Catfish in the River

From: Capt. Jim Hammond
Date: August 28, 2002
Time: 11:01:24

Catfish in the River

Catching large catfish in the lower St. Johns River can be fun and very challenging. I had the opportunity to get in some of this action this past week with Alex and Ralph Thomason in Dunns Creek in the Palatka area.

We started the day casting the Fitec cast net for some live shrimp. The shrimp run in northeast Florida, as all of you the fish, know is one of the best that we have had in some years and as the months slide by, the shrimp are just going to get larger.

Alex likes to throw a ten foot net and because we were shrimping in 18 feet of water, he had put lawn chair webbing on the bottom of the net. Locally, you can go to Thrifty Bait and Tackle on Cassatt Ave, 786-9080, to get your net and the webbing put on. The lawn chair webbing acts like a parachute and holds the net open as it falls. This is a must in water deeper that about 8 to 10 feet deep. With a net this size, it only took him about ten throws to get plenty of nice size shrimp to be used as our offering for this day.

After we managed to get a live well full of pretty good size shrimp, we made about a ten minute run into Dunns Creek, to a bend that Ralph has been fishing since before most of us were born. See, Alex's dad, Ralph is 81 years old. Do you think he has some fish stories to tell.

We eased up to an old fallen tree and tied off the boat to one of the braches that was protruding from the depths. The routine was going to be like trout fishing with a float rig, except, we had big logs just under our bait, this was going to be a factor on any fish larger than a pound or so.

I hooked a shrimp and sent him out in search of our quarry, Mr. Catfish. On my first drift, I let the drift go a little long and found one of the many hang-ups in this deep dark water. After some pulling and grunting, I managed to get everything back except my hook, I was lucky, not to give up the entire rig and might have if I had not been using Power Pro on my spool. I decided at this time to beef up with a little stouter hook, just in case I managed to hook into a nice one. My hook of choice was a Daiichi D-18 in 1/0 size. This hook out of the box will pierce steel and is strong enough to bring the largest of Mr. Catfish to the boat without worry of the hook straightening out.

Now keep in mind, Alex and his dad had been here before and had caught some nice ones here last week, so they sort of knew the routine as I was trying to watch them to catch on to the correct way to fish this area. After each of them had made a few drifts without any success, the each locked down the free spool and set their rods on the holders. I was still making drifts and winding back to the boat and letting it drift again. After a few more times of this, I decided that they had the right idea, send the bait out to the spot and put the rod in the holder, sit back and wait. I liked this, nice and relaxing, just watching the float and waiting for it to go down.

I decided this would be a great time to get familiar with something cold to drink. This was great, out with a couple of buddies, sitting back in a comfortable chair, sipping on a cold drink waiting for the float to go out of site. Just about the time, I got real comfortable, the float went down and the rod doubled over. I jumped up, grabbed the rod, set the hook and said, "THIS IS A NICE FISH get the camera". After some lucky maneuvering and the use of a stout hook, I managed to get him out of the stumps and heading toward the boat. So far I was impressed, this fish pulled good and the excitement of trying to keep him out of the stumps was great. After a few minutes, I managed to get him close enough to the boat to get a net on him and what a fish. This bad boy was going to weigh in at about 8 pounds and with his blackish blue skin color and giant head, he looked like something from the movie The Black Lagoon.

This is pretty neat, a very nice blue cat and a real good pull on my string. If they are all like this, I am going to have a real good time. You know what happened next, I had to gloat just a little, after catching the first one in their waters. After my short moment of grinning from ear to ear, I checked my leader for frays, hooked another shrimp and sent the rig back out. On this drift I only made it half way out before my float went down. I quickly locked down the free spool and set the hook, on what was going to be another nice fish. This fish did not head down but out to what I thought to be deeper water. After a few seconds, I felt him take me under a log and I could feel the Power Pro sawing back and forth as he pulled me farther and farther in the stumps and logs. I quietly said, "oops, I am in trouble now", as this fish did not want to come to dinner. I tightened down just a little on the drag and said, "He's coming out or I am going to break him off." After a little more tug of war with the fish, he started to come towards the boat. I could still feel the Power Pro sawing back and forth on those logs, but he was coming. All of the sudden, he was out of the logs and heading towards the boat. A few seconds later and in the net he came, another nice fish about 7 pounds. I am really loving this, I am fishing their spot and catching all of the fish. For any of you that know Alex, you know he is hating this. One thing Alex did teach me several years ago, and this is kind of his motto, "kick um while their down". So you can just imagine the fun that I was having now.

