What constitutes a banner fishing trip? Catching fish must rank as one of the primary ingredients but also camaraderie with family and friends, possible the weather could play a part. Catching the biggest or most fish of one’s life could be a factor! Many things could contribute to creating one of those fishing trips that remain etched in our memory banks forever. Such a trip occurred last week that I’m about to tell you about, a few hours out on the water with some fine friends catching blue catfish in a very exciting and action-packed manner.

I don’t wish to mislead you, I absolutely love the tug of a big catfish while fishing with rod and reel, it’s the stuff great fishing memories are made but there’s  another style of catching catfish that is action packed and a great way to catch the making of many fish fries!

The term “jug line fishing” is an old one and goes back to the days when a section of line is tied to a milk jug, hooks attached and usually baited with cut bait.  The jugs are tossed into the water and the angler keeps close watch from his boat. When one of the jugs begins bouncing or move across the surface of the water, the angler motors or paddles to catch up with the jug, uses a gaff to hook the line and then either hoists a small catfish into the boat or nets a big one!

A few fishermen still use the old-style milk jugs but most now use “noodles” which are actually sections of swimming pool noodles, usually about 14 inches long with a piece of PVC pipe running through the center and extending out a few inches so that the fishing line can be attached. Each end of the pipe is capped, and some noodles have round pieces of lead installed. The noodles lay flat in the water and when a catfish pulls the bait down, the ball rolls down and causes the noodle to stand up, making it more visible from a distance. There are many variations to noodles, and many fishermen add their alterations to suit their style of fishing. Usually two very sharp circle hooks are attached. Circle hooks are preferred over “J” style hooks because when a fish takes the bait and begins to swim away, the hook threads into the corner of the fishes mouth, much like a corkscrew.

NOW TO THE FISHING- My friend’s lake is comprised of over a couple hundred acres, actually a giant gravel pit that was created back in the fifties. As is common with most gravel pits, the excavation process left a very irregular bottom. There are areas in the lake that are very shallow and spots with deep water, ideal habitat for all sorts of fish but especially blue and channel catfish. The river is not far away and during periods of floods and high water, the lake has been stocked with blue catfish through the years. Blue catfish in such a larger watershed will also spawn which ensures a good supply of these good eating catfish.

As one would expect, there is very healthy population of gar in the lake and Donny has a big boat designed for bowfishing. With an elevated platform to shoot from, this boat is ideal for jug line fishing. We launched on the south end of the lake and motored north, the idea was to place the noodles on the north side of the lake and allow a gentle northerly breeze to drift the noodles across the lake.  The plan was to place a total of 22 noodles across the lake all baited with cut bait, roughly 30 yards apart and then position the boat upwind and with Jeff Rice up in the elevated shooting deck, to watch for one of the noodles to begin bobbing or scooting across the surface. After tossing out four or five noodles, the first one began skiing across the lake’s surface. Immediately we stopped baiting and tossing out noodles and raced to catch up with that first jug. A chunky blue catfish was in the boat before we got half the noodles out, so the morning went. It took us a good fifteen minutes to get all the noodles baited and in the water. Every time we resumed tossing out noodles, a catfish would grab one we had just set. Very early on this trip, it was very obvious we were in for some exciting catching!  In a couple hours we had a big 54-quart cooler chock full of catfish, most weighing between 4 and 8 pounds but a couple that would tip the scales in the mid-teens.

In the planning stage of our trip, we discussed bringing rods and reels and drift fish for the blues while watching the noodles but we decided against it. That was a good call, we were kept busy for a solid couple hours pulling in fish, rebaiting and positioning the noodles. The rods would have only gotten in the way.

A highlight of the trip occurred when one of the noodles we were near simply disappeared below the water’s surface, much like a floater when a crappie grabs the bait! A couple of us observed the entire noodle go under and every eye was watching for it up bob back to the surface. A good 25 yards away, the noodle surfaced and then began skiing across the lake’s surface. We first thought a forty- or fifty-pound blue catfish had grabbed the bait. It took some boat maneuvering on Donny’s part but we finally caught up with the noodle, pulled it to the boat with the gaff, and grabbed it. On closer inspection, it was obvious this was no catfish, not even a giant one but rather a powerful alligator gar. We managed to get the hook out of the corner of the big fish’s mouth after several action-packed minutes. We were all hoping the big fish would simply pull loose but with the help of needle nose pliers were were about to dislodge the hook and release the monster back to the murky depths!

Back at the launch we divided the catfish. It took a solid hour for me to transform my share into snow white blue catfish nuggets, ready for a huge fish fry at the Seventh Annual Outdoor Revendzous at the Top Rail Cowboy Church in Greenville on March 28. You’re invited to come and sample of this very fresh catfish, landed with great friends on a mid winter fishing trip that none of us will soon forget!

Contact outdoors writer Luke Clayton through his website www.catfishradio.org.  Catfish radio can be heard on KOXE 101.3 every Saturday at 9 am following Lone Star Trail Outdoors with Nathan Smith at 8 am.  You can also listen to “Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and Friends” just about everywhere podcasts are found.