The One That Got Away, And The One That Didn't

I realize it's been a lot of cat fishing on the blog lately, but the Jordan is producing quality fish, and it's hard to step away when the catching is this good. Don't worry though, I'll get back to the trout tails soon enough with the cool fall weather approaching. We've been night fishing twice since my last post, so I'll cover both outings. The first trip was the regular crew I fish with, and the results were typical for what we've been doing lately. Several channel cats were landed in the 24-26 inch range, and fairly consistently. The only difference now is that it's starting to cool off at night so the hoodies have come out.

 

The second trip was last night. I took one of the neighbor kids (Jared) with me. I was really hoping he could get a big cat, since he told me he's mostly caught only little bullheads when he's gone in the past. early on he had a decent one get off, but on his second cat of the night, he went beast mode! He had a lighter setup, so he had a really good fight on his hands. the cat made several runs down river, and a few up river as well. Once he got it close, I got it in the net, and the high five's commenced. His catfish measured 29 inches, and 9 pounds! He told me that was the biggest fish he has ever caught! I snapped a few pictures, and then released the fish back into the muddy water to grow bigger. Great catch Jared! It was great watching the fight!

 

My night ended fighting what felt like a giant, only 20 seconds into the fight, the fish got the upper hand. That is because the top portion of my rod snapped! At first I thought that my two-piece rod had come apart. However, I soon realized I was going to have to fight this fish with only the bottom part of my rod. I got him close enough to get a glimpse, and it was a good sized kitty! That's the only time I saw him though, because on his next run he got off. The fish got the better of me and my equipment this time. I took the rod back to Cabela's today and exchanged it for a new one without any hassle, which is one of the reasons I'm a fan of their products. I assume it was a defect in the rod, because I've never had one break that high up before. We will see if the new one holds out any better.

several cats this size were caught on the first trip.

26 inch channel cat.

Jared with his 29 inch channel cat; his biggest fish ever landed!

 

My biggest landed of the night measured 24 inches long.

The cat won this battle. Good thing Cabelas has awesome customer service.

Fishing in the Dark

The catfish have been active the past few nights. My neighbor Francisco went out with his boy and went six for six of channel catfish in three hours of fishing. It was fun seeing some of the neighborhood kids come and inspect the nights catch. They seemed to think the fish were pretty cool.

Seeing Francisco's success, Roger and I went back out a few nights later to our regular fishing hole, and ended up with similar results. We didn't have to wait long before I had a hit so hard, that my pole nearing went into the water. Luckily I was able to grab it in time and set the hook. The catfish bulldogged me the whole way in. Once Roger netted him, I was surprised he was only 22 inches based on the way he fought.

We caught a few more cookie cutter catfish before it was Rogers turn to fight a big one. His fish gave him a few good runs, and even got caught but in some brush along side the river. How Roger got him out of that mess is beyond me, and soon I netted him! This catfish measured 28 inches, making it the biggest any of us have landed so far this year. White bass is the hot bait right now for those wanting to go and give the Jordan a try. Worms also work for the smaller bullhead catfish.

Francisco with his six good sized catfish.

Neighbor kids came to see the nights catch.

My biggest of the evening.

The biggest catfish of the night measuring 28 inches long.