# Sweetwater 1/1/08



## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Went out on the first day of the new year to Dutch Gap to chase some big kitty cats. We dropped the nets to get some gizzard shad while waiting for the tide change. After a quick run around the river we got to fishing. Didn't take long for the fish to come around...

Picked up this 28...









Shortly after that, we got into a mess of fish in this size range...









Towards quitting time, I got this nice 45# fish...









Got freight trained by a hog that was pulling so hard we couldn't get the rod out of the holder in time and the fish popped a 100 lb leader. Leader probably had a knick in it...that'll teach you to retie between fish.  All in all a good day until the wind picked up and we were blown off the water.

If this is any indication of the fishing for me this year, I'm in for a good ride. :beer:


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*NIce fish*

Congrats on the catch.


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

Nice report, Did ya ever see the Devo video's???


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Cdog said:


> Nice report, Did ya ever see the Devo video's???


We're threw ... being cool ... we're threw ... being cool  LMAO !!

Those look like some nice cats there man.
Which ones did ya keep if any?


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

They all went back in the water. There were a few smaller ones we nabbed with a net that could have been eaten, but I'd just as soon let them go. 

Yeah, I look like a weirdo with that stuff on, but I was warm!!


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

perdy boo cats....you gotta get on soe flatheads in the spring though


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## uncdub13 (Aug 9, 2003)

sweet


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

TreednNC said:


> perdy boo cats....you gotta get on soe flatheads in the spring though


I really want to. Where I was fishing there aren't many, if any at all. They're all further upriver. I'd love to toss out a fat live bluegill and see what chomps it though.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Theyre fun. Atleast they dont just come up to the top and roll like most of the 10-20lb blues


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Yeah, I used to catch 'em as a kid in the Ohio River where I grew up. They fight a helluva lot harder than a blue. You get a fat blue in the current, all you have to do is hold on and he'll surface after a minute or two unless you get a really feisty one. We used to use footlong carp for bait and them flatheads would eat them up like candy. Fun stuff.


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## Ian (Nov 28, 2007)

so i take it that you caught shad for bait,sometimes that can be a difficult task especially in cold water,fingers start to freeze you get whatever your wearing wet.So quick question, if you werent able to catch any shad what would you use for bait?congrats on the citation,seems to me yall had a good day fishing!Hey,all them **** still hang out at the dutch gap boat dock! some true weirdos hang out their,I dont advise you to fish off the bank there,i did one night some freaking meth head wouldnt leave me alone,somebody needs to clean the trash!


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## Andre (Mar 15, 2003)

> We used to use footlong carp for bait and them flatheads would eat them up like candy


Were you liveling or cutbait?


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Andre said:


> Were you liveling or cutbait?


Always fished live bait for flatheads. 

As for Dutch Gap, if it ain't the fruits it's the buzzards taking a crap on you and everything you won.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Its amazing what those things can eat. Had some 3 or 4 lbers last year eating live bream the size of my hand....not the just the palm either. Im not afraid of the big baits at all, just gotta let em eat it an not jump the gun. It can get tricky....do you let them have the time to eat a big bait and risk them backing up into a snag, or do you chance that theyve ate it and try to cross their eyes before they slip back under that stump and roots? Thats why I love my flatheads. Underdawg's (my bro n law) brother caught 5 over 30 one night last year on goldfish.


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## Ian (Nov 28, 2007)

i know that shad is what you want,but if you couldnt catch any what would be your go to bait for the blues.


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## OBX Jay (Sep 3, 2007)

basstardo said:


> Always fished live bait for flatheads.
> 
> As for Dutch Gap, if it ain't the fruits it's the buzzards taking a crap on you and everything you won.


Ain't that the truth. At least the crap can be washed off but dem buzzards have very sharp claws that ruined the paint on my new F-150 this spring .They really liked climbing all over it. My windshield wipers were shredded . Plus there was so much crap on the windshield I had to use an ice scraper & buckets of water to see to drive home. Great place for big cats but gotta get a junker truck to tow the boat. I think the vdgif should shoot them things hanging out there - and the buzzards too .


