# My biggest catfish!!



## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Lately I have been hitting the blue cats hard. Flatheads are fun and will always be my favorite but they lack the size in numbers like the blues do. I'm not poor; I don't hunt cats for food. That being said my freezer stays full with catfish fillets all from fish under 10lbs. I'm after big fish not meat. In the last few months I have been all over Florida hunting blues, and we have caught a lot of blue cats. We have landed many 40 plus pounders.

Forties and fifties just don't feed the thirst these days, I need bigger fish. Last night while trophy hunting I found a school of blues like nothing I have ever seen. 

Long story short the night was full of fun. The fish in the photo below was by far the biggest catfish that has ever laid in my deck. My boga grips will weigh up to 60 pounds and this fish flat bottomed it out.

What a fight this beast put up. After a few photos and videos I released the fish to grow even bigger.


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

You need to bring me with you on one of these trips just so I can get some real photos of you with these monster cats. 

For real, absolutely awesome catch, congratulations man!


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Dammit man! That's a monster! Sweet screenshot too. I don't think I'd want to fall in there!


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

DANG!!!! That's AWESOME brother.....congrats!


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

I was there when Bill caught the State record blue cat. I touched it, took photos of it and examined it. This fish was every bit as large


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## Njydvr (Jan 1, 2008)

Thats AWESOME! Cant wait to hook into some big cats.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Big Cat Video


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

What river?
Bait?

And your FF needs some work, I can't make out the GPS Coordinates!


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Hell of a Fish Glenn. Congratulations.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

hjorgan said:


> What river?
> Bait?
> 
> And your FF needs some work, I can't make out the GPS Coordinates!


I wouldn't tell it...


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

jlw1972 said:


> I wouldn't tell it...


After whats happened to Escambia River I wont even say what river I'm on.


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## TFRIZZ30 (Jun 26, 2014)

What happened with the escambia?


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Ya'll need to come to the Alabama River. Big cats, little pressure. (I'm up above Millers Ferry dam). Seems like Dec and Jan are the best big cat months.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

hjorgan said:


> Ya'll need to come to the Alabama River. Big cats, little pressure. (I'm up above Millers Ferry dam). Seems like Dec and Jan are the best big cat months.


I'll be spending several weekends up their this winter. 

Can't wait!


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

hjorgan said:


> Ya'll need to come to the Alabama River. Big cats, little pressure. (I'm up above Millers Ferry dam). Seems like Dec and Jan are the best big cat months.


Alabama has done a great job with the new regulations. I look forward to spending many days over there. Florida is just sitting idle while our rivers are being destroyed. Everybody I know who is going up to Escambia river to catfish cant catch a cold. The cat-fishing has just gotten terrible over the last few years. 

Rightfully I would say in part its my fault. I have been making post about how good the fishing on Escambia River has been since 2006. Since then the fishing pressure from line-runners, shockers and trappers has sky rocketed. 

Escambia is a small river it cant take the pressure that's being put on it. If there was a graph to show how good the fishing on Escambia river is this would be it.


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

That is a fine blue cat. I like to eat a 5-12 pounder - I have to throw away too much meat on a bigger one to justify killing it. 
Several of my family members and friends have been going above mineral springs - they are catching fish, mainly channels and a few flat heads. Before the rain I had a couple of bream fishing reports that yielded more channel cats than bream. Also FYI on the 2-3 occasions per year when we decide to camp we usually put out a trot line or two, which is perfectly legal. I don't think it should be lumped together with trapping, and shocking, which are both illegal.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Try'n Hard said:


> That is a fine blue cat. I like to eat a 5-12 pounder - I have to throw away too much meat on a bigger one to justify killing it.
> Several of my family members and friends have been going above mineral springs - they are catching fish, mainly channels and a few flat heads. Before the rain I had a couple of bream fishing reports that yielded more channel cats than bream. Also FYI on the 2-3 occasions per year when we decide to camp we usually put out a trot line or two, which is perfectly legal. I don't think it should be lumped together with trapping, and shocking, which are both illegal.


The line running I'm speaking of is the illegal kind that most of them do. Running more hooks and lines than allowed, using live bait on set lines and not using tags to mark their lines. And the worst part leaving tens of thousands of lines left behind. I'm on the river a lot, I see just about everything that goes on. What I don't see I hear about. My wife will be joining the FWC force here shortly, hopefully we can get some changes for the better.


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

Wow cool!!


