I'm Back from Fishing

Trevor and Kenny arranged a fishing trip for Blue Catfish for seven people, mostly from their church, but including me.  We met at Goose Bay Marina and Trailer Park on Nanjemoy Creek Port Tobacco River off the Potomac River.

The captain and mate were a few minutes late, so I actually got a shot of the charter boat in the light.

Upon reaching the river, we turned north (upstream) and steamed a few miles until the Captain found the sonar signatures he was looking for, fairly large marks hanging on the the upstream side of "holes" (likely just changes in bottom topography).

We had beautiful weather, almost calm, which made fishing much easier. 

We anchored in position to cast to the holes behind the boat.  The rig was a simple slip sinker (about 4 oz) with a 18 inch 50 lb leader, and a large circle hook, baited with a large chunk of Menhaden (or Mud Shad). We began to catch fish immediately, with most of the fish around 5 lbs.

Joe holds the big fish of the day about 25 lbs, while Trevor photobombs the picture. 

Blue cats, of course, are a fairly recent introduction to the Chesapeake system, and are considered a harmful invasive species. DNR has no size or number limit, and would probably prefer you to kill them and dump them rather than release them.

We fished until a little after noon, having moved the boat to a "new" hole a couple of times when the bite slowed. At the end, we laid the fish out on deck for a count, and a picture. 67 fish, with two being caught while we were laying the fish out on deck.

I kept four (it turns out filleting catfish is a bitch), so Trevor has a big cooler full of fish to distribute at church.