Catfish junkies offer tips for reeling in whopper size whiskered fish in winter
Cody Mullennix of Howe has caught his share of big blue cats from a number of Texas lakes over the years. But it was the piscatorial titan he reeled in from Lake Texoma on a chilly winter day in 2004 that made his a household name among hardcore catfish junkies around the globe.
The way the story goes, Mullennix had taken the day off from his house-moving job to do a little bank fishing from the shores of the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in the Big Mineral arm of the 89,000-acre reservoir.
He hadn't been there for long when he got a bite and set the hook. Moments later, he hauled in a 56-pound blue catfish that, for a short time, ranked as his personal best.
Just minutes after releasing the trophy-class cat, Mullennix noticed the tip on another one of his 14-foot Shakespeare surf rods dancing in the wind. The bite was subtle at first, then all hell broke loose.
"I was moving towards the rod when all of the sudden it layed all the way over in the rod holder," Mullennix recalled. "The tip of the rod almost touched the water."
It is not a wonder. The fish had some serious meat between its shoulders. Mullennix's prize cat weighed a whopping 121 1/2 pounds. It ranked as an International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record by rod and reel for a little more than than a year before Illinois' Tim Pruitt stole the title with a 124-pounder caught from the Mississippi River in May 2005.
To date, Mullennix's blue cat stands as the rod-and-reel Texas record for blue catfish. In fact, it is the biggest catfish of any kind ever caught in the state of Texas by any means, including trotlines, jug lines and stump hooks.
Mullennix knew a lot about catching big blues before he caught the former world record. He knows a lot more about them now, and he has applied that knowledge to the tune of more than a half dozen 70-pounders since that memorable January morning five years ago.
Like many blue cat connoisseurs, the 34-year-old fishing guide was quick to agree that winter ranks as the prime season to catch big blues on Texas lakes, especially on rod and reel.
The keys to finding them? Mullennix summarized it in two words: structure and bait. The common denominators that link the two are high quality electronics and a working knowledge of how to use them.
"Good electronics are critical to catching big blue cat on any lake during the winter months, especially when fishing in deep water," he said. "Electronics will draw you a good picture of the structure. More importantly, it will tell you if any [shad] is present and how that bait is relating to the structure. The blues go where the bait goes."
Structure connection
On Lake Texoma, Mullennix will spend a high percentage of his time targeting the Red River channel, creek channel points, dropoffs, ridges and humps in water depths of 36 to 60 feet. Rather than hunting thick wads of bait, he looks for scattered clouds of shad with some large V's or arches in the vicinity.
"This tells me the wads of shad have been busted up by feeding fish," Mullennix said.
The idea is to drop a bait in amongst the melee. Mullennix usually has the best results by positioning his bait in close proximity to the dividing line between shallower water and deep water. He casts a Carolina-style rig 100 percent of the time.
"Bait placement can at times be a big key," he said. "I always try to fish the edge of the structure, no matter if I am fishing a channel break, dropoff, point or hump."
Covering bases
When Mullennix locates an area that looks good, he covers it like a glove. The guide generally uses no fewer than six rods, regardless if he is fishing from the shore or a boat. He staggers his baits at varied distances in order to cover as much water as possible.
The amount of time Mullennix will spend on a spot can vary with its history. He will dedicate the most time to areas that have produced big fish before or those that look especially good.
"About 45 minutes, maybe an hour is tops when I'm in the boat," Mullennix said. "If nothing happens in that time frame, I'm gone."
Bait choices
Blue cat have been known to eat a variety of natural and prepared baits. During the dead of winter when water temperatures are in the 40s, Mullennix likes to go natural using threadfin shad, gizzard shad or cut bait from perch, buffalo or carp. He prefers a fairly small bait when it is cold outside.
"I will use some bigger baits during the spring, summer and fall when the water is warmer," he said. "But as a rule, the smaller baits just seem to get the most bites during the winter months."
Mullennix's 121-pounder adds credence to the theory. The fish ate a 3-inch gizzard shad.
Heavy equipment
It is not smart to go bear hunting with a switch. Nor is it a good idea go after big blue cats with tackle not up to the task.
At the heart of Mullennix's offshore rig is a heavy-action rod and a Pflueger Trion 66 round reel spooled with 65-pound test Power Pro braid. The braid connects to 50-pound test Cajun red leader using a 225-pound test Crane black swivel. His hook of choice is a Double Action Team Catfish circle hook that ranges in size from 3/0 to 8/0, depending on the size of the bait. Wind intensity dictates weight size. The lightest weight he will use is 1 ounce; the heaviest, 4 ounces.