After a little fun with him, I sent out another shrimp and once again, I was hooked up. This fish did just as he was supposed to and came right to the boat before he started to act up. A few runs and some nice pulls and he was ready for the net. Once again I managed to land a pretty nice fish. This one was about five pounds and the same as the first two, a blue cat.

I can just imagine that by now, Alex and his dad were wishing they had left me at the dock, especially with all of the razzing that I was giving them.

I kind of figured that if I wanted to get another invite, I had better slack off and let them catch something, so I sent out my rig without bait and let it just sit there. I knew this was a sure fired way to not catch another fish.

I was all relaxed, sitting back in the chair with a sandwich in one hand and a cold drink in the other when Ralph hooked up. Alex jumped up to help his dad and after a short battle another nice 3 pound catfish came to the net. Over the next hour or so, Alex and Ralph put another 8 fish in the boat and the final fish of the day was about a 6 pounder that decided he wanted to come and see Ralph.

Here is what we were doing and the rig that we were using.

We eased along until we found a deep drop in a bend in the river. We then tied off to a tree that was over hanging out far enough for us to fish the deep drop. We then took out Shakespeare 7 foot long Ugly Stik Lite rods with our Pflueger Trion bait cast reels that were spooled with 20 pound test Power Pro, tied on a trout float rig and a Daiichi D-18 1/0 hook with a live shrimp. We sent this out behind the boat and let the bait drift just about a foot off of the bottom. The fish were coming up from the bottom and sucking down our shrimp and then heading back into the logs.

Give this a try on some of these hot summer days and you to can experience some hard fighting fish, that cook up real good.

You can catch this trip on my television show in a couple of weeks, so tune in and watch us having fun on Fun Fishing.

LOCAL REPORT: The jetties are producing a few sharks and reds, with a occasional tarpon mixed in. The kingfish have just about gone from the beach, but a few are being caught a little further out. The bottom fish, snapper and grouper, are just now starting to show up on some of the inshore reefs. Try a live finger mullet or live pinfish for some pretty good results on these bottom bruisers.

The inshore waters are still producing good numbers of small reds and a few pretty nice trout, but you are having to work for the trout. The flounder are still in the creeks and some of the creeks are stacked up pretty good with these tasty fish. Nassau sound is starting to get a pretty good bite of whiting. Try a small piece of dead shrimp with a small piece of Fish Bites for some good action.

The St. Johns south of downtown is holding real good numbers of croakers, reds, trout and a few stripers. Look for deep drops, bridges and shell banks. The docks are still holding a few flounder and some nice jacks can be seen busting bait in the middle of the river on calm days.

I have secured a deal with Duval Ford Commercial and Fleet sales for all persons that call them and say that they watch my show or read my articles to get an unbelievable deal on any new Ford car or truck, when purchased from them. You will need to call 381-6558 and ask for Mike Tudor or go to www.duvalford.com. I just purchased a new truck and they saved me almost $8000.00 dollars.

Charter Information: Capt. Jim Hammond is an inshore saltwater charter guide in Jacksonville, Florida and can be reached to book a trip by calling 904 757 7550. Moms and Dads: Remember mom and dad, spend some time with your sons and daughters taking them fishing and you will not be looking for them come Friday and Saturday nights, as they will be home in bed waiting to go the next day. (I am not just saying this because it sounds good. I MEAN IT, YOU WON'T BE LOOKING FOR THEM.)

Television Fishing Show:

Catch some local fishing action Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 8:30 am on cable channel 7 WTWN in Jacksonville, the Beaches and Clay County and Thursday nights at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 10:30 am on channel 22 WQXT in St. Augustine and St. Johns County.

Good Fishing

Capt. Jim Hammond

jim@hammondfishing.com

http://www.hammondfishing.com

(904) 757-7550

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Capt. Jim Hammond is a native of Jacksonville and has been fishing since he was a small boy. He has been a full time licensed guide for 7 years, and has been the host of his own television fishing show for three years.

Capt. Jim fishes with conventional tackle or the fly rod. He is an accomplished fly tying expert for flies that work in this area for reds, trout, tarpon, flounder, jacks, blues and sheepshead.

Capt. Jim GUARANTEES you will have FUN on his boat.

Contact Info: Capt. Jim Hammond 17184 Dorado Cr. Jacksonville, FL 32226 Phone: 904-757-7550 Fax: 904-757-7550 Email The Captain Visit His Web Site