Had to clean catfish

Fishing has been slow - but catch a few 1 lb or so - then today kept catching a bunch of small ones - so I kept 8 that were around a pound or better - and a guy gave me a 2 lb 4oz - so I had catfish to clean. I threw back all but 3 of the small ones i.e. only cleaned 4 - which will make two 'messes' for little lady next door.

When the little ones were biting fast today - there was 3 times that I had two fish on the two rods i.e. they would all move thru and bite at same time.

I only fished about 1.5 hours cause the wind was terrible and I waited until almost 5:30 - hoping wind was going to die down - but it didn't :( (and it was getting late cause it gets dark a little after 7PM and I'm slow cleaning catfish :(

How I use Secret-7 (stinky hands)

Hint: Replay video or 'pause' as you read notes for each frame - I hate long video; therefore, see long notes :)

Photo 1: Just quick shot of new cleaning table for friends (open view)

Photo 2: Various - popular bait holders (see old video for more details)

Photo 3: Items include - box of treble hooks and springs - dough hooks - furry thangs(TM) for brown things that slip over treble hook - rubber bands (line / depth stopper) - pink dip tubes (go over treble hooks -

Photo 4: store magic bait in can with lid - other can is flour with garlic salt mixed in - I put fingers in flour / garlic salt then pick up Secret-7 - then I cover bait with flour / garlic salt to 'shape it' by hand - Windex bottle contains soap and vinegar water - wash cloth is used with lake water most of time but sometimes clean hands with vinegar / soap (btw: soaking hands in hot dish water is best so be good to your wife / lady and wash dishes for her before you try to touch her :) :) :) Bottom line - impossible to completely get rid of smell so using a stick and dough hooks or 'furry thang' is what a smart man does (but I'm not smart - like to use my hands cause I can put a lot more bait on each hook (and I don't care if my hands stink) - btw: auto store hand cleaner - sorta works

Photo 5: Difficult to show but the magic bait covers the bottom of the treble hooks and then tear drop shape Secret-7 is on top - end up with large tear drop shape that doesn't show well in photo. Show two sizes - one on a #4 dough hook and other on a 'plain' #2 treble hook (bigger one)

BTW: Forgot to show paper towels which I spray with vinegar / soap solution a couple times an hour i.e. wash hands very often with wash cloth / lake water - but then use paper towels to 'wipe' / clean hands a few times. Then when get home - sometimes use hand cleaner or soap hands in dish water with 'lots of rubbing' - these extra steps are taken when I plan to go out in public :) :)

Bottom Line: Baiting with magic bait / Secret-7 by hand - is 'double expensive' but makes bigger baits - - takes lot of work - hand soaking if you plan to 'go around others' :) Smart person - uses stick - dough hooks or 'furry thangs' and push bait hold into dip bait - but I would still recommend using garlic salt on bait - either plan or mixed with flour

BTW: I've used magic bait alone and seldom get as many bites as I do with Secret-7 / magic mixed - on most days - but fish are funny - one day they may like Danny King - then chicken livers - then night crawlers. I usually put 3 yoyo's on side of my boat with various types of bait to see if one does better than others - if I find a 'hot bait' - I then switch - but in long run - Secret-7 still out does others that I try. I also watch other fishermen - see what they use and if they catch fish (but I usually get more and bigger fish on Secret-7 /magic bait)

Secret-7 still wins

When catfish are biting fast and furious - Secret-7 still works better than other bait. I used several yoyo lines with various bait and two rods - didn't take long to see that Secret-7 was catching more fish - so I retired the yoyo's and used Secret-7 (with magic bait helping to hold it on hook) - on the two rods

Got at least 40 catfish - about half were around a pound and one was 2 lb. Picked 1/2 dozen of the ones around a pound to clean with the 2 pound - was plenty for neighbors freezer

But by end of day I had to go fishing one more time - got a dozen or so - 1 lb and one that was 1.75 lbs. I cleaned the 1.75 - neighbor has enough that I went back to letting the 1 lb or so go (not to mention the dozen or so that were less than a pound

Summary - got a ton of fish again today - and this time decided to make video i.e. to lazy to make video of all the fish I catch

