[Michael]

Sunday I hit Beardsley Park starting around 2:45pm. Started farther up along the Pequonnock before making my way down to Bunnells. Setup was a 6' M Daiwa Triforce E Series/Penn Fierce 3000 with 8lb Sufix ProMix.

Lures I played with throughout the day included shad Husky Jerk HJ-8, tennessee olive shad X-Rap Shad Shallow XRSH-6, hot tiger Shallow Shad Rap SSR-5, silver shad Jointed Shallow Shad Rap JSSR-7, helsinki shad Clackin Crank CNC-53, purple nurple Flat Rap FLR-8, bleeding pearl Jointed Shad Rap JSR-4, custom painted Jointed J-9, perch Pop-R, firetiger Woodchopper, and shad Tail Dancer TD-5.

Areas I started at were loaded with bluegills and redbreasts with an occasional cookie cutter bass. 2 certain lures bluegills and redbreasts were chasing like crazy were the HJ-8 and SSR-5. Also tried throwing a 4" Texas rigged pumpkinseed Berkley Power Worm for the bass and rock bass but couldn't get them to hit as they just stared at it.

As I made my way down, I saw a few channel catfish in shallower water. Decided to see if I could get them to hit the Berkley. At that time is when I ran into a local fisherman who recognized me from the street I live on and the site. He decided to jig with a soft plastic in front of one of the cats. The fish grabbed it but he missed the hook set. That's when I stepped in.

Jigged the Berkley for a while until the catfish grabbed it but didn't set the hook, causing the lure to get stuck in a branch above. Got it off with just the hook. Put a new Berkley on the hook fresh out of the bag. Jigged in front of the channel cat for a while and set the hook! Battle was on for about 5 minutes. Took 3 to 5 short runs until it started to tire out and got it to shore. Weighed it with my Cabela's digital scale but it only read 4 pound 8 ounces when the local and I could def tell it was at least 6 pounds. It had a long body, huge head, and good girth with what might have been a small panfish in its stomach.

After trying for a while with other cats and having no luck, I moved on to other spots and then down to Bunnells Pond.

At Bunnells Pond I landed 2 dinky largemouths. One came on the CNC-53 and the other on the HJ-8. The one that hit the HJ-8 was a tiny bit bigger than the lure.

Hit the road around 8pm with the catfish in a bag dangling from the handle bar of the bike. As I was riding down Glenwood Ave, the fish got stuck between the front wheel and metal side area where you attach the front wheel to the bike. I fell forward but no injuries. Took a while to get the fish out from being jammed.

Once I got back to riding my bike and stopping at Duchess to get a better plastic bag to put the catfish in, I was riding on Capitol Ave near a common dumping area when I hear as if I went over a small metal piece and then the rear wheel gets jammed. I pull over and find a long thin metal piece jammed causing major damage to the rear gear area.

Call my mom to pick me up seeing she now lives right near me, which eventually led to her having a hissy fit on the way home regarding her 30 year old sons safety. Moms never stop getting very concerned about their kids no matter how old we get.

Ended the day and night ugly after catching and keeping a nice, long 6 pound channel catfish.

[anointed130]

Nice catch, rough afternoon. Did you skin your fish and cook it?
_________________
"Come after Me, and i will make you to become fishers of men"

Can i be a fisher of fish too?

~Tony~

[Michael]

Filleted it today and it had 2 thick, heavy fillets on it. Felt its stomach and it felt like it was loaded with baits other fishermen had been using and/or stuff it was picking up from the bottom.

[Redneckangler]

[Crest Daddy]

[Michael]