# Potomac river catfish excursion ~



## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Sorry about the lack of pics, as I droped my cell phone IN THE WATER!!! Was able to fix it, but DON'T DO THAT! Trust me on this one. 

Started off the trip at Waterfront Park in Bladensburg and realized that the tide was an hour from high, so I hauled ass down to one of my better blue cat haunts to tangle with some big _end of the season_ blues. I want to avoid spot burning, please email me for location (one of the perks of being a member and not a lurker). Tide was slack when I arrived, but after a short while, I landed a nice channel. About an hour before sun-down I hooked a nice 7-8 lb blue (finally) and then rounded out the day with a bull-head. 

I noticed there were no bluegills anywhere to be found and consequently, there were not many blue cats either ... maybe they moved on to more productive feeding grounds? Did see something very big leave the water ... not a carp ... maybe a bass? 

Weather was nice and all in all, I had a great time - you know - except for the cell-phone incident (we shan't speak of it again). 

Do to the lack of baitfish, I had to use nightcrawlers for the cats. Next time, I will bring cut bait. :fishing:


----------



## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Petes tips for blue cats:

Use a big bait - don't be afraid to use a bait of six or seven inches.

The actually prefer cut bait - one that you caught in the same water you are fishing.

Use manhaden spray - it works; even on liver. 

Out-going tide (near the high) is best. In fact, from the shore, that's usually the only time they bite.

Big blue cats often surface right after they are hooked to try and throw the hook - pull them back down into the water - DON'T let them do that! 

Use at least 17 LB test. My favorite is Red Cajun mono.









It's cheap and it resists abrasion. 

Use a heavy-duty swivle and sharp circle hooks! 

Catfish like to twist ... a lot.

Also, the blues have VERY hard mouths - you will have quite a few spit out the hooks. 

Please remove them from the water - in this state, they are taking over and harming other spicies. 



> Something to think about is that big fish are loners. They want the best places for themselves. If another catfish or predator fish comes into their area, they will run that fish away. So how do you use that little piece of knowledge to your advantage. Well if you are catching smaller fish, then your odds of having a big fish hole are very low. Now the opposite holds true, if you aren’t catching anything but the area has all the ingredients to hold fish then it might hold a big blue catfish.


Hope this helps, I'll add more in a bit.


----------



## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

*Thread Information*

There are currently 7 users browsing this thread. (1 members and* 6 guests*)

To you guys lurking - you are realy missing out on the good stuff! Sign up and learn much, much more!


----------



## CoolDude (Sep 28, 2010)

We fished the Anacostia and did great the last 2 days. It's a long walk or short drive, but not as costly as hitting the road for a bay trip. I managed a few largemouth (1-3lb) and some cats in the 20" range, but my fishin' bud got a few blues in the 8lb range along with a rack of other cats about 20 inches. I do have pics, but I've never posted pics on this site so who knows?...maybe I will get around to it later.

I'm not big on killing fish for no reason at all. I don't think blue catfish will "damage" the water like snakeheads. I mean, a catfish is a catfish....they pretty much eat anything and they clean up the nasty rivers...especially in this area. These guys are always messin' with something calling it a program of improvement...then they have a bigger problem on their hands....like the stinkbugs. These local rivers will never return to a place where you should eat the fish. The powers that be just think they can farm up a huge BASS business and don't want other fish eating bait that would potentially feed/grow bigger bass. Instead of whining about it they could just introduce a hearty baitfish stocking program....and they need a hearty baitfish to deal with these dirty waters. The bluegill population in this area is lame and I wouldn't even consider the bluegill a "baitfish"...not like shad, manhaden...those guys reproduce in serious numbers.

http://www.westmorelandnews.net/?p=7466


----------



## firemunkee (Apr 6, 2012)

Thanks for all the tips Pete! I learned a new knot today  and I never considered the swivel for cats, good point. I've never tried for blue cats before. I hope to sometime this season.


----------



## spriro (Sep 9, 2013)

Great tips! Thanks


----------



## Striper_MIKE (Aug 9, 2010)

Did you run to your spot in a kayak? If so, let's get out there sometime!


