Tara's 15 lb 6 oz Channel Catfish @ Mullet Lake

Went to the St Johns river bank last night with Kyle, Tara, and Zack. The menu last night was cut mullet and cut shad. This was the first time Tara hiked with us to the river bank at Mullet Lake Park. She had no problem walking through the thick grass and weeds to get to our spot. Zack on the other hand, his first time was more like this "Guys.... ok....lets turn around and go back." :)

So we got to our spot and setup the rods. Between the 4 of us, we had a total of 5 rods out in the water. I let Tara use the spare yellow Eagle Claw rod which was already setup for catfishing anyway. At around 12:30 AM, Tara landed a hell of a catfish using cut shad for bait. It was a 15 LB 6 OZ Channel Catfish! Yuuaaaaa

Here's photos of her glorious catch...

4lb 12oz Channel Catfish & Florida Gar

Kyle, Zack, and myself have found a fishing spot thats holding some large channel cats. We fished the Mullet Lake Park river bank last night for the 3rd time. Last week Zack caught a monster 17 lb channel and a small gar from the same spot.

Last night using cut mullet on a 6/0 circle hook, I first landed a good sized Florida Gar that was about 3 LB. It wasn't happy at all so we didn't get a chance to put it on the scale. Then around 2:00 AM I landed my first channel catfish weighing 4 LB 12 OZ. These were the only two fish of the night and both were caught on my Wild Cat rod.

Species: Channel Catfish
Tackle: Gamakatsu 6/0 octopus circle hook
Weight: 4 lb 12 oz
Bait: cut mullet

6 LB Bowfin @ Mullet Lake Park

Last nights fishing was about to end without a decent fish landed. I had caught one bluegill but that was it. There were good bites coming from both rods and I had a couple fish on for awhile, but no luck landing them. Actually just minutes after my first cast I had a big fish on the Shimano/Pflueger rod & reel, but as I'm retrieving I noticed I'm snagged on the dock. Just great! I'm keeping pressure on the fish while I try to figure out where I'm snagged and turned out to be a protruding nail towards the end of the dock. I unsnagged my line and I'm reeling in the fish now, and just as it's within a few feet of the dock, it was free. I caught a glimpse of it and it definitly was pretty big, most likely another bowfin.

At the end of the night, I was taking some stuff back to the car and on the way back I saw my Shimano Scimitar make an "upside down J" shape. Quickly ran to the dock as my drag is singing. Reeled in a nice bowfin this time. It didn't seem any longer than the ones I caught before, but this one had a big belly. It weighed at 6 LB which makes it my personal best bowfin so far.

Species: Bowfin
Weight: 6 lb
Bait: cut shad

Bowfin and Warmouth - Two-Day Fishing Report

Fishing Report for 2/24/11: Fished off the boat dock at Mullet Lake Park at night, and got a few bites here and there. I didn't catch anything until late in the evening just before I was about to leave. I was packing up my gear and saw my rod tip slightly, so I reeled in and had a fish that looked like a bass at first. It was a Warmouth fish. These fish have a stout, deep body that is similar to a bluegill but also have a large bass-like mouth. They are not strong fighters at all, and they're normally not active at night. They are capable of living up to eight years and reaching a weight of approximately one pound. The Florida state record is only 2-1/2 lb.

Species: Warmouth
Bait: cut shad
Rig: Carolina rig with 5/0 circle hook

Fishing Report for 2/25/11: This night was much better than the previous night. I was getting consistant bites throughout the night, some runners and some nibbles. I caught a total of (3) fish in about 3 hours, biggest was a 26" bowfin that weighed close to six pounds. I also caught two bluegills with small pieces of cut shad fished on the bottom. The bluegills I took home to freeze for bait another time, but everything else was released. Here's a breakdown of the night catch.

Species: Bowfin
Weight: 3 lb 9 oz
Bait: cut shad

Species: Warmouth
Bait: cut shad

Species: Bowfin
Weight: 5 lb 10 oz
Bait: cut shad

How I Fish For Catfish - The Carolina Rig

The Carolina rig is the most popular fishing rig for bottom feeding fish such as catfish. You won't need much and it's very easy to learn. I tie all my knots with the palomar knot. It's a strong knot that has not failed me yet.