Finally got to fish = 2 at 1.75lb each

Rain - rain - more rain this week - lake super high - all spillway gates open - fast water - no chance to fish since Tuesday - until today - got a ton of fish but most less than 1 lb - had two keepers to clean - both 1.75 lb - also lost 3 nice ones using night crawler - cause they were harder for little fish to steal - but 2 keepers were on magic bait mixed with Secret-7 - went fishing early e.g. 2 hours were before football game

Summary: Finally had chance to fish again = 2 keepers on magic bait/Secret-7 - night crawlers working but did not have many of them to fish with :( :(

Football making me nervous

2 rainy days - 5 cats 2 2 2.5 2 5/8 3 lb

Yesterday - I was getting mad cause I've had bad weather for several days - not just rain to dodge but wind that beats me to death and also 'washes' off my favor (Secret-7) bait

I can sum up past few days - wet / windy - made me skip fishing or only trying for a short time before giving up.

Well I couldn't take it anymore and said I was going to try to fish for at least an hour no matter how much the wind beat up on me ;( It was about 5:30PM Well after 1 hour - I had one bite and was already starting to pack up my bait cans - when - yep you guessed it - I got a bite and grabbed rod and landed a 2 lb 10oz catfish. The bad news was that I had two other lines in the water and as sure as the current and wind had all lines close together - I had a huge mess of tangled lines.

I managed to get my 'real catfish rig' back in action but only after fighting for about 25 minutes to get the mess untangled - so as I started to work on the mess of lines - I got another catfish - almost immediately after getting my rod back in action.

I landed this one 2lb 1oz (I think - not which was next) - so I put rod back in action and forgot about the mess of line for about 10 minutes - at which time I decided the catfish had left so I went back to the mess of line - and yep you guessed it - I got the other catfish 2lb 8oz - and by not I had been out 1.5 hours but was tired (sick and tired of the boat beating me to death - - so I said to hell with it - and quit - cause by now it's 7PM and with the clouds looking more like rain and getting dark - so I came to the house - checked weight of fish - made photos - and decided it would get dark before I could finish cleaning the fish - so I put them in pen. I ended up cleaning them between 'waves or rain' - figuring I wouldn't get chance to fish again today

Summary: Only got about 5 bites and lost one that 'hooked for a short time' - and landed 3 = 2 lb - 2 1/2 lb - 2 5/8 lb :)

Today's fish tale:

The wind was not as bad today but there was more rain and radar kept showing 'more on the way' - so around 4PM - I saw 'forward radar' showing about one hour of no rain - so off I went. Hoping to get in an hour

Today was more work than yesterday - cause I got a couple dozen bites i.e. kept loosing bait to the bait thieves. But I had to stay because while I was fighting the bait thieves - my light weight crappie rod took off and landed in bottom of boat - and when I grabbed it - I had a fight on my hands - it was the 3lb 4oz and that made me go ahead and feed the bait thieves and about an hour later - I was looking one way and the same rod n reel tried to go overboard again - this time it was 2 lb 2oz on the light weight rod

BTW: The wind picked up and I ended up staying 1.5 hours and got a little wet - cause rain kept spitting in spurts after about 1 hour e.g. was lucky I got in 1.5 hours and also lucky it didn't rain as hard as the 'forward radar' indicated.

Summary: Lot of bites today and two hard fighting catfish especially since I got them on 4 lb line and very limber crappie rod. And I didn't get too wet but did get 'beat up by the wind - a little bit in last 30 minutes)

Another slow day - another keeper

Dang fishing was tough / slow again today but I got one keeper = 1 lb 12oz (1.75 lb) - but I didn't get it on rod n reel - I was using different bait on yoyo to try to find something the fish liked - and I got this one on Danny King on a yoyo

I only got 1 other bite - it was on Secret-7 with rod n reel and I got it part way in before it got off (felt like a couple pounds or better)

Summary : two bites - one on Secret-7 / rod n reel and one on yoyo / Danny King that is going to be cleaned tomorrow - bummer day - not much fun to catch one on yoyo

Sunday-Monday - slow = 1 keeper

Slow fishing yesterday (Sunday) for my 2 hr fish trip - got 8-10 baby catfish and one about 1 lb (which I let go)

Today (Labor Day - Monday) = Super slow - fished 3 hours - 1 - channel catfish (1 lb 15 oz) - went out at 10AM to see if crappie fishermen were having any luck - they said super slow - but I fished one hour just cause I was already there - didn't get a bite - didn't even lose Secret-7 bait off hook.

