to all the heavy line guys(tournament fishing)

2281 Views 19 Replies 14 Participants Last post by quadman, Oct 4, 2005

Tncatman

Discussion Starter · Sep 29, 2005

I must spreak on this subject.To all the guys tournament fishing with heay line and regular fisherman alike, man people are really killing off some catfish, by this i mean they are reeling up catfish to quick from deep water(45 to 100ft) i must stress to novice and expierienced guys that you have to take your time reeling in these fish. Here in my place of residence (knoxville tn) there is some great fishing and some monster fish but the tournament guys are coming into some deep holes and wiping these fish out. With these heavy line like powere pro and spiderwire its easy to pull up these fish very easily and kill the fish or stress it, if you do this you have to burp the fish. Guys i only use 14lb test and i have landed countless fish over 50lbs and my biggest this year 86lbs from the tennessee river if i can catch these fish with by most standards light line then you can to. So again take your time and allow these fish to stabilize themselves its just like being a diver and having the benz a bad sickness that can kill you or fish.

ps may your fishing be great and your fish be monters

Thanks Tncatman

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

drc3

· #2 · Sep 30, 2005

I'm guilty as charged!
I have all my big cat rods exept one spooled with 80lb power pro. The other one has 20lb P-line that has been used all year. I have caught a few in the 30's and my biggest of the year a 42lber.
This fall I will be switching all my cat rods over to 20lb P-line. When I first started usuing the power pro I was mainly flathead hunting around creek mouths with heavy timber and stump feilds. Now all my catting is done on the main river channel of the TN river, needless to say I dony get in too many tangles and when I do it's not hard to break off.
But if your gonna use light line you better be in open water with a boat.

BIG GEORGE

· #3 · Sep 30, 2005

Good info Shawn. Somethin that needs to be kept in the mind of all of us. Not to crack on tournament folks,but that is the mentality at the moment. Wich em in the boat cause we are talkin $$$$$$$$$$$. We need to be responsable when out there on the water.

elshale

· #4 · Sep 30, 2005

I dont use big tackle but I will remember in future abou t burping those deep fish if I bring them in fast. CPR is my moto for anything bigger than 8lbs.

jim

· #5 · Sep 30, 2005

I use 80 lb braid and fish lots of tournanments but they are all catch and release.I learned the burping thing on the James river and it is absolutely the thing to do if you bring fish up from deep water.I also will say that the light line thing can also be harmful because an extended fight allows the fish to become very tired and poisons build up in the muscles.When light lining for tarpon was popular this was a serious problem and we encountered the same thing fighting large trout on light tippets such as 2lb test.The latest thinking is bring the fish in quickly and release it quickly so its recovery time is shortest.Burp it before release if it comes from deep water.As the man said we must be responsible stewards of the resource.

BKS72

· #6 · Sep 30, 2005

Kind of off-subject, but how do you burp a fish and what is deep enough to have to burp them? I fish a lake that is 50' deep in places.

Tncatman

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 30, 2005

man there for a minute i thought no one would post a reply but as you know this is a very serious threat to the catfish and pulling them from deep water is very harmful and deadly. they run a tournament almost every weekend here and these guys will come into a deep hole and just pull fish up as quick as they can thus stressing all the fish. i know they can hurt populations of fish point being you are not going to keep every fish you catch in the tournament.

how to burp a fish
you burp fish by releasing the air bubble in their sides, you can use anything from a nail to a made item like i got which is a art tool which you dip into ink but try not to go to deep because it dont take much to release the air out by doing this you possibly will catch that fish again someday

practice patience and i bet you have a much funner fight on your hands

Tncatman

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 30, 2005

remember you dont have to burp a fish if you take your time pulling him from deep water

thanks Tncatman

crazy

· #9 · Sep 30, 2005

Tncatman, thats some good info to remember. I have a question though. What do you do with the nail or the art tool? Do you stick it into the side of the fish? If you do this don't that leave an open wound that can get infected? I think someone awhile back posted useing a pvc pipe to stick down there mouth and then massage them tell they burp.

