# Apalachicola CatFish Classic tomorrow



## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

*Apalachicola CatFish Classic tomorrow

Whos all in *?
*We will be there, Hopefully we can bring home a trophy and a good report.

Ill probably be taking my offshore Captain with me, hes been a off shore saltwater fisherman his hole life, hes never done battle with a Big Flatheads, it should be pretty interesting..I bet skiffjr will be there:thumbsup:
*


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

Good Luck, hope ya's get some. Don't forget the pics!


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

CatHunter said:


> *Apalachicola CatFish Classic tomorrow
> I bet skiffjr will be there:thumbsup:
> *


Yep i'm actually going to catch some bait as we speak. As soon as that school bell rings tomorrow i'm gonna be Wewa bound :thumbup: good luck to everyone that's gonna be there.


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## Donald811 (May 17, 2011)

* That river is mighty low boys, ya'll be careful.:thumbup1:*


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

*Well i won the tournament 1st place, my biggest fish was 29.99lbs i also had some nice 20lbers as well as a 12lber and a 14 and a few under 10lbs, i would have won first place most poundage but i lost it by 10 pounds, i had a 24lb fish brake off the stringer and get away (don't by wal-mart stringers)..Ill post some pictures of fish later, i cant post them right now because they will be featured in a magazine...*


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

Way to go! CONGRATULATIONS! Sounds like some serious cats.


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## saltbomb (Feb 15, 2010)

Not trying to find out where your spots are did you go up or down the river or fish the chipola cut off.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Headed up the river now after the state record:thumbsup:


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

Congratulations CatHunter. You have been working hard for that big win and deserve it. Man, what a giant trophy.

What magazine will the pictures be in?


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Well we didn't get the record but we got some good cats up on Escambia last night better luck next time i guess. the biggest was around 22lbs


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## CurDog (Nov 14, 2010)

Hey Cat', what are the rules as far catch methods? I mean can you "noodle" fish 'em? 
Have you ever tried that? I see them guys on tv doing it, pulling 'em out from underneath the river banks, but I'd be leery, okay, too skeered of a bed of mocassins laying in there. Just wondering, thanks


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

All we do is rod n reel, back when i was just learning the ropes of catfishing i experimented with some noodling, trot-ling, limb lining etc, The good ol rod n reel if use properly will whoop just about any other method u will try..


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

*Here are the results for the Florida Catfish Classic, *

 *The trip started out great right from the bait fishing, we managed to get about 50 hand sized bluegills from a friend of mines private pond and it didn't take long in about one hour we had all the baits we needed. 
So we loaded up and made the 3 hour drive to wewa from Pensacola, We launched the boat at Gaskin park and worked our way down the river for about 20 miles marking locations to set up after dark, we went all the way down Chipola then out on the Apalachicola river, We anchored on the first spot about 5:45pm, it didn't take long to get the first fish to my surprise was a sailcat, followed up by a nice blue cat then a channel cat, once the sun went down we deployed the live baits, within 10 minutes we had our first flathead a respectable 14lber.
After one hour of no more bites besides a estimated 100lb alligator snapping turtle, we pulled the hook and motor north to our next hole which was back on the Chipola river, maby 15 minutes on the spot produced a 20.5lber, then its off to the next hole, The next spot was a really well put together logjam in about 20 feet of water, Got the rods in the water and BAM BAM two flatheads back to back, small but keepers 7lber and a 9lber next hole.
The next spot was a bit iffy, the water depth was only 5 feet so i didn't have alot of confidence in it, but there was some good bottom structure i marked on the side sonar i told my partner we will give this one 30 min then we are gone, well it took about 10 to boat a 24lber after a good battle, We put this hefty guy on the stringer and threw him in the water and what do u know the stringer BROKE and he was gone, talk about up set being this was our largest fish at the moment, well we cant sit around and cry we had to keep moving, off to the next spot. 
Which was a bend in the river dropping off to around 25 feet, by this time its around 12am and the tide has picked up which is great for flathead fishing it gets them up and moving, I put the firs bait on the hook which was about a 1lb and a half bluegill, threw him out and he barley hit the bottom and BAM! the fight was on and i new he was big, this tank from bellow hung me up twice after working him out like a shallow water grouper we prepared the net, after a few more runs we got him and he was a tournament contender, by our scale he was 30lbs GREAT SUCCESS i knew we had a shoot at the leader board it kinda made up for the 24lber that broke the stringer. 
As the night went on we boated more and more fish under 10lber but nothing of tournament size, by around 5:30 am our fish was starting to look a bit weak so we had to make about a 7 miles run to weigh in, once we got there it was almost daylight and after weigh in I was in 1st place for biggest fish as well as 5th place with the 20.5lber my partner was in 3erd and 5th with his channel and bluecat, we still had a few hours till the tournament was over at noon so we bolted back out to try and get a few nice blues or channel cat. 
Well after a few hours of only smallcats we came on back in around 9am hungry and exhausted from no sleep, by this time my 20lber was knocked off the board as well as my partners fish, but the big guy was still in 1st place. The last few hours of the tournament seem to stretch on forever watching fish after fish hit the scale. 
I was waiting for the nooners to come in, these are people that seem to come out of the wood works at 11:58 with contender fish every tournament, I was as nerves as Obama at a tea party convention, with 30 secs on the clock some guy out of the blue weighs in a 29.77lber for second place my fish took the win at 29.99lbs YES!!! WE ARE VICTORIOUS all our hard work paid off we won the $1500 first prize along with the 4.5 foot tall trophy and all kinda door prized including rod and reels t shirts and much more, its was fun and we hope to be there next year.. *​


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*State Record*

Cathunter: We ought to start working up a group of anglers to lobby FWC to start up a similar record system like they have in Texas. Florida needs a better system to create competition which would create more people spending money for gas, tackle, rigs, etc.

Not only do they have a state record system, Texas has a record system for specific bodies of water and the method used. Take any lake or river and recognize the top dog for each specie, i. e. flathead, shellcracker (red ear), bass, etc. You don't get a big trophy, just a certificate, you are top dog for flatheads on the Escambia River, etc. And you get listed in the Texas records.

I'm sure there would be opposition due to costs, but the recognition might promote a benefit greater than the costs.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

u might be on to some thing there walt, Florida does have a big fish program where u get recognized for catching a big fish and u get some kinda certificate.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*FL fish record*

Yes, they have a program but will give you a certificate for anything over the specified mininum weight. I don't think it's specific for a body of water.
Might just call them to get better details.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

here are a few of them rewards, well big catch programs from different body's of water i got..


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*certs*

Those are some impressive looking certificates for sure. Cool.............

I wish FWC would make a slight addition and issue them to recognize the record catch for each body of water.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

yea that would be pretty neat, we can make any thing happen:thumbsup:


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