Blue catfishing

[ronaultmtd]

Some on here know that one of my favorite fish to eat is juvenile blue catfish...love them! Delicious! Big ones-no...anyway, some of my buddies were asking me my opinion about fishing for them and specifically if they are biting in the winter time...absolutely..they slow down some like other fish but they never stop feeding. We were talking about best locations...mine are for juvenile fish...places like Marshall Hall, Neal Sound (Cobb Island), the Morgantown PEPCO generating station hot ditch at the Harry Nice Bridge (Rt. 301), the Wicomico River, the PEPCO generating station at Patuxent River (Benedict) are all hotspots for the bigger blue cats that I try to avoid...having had one really bad experience with monster bluecatfish at the Harry Nice Bridge was enough for me to last a lifetime...thanks, but no thanks...my speed is 18-27 inch baby bluecats...and the upper reach of Mattawoman Creek, Piscataway, Port tobacco River and a few miles downstream from Allen’s Fresh are my go to catfish for the table spots...if I were seeking the world record Blue Catfish...there would only be one place I would fish-around the Harry Nice Bridge near the hot ditch discharge from the Morgantown PEPCO station...and it would be with heavy boat tackle with 65# braid as a minimum...and for safety reasons it would not be in a kayak...

[yakscientist]

Catfishing gives us winter anglers some much needed action in the colder months. Marshall Hall also is a good spot for big blues, and ft washington, not far from it, was where the state record was caught I think. I also like the taste of blue catfish, they're easy to fillet. Do you usually skin yours with pliers Ron or do you just use the fillet knife to separate meat from skin?

[ronaultmtd]

I filet them down to the tail then flip the filet on the table still attached to the fish and skin them...the carcass has the head, guts, backbone and skin attached...I throw the remains in the field next door and watch the bald eagles fight over them...

[YakMan1731]

Great information Ron! Those smaller ones are fun to fight and actually hit hard for their size. Ever since Pat (yakscientist) introduced me to the winter bluecat fishery in the Potomac it has been one of my favorite winter staples. I use regular chicken breast soaked for about 12 hours in garlic salt or garlic powder and it has yet to produce a day with fewer than 5 fish. My typical setup is 20lb braid to a 3oz. weight, a swivel, 45lb mono leader, a snelled 5-7/o circle hook, and an inline bobber about a foot below the hook to get it off the bottom. A top/bottom rig also works but with smaller hooks. I have tried multiple shapes for the weight, and my two cents is that the flat weights are best. The inline/triangle shaped weights were rolling on the bottom in the current a bit, but the flat shape weights tend to hold position better. If you're suspend fishing that doesn't matter as much, but if you're letting your rig sit right on the bottom I enjoy the flat weights. For anyone who is new to kayak catfishing I'd also stress the importance of learning to properly anchor your kayak. Pat can tell you, the first time I went out with him to Marshall Hall I was a hot mess because I wasn't ready for the strenght of the current and my anchor was dragging.

They hit like champs, and a few bops on the head and they're ready to be filleted and in the grease! If you haven't yet, I recommend a slight adjustment to the typical flour>egg wash> breadcrumb fryer prep. Try flour > Franks Red Hot > breadcrumbs and it adds a really subtle but awesome flavor to the nuggets.
Catfish 1.jpg

[ronaultmtd]

Yeah, Matt...I am a Tabasco man, myself, but Franks is OK..I never use floats on my catfish rigs...strictly standard Fishfinder rig with a two foot long 60# mono bite leader to a 5/0 or 7/0 circle hook...I like an egg, in-line sinker on the braid with a standard barrel swivel attached to doubled braid tied with an offshore swivel hitch...the 60# mono is tied to the barrel swivel with a single uniknot...and I use alewife as bait when it is available and mud Shad otherwise...anchoring up is a must...

[M_Duong60]

I too have been doing a lot of blue catfishing this winter mainly around the woodrow wilson bridge and honestly haven't found the bite to be slow by any means, I think a good tip for finding fish would be to find areas where the depth is at least 17-30'. Haven't had much luck finding fish in shallower water.

For bait I've been having a lot of luck with chicken livers and a 7/0 eagle claw lazer sharp circle hook even works well with small fish around 13'' surprisingly.

