Well, not really, but they were hitting a black wooly bugger. Caught about six this size or larger the day before the 4th; this was the only one I beached to take a pic. They put a nice bend in my 4wt!
Later bluegills were taking dries off the top; it’s a hoot to watch those little guys snatch a fly like a mad bulldog! Caught this’n on a nymph though…
Nice fish! The catfish aren’t very acrobatic, but they put up a good fight and are fun to catch.
Jim Smith
Awesome! Catfish will give you a tour of the pond, and make you wonder just what giant fish you’ve just hooked into…and if you’ll ever get to see it! 
They sure will! Couple of those guys took me into the backing and wrestled me pretty good; I thought I was never gonna get 'em up top!
When you hook a really big one, it’s like hooking onto a submarine. I hooked large catfish in the lake I live on and I never even slowed him down. He just leisurely swam away while I tried to turn him. Eventually, he put enough pressure on my three wt that I dropped the rod tip and locked down on the line. Like I said, he never slowed down even when he broke the tippet. I’m not even sure that he knew that he was hooked.
Jim Smith
As far as i am concerned channel cats are God’s gift to summertime warm water fly fishers . i have had some amazing time in the early mornings lately with bob whites calling stars beginning to fade and fly rod bent hard by a cat. It has been hot ,hot hot here in the afternoon but simply spectacular in the early am. i finally have gone to a 6 wt and 12 lb tippet just to be able to handle these beasts of summer
8 cats before 9:00 am 3 other beat me up, also some bass and nice bluegills. it is about time i confess i am fishing for cat fish and ever other fish is just some thing that happens because i am on the water
I caught a 15 inch catfish on my 7wt. earlier this year. He was a blast. He swam all the way around my kayak which made for some interesting rod handling
Catfish not very acrobatic?
Hmmm.
Nice cat! I bet th?t was a blast on a 4wt. 
Wow, that’s one energetic cat! I’d love to have one jump like that (so my post title would be accurate)! Around here they just seem to go deep and run like crazy!