It finally quit raining here so I headed out about 8:30 yesterday morning. The fish were still asleep till around 10:00 or so. I caught 6 or 8 small bass (10" or so) bookended by these two guys:
This fella was around 19-1/2", which according to my handy-dandy conversion chart, would make him around 3 lbs.
The last fish of the day:
This guy was a little over 26-1/4" which the chart says puts him well over 8lbs. Cats are not my favorite catch; they fight OK and put a good bend in the rod, but they mosly just want to go deep, and I like to see what’s fighting me once in a while. A jump or two doesn’t hurt either! But I guess prairie flyfishers can’t be too choosey!
They don’t often jump but they can sure get the kinks out of your line and let you tweak you fighting abilities. Not to mention they go well with hushpuppies, coleslaw and potatoes.
That’s for sure!
I didn’t post it on FAOL on Friday, but I caught a 24" channel on a Jitterbug while bass fishing. Channel Cat hitting topwater? I guess it takes all kinds…
On another board there is a fella who lives in Canada and he catches huge ones! Nice ones there by the way. I have only caught one on the fly. It too was after it had rained. On a creek by the house.
Nice cats! They’re fun to catch, but it gets to be a slimy mess after a couple…
Very nice!
I don’t mind the slime…catfish don’t smell nearly as bad as Northern Pike or shad! And they are very strong fighters!
I’d catch a lot more of them if I could!
I think they are a lot of fun. I like the way they hit. Their front fins keep them from sliding down out of your hand when un-hooking them
Looks like fun! Congrats on the catch.
That is a first class cat being taken on a Winston! what model of rod might I ask?
Thanks for explaining the purpose of their front fins. I always thought it was to cut the @)&$$?;., out of my hands. 
I always grab them by the belly, right behind those fins. Unless they are the little super wiggly 10" twerps, they won’t stick you! The smaller they are, the bigger the P.I.T.A.
There is nothing more irritating than catching a catfish under 6" long, they are going to stick you more times than not. Everyone I know grabs them behind the head, using the heel of the hand to push down the dorsal fin and placing the index and middle fingers on each side of one fin and the thumb behind the other. If they are too big to handle like that there the mouth and the gills to get a grips, they will gnaw on your hand.
There’s a guy I know in north Alabama who knows more about catching catfish than most who told me if you get finned to rub on the wound on the bell of a catfish and it will not get inflamed. I have thankful avoided getting finned since that time.
It’s a WT, 2pc, 8-1/2’ 5wt.
