黑料天堂

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Jug Fishing Producing Plenty of 黑料天堂 River Catfish

catfish

An ice chest full of catfish is common with jug fishing on the 黑料天堂 River. Photos by David Rainer

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.

鈥淢ost of the time, flatheads are going to hit something live, whether it鈥檚 a 3-inch bream (taken by hook and line) or a skipjack you鈥檝e just caught in the cast net,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f you have a good live skipjack, you just hook him in the middle of the back so he can swim and stay alive.

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

Joe Dunn shows off a nice blue catfish that took a piece of skipjack drifted beneath a piece of pool noodle.

Dunn said a couple of techniques seem to work when he鈥檚 specifically targeting flatheads. He focuses on the inside bends in the river and rock walls. At the start of the bend, most will have a small sandbar. He said the flathead like to hang out at the drop-off behind the sandbar.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e sitting below that bar where the current is running over the top of them, waiting on that bait to come to them,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 also like to fish where a cut is coming into the main river where the depth goes from 12 to 14 feet down to 30. They like to hang underneath that drop-off. But big blue cats like those spots too.鈥

Even though Millers Ferry has a reputation as a fantastic crappie fishery, Dunn thinks catfish are overlooked at times.

鈥淭his is a super good catfish fishery.鈥

Dunn said the hot weather pattern for catfish starts around the middle of June and usually runs through October, depending on when we get enough of a cold front to lower the water temperature.

鈥淭he hotter it gets, the more you stay in the main river channel,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 use the noodles because you use a lot longer lines, 15 to 20 feet, and it鈥檚 easier to wrap the lines around the noodles when I take them up.鈥

When he鈥檚 targeting the larger fish, Dunn uses a tarred nylon twine for the main lines with a 1陆-ounce lead, swivel, monofilament leader and a 5/0 circle hook.

Dunn said the largest flathead catfish he鈥檚 hauled in at the Ferry weighed 65 pounds, and the largest blue cat he鈥檚 seen weighed 55 pounds.

For 鈥渇ry 鈥檈m whole鈥 small fish, he uses double-hook rigs with smaller hooks and smaller shad for bait.

Dunn takes a break from catfishing during the winter to head to the deer woods. The water gets high during the winter, but he鈥檚 back on the river fairly early in the new year.

鈥淲e usually start on February 17,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e always started on that date because that鈥檚 my oldest son鈥檚 birthday. We would come up to the river and get our jugs ready. But that time of year, you go up in the shallow flats. The catfish will move into the shallow flats before anything else.鈥

In February, Dunn changes his 鈥渏ugs鈥 to 20-ounce drink bottles and 1陆- to 2-foot lines with a 陆-ounce to 1-ounce weight, swivel and foot of 20-pound-test monofilament leader tied to a 3/0 circle hook.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I go in places like Gee鈥檚 Bend, Buzzard鈥檚 Roost, River Bluff, Alligator,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou just get in the backs of the creeks and throw your jugs out. You can wear them out in the springtime doing that.鈥

黑料天堂鈥檚 creel limit on catfish is determined by size. For catfish under 34 inches there is no limit. Anglers can keep one catfish 34 inches or longer in most areas of the state. Several river basins 鈥 Perdido, Conecuh, Blackwater, Yellow, Choctawhatchee, Chipola and Chattahoochee 鈥 are exempt from the size limit. Also, it is unlawful to transport live catfish 34 inches or longer beyond the boundaries of 黑料天堂.

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Dunn swings in another 2-pound catfish into the boat.