What You Need:
1 - Barrel Swivel
1 - Egg Sinker (weight depends on water current, I use a 1 oz)
1 - Circle Hook (4/0 - 8/0 depending on target size)
1 - Leader Line material

Zack's 17 LB Channel Catfish

Mullet Lake Park last night with Kyle, Zack, and myself was a night to remember for all of us. We started fishing the boat dock and wasn't having much luck. So we ended up taking a few big flashlights and walking out to the river bank. We had 4 poles between the three of us and I got to use my new Fishin' Stix extendable rod holders.

The bait on our hooks was frozen cut shad and frozen mullet. Zack's rod was the only one using cut mullet and that was the ticket for the catch. He got a good hit and picked up his rod, fish on! It was a monster 17 LB Channel Catfish! It was a little difficult to land because he got tangled with two other fishing rods during retrieve and we were on a high river bank, but we got it in with the help of my yellow fish grips. The 6/0 circle hook set perfectly into it's bottom lip and it just just a matter of not breaking the line. Zack did a great job being patient with the fish and this is his first fish he's caught with us. He certainly set the bar with the best fish I've seen landed so far.

Species: Channel Catfish
Size: 17 LB
Bait: cut mullet
Rig: Carolina rig with 6/0 circle hook

13 oz Yellow Bullhead @ Mullet Lake Park

Another night by myself at the fishing dock. The frozen shad was thawed by the time I arrived so I baited my hooks and casted 2 rods. As I was preparing a 3rd rod, my Okuma baitfeeder was clicking. It was a large fish hooked but after a few seconds of reeling, it got away. It all came down to a cheap snap swivel that bent straight, letting the hook slide off and costing me the catch. So from now on, I'll tie the hook directly to the leader line without a swivel. It's really not neccessary to have a swivel on anyway because I don't change hooks that much when catfishing.

I caught a little 13 oz bullhead awhile later, but that was it. I had bites but nothing else wanted to run with the bait.

Yellow Bullhead @ Mullet Lake Park

It was a Saturday night with a full moon in a clear sky. For a weekend night, there were no boat trailers parked in the lot. The conditions were right and the weather was nice, a little over 60 degrees. The bait tonight was frozen cut shad. The line setup was carolina rig on both rods I was using, with a 5/0 circle hook.

While tying up a third rod for fishing, I heard the baitfeeder go off on my Okuma/Wild Cat rod. Then nothing. I thought something had tried to take the bait but spit it out. I picked up the rod but didn't feel any tension or shaking, I figured there wasn't anything on the other end. So I reeled in, and about halfway in I felt a slight wiggle and shake. It was a little Yellow Bullhead that had apparently hooked himself and wasn't powerful enough to notice at first. The fish weighed only 12 oz, but these yellow bulls generally average less than a pound anyway.

Species: Yellow Bullhead
Size: 12 oz
Bait: frozen cut shad
Rig: Carolina rig with 5/0 circle hook

Two 3 LB+ Sunshine Bass @ Mullet Lake Park

I was fishing for catfish and american shad today at Mullet Lake Park. No shad again, which could mean our shad run is coming to an end soon. For catfish bait, I was using small 1" squares of frozen cut shad on a 2/0 circle hook. No catfish today either but I ended up with 2 nice hybrid bass. These are Sunshine Bass, a hybrid cross between Striped Bass and White Bass. Sunshines can often be distinguished from Striped Bass by broken or irregular stripes on the front half of body and straight lines on the rear half of body. A mid-body break in line pattern occasionally occurs.

The two Sunshines I caught today were both 3 lb, with the biggest one weighing 3 lb 3 oz and 17 1/2" long.

Species: Sunshine 'Hybrid' Bass
Bait: frozen cut shad
Rig: Carolina rig

Toadfish @ South Causeway - New Smyrna

Zack and I went to both causeways at New Smyrna last night. Stopped by the North Causeway first, but couldn't find any mullet there. Then headed down the road to the South Causeway under the SR44 bridge. Very nice area to fish, and plenty of room so your not fighting for a spot. There's the main dock under the bridge that most people fish and then there's a long stretch along the sea wall with about 3-4 smaller docks. The mullet were running pretty good next to the first seawall dock closest to the main dock, next to the light. We got some small finger mullets that are ideal size for live bait. Another group of people had a bucket of about 100 or so mullet they caught.

It started raining so we headed under the bridge to start fishing. I used the carolina rig on my Wild Cat rod, with a 4/0 circle hook. I put a live finger mullet on my hook through the nostril and casted out towards structure. Awhile later I was just checking my bait and felt a slight pull on my rod. Reeled in and got this ugly looking fish pictured below, which is a Toadfish. This was the only fish caught that night between me and Zack though.