Done for another spring

[John]

I have all the catfish fillets in the freezer that I'll be needing for the rest of the year, so it looks like my limblining is over, and I'll be taking them out of the swamp soon.

It was an interesting season, and I caught several flatheads and nice channels, but not anything really large. Seems like the biggest channel was around 10 pounds, and the biggest flat was 35.

I did have a flat get away from me that looked like it would have gone 40 something, and had some poles broke, and one 9/0 saltwater circle hook straightened and broke off at the last bend before the point.

The weather was strange, too many days were so windy that I couldn't get out to tend the lines, and there was one cold front after another. It's still going on and things are usually pretty much settled down by this time of year.

It's time to do my rod-n-reel thing for grins. I'll be after the big blues now, but it's about all catch and release for the rest of the year.

[shb]

Those beheamoths that straighten hooks and break off 80 lb braid, those are the ones that keep the excitement levels up and keep the magic of the unknown alive in your hunter gatherer heart.

glad to see some new posts on the site, I figured all the cat men must be too busy to come to town and fire up a computer.

[John]

The broken poles were my own fault. I left some out from last year, which I never do, and I'll never do again, and the wire they were wired to stumps was too rusty to hold as well as some of the poles were brittle.

I've always put out new poles in the late fall when the lake is down about 4 feet or so. I put out new ones last fall, but had left some from the previous spring. Those were the ones that I lost and that broke.

I think I only had one line break, and the one hook. Eagle Claw has a stainless circle now, and that's what I'll use next spring along with all new poles.

There's some big ones out there. So far the biggest one I've landed on my lines has been a 45 pounder.

If I remember correctly the line is 120 pound test, or maybe 180. I like that tarred stuff.