Sparkly black strikes again, part III

[Shoemoo]

Last night my fishing buddy and I returned to the spot where we caught all those crappies a few days ago. This time the action was slower, but we did catch some larger crappies. Most were 9" - 10" but we did get a few around 12". We were both using sparkly black. Most of the night was calm, but the wind started to blow around 1:30 and we decided to leave at 2:00.

I tossed my bobber out while I packed up my gear, and when I looked up a few minutes later the bobber was gone. At first I thought the wind had carried it out of sight, but when I reeled in the slack and gave a yank the rod tip went south and the fight was on. After a good 10 minutes of running up and down the bank my friend netted this 28" channel cat. It was a blast fighting him on a 7' light action rod.

This is the largest cat I have ever caught on a lure. I may have caught a few larger ones on bait, but not much larger.

 

[JSC]

Some change from a crappie to a channel cat .. will straighten your line and bend that rod.

 

[Fatman]

Sounds like a great trip and that's a really nice cat!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lost Pole]

Nice cat. Can't tell from the picture, is it an Op?
The only time I catch cats on jigs is if I'm swimming them. Never still under a float.


Let's see that jig

 

[Shoemoo]

Op?

It is the top one:



I always have some in my box. Body is Estaz Metallique, tail is black Arctic fox. I've settled on silver vein for the head, but I've also had a lot of luck with solid black. The color of the flash and eyes don't seem to matter much. I've poured a few on roundheads with no eyes and caught plenty of fish on them. You can also tie the tail with marabou, I just like fox because it holds up better.

 

[StumpHunter]

Congrats on the catch. I know you had a blast fighting that one.