Official TOO Catch Thread

Good stuff guys!

Joe - I used to live in Pickerington which wasn't too far from the AEP lands. I've been hunting up there but never been fishing. Sounds like a blast. I'm kicking around the idea of doing an overnight camping / fishing trip sometime this summer and taking my youngest. He's 9 and loves to catch bluegill, and I want to get some to filet up and eat. I've never had them before but I hear that they are very good.

Took the kayak out last night for a couple of hours to do some catfishing. I fished off the bottom in about 6' of water around fallen trees using Secret 7 dip bait with a 'Furry Thing.'

I ended up catching two that were around 16" and two smaller ones that I probably should have just thrown back, but I was fishing for the meat and wasn't being picky. I had too much going on to try to fiddle around with the phone but I did manage to take one pic from the yak.

I tried jigging for crappie too. Had a few nibbles, but no takers. Had a great time.

Catching catfish from a kayak is a lot of fun! I took my daughter out on a local mud hole a few weeks ago with the intentions of doing some bluegill fishing with her, and wetting a line for some catfish too. We ended up getting into more catfish than bluegill along the steep banks with bobber and night crawlers, so we ended up using small chunks of chicken livers to weed out the bluegill. Caught 30 or so channel cats in six hours on ultra light with 4lb test. Caught a couple in the 3-4lb range and lost quite a few more too.

Wow that little girl is growing like a weed! Looks like you two are having a lot of fun.

Greg....you have Big Feet. :smiley_crocodile:

Buckmaster said:

Greg....you have Big Feet. :smiley_crocodile:

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Stop flirting, Ben[emoji23]

Haha Ben, I thought the same thing when I saw the pic! I am kinda built like a hobbit...

Aaron, thanks, she's a blast! Lots of fun times ahead!

Buckmaster said:

Greg....you have Big Feet. :smiley_crocodile:

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Little red riding hood reference?? Ben, shame on you lmao...

Awesome stuff, Greg. Bet she had a blast!

Looks like yall had a great time.

Fluteman said:

Catching catfish from a kayak is a lot of fun! I took my daughter out on a local mud hole a few weeks ago with the intentions of doing some bluegill fishing with her, and wetting a line for some catfish too. We ended up getting into more catfish than bluegill along the steep banks with bobber and night crawlers, so we ended up using small chunks of chicken livers to weed out the bluegill. Caught 30 or so channel cats in six hours on ultra light with 4lb test. Caught a couple in the 3-4lb range and lost quite a few more too.

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Yeah man, It's definitely fun fishing in a kayak. Can be tricky, though. I'm still getting the hang of it!

30 is impressive. Did you keep any?

Blan37 said:

Yeah man, It's definitely fun fishing in a kayak. Can be tricky, though. I'm still getting the hang of it!

30 is impressive. Did you keep any?

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It definitely takes a little getting used ti, but once you get the right setup and techniques, it's hard to beat!

I had the one in the pics, which was just a hair under 4lbs on the stringer. Lost one off the stringer trying to clip the hook shut about the same size. Then lost two at the kayak a little smaller before I remembered I had a net.

Took a buddy down there the following week, and no lie, we caught 50-60 using the same method. We got into better fish that time though, and had probably 8-9 in the three to four pound range. It's a lot of fun!

That's my problem right now - this is a new kayak for me, plus I'm using some new gear so I'm still getting my techniques down. Big thing for me is how to handle all the new gear with my limited range of motion. Last SOT I had was set up different and it was shorter and wider.

Man - sounds like a great lake! What size and style hook are you using?

Blan37 said:

That's my problem right now - this is a new kayak for me, plus I'm using some new gear so I'm still getting my techniques down. Big thing for me is how to handle all the new gear with my limited range of motion. Last SOT I had was set up different and it was shorter and wider.

Man - sounds like a great lake! What size and style hook are you using?

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The lake isn't much good unless you are looking to catch catfish or carp. There are a ton of them in there.

I use Gama octopus hooks. Not sure the size, but they are fairly small, maybe a 6. I cut the chicken liver up into marble size chunks. Works perfect for that application, plus, cutting the liver instead of pulling it apart helps keep it on the hook better...

Fluteman said:

The lake isn't much good unless you are looking to catch catfish or carp. There are a ton of them in there.

I use Gama octopus hooks. Not sure the size, but they are fairly small, maybe a 6. I cut the chicken liver up into marble size chunks. Works perfect for that application, plus, cutting the liver instead of pulling it apart helps keep it on the hook better...

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Cool. The reason I asked is that I was getting more misses than hookups so I'm thinking I need to switch to something smaller.

As a side note, I tried something I didn't think would ever fly - a catfish taco! I'm not a foodie by any stretch, but I do like to experiment sometimes.

I used a whole grain soft tortilla, some lettuce, onion. I sprinkled some lime juice on the lettuce and spread a thin layer of equal parts sour cream and mayo on half of the tortilla. The filet was seasoned with garlic salt and ground pepper and pan fried in a little butter. I thought I was going to end up with a so-so concoction but man it was really good.

Well, was supposed to go to shenango lake over in Pa with a buddy but he got called out to work so it didn't happen... Wife left for work and I sat on the front porch drinking coffee when I said fugg it, hooked up the boat and headed to guilford lake and glad I did... Got there around 9:45 and in an hour I had 10 keeper bass with one pushing 18"..... Most were in the 12-14" range and just got home and put the boat away... All in all I caught 19 bass all keepers and a 14" crappie which slammed a creature bait lol... Nice fish, there was an older gentleman not far from me that was fishing off of the shoreline and I went over and asked him if he wanted it... He said thanks but just catch and release was all he was doing so took a picture and let it go back to be caught again...
Good day and I kept sending pictures to Wayne and he was bitching up a storm about having to work lol...

We're heading to dinner with him and his wife and his son and DIL this evening so more ribbing will be had lmao...











Last time I was there was earlier in the spring and didn't do anywhere as well as today... Might be my go to place during the week for the foreseeable future as I had the place to myself the whole time I was there....

That is a great day J! Living the retired life to the fullest!

Took my youngest to the lake this evening. Little guy ended up hooking a real nice cat from his 6 foot SOT kayak. You should have seen the look on his face while he was fighting this dude and getting dragged around by it lmao

I'm not sure who had more fun - him catching it or me watching him catch it. We ended up with 5 keepers and some great memories.

That's a good one! Any idea on the weight? Sounds like you guys had a great evening!

Yeah, man, it was a great trip. This was his first time on a bigger lake. He has only fished in small ponds for bluegill up to this point. I think I have him hooked good now - he even loves watching me clean them. Little does he know that one day that will be his job lol

Not sure on the exact weight (don't own a scale - need to get one), but the charts put him at close to 10#.