24" and 22" - mouth of Weems Creek

[J.A. Veil]

I wish I could report fish of that size with stripes, but these were fat golden-hued fish with whiskers. On Mon morning I launched from Weems Creek for a leisurely paddle and fishing trip. I caught a few perch in Weems but did not work any spot very hard. I trolled paddletails down toward the 450 bridge and cast for perch at a few spots that often hold fish. Not much was happening. As I returned to the mouth of Weems I spent an hour drifting over the oyster shell bottom near the red/green day marker to see if any fish were hanging out on the bottom. I was fishing two lines with 3/4-oz jigheads and 4" Gulp swimming mullets. I had a few small taps, with the Gulp tail bitten off, but eventually got two strong hits just 15 mins apart. They turned out to be a 24" and a 22" channel catfish. The 22" was caught on a 6' light rod and gave that rod quite a workout.

I have caught very few channel or blue cats in my lifetime and do not know how to handle and unhook them. I posted a question about handling on a Facebook and had this informative reply from Shawn Kimbro. (I have been stuck by the fin of a hardhead catfish in Florida and recall the pain quite well):

"John, I have considerable experience having commercially fished for them for a number of years. Both channel and blue cats (as well as most others) have venomous fins. If you get stuck, it causes pain, swelling, and increased blood flow to the wound. It hurts like the devil. Additionally, the pectoral fins have serrations along the side that are reverse oriented to the direction of puncture. In other words, if they go in, they tend to stay in and cause more damage when pulled out. I had a blue cat pectoral go all the way through my hand once. It had to be surgically removed and was the most pain I've ever experienced. They don't have teeth that can do much damage, so you can grab them by the mouth, but they don't readily open up. Best is to come at them from the bottom and behind while wearing a glove and grip firmly behind both the pectoral and dorsal. You need a glove because, even with that grip a strong fish can wiggle back and forth causing the serrations on the pectoral to cut you. Big cats can be grabbed by the lower jaw then supported beneath the belly."

As a postscript, I was inspired by the recent posts by John from MD and John Rentch about catching croaker off the seawall at Quiet Waters Park. I visited there yesterday and fished for an hour with Fishbites on a bottom rig. I caught no croaker, but got 1 small spot, a 6" striper, and as I was about to leave, another 24" channel cat. The tiny circle hooks I used on the bottom rig held up to the heavy catfish.

I seem to be in catfish land these days. I guess that is better than skunk land.

[john from md]

John,

I too know what a catfish spine feels like. The first (and last) to get me was fishing off the Okaloosa Island Fishing Pier near Ft Walton Beach in the early seventies. I have been grabbing them by the mouth ever since. In the yak, I throw a towel around it and grab it with a glove. Having a big Channel Cat in a yak is more dangerous than having a big Blue Fish in with you and that's saying something.

[Str8 Yakkin]

I wish I could report fish of that size with stripes, but these were fat golden-hued fish with whiskers. On Mon morning I launched from Weems Creek for a leisurely paddle and fishing trip. I caught a few perch in Weems but did not work any spot very hard. I trolled paddletails down toward the 450 bridge and cast for perch at a few spots that often hold fish. Not much was happening. As I returned to the mouth of Weems I spent an hour drifting over the oyster shell bottom near the red/green day marker to see if any fish were hanging out on the bottom. I was fishing two lines with 3/4-oz jigheads and 4" Gulp swimming mullets. I had a few small taps, with the Gulp tail bitten off, but eventually got two strong hits just 15 mins apart. They turned out to be a 24" and a 22" channel catfish. The 22" was caught on a 6' light rod and gave that rod quite a workout.

I have caught very few channel or blue cats in my lifetime and do not know how to handle and unhook them. I posted a question about handling on a Facebook and had this informative reply from Shawn Kimbro. (I have been stuck by the fin of a hardhead catfish in Florida and recall the pain quite well):

"John, I have considerable experience having commercially fished for them for a number of years. Both channel and blue cats (as well as most others) have venomous fins. If you get stuck, it causes pain, swelling, and increased blood flow to the wound. It hurts like the devil. Additionally, the pectoral fins have serrations along the side that are reverse oriented to the direction of puncture. In other words, if they go in, they tend to stay in and cause more damage when pulled out. I had a blue cat pectoral go all the way through my hand once. It had to be surgically removed and was the most pain I've ever experienced. They don't have teeth that can do much damage, so you can grab them by the mouth, but they don't readily open up. Best is to come at them from the bottom and behind while wearing a glove and grip firmly behind both the pectoral and dorsal. You need a glove because, even with that grip a strong fish can wiggle back and forth causing the serrations on the pectoral to cut you. Big cats can be grabbed by the lower jaw then supported beneath the belly."

As a postscript, I was inspired by the recent posts by John from MD and John Rentch about catching croaker off the seawall at Quiet Waters Park. I visited there yesterday and fished for an hour with Fishbites on a bottom rig. I caught no croaker, but got 1 small spot, a 6" striper, and as I was about to leave, another 24" channel cat. The tiny circle hooks I used on the bottom rig held up to the heavy catfish.

I seem to be in catfish land these days. I guess that is better than skunk land.

I have catfished my whole life being from TN so I’m pretty good at handling them. I usually grab them to there the top fin is in between my thumb and index finger. The rest of my hand is around the belly and under the fins. They are pretty easy to handle like this. My dad calls it holding it like a “ice cold beer” lol


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