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

CatHunter said:


> The line running I'm speaking of is the illegal kind that most of them do. Running more hooks and lines than allowed, using live bait on set lines and not using tags to mark their lines. And the worst part leaving tens of thousands of lines left behind. I'm on the river a lot, I see just about everything that goes on. What I don't see I hear about. My wife will be joining the FWC force here shortly, hopefully we can get some changes for the better.



What kinda changes are y'all planning to make??


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

catfishhunter you are spot on with the reg changes needed.
We had "legal poaching" going on, with our big cats being stolen for profit.
See what Alabama did here and why: http://blog.al.com/gone-fishing/2008/11/anglers_are_now_restricted_to.html

Excerpt: In essence, Alabama's resources were being raped and nothing was being done. Thousands of pounds of fish each year -- some of them the big 50-pounders and up -- were being taken away to another state so someone could pay to sit by a hand-dug pond and catch them. State officials were told repeatedly this was being done but nothing could be done to stop it because there was no regulation on possession number or a size limit.

Thankfully, now there is.

The new regulation is that only one catfish longer than 34 inches may be harvested and possessed each day by an angler.


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## billyb (Aug 22, 2012)

One of the changes I would like to see is to be able to use live bait on a bush hook. If you can use it on a reel/rod then why not on a set line. No difference in my opinion.

CatHunter is right about those who don't do it right. I use legal bait, I mark my lines and I don't leave them out. The upper Yellow is littered with old lines and nothing pisses me off more than to see hanging ribbon left in a bush. I bass fish a lot and as I ease upriver I cut all lines I see if they have been left there for a while. You can tell when the line has algae growing on it or the hook is rusted. Got a lot of good lead by doing this.


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

One problem is that Florida has lots of officers but poor rules. Alabama has good rules and almost zero officers. As for the leftover lines - not many laws can fix "sorryness"


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

Great catch..!! Were you using the Abu 7000's?

Keith


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

hjorgan said:


> catfishhunter you are spot on with the reg changes needed.
> We had "legal poaching" going on, with our big cats being stolen for profit.
> See what Alabama did here and why: http://blog.al.com/gone-fishing/2008/11/anglers_are_now_restricted_to.html
> 
> ...


Thats right they was being sold to Pay lakes up north. People were complaining for years but caught lots of backlash by local commercial guys and even some anglers. 10s of Thousands of pounds a week was leaving the state and being shipped to Ohio and Kentucky before Alabama caught on.

If Alabama had not caught on the damage would be severe. Now Florida is under attack.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

Those pictures look like a pay lake to me.....so assume they were caught in a pay lake??? Steves Farm has big'uns like that. I don't under the problem? There is nothing here to indicate they were raised and caught at a pay lake or were brought in from somewhere else!!!! What's the deal?


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

fishwalton said:


> Those pictures look like a pay lake to me.....so assume they were caught in a pay lake??? Steves Farm has big'uns like that. I don't under the problem? There is nothing here to indicate they were raised and caught at a pay lake or were brought in from somewhere else!!!! What's the deal?


Steve raises catfish from hatchlings. The fish in the photos above are wild caught by commercial fishermen. They then carry the fish across state lines and sell them to these pay-lakes for people to catch over and over again until dead. Nobody raises flatheads from hatchlings, they are always brought in from wild waters.

Its equivalent to going into the woods, trapping all the largest bucks then carrying them to another state to sell to a high fence ranch to be shot and killed.

This video will explain a lot.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

Thanks for sharing that video. It sure explains a lot. For those that are unaware it's a down right mess out there!!! It never occurred to me this sort of thing was going on.
The same old human culture of money and greed is in the catfish industry as well. 
I'll pass the video on to our local fishing club members. Incidentally we have a Wildlife Officer and a FWC Fisheries Biologist scheduled to speak to our group. Will ask them about all this and see where the discussion goes.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

fishwalton said:


> Thanks for sharing that video. It sure explains a lot. For those that are unaware it's a down right mess out there!!! It never occurred to me this sort of thing was going on.
> The same old human culture of money and greed is in the catfish industry as well.
> I'll pass the video on to our local fishing club members. Incidentally we have a Wildlife Officer and a FWC Fisheries Biologist scheduled to speak to our group. Will ask them about all this and see where the discussion goes.


The Owner of the Florida Catfish Classic Don tells me the Apalachicola River is under attack by shockers taking truck loads of fish to Texas.


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