Great Night!

[Nightfisher]

Only fished 4 hours tonight, but MAN what a worthwhile trip! Couldn't find anyone that wanted to fish with me so I went solo. 30 minutes into fishing the first spot I got a hard pull on my outside end rod so I grabbed it, reeled down and...nothing. Set the rod back into the holder and noticed it was still bouncing a little...weird. Picked it back up, reeled in the slack and when the line came tight the rod bent down and drag started peeling! After a couple of minutes of give and take I got my first glimpse when about 3ft of tail broke the surface about 20ft behind the toon and made a splash that must have been 6ft high. WOW! I already knew it felt like a good fish, easily citation (30lbs), by the way it was pulling but that tail was HUGE! Now I'm excited! Got it up beside the boat 4 or 5 more times before she finally made the mistake of running up current towards the bow giving me the opportunity to pass the rod around the bimini frame, and bring her alongside the gate. Now I was able to set the rod in a front rod holder, open the gate, grab my net, and attempt to net her. All I could see was that HUGE tail still lazily trying to dive so I scooped down for the head and got her netted first try. Now as I position her to pull up into the gate I see just how big she is. Head well over a foot wide, very fat, and had a really hard time getting it through the gate. This is what I wound up with after a bunch of hollering, smiling, a quick weigh, and a quick happy dance...



61lbs of James River blue cat! Released for someone else to catch again. This is my second biggest blue ever, one lb shy of my 62lb record from a couple of years ago. It is the biggest cat to date to come aboard ole "Dirty Deeds" though. Landed a 25lber a couple of hours later, but that one was kind of anticlimactic. lol I fished a little longer, then called it quits at 11.

[Moser]

Beautiful, congrats, and it's still swimming around after all that. There's nothing better than a successful fishing trip.

I never caught a 60 pounder, but I've got a couple of 25+ Stripers. Of course those Stripers all act like they're 60 pounders.

[Nightfisher]

First "big fish" I ever caught was a 25lb striper when I was just starting out trying to figure out the trophy cat thing.

[BuckeyeBoater]

I love your fishing stories...It's a good thing you post pictures, some people wouldn't believe them
Sounds like another great day.

[bigkahuna]

Wow! Beautiful Monster fish! Congratulations!

What is the Virginia state record for a catfish????????? Just curious...............

[Nightfisher]

143lbs Caught out of Buggs Island is the current state and world record blue cat. The James river record and former state record is 102lbs.

[bigkahuna]

Man! 143Lbs? It's like catching a.........person! Ha! How many pound test line did you use to catch your cat????????

Every year we've gone out on the Chesapeake and we've caught trophy Stripers/rockfish on a friends charter boat but nothing heavy like that 62 pounder................

[Nightfisher]

I use 80lb braid with an 8lb monofilament leader spooled onto Penn 320gt2 and Daiwa Sealine reels. My rods are Uglystick custom bigwater rods. I use 4 rigs set up this way for trophy catfishing. Seems like overkill, but the idea behind it is not only to not loose any fish, but to get them in quickly to avoid exhausting them. The big cats are not like the little ones. They need more oxygen to support their bulk so they can't stay out of the water nearly as long, and don't recover well from a prolonged fight. It was a real scramble to get this one unhooked, weighed, photographed and released since I was by myself. Took a couple of tries to lift it in the net with my scale to get it weighed and see the weight clearly. Then I had to set my camera on the console aimed at the right spot, set the timer, get the cat out of the net and drag it near the camera, hit the shutter button, then grab the cat back up, rush up front, and strike a pose. lol. Then I checked the pic to be sure I got it and released her. She dove straight down as soon as I let go of her jaw.

[bigkahuna]

Sounds like you have it down pat and you've been rewarded for your hard work!

I can just imagine your sons face when he saw that pic.............

[Nightfisher]

My oldest is used to it and has landed up to 27lbs by himself so far. He handed off a rod to me last summer because he was tired from reeling that 27 in and it turned out to be a 54lbr. I was so bummed he didn't get that one. My youngest has not seen a big kittie in person yet so a 100lbr is the same as a 1lbr to him. lol. He gets equally excited about either.