Also when fishing vertical I was pretty interested to find that my fishfinder rig got significantly less bites than my "tog rig" which just had a circle hook on a dropper loop a couple inches above my sinker. Tomorrow I'm going to the santee cooper rig but instead of a bobber to elevate the line I'm just going to thread on some pool noodle since it's what I have lying around.

As for me a 50/50 cornmeal to flour mixture makes for a killer breading for catfish fillets, just pat dry the fillets or dunk in some buttermilk before tossing with the breading.

[nhunter344]

...having had one really bad experience with monster bluecatfish at the Harry Nice Bridge was enough for me to last a lifetime...thanks, but no thanks...

I love a good fishing tale, care to share?

For me, I love to catch the big ones, but keep it under 30" for eating. I don't know how to describe it, but the larger blue cats tend to taste dirty (muddy?) to me. The bioaccumulation of toxins in larger fish is another reason to avoid eating them. To get an even cleaner taste out of the small ones, cut out the reddish meat along the lateral line.

[ronaultmtd]

I love a good fishing tale, care to share?

For me, I love to catch the big ones, but keep it under 30" for eating. I don't know how to describe it, but the larger blue cats tend to taste dirty (muddy?) to me. The bioaccumulation of toxins in larger fish is another reason to avoid eating them. To get an even cleaner taste out of the small ones, cut out the reddish meat along the lateral line.

Not really...it sounds like the biggest “one that got away” story you ever heard, but I actually caught it...fought it for what seemed like hours and ended up on the Virginia side in a Creek mouth...late May of 2012 in my 2010 olive green Outback, fishing live line with white perch...let’s just say it was a large Blue catfish and leave it at that...and I released it alive so it might still be there...

[Yakmac]

Ron, I’d love to get out with you and get after some cats. Let me know.




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[ronaultmtd]

Keith...going to be a little while- taking my Outback out of service for some upgrades...and the weather is not cooperating

[Yakmac]

I understand. Just want to let you know I’m in.


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[Jman]

If you're suspend fishing that doesn't matter as much, but if you're letting your rig sit right on the bottom I enjoy the flat weights. For anyone who is new to kayak catfishing I'd also stress the importance of learning to properly anchor your kayak. Pat can tell you, the first time I went out with him to Marshall Hall I was a hot mess because I wasn't ready for the strenght of the current and my anchor was dragging.
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Do ya'll ever drift instead of anchoring up? I have only targeted blue cats once on the Chickahominy River and did ok with drifting, but I had no prior knowledge of the contour. I covered a lot of ground, but I also had a lot of snags.

[ronaultmtd]

You definitely can drift fish for cats, but...the bait cannot be on the bottom unless you plan a lot of break off from hangups...You can drop the rig to the bottom and reel it up a turn or two of the reel handle...that only works where the depth is pretty uniform...I prefer to anchor and wait them out...if nothing happens with 30 minutes, I move...but I also CHEAT..side scan sonar allows you to scout out the holes before you anchor up and locate the fish...they usually show as white marks in clusters...

[M_Duong60]

Do ya'll ever drift instead of anchoring up? I have only targeted blue cats once on the Chickahominy River and did ok with drifting, but I had no prior knowledge of the contour. I covered a lot of ground, but I also had a lot of snags.

In videos and catfish websites I've been reading drifting for blue cats is a valid strategy, one issue I've seen is that sometimes with circle hooks the smaller fish can have trouble getting the hook in their mouth. I did have some snags when I was drifting the occoquan the other day but just paddling over and repositioning myself allowed me to avoid losing rigs.

I also had a pretty slow drift going though, don't think I would try it if I was going any faster than 1-2 mph.

[YakMan1731]

I'm with Ron on this one as well. I always prefer to anchor up over deeper holes in winter and drop straight down or do a half-cast off to the side. I find I get a better hookup ratio with the rig hanging right below me vs. being casted out. That could be because my biggest "catfish" pole is a 7' MH but either way I enjoy anchoring. I follow Ron's plan as well- find a hole, drop baits, wait 20-25 minutes, and if there are no takers I paddle to the next hole or until the FF shows some promising marks. At a place like Mattawoman where the current can really cruise, I think it would be tough to drift at an appropriate speed. Then again, I've never done it, so I may be totally wrong haha