We were just set up and I was explaining how to hook a channel using the Team Catfish Double Action Hood to my brother-in-law Rick Nelson of Forrest Lake and Father-in-law Floyd Carbert of Circle Pines, when the rod doubled over in the holder! Fish On Floyd!
I move out of his way to give him some room and grab the net. It was fighting good then nothing…the line went slack, which does happen when a fish swims towards you. Floyd thought he lost it until the fish was closer to the boat and figured “nope, I don’t want any part of that!” The St Croix rod bend over again and the sweet sound of 80 pound PowerPro being pulled off the reel could be heard…along with a few grunts from Floyd.
Channel Cat?? Nope. Floyd was about to land the largest Carp he had ever seen fishing with shrimp!
What a way to break the ice Floyd!
After a number of nibbles on our tubes filled with Secret Seven, Rick had his turn with a scrapper. Twisting and rolling all the way to the boat, Rick landed this 8 pounder with only a couple grunts while the rod was poking him in the tummy!
We were set up in a back water, just ahead of a 19 foot hole that was surrounded by 13 feet of water. If we cast into the hole, it took forever to get a bite and it was worse if we cast to the head of the hole. But the Channels gave us plenty of action casting just down stream of the hole.
A tube hooked on a Double Action hook, then filled with Secret Seven dip bait was the dip bait of the day. I re rigged all of my channel cat rods to the Double Action hook because someone, like my relatics could either “set” the hook or “burn” them in. Whatever they felt the most comfortable with.
Burning them in meant reeling as fast as you could for a short time to hook into the fish. That’s all it takes to set these hooks. If you haven’t tried them yet, pick up a pack at Everts Resort or Bob Moore’s Bait.
The Favorite Wife got into the act too. She’s not real happy with holding these “rubbery” fish and I barely snapped off this photo before I had to rescue her from the big ugly.
If it wasn’t for the Fish Grippers, I would never get a channel cat picture of her…I almost didn’t get this one!
I hope everyone is having a fantastic and safe Memorial Weekend. Grab a couple poles and take your favorite family out fishing for the day or even an afternoon. There are fish out there just waiting to tug on your line!