By DAVID RAINER, 黑料天堂
The ripples emanating from the sides of the 2-foot-long piece of pool noodle was just what Joe Dunn hoped to see.
It meant there was something attached to the line that dropped some 15 feet into the murky waters of the 黑料天堂 River near Camden.
During the dog days of summer, this fishing tactic is what Dunn prefers because the heat makes it unbearable to crappie fish in hopes of catching seven or eight keepers. The same goes for bass fishing.
So, Dunn turns to the plentiful catfish that inhabit 黑料天堂鈥檚 many rivers, and lets the jugs, or noodles in this case, do the fishing while he enjoys a restful night of sleep. If he鈥檚 ambitious, he鈥檒l run the 20 or so jugs during the night. If not, he鈥檒l head out at dawn to find out what鈥檚 been biting.
Catching bait might be the only real work involved in 鈥渏ug鈥 fishing.
鈥淭he predominant bait on Millers Ferry is going to be shad that you catch with your cast net,鈥 Dunn said. 鈥淏ut skipjacks (members of the herring family) are another excellent bait. It鈥檚 a little harder, sometimes, to catch skipjacks. Most people use Sabiki rigs and go behind the power house to catch the skipjacks. But sometimes there鈥檚 another way to catch them. If you鈥檙e on the river, sometimes you will see skipjacks chasing little river minnows or small shad. You ease over into that area, and when they come up to feed, you throw your cast net and load it up with skipjacks. We did that just the other day with the cast net.
鈥淭he key is good, fresh bait.鈥
Dunn said if you鈥檙e planning to do a little tightlining for catfish before you head back to camp to get out of the heat, the skipjacks will stay alive for a little while in the livewell. If you see a couple floating in the livewell, it鈥檚 best to get them all out, put them in a plastic bag and get them on ice before they degrade.
Dunn says the best way to deal with leftover skipjacks is to freeze them as soon as possible.
鈥淔reezing skipjacks in water doesn鈥檛 work well,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen you thaw them out, they鈥檙e all mushy and just don鈥檛 work well. I found out if you put them on a cookie sheet and freeze them individually before putting them in freezer bags, they work a lot better. That鈥檚 a big plus.鈥
When Dunn is targeting flathead catfish, he tries to catch small bream to bait the jugs. Flathead, also known as yellow cats, prefer the bait to be live and swimming.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e looking for a mess of small fish for a fish fry, just use those small shad and thread them on the hook. If you鈥檙e keying on bigger fish, you鈥檙e better off with a live bait, even your bigger blue cats like live bait.鈥
Most people tend to shun keeping a larger blue cat because the flesh is not as suitable for consumption as any size flathead. However, Dunn said large blue cats can be delicious if they鈥檙e prepared correctly.
鈥淭he key is learning how to clean them to where they taste good,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 best to bleed them. I cut the tail off and throw them in the splash well. When I clean them, I get all the red meat off, and then I soak the meat in an ice-water slush. You soak it and get all the blood out, changing the water when needed to get that meat snowball white.
鈥淭hen you fry it, and it鈥檚 good. I鈥檝e had people tell me it was the best blue cat they鈥檝e ever eaten.鈥
Now Dunn is not saying he can make big blue cats taste like a flathead, which doesn鈥檛 seem to lose any appeal to the palate the larger the fish gets.
鈥淚 fried some flathead for my brother, Bubba, and he kept asking me, 鈥榃hat did you do to this fish? What did you do to this fish?鈥欌 Dunn said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 do anything to it. It was just the fish. The flathead is just the primo catfish catch out of the river.鈥