Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

We never fished for catfish until we kept our toon in the James River in Virginia. The record from the James is 102 pounds, and so many citations came out of there every year, the state raised the cutoff to 40 pounds. Still had over 40 fish recorded over 80 pounds last year, all released. My avatar is a 50+ that we could not get into the boat. I think my 4 year old daughter would have fit in its mouth!

We fish for cats and carps...

I catch hardhead saltwater catfish on occasion. I found out the hard way that they have hard, sharp, venomous spines in the dorsal and pectoral fins . Ooooouuuuuccccccchhhhhhhhh!!!!

Ron Burgundy wrote:"The sea is the same as it has been since before men ever went on it in boats." - Ernest Hemingway

I doubt he would say/write the same thing today.

BTW, watch out for those catfish spines.... they hurt.

We live on the Tennessee River, and used to run a couple of trot lines from our pier. We'd keep the fish in a 4' cube cage until Saturday a.m., and do one mass weekly cleaning. We slowed down on the Saturday night catfish fries when all the relatives started having heart problems. If we have a hankering for catfish, we eat at a local church 1st Fridays (every month) which benefits the community.

We recently had a big time catfish tournament come through town, and the 10 fish limit totaled over 250 lbs. Now, that's big.

Bill Dance caught a 45 lb. cat behind Wilson Dam while being taped for his fishing show last year. There are a few 95 lb. cats that have been caught over the years. We've seen 45 lb and 55 lb cats caught in front of our house, and a neighbor caught a 45 lb spoonbill a few years ago to feed the Gideons.

The TN river from Knoxville to North Alabama through Pickwick Lake is the Cat capital of the US. Blue cats in the 70, 80 and 90's are caught all the time. Flatheads up to 60-70 lbs are very possible. Me and my buds fish hard for them and I own and run Dixie Noodling Guide Service. https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dixie ... 8538302362

My larest cat by hand was on Lake Guntersville last year and weighed a tad over 60 lbs.

Now that's just crazy!!!!! One big fish though.

Dang, dont know why it came through sideways.
Ill add a couple more.
My 13 yr old daughter noodles with me too.
Also a pic of my mom and her fisht ever catfish, 51 lbs.

Great photos! Congrats to your daughter! You MUST be proud!

Crazy mothers!!!

on those big "O" heads you should be able to trim off a big catfish steak....mmmmm good...nice pic`s thanks for sharing.

I was going to post a pic of the 3 1/2 lb'er I caught on light tackle with a nightcrawler, but after seeing the pics above, why bother!

3 1/2 pounds = just right for eating, maybe to about 8 pounds. After that age, they start to taste like river water to me.

playcat wrote:3 1/2 pounds = just right for eating, maybe to about 8 pounds. After that age, they start to taste like river water to me.

Your cleaning them wrong if thats the case. I can clean a 40lber and you would never know the difference.