM

I didnt know that. I know the spawn just got over though a few weeks back. lately we have been catchin all big ones. dad was fishing further south on the susky on friday night and they caught mostly 20"plus fish. I guess the big ones are coming off spawn and getting the feed bags on.