2023 catfishing

[paxmule]

Getting back from a vacation with the family today. Friday I went bank fishing around Knoxville Tennessee. Caught a couple blues at the melton hill dam. Nothing big but its nice to have a little success in a new spot. 20230623_114454.jpg

[paxmule]

The lower marlboro section of the Patuxent is still pretty dead from spawn and lack of fresh rain but the potomac is picking up with post spawn fish. We ended up with 15 blues last night. Biggest was 16 lbs. Still looking for this year's monster.

received_1338171343432465.jpg

[paxmule]

Yeah, we have been wanting to hook up with you and Jigs for some LM cat fishing. Unfortunately I have Knee surgery next week and will be down for a few weeks.
When you are cat fishing LM,, what depth are you fishing?
is it possible to anchor in shallow off the channel and cast into the channel? I imagine the current would sweep it out?
What is your kayak anchor set up ?

In my kayak i use a yak gear anchor trolley. 100 feet of yellow nylon line from walmart. It comes on the little plastic thing that it spools onto. I put a 2 foot piece of paracord on it and attach a clip that lets me clip it to the ring on the anchor trolley. I also attach a length of pool noodle to the plastic. I use a claw type anchor. It will hold in most areas of the river as long as it isn't too hard on bottom. There are some areas where it doesn't seem to want to catch, like in front of the dock with the capitols hockey flag at white landing and in front of mill town landing. I think those must have hard bottom with nothing to catch onto. In an emergency I can unclip the whole setup from the anchor trolley and get out in a hurry and still have my whole get-up floating by the pool noodle to be retrieved. Never really felt unsafe in the current. Only time i ever had to unclip was when i was fighting a 33 LB catfish and had to chase it down river. Most weekends nowadays you can see me in my 14 foot aluminum V hull running up and down the river from clyde watson. I do still use the kayak from time to time. The last 2 trips in the area i did. This saturday ill be out in the boat, weather permitting. Planning on starting out upriver north of the riverkeeper center and working my way down depending on where the fish are. It's been slow lately. Post spawn bite should catch on any day now.

[paxmule]

This weekend isn't looking good for weather so I hit the patuxent today. The post spawn bite is starting to pick up. Put in at 730AM and off the water by 1. Got 8 fish, mostly eaters but 2 were over 10 and 1 was just over 20 lbs.

20230706_112118.jpg

[paxmule]

The post spawn bite is on fire. I don't know how many I caught last night but they were biting aggressively and all but a few were in the 15-20 lb range.

20230708_185436.jpg 20230709_001618.jpg 20230708_192912.jpg 20230708_203327.jpg

[paxmule]

20230722_131640.jpg 20230722_080355.jpg Got to the river at 7 today. Caught 12 in a few hours. Biggest were a 15 lb and 2 18 lbs. Lots of boat traffic.

[pbm93]

Went catfishing yesterday on Patuxent, caught a 6 lb 26 inch blue. Had to really work for this guy had about 20 bites yesterday but nothing that would take til this one. Second time using depth finder on my kayak, such a game changer!

[paxmule]

I saw a couple kayaks fishing downstream of the boat ramp that day. Could have been you. The best bite that day seemed to have been early. I had the best luck in the 7 am hr and then it was sporadic for the hours after.

[paxmule]

Strange day on the water today. Ended up slow to average. I'll blame it on the storms last night. Low tide was supposed to be 9 am but it took 2 hrs for the tide to actually turn and start running in. By then I had 7 fish in 4 hrs. Biggest was 12 lbs, the rest were eaters. A tough day over all. I wasted a lot of time just trying to get situated. Lost 1 fish that felt really heavy. It made me sick to feel it come off.

20230730_111109.jpg

[Jigsup]

Nice! Are you pretty much fishing the same areas?

[paxmule]

Pretty much. I go a little farther up and down river and have found a couple more holes but they haven't really produced. With my boat I'm able to move to other spots a lot faster if the bite isn't happening where I start.

[paxmule]

Got out at 530 on the kayak this morning trying to beat the heat. Should have waited till later cause the breeze was perfect and the fish didn't start biting well until around 9. I drifted around on low slack tide and got a BIG takedown and what felt felt like a heavy fish. It broke my heart and came off. Probably would have been my biggest of the year if I hadn't lost it. When the tide started coming in strong I anchored down and landed 14 blue cats. Mostly average size fish and the biggest 2 probably 12 or 13 lbs. Didn't weigh or measure them.

20230812_063348.jpg 20230812_110427.jpg

[Jigsup]

Productive I’d say!
Im thinking about heading out Monday morning. Either for rock fish or catfish. Did you notice the bouys stretched across the bend up from lower Marlboro?

[paxmule]

Yes, those are trotlines. Theres a guy who's been running them all over the river since winter. I was watching him harvest yesterday while I fished. I just wish he didn't set them in my favorite spots. He moves them around periodically.

[paxmule]

Put in the boat at 6am today at clyde watson ramp. Fished a whole 6 hr outgoing tide and had my best day of the year. 23 blue cats, the biggest were 20, 27 and my biggest of the year at 35 lbs. All caught at 20-35 feet depth on cut bunker. Kept 6 10 lbrs to give to a work friend.

20230819_130223.jpg 20230819_111704.jpg 20230819_111643.jpg