Marine_Michael
05-18-2010, 12:44 PM
Fishing west side of duct from @ 3am till after 7am for only one fish landed.
I spent most of the early morning hours chucking lures in hopes of finding the stripers. Several different lures and spots later I though I had one. I had just changed lures and was using my lightweight setup 1500 size reel with 7 1/2' ML rod and 6# Floroclear. On my first or second cast after switching rods in the new spot I got what felt like a hit. I set the hook hard and began the fight. There was drag pulling, line stripping and every time I thought I had it close to side it made another run. I finally got it close enough to show color and to my surprise it was a large catfish. A little while later I found out why it was putting up such a fight. It was foul hooked just behind the anal fins. Another 10 min later and 100 yards downstream and I'm managed to get it to the side. I wasn't thinking and tried to pull it up further on the bank with just the line. Of course it snapped, the fish was sitting in only a few inches of water so I ran down and tried to grab it with my hands, but it's slime coat did it's job and it slipped away, taking my lure with it. I'd estimate that fish at somewhere between 8-12 lbs, easily bigger than any I'd caught before.
About 30 min later and another couple hundred yards further down the bank I thought I got another quick double tap on the lure. I tried working the area for another 10-15 min, but whatever hit it had moved on.
Just after sunrise after getting frustrated with the lack of action on lures for the stripers and wanting to beat the skunk, I decided to drift some chicken liver. Because I lost the earlier fish I decided to use my other setup, a 9' M IM7 rod and 4000 size reel with 8# Yozuri Ultrasoft line. Less than 10 minutes after that I had something nibbling on my bait. I waited till I was sure it had taken it and set the hook and the fight was on. At first I didn't' think that it was a very large fish especially after the dainty way it took the bait. Not long after that to borrow the term from Yolo " it felt like I was pulling up a stump", just a lot of dead weight. I thought maybe a smaller fish had taken me around a snag or something and I was pulling it up too. Eventually I got it near the surface and we got a chance to see the size of it. I think Yolo was more excited about it than I was at that point. Once I got it close to the surface it realized it was hooked or something and took off. I let it run, then pumper the rod reeling in on the downward swing as if it was a tuna. Finally I had it warn out enough that I could bring it closer to shore and work it downstream to a ladder so I'd have a better footing to land the fish. There was no way I was going to try and bounce this one in on 8# test. Once I had it to shore I handed off my rod to Yolo and grabbed the fish under the gills with one hand and then used Yolo's lip gripper on it's lower lip to bring it in. Fresh out of the water I had to use both hands to carry it, it was so heavy. It took about 15 min (maybe longer) to land the fish and man was it worth it. This fish is easily 3 times larger than my previous PB catfish. This fish was seriously gut hooked, in fact I couldn't even see the hook, just the line going into it's stomach and a bit of blood.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct03-1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct02.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct01.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct04.jpg
I couldn't get my digi scale to display in pounds instead of kg so had to convert the 10 kg to pounds once I was home. The fish tips the scales at just over 22 lbs after being out of the water and dehydrating for over an hour.
I spent most of the early morning hours chucking lures in hopes of finding the stripers. Several different lures and spots later I though I had one. I had just changed lures and was using my lightweight setup 1500 size reel with 7 1/2' ML rod and 6# Floroclear. On my first or second cast after switching rods in the new spot I got what felt like a hit. I set the hook hard and began the fight. There was drag pulling, line stripping and every time I thought I had it close to side it made another run. I finally got it close enough to show color and to my surprise it was a large catfish. A little while later I found out why it was putting up such a fight. It was foul hooked just behind the anal fins. Another 10 min later and 100 yards downstream and I'm managed to get it to the side. I wasn't thinking and tried to pull it up further on the bank with just the line. Of course it snapped, the fish was sitting in only a few inches of water so I ran down and tried to grab it with my hands, but it's slime coat did it's job and it slipped away, taking my lure with it. I'd estimate that fish at somewhere between 8-12 lbs, easily bigger than any I'd caught before.
About 30 min later and another couple hundred yards further down the bank I thought I got another quick double tap on the lure. I tried working the area for another 10-15 min, but whatever hit it had moved on.
Just after sunrise after getting frustrated with the lack of action on lures for the stripers and wanting to beat the skunk, I decided to drift some chicken liver. Because I lost the earlier fish I decided to use my other setup, a 9' M IM7 rod and 4000 size reel with 8# Yozuri Ultrasoft line. Less than 10 minutes after that I had something nibbling on my bait. I waited till I was sure it had taken it and set the hook and the fight was on. At first I didn't' think that it was a very large fish especially after the dainty way it took the bait. Not long after that to borrow the term from Yolo " it felt like I was pulling up a stump", just a lot of dead weight. I thought maybe a smaller fish had taken me around a snag or something and I was pulling it up too. Eventually I got it near the surface and we got a chance to see the size of it. I think Yolo was more excited about it than I was at that point. Once I got it close to the surface it realized it was hooked or something and took off. I let it run, then pumper the rod reeling in on the downward swing as if it was a tuna. Finally I had it warn out enough that I could bring it closer to shore and work it downstream to a ladder so I'd have a better footing to land the fish. There was no way I was going to try and bounce this one in on 8# test. Once I had it to shore I handed off my rod to Yolo and grabbed the fish under the gills with one hand and then used Yolo's lip gripper on it's lower lip to bring it in. Fresh out of the water I had to use both hands to carry it, it was so heavy. It took about 15 min (maybe longer) to land the fish and man was it worth it. This fish is easily 3 times larger than my previous PB catfish. This fish was seriously gut hooked, in fact I couldn't even see the hook, just the line going into it's stomach and a bit of blood.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct03-1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct02.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct01.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/rysman/MikeDuct04.jpg
I couldn't get my digi scale to display in pounds instead of kg so had to convert the 10 kg to pounds once I was home. The fish tips the scales at just over 22 lbs after being out of the water and dehydrating for over an hour.