Scott County Times from Forest, Mississippi • Page 16

THE SCOTT COUNTY TIMES PAGE2IUNE23. Outdoors evening you've ever wanted to know about catfish i ii 1 11 Bank fishermen at the Low I lead Ham in northwestern Scott County are as likely to get a stringer of catfish as are the anglers in the boats fishing the river channel. There is no fancy presentation needed for catfish, just an understanding of the fishes habits and needs. Get a bait on the bottom and keep it there for while, Most catfish prefer a hard sand or gravel bottom, one reason the waters below the low head could be so good for fishing. There is water movement, a clean bottom and a plentiful food supply.

While there is no way to cover on one page the material that has been compiled on cat fish and catfishing, it is a start. I know we are barely scratching the surface here, but read on and enjoy, perhaps get a few new ideas and rethink some old ones. The catfish is not the glamour boy that the largemouth bass has become. Neither is it as easy to catch as a bluegill during the bedding season. But they are a fish that deserve our respect.

The catfish has been around and with proper conservation of our water resources will continue to serve anglers into the next century and beyond. So, load up the family, hook up the boat, get some handi-wipes for the fingers and go catch some By DAVID HAWKINS Tiiw Sforti Editor Mtssissippian have long had an affection with catfish, Thi'y are as much .1 part tf southern culture as Magnolias, iced tea, and summer family reunions Found in utmost every creek, river, and stream, the catfish has long been sought fur food more than sport, But a 4 grow ing number of fishermen have found, the two can go h.indin-haiul Catching cattish is great sport, luit eating them is a fine reward in and of itself. For year the most popular method of catching catfish was with limh lines or trotlines. All methods considered these remain the most popular method. Trotlines can cover a lot of water and be adiusted to various depths.

They are relatively easy to bait and check. Limb lines, which are nothing more than a single drop attached to a limb, log or stump, work well for someone without a boat, or where trotlines aie not practical. Some of my fondest memories are of trips to Caney Creek to fish for catfish at night with poles jabbed into the bank. A dozen or so sets, baited with chicken livers would always produce enough mud cats for supper. Some of the deep bends in the creek were more productive than others, and I don't remember us ever getting skunked But that was then and this is now and my favorite method of caihshiiig is either a well placed trot line or floating jugs.

Tins is not to say that anchoring the boat in a likely spot, tossing out a wad of shad guts, placing the rod in the rod holder and relating in the shade of the bimini top are not good options as well, For a long lime the catfish has riot been given the respect of the sport fishing industry. But that trend is taking a definite turn for the better. Bait makers are producing packaged catfish bails which are easy to use and are readily available. Tackle makers are matching rods and reels to the needs of catfisher-mcn. Trotline and jug fishing accessories are on the sporting goods shelves in more quality and quantity than ever before.

There could be a couple of added factors in this recent resurgence of interest in ratfishing. First the commercial catfish industry has given the southern taste for a fish a delectable dish and is working to satisfy the world market demand for cattish. They taste good and naturally folks want more. Add that to the southerners love of fishing and the two are a marriage made on the river bank. Secondly, catfish are relatively easy to catch, without need for fancy equipment or large boats.

Another catfish for the stringer and the skillet Catfish bite year around but favor the warmer months when water temperatures are between 75 and 80 degrees. This angler was doing okay In February at at the Ross Barnett Spillway This channel cat was added to an already loaded stringer. He was taking the catfish on cut shad bait. (Times staff photo by David Hawkins) a key to catfish success Ming the By DAVID HAWKINS Times Sports itor The jugs bobble in the current of the river. A line of brightly painted two-liter soft drink bottles saved each winter are rigged and painted each summer.

The Mississippi River on the Vicksburg gauge shows it steady at 12 feet, with maybe just the slightest rise. Below the rip-rap weirs con structed by the U.S. Army Corps of TtogineerfWfe rWrtpm ai 1 jug can be slop for neither man nor boat. Debris, including logs and entire trees can come floating down the river easily capsizing a boat. Also the jugs tend to get scattered and at night too many can become lost.

