Ahhhh... the sun is here! well it is now at least, as I write this piece I cant help looking out the window and thinking I should be out enjoying such a rarity with a couple of baits in the drink but hey ho needs must and all that jazz. most people I can see have smiles on there face's and are donning summer wear and sunglasses.Its amazing what a bit of sun can do, even the most miserable of cranks in my town seem to be in remotely good spirits, its as if the warmth has awoken them from there usual state of anti social grumpy-ness. Myself and Tyrone were hoping the same applied with the Catfish as we headed up to Zygs place.The car was full to the brim with bait and heavy tackle to go with the heavy drum n bass we had booming on our way up the A30.
Upon arrival we were greeted by Zyg who proceeded to crack the usual pussy jokes with a big smile on his face, he also modestly ( lol ) informed us that he had recently broken another world record with a 1000lb plus Shark some where off Norway. Any-way to the dismay of the other fish Zyg has literally hundreds of Wels Catfish lurking in many of his many waters, we decided to target a water with around a dozen Wels in it, yes there are other lakes containing higher numbers but we decided to gamble and go for a biggy.
Its still early for the Cats so we decided not to feed to much on the first night and see what happened, heavy carp tackle was used to present simple running rigs with a 22mm halibut pellet tipped with a pop up hanging of a size 1 Fox arma point.After casting the baits out we used a Spomb to introduce a small amount of pellet and fishy mix for added attraction.
It was then just a case of playing the old waiting game,we were both very excited at the prospect of a big fat catfish.The day went very quickly and I soon found myself settling in for the night; which we all know is prime time for the trap to be sprung.Will I be called to burst out of my sleeping bag as if I had woken up sharing it with an Conger eel?
The answer to that was yes! at 5am I had a slow stuttery take, I lept to attention and was on the rods like a flash.The alarm fell silent for a few seconds before the spool started to rip off again.Catfish on!!! the fish bent my 3.25lb tc rod into full submission the trouble was after around a minute or so the hook pulled, I re-set and cast the rod back out feeling a little bit annoyed, no more chances came our way that night but we still had another day in our favour and conditions were looking spot on for a bite with a very warm night with lots of cloud cover blocking the light of the moon completely.
The day past uneventfully, (as it usually does when targeting Cats) with no visible signs of fish movement and a blank first night we again kept the baiting very light. Fresh hook-baits and small top up of pellet was all we felt were needed to coax a bite if the fish got moving, the night was very warm and had an almost stormy feel to it, the light levels were also good with no sign of the moon which is just the way I like it.Confidence was high;all that was missing was a smelly wet net. I was happy to be rudely awoken by the sound of a delkim screaming off, a second chance had been granted and this time I had a good firm hook hold which didn't let me down during a 20 minute guided tour of the lake.
Bingo! my first Cat of the season, at 27lb she turned out to be the baby of the lake.Ugly as sin but my god they don't arf pull back.Unfortunately Ty didn't make it onto the score board but I'm sure we'll be back to sort that one out.
Til next time
Good luck
