Really BIG Catfish On A Zoom Fluke
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:02 pm
Headed out last Thurs w/ my daughters to go fish.
I rigged both their fishing rods w/ Zoom Flukes, each one w/ a different color.
My one daughter makes her cast, I showed her earlier how to work a fluke, & no more than 30 seconds...line tightens & she sets the hook. Next thing we hear is the drag screaming. I'm thinking I forgot to set the drag, so I went over to her & tightened the drag on her spinning reel. That helped a little, this fish just kept running, I was concerned that she would run out of line. Every time she reeled in so many feet of line, the fish would take off again. After a minute of fighting the fish, I noticed that it did not surface & jump in the air. I was thinking maybe she hooked into a real big carp...to our surprise, 5 minutes worth of fighting...there's a REAL big catfish hooked. I went over & tried lifting the catfish w/ the line, but the line snaps. The catfish lands on the bank, but does not move. I reckon that it was quite tired after that battle. So I used my jaw pliers to bring it to shore. With the help from my daughters, we measured the cattfish at 29.6", & I am guessing around 15 lbs. I couldn't get an accurate weight, cuz my little Wallyworld scale just couldn't hook into the catfish, plus it kept wiggling around.
I was so surprised that a catfish would be interested in a Zoom Fluke, never heard of a catfish nailing one, a Senko yes; a fluke...no.
I have a VERY excited & happy daughter who has bested her Dad in fish weight for the year. My other daughter didn't land any bass, she did have some hits on frog lures, but just couldn't get the timing on setting the hook. I think our next outing, she'll get her fish.
Here's a pic of the catfish my daughter landed, that's ol' Ghost & my daughter. My other daughter took our pic:
I rigged both their fishing rods w/ Zoom Flukes, each one w/ a different color.
My one daughter makes her cast, I showed her earlier how to work a fluke, & no more than 30 seconds...line tightens & she sets the hook. Next thing we hear is the drag screaming. I'm thinking I forgot to set the drag, so I went over to her & tightened the drag on her spinning reel. That helped a little, this fish just kept running, I was concerned that she would run out of line. Every time she reeled in so many feet of line, the fish would take off again. After a minute of fighting the fish, I noticed that it did not surface & jump in the air. I was thinking maybe she hooked into a real big carp...to our surprise, 5 minutes worth of fighting...there's a REAL big catfish hooked. I went over & tried lifting the catfish w/ the line, but the line snaps. The catfish lands on the bank, but does not move. I reckon that it was quite tired after that battle. So I used my jaw pliers to bring it to shore. With the help from my daughters, we measured the cattfish at 29.6", & I am guessing around 15 lbs. I couldn't get an accurate weight, cuz my little Wallyworld scale just couldn't hook into the catfish, plus it kept wiggling around.
I was so surprised that a catfish would be interested in a Zoom Fluke, never heard of a catfish nailing one, a Senko yes; a fluke...no.
I have a VERY excited & happy daughter who has bested her Dad in fish weight for the year. My other daughter didn't land any bass, she did have some hits on frog lures, but just couldn't get the timing on setting the hook. I think our next outing, she'll get her fish.
Here's a pic of the catfish my daughter landed, that's ol' Ghost & my daughter. My other daughter took our pic:
in every respect!