# Wow, what a night!



## Steelwolve (Apr 18, 2006)

Monday, Mike and I headed out to Hoover. We got on the water about 6pm and hit about 30 shad with the net, the bite had been pretty slow so we figured that was more than enough. We were headed out to the only spot we have landed any in, in about 2 weeks when I decided to pull off and try the back end of an Island. As soon as we got there we heard thrashing in the water, after looking around for a couple of minutes, and figuring they were carp spawning, we saw that they were BIG male channels spawning / protecting??? on their nests. There were literally 50+ fish splashing about and going crazy all around us, was truly an incredible thing to watch. Now at this point we were talking about how they must be spawning and we probably wont get a bite. I have always been told that during the spawn they are only focused on doing their business and that they wont eat, ... Well that theory is TOTALLY false. As soon as we put our shad out... Bam... we went through that 30 shad in about a half hour, landing only 3, my new PB 16# channel, and a 5# and 4# female. We were missing them like crazy, so we switched down to a 1/8 oz sinker and up to 8 ott circles. And then went back on the shad hunt, we searched all over and couldn't get any , so we went all the way back to the bridge, (mind you I only have trolling motor and thats a half hour ride) An hour and a half later we got back on the spot with another 50 shad, the action had not slowed down. We ended up getting 28 total, most were between 5-8#s with 5 fish over 10#'s. Lost 2 FAT males at the boat that looked 20#'s easy. It was to the point that if you had your pole out for more than 2 mins without a bite they already got ya. This was the funnest night of fishing Ive ever had, there were many times I was fighting 2 fish at a time. So if you hear thrashing in the shallows, DONT assume they are carp, and dont assume they wont bite, get in there and nail em.. Also we CPR all our fish, hopefully not hurting the spawn.


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## lucky1 (Jun 6, 2007)

Thats Incredible! Nice job those are some huge channels, and I bet your blood was pumping at the sight of that. I have had that happen to me once and it's something you can't explain to people that weren't there, and running out of bait really makes you feel like its a race to get more; especially when you don;t want to leave....EVER


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## neocats1 (Oct 14, 2006)

congrats. It is a lot of fun when you find them feeding like that.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

Catfish thread of the year!!!!!

That's a HUGE channel, way to go!


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## JUSTCRAZY (Apr 6, 2004)

Nice!!!!!!!!!


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Steelwolve,

Great job on the fish, Man thats a blast when you can get them like that, they could have been feeding on Shad that were up in there, I know your "Hooked on Catfish" now, great pictures that one is a huge Channel, bet they pulled on the strings just a tad..............Doc


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## gbourne (May 21, 2008)

Awesom night!!!


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

> they could have been feeding on Shad that were up in there,


exactly my thoughts.this time of year,those things go crazy in the shallows,herding shad sometimes.they're apparently a little late this year due to the screwball spring weather.
definitely some dandy fish,guys.shows why hoover stays at the top of the list for FO awards every year.


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Thats also agreat time to suspend Shad under a bobber, generally it will pick-up the bigger fish because it is up off the bottom............Doc


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

That first cat you posted is massive. Way to go man, sounds like a great night!


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## CatCarnage (Jul 17, 2007)

Best night ever as far as size balanced with numbers!! Plus chris s 16 lber wasnt the biggest we seen. But that was followed by the worst trip ever less then 24 hrs later. I caught 2 fish same spot and got stuck by a fish spine wich when about 2 inches in my hand by FAR worse injury i ve had fishing gonna put me down for a while. Fishing gods give and then send u to the hospital!! All worth it though!!!


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## tcba1987 (Jun 22, 2004)

all i can say is WOW !! those are some beautiful channel cats !! CONGRATS !!


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## One Legged Josh (Jan 27, 2008)

Nice fish! congrats on the PB!


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## Steelwolve (Apr 18, 2006)

Thanks for the replies guys, Yep defiantly one I wont soon forget. As for them feeding in there, that was for sure. The thing that made me think they were spawning, was that on several occasions during the daylight we saw 2 males like "fighting" and they were consistently in the same areas, also many of the males had fresh spawn sores. (seen pictures on here of those sores and the posts said thats what the marks were). But I didn't find any "spawned out" females, all still had fat belly's. Regardless spawning, feeding, or whatever, it was a blast.


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## ronnie_everett10 (May 20, 2008)

Congrats!!!those are some nice channels for sure!!i had a night like that 2 years ago at clendening lake cats were everywhere we ended up with i think 29 cats that nite and had 5 over 10 lbs!anyways thats a night to remember,keep up the good work catchin those biggins!


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## catfish_hunter (May 31, 2005)

Congrats on a great night guys! Those are some dang nice channels!:B


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## demcanes504 (Apr 17, 2008)

damn! and I thought i had a great day on hoover! I cauoght 76 crappie! Most were 10in...big blacks..and at least 10 where 13 14in! what kind ouf boat do yuo have?


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## Bubba bass bigfoot (May 8, 2006)

Nice fish and good trip. Im thinking about getting out tonight or tomorrow. Not sure where but hope their hitting.


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## BottomBouncer (Jan 20, 2005)

Man, if those are males I wonder how big the females are...

Nice job!!!


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## cmiller (Jun 3, 2008)

Great cats! I'm sorry but, I would have atleast kept the first one!


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