# 1/7/11 Yellow River Channel Cat



## -WiRtH-

Well we went to Yellow River last night and put in at Guest Lake. We went up the river to one of my luckiest catfish holes and sat there for about 2.5 hours. I had planned to do bush hooks, but the river was way way higher than it usually is. So we just tied off to a tree and fished with some liver. We ended up with only 1 catfish. It's a pretty channel cat that weighs about 8 pounds. Going to fry him up for dinner


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## Ultralite

way to go!...that'll be some good eats...


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## CatHunter

Thats a good channel cat for that river, but when that rivers up high like that and the current is pushing u need a good sturdy bait to stay on the hook and keep its flavor, the livers seems to wash away in the rivers current especially its flavor, hers a link you can watch it will let you know when the river is at the right height, always try to catch it on a fall not a rise, after its been up for a few days and them cats have been fighting that current they start to feed when it comes down and they can relax again..:thumbsup:
http://weather.hamweather.com/rivers/gauge/MLYF1.html
you can tell by the numbers on the chart and the dates the river is on a fall right now in two days being Tuesday from now it will be just right If yellow river is higher the 38.00 feet dont even try..If Escambia river is higher then 8.0 Feet with a 4 knot current no good..


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## -WiRtH-

Here's that cat. My girlfrined thought it was an upside-down catfish... Very tasty ;-) And thanks cathunter I have been trying to find that site!


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## CatHunter

actually what u have there is the same kinda catfish steave has in his ponds in wallnutt hill, its a hybrid a cross between a blue and a channel cat iv been seeing alot of them in that river almost as if some one has been stocking them in there you can tell this by the channel cat head they have but the straight anal fin of a blue cat here is one my girl friend caught out of yellow river not to long ago


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## -WiRtH-

That's interesting. I'll have to start taking more pictures so I can compare the cats I catch. It had a bunch of spots and those right there are the type I catch 95% of the time when I'm fishing up around Holt on Yellow River. I just thought they were channels...


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## ZombieKiller

The "straight fin" vs. "rounded fin" usually works, but the best way to identify channel cat vs. blue cat is to count the rays on that same anal fin. A channel cat will have fewer than 30 rays, and a blue cat will have 30+.


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## CatHunter

this is correct too but a hybrid will have spots as well, where as a Bluecat never has spots and channels do, these hybrids have been showing up in yellow river for a good while now, many people are getting them confused with blues and channels,


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## CatHunter

The time to strike is now the river is at 5.7 feet and falling, the fish will be on the move, :thumbsup:


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## FishWalton

*cats and crappie*








One cat like that is enough to feed several people. Nice one and nice photo. I still want to get ito the cat game but right now having too much fun chasing crappie. Had an especially good day yesterday


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## CatHunter

and that u did my friend that's a mess of fish:thumbsup:


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## -WiRtH-

Nice catch walton!!!


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## gbliz

awesome photo


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## FishWalton

Sure didn't do it today!!! Downright miserable out there. Started off about 9am at Juniper Lake in De Funiak. After an hour of absolutely freezing in the wind we quit. My Kansas friend opened the barnyard gate before he left home and that Kansas air is now here.
We Loaded the boat and headed to Black Creek. Stopped for lunch at TJ's in Freeport. Darn near got skunked. No keepers. Nearby fellow did well on crappie. "Location" works every time. So, thawing out this evening and plotting what to do next week. There will be another day................


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