Showing posts with label catfishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catfishing. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Handicap Accessible Public Fishing
This is Maniteau lake in Moniteau county. It's a conservation lake that I fish sometimes. About 400 acres and the best public fishing lake in central Mo. It's stocked with catfish, crappie, bass, bluegill, green perch, & shellcrackers. I've caught many bluegills in the 10 to 12 inch range and this lake is known for huge gills & big catfish. It's also one of the very few public lakes that I fish, but then it's worth going to. If you're in central Mo. stop and wet a line, fun fishing and Handicap accessible.
Such a beautiful lake!
Friday, February 27, 2015
Catfishing in the Extreme
Hi Fishing Friends
Pursuing catfish on a regular basis can be an extreme sport. On Sunday Oct. 19th that's what I did.
I was at a new pond that I fish from time to time and at first the catching was slow. After about an hour and making one round of this fishing hole, I'd only caught a couple of perch. So not being a quitter, I caught me a few grasshoppers and walked around to the old dock.
<(;HF+< (Tip) Now here's a very important 'how to' tip, my friends. Catfish love grasshoppers!!
I set up a catfish rig, with my favorite live bait, and put it out there. I secured my pole on the dock, then picked up my other rod already setup with a crappie jig and started casting. Then the fish start biting, so I toss a couple in my bucket.
Seeing movement out on the surface, like a big catfish swirling, I reel in my cat rig. Recasting it near that splash I secure my rod back down and start catching nice sized perch with my other one.
Making a cast, my jig gets hung in a tree, I break my line and begin to retie. Hearing a noise, I look up. My catfish rod is bent over, hanging by the biggest eyelet on the dock rail.
Quickly dropping my rod I run the 25 feet to my rig. Grabbing my rod, I set the hook and the fight is on. WooHoo it's a bigun' too. With my drag singing to me, (love that song) I walk down off the dock to a good spot on the bank.
It takes a few minutes to bring in my fish, oh man, what a fish it is, a big fat catfish. When I pull it out of the water, flopping around, I know it's well over 10 lbs. Loading everything up, I head to the local bait shop to weigh my huge channel cat.
Now a 10 lb channel is a big fish, I've caught many under 10 lbs. This monster weighed in at 14 lbs with a huge belly on her. Biggest channel that I've caught on a rod & reel. That's some catfishing in the extreme to this ole country boy. :-)
Hoping you have a great day my fishing friends.
Jon
Pursuing catfish on a regular basis can be an extreme sport. On Sunday Oct. 19th that's what I did.
<(;HF+< (Tip) Now here's a very important 'how to' tip, my friends. Catfish love grasshoppers!!
I set up a catfish rig, with my favorite live bait, and put it out there. I secured my pole on the dock, then picked up my other rod already setup with a crappie jig and started casting. Then the fish start biting, so I toss a couple in my bucket.
 |
| Spring fed pond that I caught this Catfish from (pic taken- 3-11-15) |
Seeing movement out on the surface, like a big catfish swirling, I reel in my cat rig. Recasting it near that splash I secure my rod back down and start catching nice sized perch with my other one.
Making a cast, my jig gets hung in a tree, I break my line and begin to retie. Hearing a noise, I look up. My catfish rod is bent over, hanging by the biggest eyelet on the dock rail.
Quickly dropping my rod I run the 25 feet to my rig. Grabbing my rod, I set the hook and the fight is on. WooHoo it's a bigun' too. With my drag singing to me, (love that song) I walk down off the dock to a good spot on the bank.
It takes a few minutes to bring in my fish, oh man, what a fish it is, a big fat catfish. When I pull it out of the water, flopping around, I know it's well over 10 lbs. Loading everything up, I head to the local bait shop to weigh my huge channel cat.
Now a 10 lb channel is a big fish, I've caught many under 10 lbs. This monster weighed in at 14 lbs with a huge belly on her. Biggest channel that I've caught on a rod & reel. That's some catfishing in the extreme to this ole country boy. :-)
Hoping you have a great day my fishing friends.