Went back for my 2 hour fishing trip at 5PM and the catfish were not biting - so I took the time to rig up an old fly rod for crappie fishing - and I was throwing chum and yellow bass were eating it like crazy - reason I know it was yellow bass I end up catching three of them on the crappie jig that I was playing with

Well I was getting ready to leave after 1.5 hours - cause I had not had a single bite - none - nada . I wasn't paying attention to cork and looked up as the cork was 'swimming away and pulling the rod toward the side of the boat - figured it was baby catfish - but it turned out to be the 2 lb channel cat which had swallowed the hook - all the way to it's belly. Of course I then had to fish 30 more minutes - and did not get another bite - ONE BITE in 3 hours is terrible but lucky this was a greedy / hungry catfish.

The catfish's belly was huge and when I opened it up to get my hook - I found one cube of magic bait (not mine - probably belong to people fishing on bank) - 2 small minnows - 1 small shad - one small crawfish (whole e.g. catfish swallowed it whole) and last but not least some of the catfish food / chum that I had been throwing out e.g. this catfish was full and still wanted the Secret-7 bait I was using - on there was skeleton of another minnow but most of the belly contents were fresh - not even starting to break down yet.

Bottom line the only catfish in the whole lake that was hungry today (eating everything) happen to swim bye my hook - lucky he didn't take my rod n reel over the side :)

Bunch of Cat's - one 2.5 lb keeper

Same ole story - Tons of small channel catfish - using Secret-7 but 2 hour trip resulted in a 2 lb 7oz for next door neighbor

Misc Stuff

Since weather is crappy (not crappie) - I messed around with trotline stuff and big slip cork setup. Need to put out trotline soon with bream for bait - try to get some flat head catfish

I also need to work on my tips page www.arkieprince.com - it's outta date e.g. missing some things I use / do

Starting to think 'crappie fishing' - cause they are starting to show up a little more e.g. catfish are going to give way to some crappie - probably after all these storms move thru this weekend

Bunch of little cats

Went fishing today and got a ton of small catfish - some almost 1 lb e.g. no real keepers.

But I kept a couple that were almost 1 lb so my next door neighbor could have her fish dinner tomorrow i.e. we cleaned a couple of the small ones but I threw back the rest :)

4 Lb Channel Catfish - Secret-7

I've been mixing Secret-7 with other bait partly because I was running low - so Monday I ordered a case of 64 oz (about 28 lbs) - then Monday afternoon I found out that a bait shop (Hacket Jack's) in NLR now is a local dealer (but they were already sold out so it's good I ordered plenty :)

I now have plenty of Secret-7 - so if it comes off the hook easy - I have plenty to re-bait

I went out this AM - just in case it was raining by evening. I was catching so many little ones I lost count - so when the cork started floating (not really going under very far) - I figured it was another little one - and waited then set hook and then I jumped up and said ' Oh My God' - cause the 4 lb Channel was on my crappie / spinning rod n reel which has 4 lb test line. I had a blast playing this mean boy - and was glad when I managed to land it (so I decided to make a video despite fact it was only 1 fish)

BTW: During both fishing trips I must have boated 4 dozen small catfish - I was constantly busy - bring in fish or re-baiting after they stole the bait but it was fun at first (then frustrating that most were little catfish - 1/2 to 1 Lb e.g. too little for me to keep / clean (which is good :) :)

On the 4 lb catfish was during the first hour - that's one reason I fished more hours today than normal e.g. went out twice in one day hoping to find another 4 lb to make my heart race fast again :) :)

BTW: Still not planning on making so many video but this fish was so much fun I had to make a video

BTW: I didn't have to clean this one - I gave it to a neighbor that is planning a fish fry for his Mother-In-Law that is moving next door to him (he needs to get on her good side so he's going to fix her up with a Welcome Fish Fry :) :)

Gave 3 lb away

My neighbor was at great grandkid baseball game so the 3 lb keeper went to another neighbor that is trying to get a 'mess' for his mother-in-law

Wind was beating me to death - and washing off the Secret-7 so I used Magic Bait wrapped around Secret-7 to catch the keeper (and several baby bait thieves)