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Set out about 10 this morning from Blue's to check our herring nets. The river rose about 3 feet last night so we had a bountiful catch. In the net there was:
28 pound blue cat
20 pound blue cat
10 pound blue cat
17 blueback herring
2 buffalo carp
3 gizzard shad
3 roe shad
3 buck shad
The guy who had the net knows how I like to release the cats, so he asked me whether we should keep them or not. I told him they were HIS nets and he could do whatever he wanted to do with them. He put them in the cooler, but by the time we had all the other fish in the cooler it was slam full. After we left the nets, we put all three catfish back in the river, and they were all in good shape. Those big cats will really mess up a net! After that we fished with rods and reels for a while. The bite was off, but I managed one 14 pound blue which we released. He had a big cat he couldn't turn on his less than adequate reels. The cat went in to a log jam and he lost him. In three days of hard fishing, I have lost but one hook due to snags. One other note of interest. Since I switched over to the Gamakatsu octopus circle hooks in the 8.0 size, I have had a 100% hookup rate, and not lost a single fish from a hook coming loose from the fish. These hooks are the gospel as far as I am concerned.
Bill in SC
28 pound blue cat
20 pound blue cat
10 pound blue cat
17 blueback herring
2 buffalo carp
3 gizzard shad
3 roe shad
3 buck shad
The guy who had the net knows how I like to release the cats, so he asked me whether we should keep them or not. I told him they were HIS nets and he could do whatever he wanted to do with them. He put them in the cooler, but by the time we had all the other fish in the cooler it was slam full. After we left the nets, we put all three catfish back in the river, and they were all in good shape. Those big cats will really mess up a net! After that we fished with rods and reels for a while. The bite was off, but I managed one 14 pound blue which we released. He had a big cat he couldn't turn on his less than adequate reels. The cat went in to a log jam and he lost him. In three days of hard fishing, I have lost but one hook due to snags. One other note of interest. Since I switched over to the Gamakatsu octopus circle hooks in the 8.0 size, I have had a 100% hookup rate, and not lost a single fish from a hook coming loose from the fish. These hooks are the gospel as far as I am concerned.
Bill in SC