Jon
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Again At The Pits
Hi Fishing Friends
Do you ever have the urge, to just get away from it all. Away from people, no tech, just you and a fishing pole, a little bit of tackle, some snacks maybe. Well now you're talking my kinda fun.
Whether in a small boat, or from the bank, whichever I choose it's probably at a pond of some sort.
A couple of Sundays ago we (my sis Lois & I) did just that. We packed a few things, grabbed some snacks, and headed out to my brothers farm. Now, about 4 years ago he had a pond built, it's a nice little pond about 12' deep, he and his sons stocked it themselves with bass, perch, crappie, channel and flathead catfish.
<(;HF+< (Tip) See my fishing pole there, if you see the bobber, it's one of those weighted ones. They're great for helping you cast farther, and without any extra sinkers, your bait has much better action too.
Anyway that is the first pond we hit that day, not much luck there that time, but we've caught some decent fish there before. Dave got home and we jumped into his truck loaded gear, and set out for another place.
Here's a photo of this beautiful pit, it's too big to show it all, but you get the idea.
So we get here, unload boat, gear, trolling motor, battery, get everything ready, we all jump in, and a few minutes later, we are fishing. The simple life, luv'in it!!
I took the 1st pic right here, this is where Dave caught his first fish of the day, a nice keeper bass less than 3 lbs. This ole pit is SO clean, since Coal, like Clay are both good filters the fish from here taste amazing.
We caught a dozen good keepers from here, bass and big perch, loaded everything back up (the wind was getting fierce) and 'hopped' to the next place.( no worries next time I'll take pictures of the fish too!!)
For my family 'hopping' from pond to pond is great family fun, and usually we catch plenty of fish to eat.
So... to the next one, just a couple of miles away by gravel road.
We arrive at this small lake, and decide to leave the boat on it's trailer, it's just too windy!!
We're not fighting the wind, and ruining a fine trip. We grab our gear, walk a short distance to the water, and in 5 minutes we're back to fishing.
This is such a beautiful little lake, clean and very well taken care of too. The crappie weren't biting this trip but we caught many bass and large bluegill, one 'gill' at 13."
We ended the day at this place, took home a fine bucket-O-fish, and had some great fun and quality family time.
Thanks for visiting folks.
Jono <(;HF+<
Do you ever have the urge, to just get away from it all. Away from people, no tech, just you and a fishing pole, a little bit of tackle, some snacks maybe. Well now you're talking my kinda fun.
Whether in a small boat, or from the bank, whichever I choose it's probably at a pond of some sort.
A couple of Sundays ago we (my sis Lois & I) did just that. We packed a few things, grabbed some snacks, and headed out to my brothers farm. Now, about 4 years ago he had a pond built, it's a nice little pond about 12' deep, he and his sons stocked it themselves with bass, perch, crappie, channel and flathead catfish.
<(;HF+< (Tip) See my fishing pole there, if you see the bobber, it's one of those weighted ones. They're great for helping you cast farther, and without any extra sinkers, your bait has much better action too.
So we get here, unload boat, gear, trolling motor, battery, get everything ready, we all jump in, and a few minutes later, we are fishing. The simple life, luv'in it!!
I took the 1st pic right here, this is where Dave caught his first fish of the day, a nice keeper bass less than 3 lbs. This ole pit is SO clean, since Coal, like Clay are both good filters the fish from here taste amazing.
We caught a dozen good keepers from here, bass and big perch, loaded everything back up (the wind was getting fierce) and 'hopped' to the next place.( no worries next time I'll take pictures of the fish too!!)
For my family 'hopping' from pond to pond is great family fun, and usually we catch plenty of fish to eat.
So... to the next one, just a couple of miles away by gravel road.
We arrive at this small lake, and decide to leave the boat on it's trailer, it's just too windy!!
We're not fighting the wind, and ruining a fine trip. We grab our gear, walk a short distance to the water, and in 5 minutes we're back to fishing.