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Justin we use big circles and cut huge gizzards from 14-18 inches into quarters. We just stick the rod in a rod holder and let the fish hook himself. I used to let them take as much line as they wanted with a clicker unless I was fishing really tight structure. One time when I was about 15 or 16 I had a 2 pound carp on for bait. I caught a 4.5 pound flathead on the carp. I didn't even hook him. He got the carp stuck in his mouth!


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

I dont worry about it with blues. Most blues I catch come up to the top and do a death roll and just pulling dead weight.....flatheads on the otherhand.....

As for carp....had a live bream on abou 5-6inches long twice in one week.....8lb carp on one and 12-12lber on another lol. I have no idea how they got the bream into their mouths but they did.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

TreednNC said:


> As for carp....had a live bream on abou 5-6inches long twice in one week.....8lb carp on one and 12-12lber on another lol. I have no idea how they got the bream into their mouths but they did.


Do what?!?! That is WEIRD!!!! We used to catch the crap out of them using wheaties dough balls. Take a handful of wheaties ( yes the cereal) and hold it underwater for about 5 seconds. Then crunch it up, pour a bunch of vanilla in the crumbs and work it into a ball and toss it on a treble hook. Channel cats, some blues, and mainly carp would tear that stuff up. I would catch 5-15 pound carp all day with that stuff.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

yep...ive only caught three carp in my life,two on bluegill while flathead fishing and one on a crappie minnow while crappie fishing


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## Ian (Nov 28, 2007)

i never heard of carp hitting live bait before,but when you think you seen it all,a carp will come and eat your live bluegill.


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## Ian (Nov 28, 2007)

have u ever tried using blue crab,or eels for the big blues,i used menhaden before and wasnt really productve,i feel that if you dont have shad it makes for tuff fishing,like trying to feed a vegitarian a hamburger or something,sometimes its hard times trying to net shad.


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## notso (Jul 18, 2005)

Ian said:


> have u ever tried using blue crab,or eels for the big bluesQUOTE]
> 
> I have never caught any "big blues" but I've caught hundreds (maybe thousands) of small blues on the Rap on Blue crab (preferably soft shell).


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

This fish was caught on a blue crab when I took a guy I work with and his brother out. This was the biggest fish his brother had ever seen...


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Terry I caught some crappies today that'd make a big winter time blue happy, as well as a flathead about mid april ....the only draw back to an 8" limit......but then again 8" is about perfect for a live bait fora big kitty


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Ian said:


> i never heard of carp hitting live bait before,but when you think you seen it all,a carp will come and eat your live bluegill.


damnedest thing I ever seen... both on bluegills were within week or week and a half of each other......the minnow one was earlier that spring


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

8" is flathead candy. Can you use crappie in NC? You'd get run up the flagpole for that in Ohio or VA. I got bawled out by a game warden here one day for using bluegills. Last I was told they were legal though. You keep any of them crappie? Them some good eatin'!


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Yep....see my LKN report.....

Saw a 26lb blue cat with a full grown mallard hen in the gut once.....saw a 25lb blue cat with a 14" crappie in its gut as well....and a 42lb flathead with a 'gut shad' as they call them down here....those huge gizzard shad. This one was 2-3lbs and probably 17" long. It's amazing what the gizzard out of a gizzard shad will do when you beach the boat on a point and chunk em out back across the point. Used to be popular here. Stripers love em. Have also seen catfish to 25-30lbs on them as well. Not sure what it is about the gizzard out of one of them things that the stripers like though.


EDIT: and yes...as long as you can prove it was caught on hook and line and is of size. To be honest, Im not sure what the mutilation law is while on the water. Id assume same as salt. I dont care much for them for cut bait though. bluegill either unless im jug fishing or using the heads. I do, however, love using a piece from the gut section with eggs in em. Like I said though, Id just as soon use live bait now and fish for the flatheads in the warmer months. Too much other going on in the winter to coax a flathead out. Big blues deffinately a possibility, but theyre generally suspended with the shad and stripers and I dont care to track em down.


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## saltandsand (Nov 29, 2007)

Looks like the cats caught the mice. Very decent. Nice post!


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