Tyme2fish
Commander
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2002
- Messages
- 2,481
Caught this in the Ohio river at Louisville,KY
Here's the complete data on that day's fishing experience.
I almost got hit twice by idiot drivers on the way to the ramp. One person was driving in my lane while he was on the phone and the other was backing up and about to hit me. I had to apply my brakes both times and lay on the horn.
When I got to the ready area, I couldn't release my port side transom tie down buckle. I was 10 seconds from cutting it with my fillet knife, but I finally got it released.
I drove the truck and let my friend drive the boat. When I parked and got back to the boat and resumed the pilot's position, I noticed that the bilge pump was spewing water out. I asked him if it been doing that all the while I was parking the rig. He replied that it had and asked if I'd put the plug in. DUH? Did I? I remembered looking at the plug in the drain but hadn't actually felt to see if it was tight. We return to the ramp and I jump out in the shallow water and reach down for the plug. It was tight and correctly installed.
I then knew that the problem had to be a broken live well fitting or hose. We recover the boat and I have to take all three batteries out and the support board to access my bilge area. Yep, a fitting had broken. I took a sandwich baggie from my lunch and wrap the baggie around the fitting and secure it with a zip tie. We relaunched the boat and no more leak. Oh,my wife didn't realize that the boat was technically sinking.
We proceed downstream just a little ways and my friend uses his cast net to catch our bait. He caught 5 shad/skipjacks on the first throw. We finish catching our bait and travel upstream to the spot.
I had been using a heavy 8 foot Catmaxx rod but got hung up and broke off my tackle. I didn't want to take the time to re-rig, so I grabbed another rod from my rod locker.
The rod I used was a 7 foot Medium action Ugli Stick with a 5200 Shakespeare reel spooled with 50 pound Spider Wire with a 25 pound mono leader. A two ounce no-roll sinker and a size 6 Gamakatsu circle hook.
We had fished for about a total of 20 minutes when the big girl hit. Damn, I thought a boulder was rolling downstream but I knew it was a fish. My rod doubled over and never did straighten out the entire fight. My drag was just right and kept the pressure on her yet allowed her to take drag.
When I first brought her to the surface I thought, " I'm gonna need a bigger boat."
I'd never in person seen a cat of this size. She looked huge while still in the water.Once she saw the boat, down she went again. This repeated itself about 6 or 7 times. However, the entire fight took only 15 minutes. That was the longest 15 minutes of my life!!
My friend had to grab her by hand because my landing net was not close to being able to handle her. Yes, he got a little chewed up by her.
We took photos and released her to battle another day.
Another thrill was that my wife was with us also. Now she wasn't any help in landing this cat, but she wasn't a problem either. She's only been out with me on the river a few times. Once she realized I was in for a fight, she immediately pulled in her line and got her rod out of the way. Perfect move,baby, perfect move.
We fished for a little while after that and I did get two more good hits but no hook ups. We finished the evening early and I had the boat back in the barn before dark.
My darling wife then fixed and handed me a nice Bourbon on the rocks with a splash of water. AAAAhhhhh. What a day
I almost got hit twice by idiot drivers on the way to the ramp. One person was driving in my lane while he was on the phone and the other was backing up and about to hit me. I had to apply my brakes both times and lay on the horn.
When I got to the ready area, I couldn't release my port side transom tie down buckle. I was 10 seconds from cutting it with my fillet knife, but I finally got it released.
I drove the truck and let my friend drive the boat. When I parked and got back to the boat and resumed the pilot's position, I noticed that the bilge pump was spewing water out. I asked him if it been doing that all the while I was parking the rig. He replied that it had and asked if I'd put the plug in. DUH? Did I? I remembered looking at the plug in the drain but hadn't actually felt to see if it was tight. We return to the ramp and I jump out in the shallow water and reach down for the plug. It was tight and correctly installed.
I then knew that the problem had to be a broken live well fitting or hose. We recover the boat and I have to take all three batteries out and the support board to access my bilge area. Yep, a fitting had broken. I took a sandwich baggie from my lunch and wrap the baggie around the fitting and secure it with a zip tie. We relaunched the boat and no more leak. Oh,my wife didn't realize that the boat was technically sinking.
We proceed downstream just a little ways and my friend uses his cast net to catch our bait. He caught 5 shad/skipjacks on the first throw. We finish catching our bait and travel upstream to the spot.
I had been using a heavy 8 foot Catmaxx rod but got hung up and broke off my tackle. I didn't want to take the time to re-rig, so I grabbed another rod from my rod locker.
The rod I used was a 7 foot Medium action Ugli Stick with a 5200 Shakespeare reel spooled with 50 pound Spider Wire with a 25 pound mono leader. A two ounce no-roll sinker and a size 6 Gamakatsu circle hook.
We had fished for about a total of 20 minutes when the big girl hit. Damn, I thought a boulder was rolling downstream but I knew it was a fish. My rod doubled over and never did straighten out the entire fight. My drag was just right and kept the pressure on her yet allowed her to take drag.
When I first brought her to the surface I thought, " I'm gonna need a bigger boat."
I'd never in person seen a cat of this size. She looked huge while still in the water.Once she saw the boat, down she went again. This repeated itself about 6 or 7 times. However, the entire fight took only 15 minutes. That was the longest 15 minutes of my life!!
My friend had to grab her by hand because my landing net was not close to being able to handle her. Yes, he got a little chewed up by her.
We took photos and released her to battle another day.
Another thrill was that my wife was with us also. Now she wasn't any help in landing this cat, but she wasn't a problem either. She's only been out with me on the river a few times. Once she realized I was in for a fight, she immediately pulled in her line and got her rod out of the way. Perfect move,baby, perfect move.
We fished for a little while after that and I did get two more good hits but no hook ups. We finished the evening early and I had the boat back in the barn before dark.
My darling wife then fixed and handed me a nice Bourbon on the rocks with a splash of water. AAAAhhhhh. What a day