Jugs can be made of most any plastic container. Two-liter plastic drink bottles, one-half gallon beverage jugs or even blocks of stryofoam. Brightly painted the juiis can be 'but no't Md under for will never be able to submerge the two-liter jug. One other interesting point about jug fishing on the Mississippi River or hook and lining for that matter. When the river boats pass, the catfish go crazy and bite.

Who knows why, they just do. The vibera-tion of the motors sends them into a feeding frenzy. The river can be dangerous, use extra caution and never fish it alone. -Meps "ishveragjlOclS pounds, or 1 1 A fine 12-pound blue cat Buddy Dees of Philadelphia landed this blue cat while jug fishing on the Pearl River. Homemade catfish bait Mamma with catfish Wydell Hawkins of Forest got the option of entertainment on the celebration of Mother's Day a few years back.

She ask to go fishing. The then 85-year old country girl caught this stringer of catfish as fast as her son could bait the hook. Fishing in a large pond the bites came easy on the worms used as bait. Catfish are traditionally a river fish but will adapt well to an impoundment as long as a food supply is adequate. Fed catfish are a great way to treat the young and the young at heart, to the joys of fishing.

The basic biology of the catfish By DAVID HAWKINS Times Sports Editor There is a never ending search underway for the perfect stink-bait. Catfish like baits that smell, or that is the perception. Some anglers become fed up with the packaged baits and wish to strike out on their own to create a concoction that will trap Mr. Whiskers. Some work, some don't.

Most popular home-made baits have some smelly ingredient, such as cheese, hog brains, or chicken blood as their main ingredient. There is little secret to making a Stink bait. There has to be something that smells reallyt bad, and some-tiling to hold it on the hook when it gets wet. For most efforts, using a commercially prepared catfish bait is just as cheap and equally as effective as the homemade stuff. Looking on the internet the other night I came across a recipe that jun iiutii irv i i nit i ii lie Lduwu iv each step they bobble.

Some for just a moment and nothing, the, fish got the bait. For others the jug begins bouncing on an eratic ride that indicates a fish is on the line. Channel cats feeding in the daylight hours are the most common catfish caught by this method. 1 low-ever an ocassional blue will slip into the picture. 1 Some anglers prefer cut bait fpr jug fishing.

Skipjack or shad being popular. Live bait such as shiners of small bream are also used. More traditional catfish baits such as earthworms and bloodbaits also work to some degree. Jug fishing on the Mississippi is a daylight sport for several reasons. Among those is the safety factor.

The Mississippi is a mighty flow that will clean and 75-80 degrees. They are very adaptable and will thrive in farm ponds or rivers. In the wild they prefer structure. When it comes to food they are the Mikie's of the catfish world. i.

Sutton states in his book that thjy are not the least but finicky. They eat -live worms, salamanders, maggots, leeches, insects, frogs, fish, mussels and crayfish. The dead and smelly are also relished- things like shrimp, fish guts, chicken liver and stinkbait. Even bizarre offerings such as soap, hot dogs, dog food, corn, marshmal-. lows, grapes, persimmons, elm seeds and bread entice them at times.

Adult channel cats typically retire to the deeper water during daylight hours and at night the move into shallower water to feed. The channel cat sis the most popular of the catfish for a number of reasons. They are plentiful and will bite almost any bait. They tend to school and where one is caught, it is not uncommon to catch a dozen or more. The blue cat being the largest of the catfish in Mississippi the state record is 93 pounds) the Madtom is the smallest.

At maturity they can be just the and one half to four inches in length. The Madtom has a venomous gland at the base of the dorsal spine that can inflict a painful wound should it be mis-handled. raises stink The bait calls for 1 cup yellow cornmeal, one cup flour, 14 teaspoon anise oil, and one tinm of sardines. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Add small amounts of water to form a breadlike dough.

Form the dough into balls the size of a Ping-Pong ball and drop into boiling water for three minutes. Remove, drain and allow to cool. One other home brew that is supposed to work on channel cats is this. Allow a mess of mashed minnows or shad to decay in a buried plastic freezer container. (Don't use a glass container as it could explode!) A small sponge saturated with this bait works well to attract channel catfish.

