Little Beetle Spin, Big Catfish

[Koz]

I was fishing after dock on my dock tonight when the unexpected happened. Since the cicadas overtook my neighborhood the other day the fishing has been lousy. I’ve seen tons of baitfish looking into the water and with FFS, but no predators. 

 

Tonight the water was littered with dead and dying cicadas, but only the occasional small fish went after them.

 

I fished a few topwaters for a while with no luck. With little fish popping the cicadas I tied on a little beetle spin hoping I might land a crappie or two.

 

In the dim of the dock lights I could see some baitfish near the surface, so I cast my little beetle spin on that direction and WHAM!

 

The catfish tried to run, then dove under the dock by one of the dock posts. It felt like it wrapped and now I’m in trouble. I can’t see anything in the dark and I can’t budge the fish. Behind me and out of reach is a camping lantern (turned off) on my picnic table. I let out some line so I could get to the lamp. Now I realize my fish grippers and pliers are in my kayak up near the house, so I start calling out for my son who is in the house and no doubt on his phone.

 

I’ve got my rod tucked under one armpit while I start reaching for the lamp. With the slack line the catfish takes off again moving out from under the dock. Now it’s really fighting and splashing everywhere. I get both hands on the rod and we battle for a few minutes and I tire it out. I’ve got 30 pound braid and a 10 pound flouro leader and I don’t want to try and hoist it on the dock.

 

I decide to grab the lamp and then lead the fish to shore near my kayak so I can use my tools to unbutton it. But before I grab the lamp I whistle for my son and luckily he hears it and comes outside, grabs the grippers and pliers, and holds the light so I can see what I’m doing.

 

I didn’t weight it, but if I had to guess it was somewhere near 20 pounds. That’s not a huge catfish, but I thought it was fairly impressive with a tiny bait and a tiny hook.

 

 

 

[IcatchDinks]

Love it! Congrats on a great catch, and thanks for a good read!

[TnRiver46]

Meow! 

[OmegaDPW]

Gotta love the Beetle Spin. My favorite lure to catch just about any species. Good job!

[Dogface]

1 hour ago, OmegaDPW said:

Gotta love the Beetle Spin. My favorite lure to catch just about any species. Good job!

 

I stopped Tuesday for a few minutes at a local lake. I took one Beetle Spin and had 4 small bass in 15 minutes. They just catch fish!

[OmegaDPW]

4 hours ago, Dogface said:

 

I stopped Tuesday for a few minutes at a local lake. I took one Beetle Spin and had 4 small bass in 15 minutes. They just catch fish!

 

Yep. I'm a bank fisherman and usually bring two poles. One rigged with a worm and another with the Spin. I'm usually set for whatever is in that pond.