This is such a beautiful little lake, clean and very well taken care of too. The crappie weren't biting this trip but we caught many bass and large bluegill, one 'gill' at 13."
We ended the day at this place, took home a fine bucket-O-fish, and had some great fun and quality family time.
Thanks for visiting folks.
Jono <(;HF+<
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Favorite Place
Hi All Fishers
I'm back!!!
So a short fish tail for ya today.
Another one of my favorite places to catch is about 20 miles from home, been fishing there for about
15 years, never been skunked-yet!
In the spring it's the first place that I go.
The Crappie Catching is so awesome, this spring at one trip I caught 10 crappie between 14-15", talk about filling a 5gal bucket fast, wow, lovin it.
But the coolest thing is the Catfish. I know kinda hard to believe when I'm chunking 15"ers in the bucket, but true. You catch a 8lb cat on a 4lb line, then tell me that's not fun.
Many times I've been crappie catching there & hang into one of those cat, play it for a couple of minutes and then SNAP goes my line, Bummer.
Oh well, retie and go back to nailing the crappie. About 5 years ago that happened to me 6 times in the same trip, now that kinda ticked me off. Especially the catfish that run into that willow tree roots, right next to the bank, I even reached into there & couldn't reach him.( Grumble, grumble)
That's Ok, I've eaten a few of his kin, no doubt. Well folks, thanks for checking out my stories, I hope that you enjoy them, I know that I sure have fun putting them out there for you. Until next time.
Have an awesome Day/Night. Jon
For L.W.
I'm back!!!
So a short fish tail for ya today.
Another one of my favorite places to catch is about 20 miles from home, been fishing there for about
 |
| "Dam View" |
In the spring it's the first place that I go.
The Crappie Catching is so awesome, this spring at one trip I caught 10 crappie between 14-15", talk about filling a 5gal bucket fast, wow, lovin it.
But the coolest thing is the Catfish. I know kinda hard to believe when I'm chunking 15"ers in the bucket, but true. You catch a 8lb cat on a 4lb line, then tell me that's not fun.
Many times I've been crappie catching there & hang into one of those cat, play it for a couple of minutes and then SNAP goes my line, Bummer.
Oh well, retie and go back to nailing the crappie. About 5 years ago that happened to me 6 times in the same trip, now that kinda ticked me off. Especially the catfish that run into that willow tree roots, right next to the bank, I even reached into there & couldn't reach him.( Grumble, grumble)
 |
| My Favorite Fishing Place Shallow End |
That's Ok, I've eaten a few of his kin, no doubt. Well folks, thanks for checking out my stories, I hope that you enjoy them, I know that I sure have fun putting them out there for you. Until next time.
Have an awesome Day/Night. Jon
For L.W.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Throwback Thursday
Hi All Fishers
*Throwback Thursday* Maybe you've seen this term today, when I saw it, I was reminded of another pit fishing trip.This trip was at a series of river "scour holes" along the Missouri River at a certain conservation area.
No motorized vehicles were allowed there, hiking trails/ bike paths allowed access to the fishing area that we wanted to fish. My brother David & I loaded up backpacks,our mountain bikes,lunches and fishing gear for the 5 mile bike ride to reach this fishing area.
About a 30 mile drive from his place to the parking lot, gave us time to visit and prepare ourselves for the long bumpy bike ride back to an awesome fishing hole. Of course we traveled lite with backpacks well stocked and water easily reached, fishing poles broken down securely fixed to our backpacks.
We arrive at the water around 8:30 in the morning, unload our gear and begin fishing.
DNR Picture- Marion Bottoms Conservation Area
The crappie are biting hard & fast so filling our stringers presents no problem.There are 5 or 6 super spots to fish here and every time we fish these waters massive crappie are strung up.
The holes ( 2 of them ) are connected by a trench that's only 3 ft wide by 2-3 ft deep, by the time we reach the second hole our catch is pretty heavy.
At this hole there is a beaver dam on the far side, that's where we head . I'm standing beside the beaver dam, catching crappie every 4 or 5 casts while David hooks something HUGE.
