CS Lee Park - 2 Catfish and The One That Got Away

Wednesday (last night) was the first day of the approaching cold front. The temperatures started to drop by late afternoon when gusty winds came through central Florida. By evening it was in the low 60's, with breezy winds and a few strong gusts. The moon tonight was half full, and the fishing forecast said GO FISHING. You don't have to pull my arm though, I'll go fishing regardless! LOL

Anyway, I arrived at CS Lee Park around 10-10:30pm. The river is still flooded, no surprise there. But the best part about the water levels being high is that my fishing spot is closer to the parking lot. So while I was fishing, I was just leaning up against my car watching my rods for a bite. Plus I almost got attacked by fire ants while standing in the grass. When I say almost attacked, I mean there were several crawling up my right pants leg. I must have stepped on an ant hill that I didn't see. Luckily I noticed before they got very far and brushed them all off.

Ok so the bite last night was pretty good, especially for the hour between 11pm and midnight. I think that's the timeframe where I caught the two catfish you see below. Both catfish started with small bites for several minutes before self setting the hook in their mouth. Maybe it's because my hook size was a little too big, or they were just tasting the bait before inhaling it.

Then it was after 1am, not sure exactly what time but I hooked into something that was doing the same behavior. It started with small bites, it would shake my line a little bit and then stop. This kept going on for awhile until it was finially hooked. The fight was pretty nice, it was definitly alot bigger than the two I already caught. During the fight it kept trying to shake me off and even made a couple nice splashes on topwater. Usually I can tell if it's a gar or catfish by the way it fights. A Florida gar usually makes quick dashes once hooked but quickly gives up. A good fighting catfish, however, will keep you on your toes the whole way in. Another one is the Longnose Gar, which is much more powerful and bigger than the Florida Gar. It doesn't give up like it's smaller cousin either. Common to see splashes on topwater and really fast long runs during the fight for longnose gars. I've had some big catfish splash the topwater during fights too. So basically, this big fish I hooked didn't make it to the shore but I was very close! I had it within maybe 5-6 feet and all of a sudden the hook pops out. All I had left was a bare hook! My best guess is it probably was a Longnose Gar or Channel Catfish around 10 lb. Dang that would've been nice to catch! :)

Location: CS Lee Park, Geneva FL
Tackle: 6/0 Owners Light Mutu hook on carolina rig - 3 oz no-roll sinker

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 2 LB
Bait: cut mullet

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 1 LB 6 OZ
Bait: cut mullet