Marshall Hall (3/11/2022)

[Jman]

I launched from Marshall Hall on Friday morning to try for blue catfish. Normally I fish the Susquehanna, but it’s been in spill conditions a lot lately. I brought some old gizzard shad I’ve had stashed in the freezer and the carcasses of a few yellow perch and crappie I caught a few months ago. The water was incredibly clear (~4-5’ visibility), which was surprising with the recent rain and the tidal coefficient was low. I anchored up with three rods in 15’ of water near a drop off and a shallower area. I landed one catfish around 18” after a few fish ran with the bait but didn’t get hooked. I moved to a new spot after an hour or so to a deeper area about 25’ deep with another drop off nearby. After an hour, I caught a larger catfish around 26-27”. I downsized baits and hooks after this and started catching more of the eating-sized fish – the current also picked up around this time. I kept four of the catfish and they made for some tasty sandwiches with homemade bacon.

When filleting the fish, all the catfish had heaps of what I think were Asiatic clams? I don’t remember finding that in the catfish from the Susquehanna.



Blue catfish 3-11-22.jpg
Sandwhich.jpg

[moc]

I am glad that you got out. I have been working way too much so far. If the weather is good, I may do some blue catfishing this coming Friday. Assuming the weather will be good. I may try Mattawoman.

[LC3]

Thanks for the catching report!

[dsaavedra]

Thanks for posting this report. Marshall Hall has been on my list of places to try this spring. I'm done trying to catch blue cats out of the Patuxent, that place is skunk city for me for some reason

[Jman]

I was reading your other report and thought some new intel would be helpful! White perch are around there now too - saw a few being caught nearby.

[dsaavedra]

I was reading your other report and thought some new intel would be helpful! White perch are around there now too - saw a few being caught nearby.

I guess I never did follow up in that other thread but I ended up going to Kings Landing on the Patuxent and got a big ole goose egg, just as I expected. I'm done with the Patuxent for the forseeable future, it just always ends in disappointment for me. I'm also done buying bait from my local shop, the alewife they had were completely covered in frost and freezer burn. I wouldn't be surprised if they were over 2 years old. Next time I go catfishing it will be on the Potomac and I will procure some fresher bait.

[Jigsup]

Great report! Never fished the Potomac for blue catfish. I have always done very well in the patuxent. Dsaavedra I’m sorry you have such a bad time with catching blue cats out of the patuxent. I’d say keep trying. Maybe one day we can get together and see what happens if it’s the Lords will. I’ve found in the summer months hard crabs work well. If you can find a crabber ask him/her for dead crabs. They will give them to you for free most time. As long as they don’t stink they work just as well as any other fresh bait and blues love them. I’ve found blues don’t really care for the rotten ones. You’ll catch more channels with them. That sandwich does look good though!

[dsaavedra]

Great report! Never fished the Potomac for blue catfish. I have always done very well in the patuxent. Dsaavedra I’m sorry you have such a bad time with catching blue cats out of the patuxent. I’d say keep trying. Maybe one day we can get together and see what happens if it’s the Lords will. I’ve found in the summer months hard crabs work well. If you can find a crabber ask him/her for dead crabs. They will give them to you for free most time. As long as they don’t stink they work just as well as any other fresh bait and blues love them. I’ve found blues don’t really care for the rotten ones. You’ll catch more channels with them. That sandwich does look good though!

Interesting, how do you use hard crab for bait? Pop the shell and legs off then halve or quarter the body for bait? I do a little crabbing occasionally so I could catch some and try that. Send me a DM when you're planning to fish the Patuxent and anticipate a good bite - I'd be willing to try it again with someone who knows how to catch fish out of there... clearly I must be doing something wrong by myself.

[captmstarrett]

The white perch are candy for blue cats BTW. Now that the 6 inch min. has been removed you keep the small ones. Bring a pair of scissors and cut the top spikes off. Big circle hook in back for the 50lb ers. Or cut into steaks and fish on a circle hook.

FYI on the clams.. Blue cats at some point in growth stop feeding on clams and change to fish diet. That is when they grow the fastest.

Capt Mike

[Jman]

FYI on the clams.. Blue cats at some point in growth stop feeding on clams and change to fish diet. That is when they grow the fastest.

Capt Mike

Thanks for the info - very interesting. Does it depend on the river too? Ones that I’ve caught both in January and in August have had a bunch of grass in their bellies with some fish.

[captmstarrett]

Another good tip for blue cats is do not cut the belly open. Just filet , flip filet and slide a knife along between meat and skin.
That belly juice can ruin a filet.

Capt Mike

[WVKayakFisher]

We keep any and all invasive fish when we go out, which means a lot of blues. Super common to bring home 20+ fish in an afternoon, so we’ve gotten pretty good at processing them.

Ike Jime is what you want for any fish you can, but pithing bluecat skulls is no bueno, esp in a kayak.

my recommendation is that you use a stinkypants stringer or one of the $11 equivalents from Academy to keep them alive until you’re ready to process. Then, with your sharpest knife, slide the blade through at the base of the spine and down through the gills, being sure to sever the arteries at the spine. There will be a LOT of blood but it will all dissipate into the water. If you fillet well, you won’t have any gore unless you harvest bellies or eggs.

Do them all at once, then go back to the first one and fillet. Done correctly they’ll bleed out entirely and you’ll be left with snow white fillets that taste great. Don’t forget the cheeks and the bellies on the ones over 12 lbs. The only hard part about this method is paddling around 200+ lbs of cats, lol.

Same method for bluefish and mackerel and albies, fwiw. Not that they’re invasive.