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John's Journal... Entry 146, Day 2

KING CAT TOURNAMENT

Ricky Crider's Big Fish

EDITOR'S NOTE: Chester Bumgardener, 52, from Huntingdon, Tennessee, has been fishing for cats for 45 years. He and his partner Ricky Crider won the 2002 King Cat/Boatel Tournament in May on the Tennessee River's Pickwick Lake on the Mississippi/Tennessee/Alabama border.

QUESTION: Ricky, what was the biggest catch you caught today?
ANSWER: Our biggest fish weighed 24 pounds. We caught it about 9:30 this morning. That fish took the bait in about 52 feet of water.

QUESTION: Why did you think a cat would hold that deep?
ANSWER: I didn't mean to catch it then. The wind blew us off the bank we were on and off the drop-off.

QUESTION: How deep of water were you fishing?
ANSWER: We were fishing in about 42 feet of water at that time. My line got hung, and I had to re-rig. The wind blew us out to about 52 feet of water where we caught the catfish.

QUESTION: What did you think when the fish bit? Did you know had a good one?
ANSWER: I told my partner, "Get the net. I have a good fish. A real good fish."

QUESTION: Did he flip your drag?
ANSWER: Oh yeah.

QUESTION: What kind of rod and reel did you use?
ANSWER: I used a Berkley Lightning Rod and a 6000 Abu-Garcia bait-tested reel.

QUESTION: What brand test line did you use?
ANSWER: I used Trilene's Big Game line.

QUESTION: How long did it take you to get that big cat up?
ANSWER: It took me about four minutes to boat that catfish.

QUESTION: So he came up rather easily?
ANSWER: He came up real easy.

QUESTION: When you catch catfish in water that deep do they usually come up easier than when you catch them in shallow water?
ANSWER: I can't really tell any difference in catching them in shallow water and catching them in deep water.

QUESTION: All right, so you've got that big catfish in the boat. Tell me about the next fish.
ANSWER: I caught the next big catfish about 3:00 p.m. or so in about 34 foot of water. It put up a big fight. The drag just kept slipping. I had to get on the trolling motor. I thought the catfish was going to get back in those stumps and break my line.

QUESTION: And how much did that cat weigh?
ANSWER: 29 pounds.

QUESTION: Is that the biggest cat you ever caught?
ANSWER: Oh, no.

QUESTION: How big is the biggest cat you ever caught?
ANSWER: The biggest cat I ever caught weighed about 58 pounds.

QUESTION: In other words, fishing on these ledges for cats is like fishing for crappie, right?
ANSWER: Well, all fish are structure-oriented. I don't care what kind they are. They will be around structure. You have to find that structure to catch fish. The best place to fish is around structure on a ledge.

QUESTION: Have you ever fished the spots before that you fished today?
ANSWER: Yes.

QUESTION: Do these sites generally produce catfish?
ANSWER: Your success depends on the current. If water's not being pulled through the dam, the fishing is not as good at those spots. We put in this morning, and we went down hill to fish in shallow water. But we loaded up and went back up here cause we wanted to fish this place. We didn't know what to expect when we got up here today because we didn't know the situation with the current. They pulled enough water that it formed a current up there, and that turned the catfish on to the bait.

QUESTION: So, if you have high water in the spring, especially after a big rain and a big flood, you believe that the upper lake is better than the tailrace lake downriver?
ANSWER: Yes, if they have water pulling through it. If they weren't pulling enough water today to pull the current through there, we would have fished downriver.

QUESTION: What bait seemed to be the best today? What did the fish keep biting?
ANSWER: Whole shad.

QUESTION: With how big a shad were you baiting?
ANSWER: About 3-inches long.

QUESTION: Were you rigged the same way as your partner? What do you think helped you guys catch that many big catfish?
ANSWER: Anytime you catch a big fish, and get it in the boat, you've had good luck.

QUESTION: Usually catfishermen or any other types of anglers will develop a pattern over certain water depths. But you guys caught catfish from 30- to 50-feet deep. Why do you think the fish were that scattered in that big of water depth?
ANSWER: Well, you have to realize we were fishing in the lake. These fish were within a mile and half or less of the dam. So the fish were concentrated. You could of probably caught fish in 70 foot of water today. It was a matter of finding structure. I don't think depth had as much to do with our success as structure. This area has a lot of different types of big structure, including wood in some places and some places have rock.

QUESTION: And they were on wood today?
ANSWER: I think they were on the wood today.

QUESTION: Were they holding behind the stumps?
ANSWER: The current was picking up, and we were not marking the fish on the L.C.R. They were lying down in the cover in the thickest part of it.

QUESTION: Why did you win?
ANSWER: Experience. My partner and I have fished together for the last 20 years. We've fished probably one to three times a week. When you fish all the time, you seem to figure out a body of water and where fish like to hold, the depth they stay and the kind of cover they remain near at certain times. Experience helps you catch fish.

QUESTION: During high-water conditions, will the main lakes provide better fishing than your tailrace lakes because of the water moving through?
ANSWER: Yes, naturally.

QUESTION: Why did you choose to fish closer to the dam more than upriver?
ANSWER: Because we didn't have a whole lot of gas in the boat. I wanted to go further, but we both found a lot of fish, so we didn't have to go. Staying closer to the dam worked out better for us.

QUESTION: So being short on gas was the winning strategy today?
ANSWER: It helped a lot, but I wouldn't advise anybody to come up here without gas.

Contact Ken Freeman at the Botel, (731) 925-4787, Highway 128, Botel Road, Savannah, TN 38372 to learn more about the catfishing opportunities at Pickwick Dam. To learn more about fishing below the dam at Pickwick, contact the Hardin County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau at info@tourhardincounty.org, call 731-925-8181 or 800-552-3866, or visit www.tourhardincounty.org. Pickwick Landing State Park offers fishing, boating, hiking, camping, swimming and golf. Lodging includes the lakeside inn with over 100 rooms, cabins that sleep eight and a campground that contains 48 sites with grill and electric/water hookup at each site. A restaurant at the park offers delicious southern cuisine. Call 731-689-3135 or 800-250-8615 to learn more.

TOMORROW: THE CATFISHING COUPLE

 

 

Check back each day this week for more KING CAT TOURNAMENT ...

Day 1 - Chester Bumgardener's Winning Tactics
Day 2 - Ricky Crider's Big Fish
Day 3 - The Catfishing Couple
Day 4 - Phil King's Cat-Catching Tactics
Day 5 - Catch Cats Like King


John's Journal