So we have set a mission to catch a 30lb catfish. This
should be one of the easier targets of the year as the lake I have chosen has a
lot of cats in there and being small should throw up a few fish.
With the summer hitting its highest temperatures I thought
it would be a good opportunity to get out and have a look at what I can catch.
Now I did a rec of the lake, as I had never been there before and talked to an
old chap, Jim, who was carp fishing with the oldest rods I had ever seen. He was catching carp all day long between
1-5lb and talked about hooking and landing catfish as well. He has caught some
to 25lb and told me that there were a lot in the water. Bingo, exactly what I
wanted to hear.
The very next night I turned up after work armed with big halibut
pellets and some mackerel strips and my 3.5lb test curve rods. The water was
alive with cruising carp and actually could make out a few catfish tails
popping out the water while they were feeding. I settled for a swim with a
small set of pads to my right hand side and access to the main body of the
lake.
The night came and went and I didn’t even have a nock at
all. Nothing wanted my hook offerings and I left for work feeling a little disappointed
but was going to be back that very night as I had seen them feeding.
Work dragged but I got to the lake at 3.30pm with two people
carp fishing. I opted to fish the other side of the lake which has a willow
tree in the water to the left and again access to the main bowl of the lake.
I could see a huge shoal of roach on the surface by the willow
and decided to try and catch one and put a live bait out near to the tree.
After rummaging in my box for a small hook and some plastic maggots I managed
to make a crude rig with a branch as a rod, stick as a float and caught a small
4 inch roach. Lip hooking with a running rig it was lowered a foot from the
back and 6 foot from the tree just in case the fish decided to head for the
snag it would give me a bit more time to get to the rod.
Now I have had some quick bites before but I hadn’t had the
bait in the water for 5 minutes and the alarm was screaming with the baitrunner
on melt down and I lent into my first moggy of the season. The fight that
developed was amazing, I had never felt such power and was glad to have the additional
power of the 3.5lb test curve rods. After a few hairy moments and the fish
lunging towards the near side snags, I slipped the net under the fish and had
to shuffle it back and forth to get this extra long cat in!
I asked the guy fishing opposite me to give me a hand just
to make it a little easier with the weighing and taking photos but I knew that
this was going to be a PB for me. Dropping the scales at 30lb 3oz it was a
fantastic fish and was totally made up.
Nothing happened for the rest of the night but I had cracked
Mission number one and I would defiantly be back to get some more and hopefully
a bigger harder fighting cat.
Tight lines and be lucky!
