Spruce Run 7/17 - Catfish

[cmoran719]

Went out at Spruce tonight on kayaks with Zach M. from 7:30 to 11. Got 4 channel catfish between the two of us all within 1 hour's time. Bite didn't start up until the sun went down and after 10 it died down again. The biggest one of the night, (22" and 4.75lbs, tho it seemed way bigger) gave me the best fight I've ever had other than my 30lb carp. I had a 4lb mono leader on from trout fishing the other night so I was extra careful playing him in (not to mention the main line has been on the spool since September and the leader since April lol) Kept the drag real loose and he was peeling it out constantly for more than 5 minutes, he even dragged the kayak around a bit. Strong fight for only a 5lb fish. Such a great time. (This was also my first time fishing from a kayak which made it even better )

Catfish taco's for lunch tomorrow! OH YEA!

[gnuisance]

Nice cat! What type of bait and rigs were you guys using?

[FASTEDDIE29]

Catfish tacos, my favorite!!! Thats a chunky Channel, nice!!!

[Eskimo]

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Zach, do you drive a tan Chevrolet sedan?


Fish & Game does a good job of stocking Spruce Run with catfish.
Although I never catch any really big catfish there, I can always count on on them biting.

This surprises me as that reservoir receives relatively heavy fishing pressure. I don't think there is a time between April and October when there isn't a group of people fishing from Van Sickle pier and (to a lesser extent) the two spots where there is parking along Van Sickle road.

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[Jigman13]

Caught my largest catfish to date in Spruce Run many moons ago while fishing with my dad in our old aluminum canoe. 7 lbs; caught on a dead herring right off the bottom. Towed the canoe quite a bit, too. Thing was pretty big lol...

You guys have been fishing pretty hard--good stuff!

[cmoran719]

Originally Posted by Eskimo

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Zach, do you drive a tan Chevrolet sedan?


Fish & Game does a good job of stocking Spruce Run with catfish.
Although I never catch any really big catfish there, I can always count on on them biting.

This surprises me as that reservoir receives relatively heavy fishing pressure. I don't think there is a time between April and October when there isn't a group of people fishing from Van Sickle pier and (to a lesser extent) the two spots where there is parking along Van Sickle road.

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Yep that would be Zach aha. And really? When we fish the first access point on Vansyckle after the pier there is usually no one there.

And you're right about the catfish. Not a lot of big ones, but tons of small/medium ones

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by cmoran719

Yep that would be Zach aha. And really? When we fish the first access point on Vansyckle after the pier there is usually no one there.

And you're right about the catfish. Not a lot of big ones, but tons of small/medium ones

Zach pulled up next to me on Route 31 yesterday. I looked over and said to myself, "Hey, that looks like the guy from the fishing forum..."

Then I saw the fishing rods in the back seat and thought, "Yeah, that's him." lol

I guess because I only get out on Saturday or Sunday afternoons to fish, all three of those access areas are usually crowded. In fact, sometimes there are so many fishing rods mounted on the bank, from the water, those shoreline areas look like a medieval phalanx formation that stopped at the edge of the water.


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[cmoran719]

Originally Posted by gnuisance

Nice cat! What type of bait and rigs were you guys using?

just basic bottom rig with 1/2 or 1oz egg sinkers and shiners for bait. We always do well with shiners there