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well guys..im exhausted. worked 8-5 today, came home ate dinner and rerigged all the cat rods and set up my gear and the whole 9yds. today i bought new line. 20lbtest berkly big game supreme. i forgot when i bought my walmart special "cat rod" i bought dad one too. i found it when i was getting my lantern from the shed..which i bought stuff to fix it too. so i relinned my cat rod and dads rod with the new line. im saving for a bow and ALMOST there so i didnt wanna spend 20 bucks to fill one rod of good braided line. i will buy some later on and use it for leaders..but i must say i like the big game supreme line. casts good and is strong stuff. i used it for my main line and leaders tonight. i was kinda disappointed that my bait trap only had about 10 baitfish in it. but the good news was that they were all mostly GOOD 3-5 inchers. so i ran and grabbed the ultra light and caught about 5 more for good measure. got to the spot around 815PM. soon as i casted both rods out and sat down one started twitching hard. set the hook and had on a good feeling fish. he wrapped me up in the same log jam that i lost what i think was a GOOD fish 2 days ago in. rebaited(he spit the hook in the log pile..he didnt bust me off!) and recasted. 10 minutes later the same rod bowed over..WHAM!! FISH ON!!! GOOD FISH ON!! he ran me into the SAME log pile yet again!! this time i played him smart. i let him do his thing. kept pressure on him and then gave him a quick slack line and a hard jerk. did that a few times till he came out..boy was he PI$$ED to get yanked outa there. line was flying off the reel. finally horsed him in and man i broke my record..yet again. if this one aint a 10+lber im quitting! someone PLEASE say hes a 10+ lber!! my buddy blew up his truck today so he was going to work on it. my cousin stood me up and never showed..so i had no camera men. tomarrow ill try to get measurements of the rod in the pic to try to get a legnth estimate..but its a 7 foot rod i think. reel is rated for 20lb test. the rod is rated for 25lb test...that gives you an idea of the size of the rod. i also landed another nice one...and a smaller one. all 3 were flatheads. also caught a white bass. i felt bad for him. i set the hook like i always do and i probably yanked him half way in! lol..here goes the pics...

the first and biggest one..






the other nicer one


sorry for the pics...they stink..im mad there wasnt a camera man...but hey..i caught them and had a blast doing it. if anyone ever watched the show "the best and worst of tred barta" you know his saying..something like " i do things the hard way..the Barta way!"..fishing and hunting alone doing it all himself etc. that was me tonight! but i had a blast!!

ps.....what do you think they weigh?!? lol. i know they are pretty decint cats for around here. keep in mind the state record flathead is only 43lbs and some change. im proud of myself..i think im doing pretty good for just getting into serious catfishing...breaking that record is allllllways in the back of my mind now! lol. i KNOW theres MUCH bigger cats in the river...there isnt too many diehard catchasers though..

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just found a good refrence for size of the bigger cat. look above it and you can see your typical run of the mill Brick..it can easily fit into its belly!! man i wish i had a camera man!

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he he he sounds like a blast, keep wearin'em out;)that big game line is some tough stuff;)

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man catfishing is a blast. i dont know of any other fish that fights like they do. its awesome to set the hook with all your might to feel something barely budge then strip off line like it wasnt on a reel!

i dont know the diffrence between "big game" and "big game supreme" line but i bought the supreme..cost a buck or 2 more..its gota be better right?:eek: lol..but later in the night i think i was casting TO far. only using a 1oz sinker and a nice sized baitfish. i couldnt do that with my 17lb stren. so far i like the line. too bad my catfishing is going to be nearing an end. i got about another month here at home..im going to try to keep after them but i know my new bow will eat up all my time when it gets here..plus getting everything ready for school again. next year ill definently get some GOOD heavy braided line for my leaders. and id like to find 2/0 or 3/0 Kahle hooks. i love them hooks but only have 1/0..cant find nothing bigger.also going to do much research and try to locate some GOOD spots for big cats. its hard not having a boat and the railroad closed ALOT of shore access to the rivers. but my current spot is doing jusssssssst fine i think!

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Just by looking, i'd say thats a 10 pound fish or bigger if i had to guess. I caught one several years ago that was 16 and he didnt look too much different then that one there. It's a heck of a fish regardless. It sounds to me like you have a great place to fish, many times when im flathead fishing with big bait like that i wont even get a bite, but when i do finally get one it's usually a nice fish. So its worth it.

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Size can be decieving....and so can the photos.

This year I saw 4 24 " bass and maybe up to 1/4 " longer.

Here were thier weights and same calibrated scales ...

1. 24 " 6 1/2 pounds
2. 24" 6 1'2 pounds
3. 24" 8.2 pounds shad was coming out of his mouth LOL
4.24 6.0

Here is a blue cat I caught 32 " 11 . something pounds.

