# One bite; one nice blue cat



## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

I meet my friend and his brother at his pontoon boat; we headed down river around 8 P.M. My friend headed the boat for the Mill Creek to net some shad for bait. They were a little hard to get, did net around 14 in around 30 minutes. 
We anchored up just below the Mill Creek and got our lines in the river 
about 9:30. At 10:10 my reel just started singing, pulled back and knew I had a nice fish. In the darkness it was hard to see where my line was, finally got a flash light on the water. It was then I realize this fish was heading under the boat. It took some effort to get it to the side of the boat so it could be netted. My friend got the fish in the net and then the line broke. 

The Bluecat weighted 17.5 pounds and was 34 inches long. That fish took my garlic scented chicken breast instead of the fresh shad on all the other rods.

We headed back up to the marina around 11 since no more bites. It was a nice night to out on the river, marked a lot of fish they just had lock jaw.

Here are the photos of the Blue cat!


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## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

gotta love that chicken breast! i have had it out perform shad on many occasions.


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## hunterm (Apr 22, 2004)

You've had a good couple of trips on the blues of late.. Congrats!


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

That is one good lookin Cat.
Nice job!


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Nice fish Norb, Man you fish with some weird baits and are very productive at it, I need to keep that in the back of my mind when Shad and Skips are scarce.................Doc


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Nice fish Norb!! I agree with Dink and Doc, and that its funny at all the tourneys how the first 3 -4 places will all say , "they would only hit Skippies, wouldnt touch shad or mooneye, then the next place says, they only would hit mooneyes and wouldnt touch the shad or skippies, and the next team will say they got em on Shad as there skippies and mooneyes wouldnt get a hit. Its ironic but ultimately, as wild predators, if they are feeding, they are not passing up a meal, no matter what it is. Just look at bass and some of the weird bais that are used to catch bass, look nothing like any natuaral prey. 

I am sure seasonally and if certain fish are following a certain school of say shad, that might be preferred over another, but I think thats more the exception then the rule. 

Recently fishing locally, I took a carp on a crank bait, a spotted bass on a piece of cut shad and last night in my pond, took a nice perch on a shad head...all out of the normal bounds of what we think of as bait....or is it, food for thought....... again, keep getting them Norb, the bite has been good lately, Me and Mellon are headed down Sat am

Salmonid


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## longhaulpointer (Mar 12, 2009)

man that fish looks a lot bigger than 17 lbs, nice and long. I fish that area alot but usually drift it from the creek to the anchored barge at the bend. Lot of snags but productive


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Nice catch!


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## GhostX (May 24, 2010)

That is a nice blue, and yes I agree with longhaul, sure looks a lot bigger than 17lbs.


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## Booosh (Jun 2, 2006)

nice looking fish


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## gregtina (May 30, 2010)

nice pic......wish there was better big cat fishing here


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## esker3 (Jun 13, 2010)

Hopefully this isnt a stupid question but, whats up with chicken breast bait. I usually use shrimp and all the other usual suspects but havent heard of the chicken.


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