The right tactics ensure that flock of workable geese comes to your field rather than the guy down the road’s.
Four out-of-state anglers looking for some outdoor entertainment between shifts working with the BP oil-spill effort found more than they bargained for Tuesday night (Oct. 26) when they hauled in 31 catfish weighing just shy of 800 pounds.
“I’ve traveled all over the country, and a lot of people talk about their state having great fishing but this is the best I’ve ever seen,” Florida’s Johnny R. Dillon Sr. said. “When you talk about the Sportsman’s Paradise, this is it.”
Dillon fished with son John Dillon Jr. of Indiana, Matt Dillon of Indiana and buddy Will Stokes of Texas to put the huge stringer together after hearing the catfish bite was on at Fort Jackson just north of Venice.
“By accident, we just started using a piece of cut bait that we had actually found, and I caught a 42-pounder,” the elder Dillon explained.
That cut bait was from redfish carcasses the men bummed from an angler cleaning fish, and those left-overs provided just what the catfish wanted.
They simply cast from the bank and let their offerings sink to the bottom.
“In five hours time, this is what we caught – and this is nothing (compared to) what got away,” he said. The trip lasted from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Amazingly, the men were using regular bass-fishing tackle. That led to a lot of stripped line, but the price was worth it.
“Just look at this,” Stokes said after cutting off an inches-thick slab of meat from one of the cats. “Is that beautiful, or what? Back home, we’d have to be looking for worm in the meat, especially in the summer. But this meat is just beautiful.”
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