Mattawoman May 4 2018...found the kitties

[WVKayakFisher]

Thanks to some help in another thread I gave up on bass and targeted cats. Mixed bag, mostly channels today, all caught in around 8' of water.

Dropped at slavins and went upstream and found a hole...and it produced within 5 minutes.

Water was super stained, fair amount of action, snakehead going nuts at the dock when I got there but I didn't have anything rigged for them. Found lots of banded killifish, which was a first for me, what gorgeous little fish they are.

Lots of small topwater action, maybe shad?

Put the girlfriend on her biggest cat to date; about a 26" blue. Actually had something huge hit so fast and hard it took my pole out of the rod holder before I could snap the cover closed. It yanked the rod clear of the boat I dove in almost on top of it and saved it...but lost the fish. Had another break my favorite spinning rod. She didn't quite understand how to load that preasure when I was taking it out of the water.

Anyway, great day, lots of fillets headed for the freezer.
Pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/Qc02gGG

[ronaultmtd]

Experience is the greatest teacher...lost a surfrod and sandspike once to a sticky drag fishing for red drum at Hatteras. The scream of the clicker going off was short lived as rod, reel and sandspike disappeared into the surf...had a Striper pulling drag Tuesday making the removal from the rod holder difficult, but that was a deliberate stiff drag setting due to trolling a barbless hook..when bait fishing I usually fish free spool with clicker on...or back the drag off to just hold the line with minimal resistance...in February I caught and released a 42 inch Blue catfish just upstream from Slavins launch...a fish that big will easily snap a rod in two on a tight drag and can pop 30# braid if the drag is set too tight...that was the third 40 inch blue catfish I have caught there...and I guarantee that is no where near the biggest blue catfish in the creek..

[AintMisBehavin]

Thanks to some help in another thread I gave up on bass and targeted cats. Mixed bag, mostly channels today, all caught in around 8' of water.

Dropped at slavins and went upstream and found a hole...and it produced within 5 minutes.

Water was super stained, fair amount of action, snakehead going nuts at the dock when I got there but I didn't have anything rigged for them. Found lots of banded killifish, which was a first for me, what gorgeous little fish they are.

Lots of small topwater action, maybe shad?

Put the girlfriend on her biggest cat to date; about a 26" blue. Actually had something huge hit so fast and hard it took my pole out of the rod holder before I could snap the cover closed. It yanked the rod clear of the boat I dove in almost on top of it and saved it...but lost the fish. Had another break my favorite spinning rod. She didn't quite understand how to load that preasure when I was taking it out of the water.

Anyway, great day, lots of fillets headed for the freezer.
Pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/Qc02gGG

I haven't had to dive in after a pole yet, but it has been close! Good save on the rod if not the fish

[HJS]

Sounds like decent action... and some good eats to be had. Keep in mind that at this time of year that carp would be expect to be spawning and making a loud ruckus back in the shallows. The ruckus fools a lot of fishermen.

[WVKayakFisher]

Carp were skying all over the place too, but whatever was popping the top was much smaller.