----------



## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

CoolDude said:


> We fished the Anacostia and did great the last 2 days. It's a long walk or short drive, but not as costly as hitting the road for a bay trip. I managed a few largemouth (1-3lb) and some cats in the 20" range, but my fishin' bud got a few blues in the 8lb range along with a rack of other cats about 20 inches. I do have pics, but I've never posted pics on this site so who knows?...maybe I will get around to it later.
> 
> I'm not big on killing fish for no reason at all. I don't think blue catfish will "damage" the water like snakeheads. I mean, a catfish is a catfish....they pretty much eat anything and they clean up the nasty rivers...especially in this area. These guys are always messin' with something calling it a program of improvement...then they have a bigger problem on their hands....like the stinkbugs. These local rivers will never return to a place where you should eat the fish. The powers that be just think they can farm up a huge BASS business and don't want other fish eating bait that would potentially feed/grow bigger bass. Instead of whining about it they could just introduce a hearty baitfish stocking program....and they need a hearty baitfish to deal with these dirty waters. The bluegill population in this area is lame and I wouldn't even consider the bluegill a "baitfish"...not like shad, manhaden...those guys reproduce in serious numbers.
> 
> http://www.westmorelandnews.net/?p=7466



You are all "wet" on that one. 

Blue cats to an ENORMOUS amount of damage to the ecosystem, while snakeheads do very little.


----------



## Carlows (Mar 20, 2011)

Great report and at least you did not drop it n a bucket of paint or in the toilet. Also when I fish on the Potomac for cats I just use night crawlers and they work great.


----------



## Sega (Jan 8, 2013)

Gotta invest in a lifeproof case for your phone man! Hopefully I'll be able to head out that way soon to play with the big cats.


----------



## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

Carlows said:


> Great report and at least you did not drop it n a bucket of paint or in the toilet. Also when I fish on the Potomac for cats I just use night crawlers and they work great.


Don't forget that the monster cats will not have the same opportunity to get your bait if you are busy tangling with small cats. 

Generally, the big cats will be the only ones that can swallow a whole bluegill, so that will eliminate wasting time with all the little fellas. 

Furthermore, the big cats are kind of lazy and prefer to not have to work that hard. The bigger baits are more energy efficiant for them, and therefore more disirable to them ~


----------



## Stinky_Pete (Mar 28, 2011)

One thing that now occurs to me is that there may have been only a few very big cats here and I missed them due to lack of large bait. 

When you fish a very productive spot, at a time when things should be really hot - it might be that you just need to stick it out a bit ~


----------



## cescommguy (Jul 1, 2011)

X2 on the big blues having incredibly hard mouths. Just really started catfishing the potomac this year and have had several big ones spit the hook even after hooksets hard enough to land a shark. You see the evidence firsthand when you do land one and find out difficult it is to extract the hook when it does puncture their jaw.


----------



## captmikestarrett (Apr 28, 2004)

Blue cats are at the top of the predator list in the Potomac. Only bull sharks are higher. But they do eat there own on occasion, but prefer gizzard shad. I have guided for them for 20 plus years now and the meat value of the smaller ones under 8lbs is very high. The bigger ones are not to be eatin.. But I would suggest you take as many small ones as you can eat. Grilled filets with Tony Chachers slathered with olive oil is about the best thing ever. The little ones have very few pollutants. 

As far as rigs and bait: I use fish finder rigs with 28 inch leader and live bait. Leader is 40lb mono and line 50lb braid of your choice. Live baits in the 4 inch range from bluegill to baby carp to black salties. For bluegill take your scissors and remove the top spikes so it gets down the gullet better. For hooks I always snell a 8/0 wide gap offset circle hook. Sometimes I use 6/0 if they want to fill a cooler. Limit on my boat is 54 thousand pounds per person per day. 

Cut baits like bluegill and gizzard shad work well. But I prefer mullet or fresh carp for the stay on the hook factor. 

Now go catch em up and enjoy. 

Capt Mike


----------

