Deep Bottom Blues

I got a call from Rob Choi on Friday asking if I wanted to join him on the James River in search of big catfish. Its no secret that just south of the city you can hook up to a 40+ lbs cat on any given day, so I was excited to give it a try. We met at the Deep Bottom ramp at 6:00am to colder than forecasted temperatures and a steady breeze that wasn't helping. Rob had a cooler full of gizzard shad his boss had left over from the previous day, and had some holes he thought would hold fish, so we were ready to get bowed up. The morning started out a little slow as we moved from spot to spot looking for a bite. Thousand and thousands of Canadian Geese overhead kept me entertained while waiting on a run. I couldn't help but wish I was in a blind. The daydreaming came to an abrupt end when my clicker finally made some noise and my line started moving across the water. I reeled down and let the line come tight, then immediately put as much pressure as I could on the fish, as he was getting ready to cross one of my other lines. I could tell it was a good sized fish, but not the citation blue I really wanted. He did get wrapped up in my other lines, but with the reels in free spool it wasn't a concern. As I lipped him and swung up and in the boat, the fish bit down on my thumb like a vise grip. Even after I laid him between my legs, he wouldn't let go.

                                                                         My personal best blue cat @ 30" 21lbs

Rob had a bunch of good runs and finally landed another blue just a little smaller than mine. We continued to try other holes but found no takers and ended the day around 2:00. I was asleep on the couch within the hour! Thanks for the invite Rob. Hope to give it another try again soon.