Freezing Temps and High Water on The Roanoke...

1884 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by catfish_hunter, Apr 18, 2014

catfish_hunter

Discussion Starter · Apr 16, 2014

I hit the river first thing this morning solo on the roanoke, Fished for about 3 hours and caught quite a few rock on cutbait. I also landed a bunch of eating size cats, and white perch. Ended up keeping 2 rock one was 18.5" one was just a hair under 22", 1 nice channel cat, and 67 white perch...

Despite the high water and lot's of debris along with freezing temps it was still a great trip. I had to check my baits every minute or two to clear the leaves off, but the fish were biting if you could keep in clean.

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Reactions: 5

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

crappie89

· #2 · Apr 16, 2014

Nice work man. You make it sound easy.

Reactions: 1

catfish_hunter

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 16, 2014

crappie89 said:
Nice work man. You make it sound easy.

haha it's really not that hard.

Reactions: 1

2840-FISH

· #4 · Apr 16, 2014

Nice work, i imagine it was COLD early this monring out there...I'm planning on coming up probably fri if weather is decent i'll let ya know

Reactions: 1

catfish_hunter

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 16, 2014

Sounds good man let me know I'll be on the river friday at some point.

"your spot" was too trashed up to fish i only caught 2 there and got tired of fighting the leaves so i went down stream and slayed them, no trash in this spot.

Reactions: 1

crappie89

· #6 · Apr 16, 2014

Do you use a carolina rig when fishing on the bottom on the Roanoke?

catfish_hunter

Discussion Starter · #7 · Apr 16, 2014

yes 20lb cajun main line, 15 lb trilene big game leader, 2oz egg sinker, bead, and barrel swivel. leader is usually 18" or less... Same rig i use for catfish but i use j hook for rock and a circle hook for cats.

catfish_hunter

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 16, 2014

on a side note my buddy thinks that might have been the state record bullhead catfish lol. it's filted now so we'll never know. after looking at it it does look like a bullhead/white catfish not a channel...

Deeper

· #9 · Apr 17, 2014

Nice looking cooler! Is there a trick to filleting those white catfish? My daughters caught a few (not nearly as big though) and we kept one to try on the plate (not bad) but was a ba$tard to fillet.. Couldn't get the pec fins to retract / lay flat and ended up being a bit of a hack job.

catfish_hunter

Discussion Starter · #10 · Apr 17, 2014

skin them first with skinning pliars then filet like any other fish... you should start behind the front two fins. I do it simialr to the guy in the video except i dont make as many cuts before i skin it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2YtHl3vzto

Deeper

· #11 · Apr 17, 2014

Nice - appreciate the tips and link!

2840-FISH

· #12 · Apr 17, 2014

What i like to do with almost any catfish is screw him to a tree, then make incisions along the back and up by the gills, then like catfish said, use pliers and pull like heck!! having him screwed or nailed down to something is much much easier than tryin to do it on a table

trigger22

· #13 · Apr 17, 2014

I don't skin them. I do then just like every other fish and fillet and then flip over skin or scales down and fillet the skin off. Much faster and easier.

Reactions: 2

roostertail24

· #14 · Apr 18, 2014

I say channel cat. It has that puckered out front lip. Also not near dark enough for bullhead imo.

catfish_hunter

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 18, 2014

I think the consensus is white catfish... no deep fork in the tail and it's head was way to wide for a channel.

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