Cat on a jig

[AtticaFish]

It was a little of a fluke, but sure gave me a thrill! I hit the water this afternoon looking for some smallmouth and got my jig slammed in a deep hole. Knew it wasn't a smallie from the first pull - lost a bunch of line to the drag - and was worried about loosing him. Stayed deep and and thought for sure he would cut me off on a rock ledge. Jig was tied by CK3 from a smallie jig swap on c.c - Black/orange/black with some green flash.

Sadly - someone had trimmed both it's pec and dorsal fins. They obviously had been stung by a cat before and didn't like it much. Wish they knew how hard it is to handle one in your hand when they are cut! The pec fins are serrated and the fish was trying like hell to cut me up even if the tips were cut. I got 2 small cuts on my hand while i was taking the pic... stung like a son of a gun the rest of the day at work!!!

 

[AtticaFish]

By the way - Does anyone know the difference between a channel cat and a flathead? I catch alot of channel cats, and this one just didn't look the right coloration for a channel cat to me..... Not much talk about flatheads in this individual river, but they are in other local rivers.

 

[Pup]

AF,

Right off the bat, I'd say that's a channel cat. When I lighten up the image in my photo editor, I immediately noticed a deeply forked tail that is characteristic of channel catfish.

Nice catch.

 

[ragged edge]

He's a channel. Flatheads are more of a yellow color and don"t have a deep fork tail.......Bet you had fun catching him tho........

 

[ScottV]

Yep that's a channel cat. Good eating from about that size down. Bigger channels develop a strong taste when they get a little larger. Around here anyway. A flathead is good eating no matter how big they are. A friend of mine was spider rigging for crappie a couple of years ago and landed a 60 lb flathead with a crappie jig. He had him a time!

 

[jiggerjohn]

Attica, The flathead has a much broader looking tail. I've also been popping really nice cats on my boolie jig ( Keith has a copy of a nice one my son took-maybe he'll post it here, as I'm a real moron with posting pics!), but 2 weekends ago I was fishing my favorite Lake Erie pier up your way, and had on 7 huge cats (and think they were flatheads) on 1/24 oz Boolies with a no 8 hook and 4# test line =one gave me a TIMED 1 hour fight! Of course,when they got tired of the wrestling match,they'd tucker down in their lairs & saw me off on zebra mussels!!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Here's the pic of JJ2's son Sean & jig caught catfish. Grandson Draes taking notes.

View attachment 1

 

[Hawnjigs]

Personally, I think a 1 hr. fight on 4# line turns from fun to work kinda early on...

Hey AF, didn't mean to, uh, diminish your catch by posting Sean's. Thats a beautiful stream and your clean running water cat probably fought way harder pound for pound than a still water version. I figure you're confident enuf in your skills not to have size issues...

 

[Hawnjigs]

On the subject of catfish, I haven't caught that many, & noticed that some of the few I've kept seem to stay alive disturbingly long out of water. Is this pretty normal?

One of my first kept ones, a 5# channel from an Oahu reservoir about 10 yrs. ago stayed alive so long in a dry bucket instead of eating it for dinner as planned threw it into the bathtub overnight and released it the next morning in a nearby stream!

 

[Radtexan]

That is a chanel AF...Flatheads, even at that size still have a yellow color and no forked tail.

Since Hawn hijacked the post anyway ,here's a little yellow I caught last year on a crankbait and 12 # test.

 

[jiggerjohn]

Hey Rad, Congrats on a great cat on light gear!! These cats are starting to prove to me to be IDEAL jig fish & a load of fun on light gear (isn't that long FIGHT why we go fishing??!!). I found this little article on catfish senses ; http://home.earthlink.net/~catfish_billy/id39.html and wonder why we all don't concentrate on a big, hard hitting fish that seems just built to go after our little leadheads & spins! Or to paraphrase Bluto from "Animal House" (if he were a jigger & still alive), "you have to be INSANE to go after monsters with tiny hunks of hair & little limber rods, AND WE'RE JUST THE GUYS TO DO IT !!!"

 

[Radtexan]

She was a blast on light tackle.One of the best things about the battle was when I hooked her,we we just outside the main launch cove.By the time I got her onbaord we had 4-5 boats,a couple of jetskier's and a guy in a tube (fishing) as an audience.

BTW she did get back after a couple of pics !!!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Holy......its true what they say about Texas ! Approx. how much would a beast like that weigh?

 

[Radtexan]

My handheld scale had her @ 49#-15,so Im gonna call it 50 !!! That should be about right.My partner that was in the boat that day had a certified 39 the weekend before,on the same crankbait.

 

[slipbobber]

the reason the fins were cut is, he was used for bait for much larger cats...look on the top rightdown by his tail at that hole. thats where the big hook was placed into him....from the picture thats what it looks like to me