Tncatman

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 30, 2005

yeah you can use pvc pipe but i dont go very deep at all with the objects reason being exactly what you said it can cause an infection to the fish.
if you have a big bubble or small one it is very easy to make a small incision into the fish without hurting it. i found out from an old timer about this about five years ago and asked the same questions but he insisted that a small incision would not hurt the fish and also when you catch a big one over 20lbs it is very hard to do the pvc pipe by yourself without also hurting the fish.

quadman

· #11 · Sep 30, 2005

I use the PVC pipe to burp fish also but I'm not so sure about jabbing a fish in the guts with a nail?! I surely hope nobody comes up and stabs me in the stomach when I get gas!

jtrew

· #12 · Oct 1, 2005

IMO, it's very easy to tell if a fish needs to be burped, because you can see their air bladder down in their throat, or even coming out of their mouth. Anything with a small sharp point will work, because all you need to do is make a very small hole in the bladder to let it deflate.

Tncatman

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 1, 2005

the old man that taught me this trick is the one who used the nail i was telling you about, i know it sounds a little crazy but it was like a small trim nail but when he showed me how this worked i refined it and come up with my own idea. the art tool i use is like a pen used for writing it has a verry sharp point.

jim

· #14 · Oct 1, 2005

A needle will also work but if you dont want to injure the fish just use the PVC pipe.Ive seen lots of big fish done this way and all you have to do is lay it on its stomach and gently insert the pipe down its throat and the air will be released.shouldnt be to hard and I've done it many times by myself.Often just laying it on its stomach will cause the air to be released particularly with the bigger fish.

photocat

· #15 · Oct 1, 2005

back to the issue of line size... i handle fish 1.5x line strength and heavier in and around downed logs, trees, riprap, everything imaginable that could hurt the line and i rarely lose a fish because it took out line and got tangled... recently my new pb came on 12 lb test from right next to a mess of a downed tree. If you know how to handle a fish and know how they should react you'll be good... just don't try pulling the fish up on to a pier or elevation w/ lighter line...

Whistler

· #16 · Oct 3, 2005

Link to Lactic Acidosis article

Here is a link to an article that was in the old library. Might be of interest to this thread.

fourteenfootcat

· #17 · Oct 3, 2005

I'm personally glad this issue was brought up. I always carry a little, lite, fine sewing needle with me in my cat bag. I am extremely pleased to know other fine individuals have taken it upon themselves to take the second and release a fish that is happy, healthy, and will fight you another day.... or in some cases..... later that afternoon!

On the banks of the Des Moines River tomorrow,

James

TIM HAGAN

· #18 · Oct 3, 2005

well i use 65 # spiderwire it cast great and handle the rocks great . I had lost fish on mono last season along the rocks . So far this season i only lost two and that was the hooks not the line. I just try to bring them up slow from the deep water and look them over before C.P.R. Who really knows to fast is bad for them , to slow is bad for them. Nobody is just right every fish is different. I think you use the line that works best for you handle every fish with the up most care and releasee them back into the waters they came from with the best care you can and god will do the rest. Just like people when your time is up its over.

bluehunter

· #19 · Oct 4, 2005

I had to burp two blues last winter from 40plus feet that I brought in no time with my 30pound test. I had to do that because I was fishing in structure and they surely would have cut my off like they had in the past. Big fish can be caught on light line as a buudy landed an 89 pounder on 16 pound test, but he was fishing in open water and it took him an hour to do so. I had a derby the other week where a guy caught a 75 punder from 65 feet and after photo and release the cat was found floating a few days later. I guess he did not realize the fish had to be burped as it took him 11 minutes to reel that fish in from that depth. When found it was said that the bladder was showing out of the fish mouth. The 81 pounder I caught was on 30 pound mono and that one went back in well as it was caught from 20 feet depths and I guess its bladder was not inflated at that time. I also believe that a fish can take on a lot of air when being left out of the water for a period of time.

I do not see the problem being heavy tackle as different situations will dictate how fast you bring in the fish, but I think that proper burping is also key as you can normally tell this when you initially let the fish go, If it is having a hard time going under or seems to be in shock and not moving then it needs to be burped coming from the deep. I think a lot of the problem is that anglers release them too fast without seeing if the fish is going to make it by moving them back and forth in the water and seeing how they swim. Not everyone is knowledgable about the burping thing, including tournament anglers.

More power to you. You need to check on line class records catching 80 pounders on 14 pound test.

See less See more

quadman

· #20 · Oct 4, 2005

I'm curious as to how exactly you KNOW that when you stick a cat in it's guts, or more precisely it's air bladder with something sharp to pierce it that they swim off happily an unharmed? I mean, atleast with the PVC tube all you are doing is releasing the air without injury. Just because a fish swims off doesn't mean that it did so healthy. My question is why chance it when there IS a way to do it WITHOUT injury?

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.