His lite crappie tackle won't allow him to " horse " this fish so he plays it for 15 minutes or so, he's hooked a spoonbill, from what I can see it's 50 lbs or so. Finally his hook pulls loose, wore the man out, it did, meanwhile I've landed a few more nice crappie.
We start back with full stringers, as we struggle along I get the idea of using a long " beaver pole " to drape our heavy stringers over, which we prop on our shoulders to carry our huge catch.
When we get to where we're going to fillet our fish we count them,
26-crappie, from 12" to 16"
1 ea.13 lb flathead catfish
5 ea. lg mouth bass 3-5lbs
1 ea.3lb white bass
1 walleye at 17".
We fillet our fish, bag them in gallon ziplock bags, repack our backpacks and bike back to the truck.
WOW what a fishing trip, we're whupped by the time we reach the truck, but both of us have big smiles on our faces regardless.
Now if you have been following along, I had said that "scour holes" were awesome fishing.
Now you know why, not many fish were thrown back on that Throwback Thursday.
Thanks for following & Happy Fishing
Jon
*Throwback Thursday* Maybe you've seen this term today, when I saw it, I was reminded of another pit fishing trip.This trip was at a series of river "scour holes" along the Missouri River at a certain conservation area.
No motorized vehicles were allowed there, hiking trails/ bike paths allowed access to the fishing area that we wanted to fish. My brother David & I loaded up backpacks,our mountain bikes,lunches and fishing gear for the 5 mile bike ride to reach this fishing area.
About a 30 mile drive from his place to the parking lot, gave us time to visit and prepare ourselves for the long bumpy bike ride back to an awesome fishing hole. Of course we traveled lite with backpacks well stocked and water easily reached, fishing poles broken down securely fixed to our backpacks.
We arrive at the water around 8:30 in the morning, unload our gear and begin fishing.
The crappie are biting hard & fast so filling our stringers presents no problem.There are 5 or 6 super spots to fish here and every time we fish these waters massive crappie are strung up.
The holes ( 2 of them ) are connected by a trench that's only 3 ft wide by 2-3 ft deep, by the time we reach the second hole our catch is pretty heavy.
At this hole there is a beaver dam on the far side, that's where we head . I'm standing beside the beaver dam, catching crappie every 4 or 5 casts while David hooks something HUGE.
His lite crappie tackle won't allow him to " horse " this fish so he plays it for 15 minutes or so, he's hooked a spoonbill, from what I can see it's 50 lbs or so. Finally his hook pulls loose, wore the man out, it did, meanwhile I've landed a few more nice crappie.
We start back with full stringers, as we struggle along I get the idea of using a long " beaver pole " to drape our heavy stringers over, which we prop on our shoulders to carry our huge catch.
When we get to where we're going to fillet our fish we count them,
26-crappie, from 12" to 16"
1 ea.13 lb flathead catfish
5 ea. lg mouth bass 3-5lbs
1 ea.3lb white bass
1 walleye at 17".
We fillet our fish, bag them in gallon ziplock bags, repack our backpacks and bike back to the truck.
WOW what a fishing trip, we're whupped by the time we reach the truck, but both of us have big smiles on our faces regardless.
Now if you have been following along, I had said that "scour holes" were awesome fishing.
Now you know why, not many fish were thrown back on that Throwback Thursday.
Thanks for following & Happy Fishing
Jon
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
New Waters
Hi All FishersRecently while I was out in the country, I was driving down this gravel road. Looking along both sides of the road for new ponds, as is my habit, I spotted a fine looking pond out in a field.
I drove up to the house, got out, knocked on the door, no answer. No worries I'd come back another time. <(;HF+< (Tip) Here's a little tip when looking for new waters to fish, be persistent and pick a different day of the week to return.The 1st time I went there was on a Saturday, the next time that I returned it was Sunday, and now they're home. So I knock on the door, the Lady of the house answers, we visit for a few minutes and she directs me over to talk to her husband.