Try using cheap fish based cat-food too, wrapped in old pantyhose cut into squares or the little netting like wedding rice comes in. ular spot for catfish. Trotlines place in the Pearl River will generally produce enough sor supper and some filets for the freezer in just a couple of runs. The Big Black River is not as accessable as the Pearl but offers some of the best flathead and yellow cats in the state. Large waters like the Ross Barnett and Okatibbee Reserviors also offer good catfish.

Stock ponds and small lakes have been stocked with catfish and some people feed them just as the commercial growers do. This makes them easy to find and catch. rivals my ex-wifes meatloaf casso-role. The concotion called for hog brains, cheese, ripened fish and such to be combined and placed in the hot sun to further ripen. The name, "The Bells of Hell Catfish Bait" fit the discription and I really wondered if the mess was lig-itimate or if the writer just made up the potion on paper to see how many others might try it.

Combine all ingredients and allow to rippen in the sun wher flies and insects cannot get to it. Then when the stuff is liquid, soak sponges in it and use the sponges as bait. If you don't believe me look on the internet with your favorite search engine, using the keywords hommade catfish stinkbait. Here is a recipe that Keith Sutton reccommends an sounds a little easier on the household, not to menton your marriage. Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has some details on that exact thing.

"Lake Tom Bailey has been a constant provider of good catfish. Two consecutive state records came from there," said Garavelli. "The fertility is good and the catfish have plenty to eat." The lake has been drawn down so repairs could be made to the dam. The completition date for the work has not been determined. The lake is open for fishing but launching a boat could present problems since the water level is some three feet below normal.

River shade has long been a pop The best catfish waters depend on fish cat and channel catfish will opt for a smelly offering. Flatheads, also known as tabby cats, appaloosa or yellow cats, prefer sandy or gravel bottoms and are nocturnal feeders, moving from the deep water into the shallows at night to feed. The flathead is a solitary fish, usually just one or two adults will be taken from one location. The Blue Catfish is the largest of the freshwater catfish family. They are a big-river fish.

According to Sutton they prefer clearer, faster water than other cats, and are usually found over a hard sand or gravel bottom. In many respects, the behavior of the blue cat parallels that of striped bass. Like stripers, blues usually feed on shad, herring or other schooling baitfish. Blues will take dead baits, or stink baits, but not as readily as channel cats. Channel catfish are probably the most popular of the catfish.

Though introduction they have come to live in every state except Alaska. Channels are models as catfish go, averaging one to five pounds. Six to 10 pounder are common in some waters and South Carolina, Arkansas and Mississippi have produced channel cats over 50 pounds. Channel cats prefer water that is By DAVID HAWKINS Times Sports Editor Keith Sutton, author of the book Fishing for Catfish, describes the catfish a a huge swimming tongue. The catfish, it seems, has taste buds and food sensors not just in its mouth and nose, but all over its body.

The nostrils of a catfish a two ports. One allows water to enter and the other allows water to escape. In between are the sensory glands so powerful they can detect food scents as few as one part in one billion. Think that's enough, the head of a catfish has taste buds, the body has taste buds and finally the whiskersfactually called barbels) are almost solid with taste sensors. So a bait hanging on a trotline 100 yards up stream will smell like the Ship-leys Donut Shop when the oven is just opened and the coffee is fresh.

In other words, the bait needs to have a distinctive odor and the catfish, using all its senses should be able to find it in muddy water in the middle of the night. For example, adult blue or channel cats have at least 5,000 exterior taste buds per square centimeter of skin. But the stinky dead bait might not be the first choice of the wary old Mr. Whiskers. The popular flathead catfish has a taste for live bait, while the the blue By DAVID HAWKINS Times Sports Editor A glance at the state record channel catfish and the name Lake Tom Bailey rises to the forefront.

Most folks would have bet even money that some great oxbow lake such as Eagle, Chotard, Ferguson or some other Mississippi River connection would have held all the records for big catfish. Just how is it that a comparatively small lake in East Mississippi such as Lake Tom Bailey should hold the record, as well as the broken record, for channel cats. Ron Garavelli, Chief of Fisheries for the Mississippi Department of i -3.