# 2nd annual Miller's Ferry trip



## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Anniversary slash fathers day came around again and we were lucky enough to repeat last year all over. Dragged the boat, allll my catfish catching devices, my lovely wife and son, too much crap, and food up for the 4 or 5 day trip. Immediately splashed the boat and set out the trotline with some cut bream on it. Came back a few hours later to.....zilch!! Oh well, the trip is young. I set out some bush hooks with ivory soap, few hours later I had one eater channel. Basically gave up on the trotline and bush hooks after many checks and strike outs. One afternoon we tried noodles. Kiddo loved driving around and collecting them and we actually caught 2 good eaters. Next day didn't do so great but got a a blue on a noodle in the rain. Oh yeah, it rained every day. Not bad as it kept it from being hot a single day of the trip, but it did get old running down to run the bilge pump on the boat. One evening I set up on a creek mouth with rods and reels. Almost immediately caught a 7lb blue, then a little later another smaller blue, I was happy to get anything on r&r in unfamiliar water. I got them on shad I netted, I got really good at that actually. But! A net full of baby catfish is about the worst thing you could wish on a guy with a bait net... last trip was the best. Crossed the river and set up upstream of a pile of sunken trees. Dropped 4 shad straight down off the boat and just a few feet off the bottom, within 8 minutes I had a little bitty flathead, a little bigger flathead, and a 6 or 7 pound blue. A few minutes later came an eel or something and a 9 pound blue. So, next year I'll lead off with that technique as there's tons and tons of trees like that to fish. Few pics of the trip.
Rain....








Tough keeping a toddler occupied








What is this???








It was hung but made a good picture








Nature's rubiks cube, baby catfish!








The river is 50 feet deep, 30 feet from the bank, bends are a mile long, nothing like here
















Set up in front of sunken trees, in the rain..








Tiny flathead...ate him








Bigger one, completely wrapped up in other line, had to cut it all and re-tie, he flipped around like a ladyfish








The 2 good ones, and the eel thing

















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## lees way2 (Oct 7, 2007)

If he bites he eats. Good job with the weather and all till the snake in the last pic, dont do snakes or anything that looks like them.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

My cabin is about 20 miles north of there, love fishing that river. Don't do it enough.


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## Bodupp (Oct 3, 2007)

Great report. Mystery fish that looks like a drum is, well, a freshwater drum. Yankees call them sheephead. You can eat them, but they taste like shit.

The snake-looking thingy is an American eel - prime cobia bait. They have one forward gear and three reverse gears.

Get a haircut.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Looks like a good time.


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

Looks like y'all had fun ,and you learned some valuable fishing information for next time. I use to go to miller's ferry every year and set jugs and bush hooks. Good times ! I haven't been in years, we use to rent a house for a week two every year from a couple that live there. I think there names were Roland and Gene.

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## olegator (Dec 6, 2014)

Great fishing report. I love to see kids out there having fun.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

I've never seen a freshwater drum, weird looking things


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

A fine report and photos.


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

Looks like a great trip, are there cabins to rent up that way?


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## Achim2 (Apr 25, 2011)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing !


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## DMC (Nov 28, 2010)

Nice report. Years ago I had a cast net made of nylon and caught a net full of baby cats. Man I thought I never was going to get them out.
Every fin they had was hung up in the net.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Yep!! Many of them are now either better at right turns or left turns:shifty:


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## Specktackler357 (Jun 28, 2016)

Do they have cabin rentals?


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

There's a few websites with cabin rentals, they fill up like campgrounds this time of year


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## 706Z (Mar 30, 2011)

sure said:


> Yep!! Many of them are now either better at right turns or left turns:shifty:




You ain't lived till you fill a 12 ft cast net full of them! Takes hours to getem out. Looks like y'all had fun , good times. 


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

It's tough catfishing right now until July. The catfish are spawning.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Looks like an adventure! Learning new stuff and figuring out the fish is rewarding. Still can't understand why a trot line didn't work for you but noodles are fun for sure!
Roland Cooper campground has cabin rentals and puts you in some great fishing.


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## billyb (Aug 22, 2012)

I was in Vernon this week and came down a road named Miller's Ferry. It came out on 79 just north of Ebro. Is it named after a place on the Choctawhatchee?


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## TFRIZZ30 (Jun 26, 2014)

CatHunter said:


> It's tough catfishing right now until July. The catfish are spawning.




I had 4 in three hours the other day not saying it's great but I think the spawn is about over. 


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

My Great Uncle used to run a boat rental at Miller's Ferry. Eddie Skipper. Old Cypress wood boats. The family farm was downstream of the landing. When the water is high or the current is fast, set your set hooks in the slough, instead of the main creek.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

TFRIZZ30 said:


> I had 4 in three hours the other day not saying it's great but I think the spawn is about over.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




For sure hard to figure. Been catching a few for a couple months and most have had eggs. When fishing Escambia a few years ago we would put the lines on the shallow sandbars tied to a stake that we drove in the sand. We caught the fish that were coming into the shallow water to bed. Seems like it was May and June and it always produced channel cats better than usual. Water was usually about 3'


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

I had the last 4 I caught in maybe 45 minutes. Only the biggest blue had eggs.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

Look like you guys had a great time. :thumbup:


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

TFRIZZ30 said:


> I had 4 in three hours the other day not saying it's great but I think the spawn is about over.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Fish under 20 pounds are readily available during the spawn. Those are often males who haven't or was unable to mate up. We should be hitting the peak of the spawn right now, with each day forward the bite will get a little better. By the first dark moon of July, we are back in business with the best bite of the year. During July we often have 200-400 pound nights with 25-30 plus flathead trips. 

They just had a tournament on the Apalachicola River, if you want to see the effects of the spawn in full force just wait for the results and watch the reports of what was caught. Many teams didn't even get a bite, the winner might have 24lbs.


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