Now most of the Mennonites in my part of Missouri are great people, this man was no exception. We visited for 15 minutes, he gave me permission to fish Both his ponds and I had a great time catching a decent mess of catfish, perch & bass.
Nothing real big, mind you, but maybe next time.I just thought I'd share one of the ways that I find New Waters to fish,hope you learned a little something, until next time.
Jon
Just a short update here, the top photo is the lake I saw from the road. Stunningly beautiful pond with Bass, Catfish, and perch in it.
I took these pictures in Jan. 2015 on a nice day we had this winter. The other pond on the left here was hidden, we didn't see it until we began to cross the dam of the first pond. Didn't catch any fish this time, but we'll see about next time. It's pretty cool though getting 2 new ponds at once, and the best part is having permission to fish at any time, what a great community I live in!! (-: jono
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Ponds - What I mean
Hello All,
Today I want to start by telling what I mean by "Ponds".
It's a pretty generic term really, so let's clear the waters, so to speak.
This includes, small to large farm ponds, lakes, to lets say 50 acres, all pits such as, clay pits, coal mine pits, rock quarry pits, for a few examples.
Pits are my personal favorites, due to their depth and ability to hold an abundance of large & diverse fish, most are also harder to access so that fishing pressure usually isn't a factor in catching larger fish.
In addition along large rivers you will find 'scour holes' from flood years that are really interesting because of the size & diversity of the fish there.
Many a trip to these 'scour holes' or 'blue holes' as some folks call them, have netted me 18" Crappie, large Flathead Catfish, and even Spoonbill in the 50 lb range. I know, sounds unbelievable, but still it's true.
I've personally fished these river 'scour holes' for over 20 years now, having many incredible 'catching' trips.
In fact one of my most memorable fishing trips was...(see "Throwback Thursday")
That story is for another time, sorry about that I almost got sidetracked with that Awesome Memory.
River 'scour holes' to me are in a class all by themselves, not ponds, not pits, or lakes either, just some great fishing nonetheless.
One more thing before I wrap this up, any body of water that is less than about 5 ft deep usually isn't worth wetting a line in, yes there are some exceptions, such as spring fed waters, but in dry years fish quickly die without depth to the water.
Thanks for checking out my fun little project here at the "Pond Fishing Club" I have some really cool stuff coming for you all in the near future, Please help me get better by leaving a comment, if you would be so kind.
I promise I'll respond to you as soon as possible, have a Great Day & Happy Fishing.
Jon
Today I want to start by telling what I mean by "Ponds".
It's a pretty generic term really, so let's clear the waters, so to speak.
This includes, small to large farm ponds, lakes, to lets say 50 acres, all pits such as, clay pits, coal mine pits, rock quarry pits, for a few examples.
Pits are my personal favorites, due to their depth and ability to hold an abundance of large & diverse fish, most are also harder to access so that fishing pressure usually isn't a factor in catching larger fish.
In addition along large rivers you will find 'scour holes' from flood years that are really interesting because of the size & diversity of the fish there.
Many a trip to these 'scour holes' or 'blue holes' as some folks call them, have netted me 18" Crappie, large Flathead Catfish, and even Spoonbill in the 50 lb range. I know, sounds unbelievable, but still it's true.
I've personally fished these river 'scour holes' for over 20 years now, having many incredible 'catching' trips.
In fact one of my most memorable fishing trips was...(see "Throwback Thursday")
That story is for another time, sorry about that I almost got sidetracked with that Awesome Memory.
River 'scour holes' to me are in a class all by themselves, not ponds, not pits, or lakes either, just some great fishing nonetheless.
One more thing before I wrap this up, any body of water that is less than about 5 ft deep usually isn't worth wetting a line in, yes there are some exceptions, such as spring fed waters, but in dry years fish quickly die without depth to the water.
Thanks for checking out my fun little project here at the "Pond Fishing Club" I have some really cool stuff coming for you all in the near future, Please help me get better by leaving a comment, if you would be so kind.
I promise I'll respond to you as soon as possible, have a Great Day & Happy Fishing.
Jon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)