Jones Point Park Blue Cats 6/13

[M_Duong60]

Got to the park right when it opened (0600) to try and beat the crowds during the day. They have the floating dock that I usually use to launch taped up so I had to cart the kayak along the trails to find the most open shore I could find but still had to drag a little over rocks which was less than ideal.

Landed 5-6 blue cats (~12'' to 30'' range) over the span of about 4 hours on cut up white perch and bluegill, chicken tenders weren't performing super well this day.

The past few trips to this location have been pretty tough in terms of getting bites (compared to how it used to be) so probably won't visit again for a little and hopefully then the dock will be opened up again at that time.

Took the fish home and had turned them into some fish and chips which turned out great. Screenshot_18.jpg

[mudskipper]

Thank you for removing the Blue Cats from the river.

I’m usually a catch and release guy, except when it comes to Blues. They don’t belong here, they eat everything in reach, and they’ve already decimated the yellow and white perch runs at most Potomac tributaries. When I was a kid in the 70’s and early 80’s, my Godfather used to take me to Allen’s Fresh every spring to fish for yellow perch. I distinctly remember standing on the muddy banks of the creek, staring mouth-agape at vast schools of yellow perch coming in on a flooding tide. There were so many fish in the schools that you sometimes couldn’t even see the bottom of the creek for all the fish. It was a sight I’ll never forget. A few times we’d clearly missed the run, but there were so many egg strings left behind that they were literally hanging off of every stick, log, reed and anything else that caught them, the whole creek bottom was covered with swirling strings of perch eggs.

Those times are gone forever.

Now, those spawning fish have to run a gauntlet of probably thousands of big blue cats, laying on the bottom all the way up the creek channel, each one able to suck up 3 or 4 big spawner perch a day. It’s a numbers game, and it heavily favors the cats.

I kill every single blue cat I catch, without exception. Everyone should be doing this, but even then, it’s stil probably not enough. I think the middle Potomac will eventually end up the same way the lower Rappahanock is now - where 70% of the aquatic biomass is blue catfish.

[ronaultmtd]

Last fall I fought a nice striped bass that hit a trolled paddletail at St. Jerome's Creek inlet to the Chesapeake Bay...my other rod paddletail rested on the bottom in 12 FOW...I use ProCure gel Menhaden and Mullet scents on my lures...as I was landing my Striper I felt a tug on the kayak and my other rod's drag started singing...a 30 inch blue catfish had picked up my motionless lure and took off with it in very salty water...

[Redfish12]

James, what do you do with the killed blues?

Ron,

I was on the Choptank this past June looking for specs and in the same exact place we caught rock, specs, and white perch we caught 2 large blue cats. This was a point with current sweeping past it and caught on zman plastics on Texas eye jig heads. I’m used to catching the blues in the Potomac on sassy shads and sometimes even trolled bucktails, but this was a first for me on the Choptank!

[ronaultmtd]

If you really want to get into monster fishing for giant blue and flathead catfish for the sheer "pullage"... that is an altogether different game than catfishing for what trophy hunters call "dinks" for the table. Fifty-100 pound catfish are definitely here in our water, no doubt about that..but that size fish requires a lot of precautions fishing out of a kayak...especially when landing and handling boatside fish...cold water is a danger factor all by itself, without any additional considerations of very strong, robust and heavy Fish. I have caught several that I never even attempted to bring in the cockpit, choosing to release boatside for exactly these reasons, plus I was "meat fishing" for the table. In my opinion blue cats of under 27 inches are excellent tasting fish. Our concern locally is the larger fish pose a health risk of consuming heavy metals accumulated in their flesh-and we have the very same issue with Striped Bass over 27 inches...if you really want to chase these "monsters" you have to use specialized techniques, heavier tackle and bigger fresh bait..flatheads love live bluegills...but bluegills are not legal bait in every state, so check your regs! One bait that catches everything is large chunks of menhaden/alewives. Hard to find it fresh, but frozen can work...as can large chunks of chicken...8/0-10/0 circle hooks on heavy mono leader on a Carolina rig (Fishfinder) in deeper channel edges set you up for the opportunity to a sleigh ride...

[Slobber Bob]

You fried them to perfection!

Nice job with the cats, Minh.

[M_Duong60]

You fried them to perfection!

Nice job with the cats, Minh.

Thanks! I need to head out there and try again sometime, haven't been out there for quite a bit now.

[M_Duong60]

If you really want to get into monster fishing for giant blue and flathead catfish for the sheer "pullage"... that is an altogether different game than catfishing for what trophy hunters call "dinks" for the table. Fifty-100 pound catfish are definitely here in our water, no doubt about that..but that size fish requires a lot of precautions fishing out of a kayak...especially when landing and handling boatside fish...cold water is a danger factor all by itself, without any additional considerations of very strong, robust and heavy Fish. I have caught several that I never even attempted to bring in the cockpit, choosing to release boatside for exactly these reasons, plus I was "meat fishing" for the table. In my opinion blue cats of under 27 inches are excellent tasting fish. Our concern locally is the larger fish pose a health risk of consuming heavy metals accumulated in their flesh-and we have the very same issue with Striped Bass over 27 inches...if you really want to chase these "monsters" you have to use specialized techniques, heavier tackle and bigger fresh bait..flatheads love live bluegills...but bluegills are not legal bait in every state, so check your regs! One bait that catches everything is large chunks of menhaden/alewives. Hard to find it fresh, but frozen can work...as can large chunks of chicken...8/0-10/0 circle hooks on heavy mono leader on a Carolina rig (Fishfinder) in deeper channel edges set you up for the opportunity to a sleigh ride...

I definitely agree, I'm more interested in the smaller eating size fish. I have never caught a blue cat bigger than 30 inches I think and to be honest I'm not to keen to. As you mentioned the danger factor seems a little too big for me.

[clm]

I definitely agree, I'm more interested in the smaller eating size fish. I have never caught a blue cat bigger than 30 inches I think and to be honest I'm not to keen to. As you mentioned the danger factor seems a little too big for me.

The James River has some monsters....we weren't in a kayak...I've caught some 20lb'rs from the yak in the Potomac...but nothing like what we found in the James....(17 year anniversary, guided). I've shared this before...so I apologize if it's redundant...but this was one of those trips I love to look back at every so often....

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[mudskipper]

James, what do you do with the killed blues?

Ron,

I was on the Choptank this past June looking for specs and in the same exact place we caught rock, specs, and white perch we caught 2 large blue cats. This was a point with current sweeping past it and caught on zman plastics on Texas eye jig heads. I’m used to catching the blues in the Potomac on sassy shads and sometimes even trolled bucktails, but this was a first for me on the Choptank!

If they’re under 20-24” or so I eat them. Or give them to other people fishing. Over that, they get their heads removed and become turtle food.

There’s a patch of brush near fletchers cove on the Potomac that we’ve nicknamed “kitty city”, because that’s where all the too-big-to-eat blues get tossed by the locals who fish there. Much to the appreciation of the local foxes, vultures and coyotes.

In spite of the efforts of many people who have pledged to remove every blue they catch, it’s still like trying to empty the ocean with a bucket. Blue cats are going to seriously degrade the Potomac fishery in the next decade.