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Here is a 24 " bass I caught yesterday.By the photo it sure doesn't look like 24" and 6 1/2 pounds but it honestly was. Photos don't always do a fish justice.

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bout 15 pounds is what i would say

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awesome thanx guys. i knew he was a pretty goodun...specially for these parts. like i said the state record flathead is only 43lbs..so that goes to show you we dont have the HUGE fish.....im sure we got some 50-70lbers in the ohio river...i bet our fish are older then the bigger ones down south too. i cant count the number of times the river froze completely over in the winter. i know fish still eat. but when its cold enough and theres enough ice to stop BARGE traffic i bet them catfish are pretty dormant which shortens our growing season. but i betcha theres a bunch of big granpa cats out there. you dont see all too many true catfishermen around here. honestly there are guys that would be happy to CATCH MY BAIT! lol no joke.

them pics really dont do justice to them. if that brick wasnt in the background you couldnt go by anything. that brick and the rod helps. i gota remember to measure that rod tomarrow heck maybe ill go fishing during the day even if im bored.

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oh ya.....nice fish chuck! i used to be a bass fisher, but lately i been chasing cats. bass fishing can be good around here but then again its kinda spoty. the rivers its hard to get shore access around here. our lakes hold some nice bass but they get chased so much from trout fishermen i found the best time to go after them is night time. but the lake i like to do that is about 35 minutes away. i say why waste the gas when i can catch bigger cats right down the road...

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want bigger cats go for them with blue gills if you can and you iwll get a 20 to 30 outta the depths for long

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oneshot...i hear that all the time, but figured that chubs and big minnows are a "more natural forage" being that there isnt too many bluegills in the river. where do yoy hook them at?? through the lips wont work i dont think? im guessing the tail??

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i say why waste the gas when i can catch bigger cats right down the road...
I hear that. Hey I noticed your from PA. I was raised 10 miles from there in Maryland. I only fish for bass because the lakes are within 1/2 mile. I would rather fish for fish I can eat. When Crappie are biting I say good bye to bass. If I hadn't of started this tourny I would only fish 1/2 as much. I just live in one of the hottest bass places in the USA so I feel obligated to go out there and catch a big one.

I bet those flat heads are fun. I'd love to hook into one. Do they taste good. I'm not crazy about out Florida catfish. We have blue cats, bullheads and channels. IMHO the channels are the best eatting of the three .

Walmart sells a very nice hand held scale for 9.99. I checked it out with post office scales and they are right on. It's black and about 10" long. It's made by Rapala. Don't buy the 39.00 battery one.Rip off.Works sometimes and sometimes it don't
C ya,
C7

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middle of the back mauser but you have to use a big 6 to 7/0 j hook for them pal but try to find some any bream will do actually

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chuck...believe it or not i dont eat fish! lol i catch more fish every year then most people i know catch in their lives and RARELY eat any. sommmmmetimes maybe once a year ill grill a trout or 2 that is stocked. its put and take stocking in creeks that trout wont survive in too long. the rivers i fish you are advised NOT to eat fish out of it lol. i live right by pittsburgh which was the "steel city" along with tons of other various mills, mining, logging etc. needless to say the fish are pretty unsafe to eat. sure its cleaned up ALOT but still carries on in the fish. we learned about it in a class last semester..the sediments sink to the bottom and grow in the plants etc. the tiny fish eat that stuff..then little fish eat the tiny fish and the bigger fish eat them and it settles in their fat. i heard catfish is good eating and it sells about the price of a good steak does! i know some people eat the fish out of the river, i just rather live longer then eat some PCBs and Mercury etc!

oneshot..thanx for the advice. ill try them next year. when i order more stuff to make my trout spinners this winter ill order me some BIG kahle hooks. i LOVE kahles for catfishing. i liked circles but i couldnt break the habit of setting the hook. im one of the guys that "cross the fishes eyes" when i set the hook. i just set it like i mean it..never know whats going to be at the end of the line. catfish, muskie, pike, big walleye etc. they will all take a big minnow or chub and can all be found in the river. i also dont set the hook just once lol. after i set it home and the fish takes off ill give it a few more yanks upwards. i found that too many will throw the hook if i dont. works for me this far. my hooking and landing rate is GREAT this year. i am barely missing ANY fish, and lost only 2 i think. the one that broke my line in a log pile, and one spit the hook because i didnt set it good the first time and he threw it before i set it again.

till next year ill keep using my big chubs. think i may head down right now despite it going on 2pm and its hot and sunny...im BORED. i cut the grass...dont feel like trimming yet. too hot to go groundhog hunting. heck....might as well go fishing right?

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yea just jump in