For bank fishing, Mullennix uses a similar terminal tackle setup in combination with a long surf rod and heavy duty spinning reel. The long rod and spinning reel make it possible to launch baits up to 100 yards from shore and play large fish to exhaustion.
Skinny-water brutes
Tempting as it may be to look to 40 feet of water to soak baits for heavyweight blues, deep is not always the best place to be when it is cold enough to freeze the water on your rod guides.
Mullennix caught his 121-pounder in 7-feet of water. He has caught countless other fat cats off wind blown points and shorelines in water shallow enough to wade in.
"Don't be afraid to fish shallow during the winter," he said. "Those big blues will move into 2 to 3 feet of water and not think twice about it, especially when there is a warming trend in the weather or a high wind that pushes the fish against the bank. If they move up there and start gorging, you can wear them out."
Jason Barber echoed Mullennix's opinion about skinny-water blues. Barber lives along the shores of Cedar Creek Reservoir in Gun Barrel City, where he runs a successful guiding business targeting multiple species. The blue cat gets top billing during the winter months.
"Cedar Creek is full of them," Barber said. "You can catch them all over the lake at a variety of depths, but the shallow bite is something I have really come to love. Seeing that 20-pounder's tail thrashing around when you set the hook in 2 feet of water will grow on you."
Strange diets
Another highly effective strategy for targeting winter cats involves dunking baits around cormorant roosts. Cormorants are federally protected migratory birds that dine exclusively on fish, predominantly shad and other forage species.
Thousands of the black birds (also referred to as water turkeys) find their way to Texas lakes during the fall and winter months. They gravitate to reservoirs that offer plenty of flooded timber for roosting. When cormorants are not actively feeding, they lounge on tree limbs and relieve themselves periodically over the course of the day.
Though a bit nasty to think about, catfish learn quickly to equate those calls of nature with a dinner bell. In other words, when the cormorant poop goes splat on the surface, the cats come running.
"A catfish is just one big olfactory gland," said Lake Fork fishing guide Gary Paris. "They learn pretty quick that meals come easy once the cormorants start showing up. People have been chumming for catfish for years using soured grain. That's basically what happens around the cormorants. The birds are doing the chumming for you."
Paris has learned the best roost trees on Fork are those located over deep clear water on points or adjacent to major creeks such as Little Caney, Big Caney and Glade. The bigger trees tend to be the most productive, but that is not always the case.
"If a tree is in the right depth of water and it has birds sitting in it, you can almost bet there will be fish down there," he said. "I've got some trees on Fork where I can just about call my shots most of the time."
The guide has learned from experience that stealth is important when targeting roost trees. Otherwise, the fish will spook. He always approaches roost trees from the downwind side to maximize boat control. It is best to run the trolling motor on the lowest possible speed.
"You have to be real quiet to slip up on them, especially in clear water," Paris said. "Waves slapping against bottom of the boat can hurt your chances about as much as banging stuff around."
Ideally, Paris prefers to move no closer to a roost tree than he has to in order to make an accurate cast using weightless 4/0 or 5/0 hook tipped by a chicken gizzard. He uses 40- to 65-pound braided line matched with a heavy-action rod.
He said the trick is to loft the chicken gizzard as close to the base of the tree as possible. Most strikes are violent and come soon after the flat-shaped bait goes splat on the surface.
"You have to be ready when you make the cast, because they usually don't mess around," Paris said. "It's a competition thing. There may be several fish hanging around one roost tree just waiting for something to hit the water. It's a race to see who can get to it first."
Paris catches quite a few channel cat in the 6- to 10-pound range but also has landed some big blues cats weighing up to 25 pounds.
"I have also had hold of some that I could do nothing with," Paris said. "It's a mystery every time you throw around one of these trees, because there is no telling what is down there. Everything has to go just right when you hook one of those giants, mainly because there is so much brush down there."
Barber has caught his share of big cats around cormorant roosts on his home lake. He said he will spend most of his time in creeks north of the FM 334 bridge during the winter months. Lacy, King and Cedar creeks are among his favorites. The main attraction there are the fields of old snags and fat stumps.
The guide has had plenty of success employing the same tactic Paris uses at Fork. Another good way to capitalize around roosts is to anchor upwind and cast a Carolina rig to the outskirts using fresh shad for bait. Barber will utilize this technique when he has novice clients or it is too windy to cast to the trees accurately.
"The main keys are to be real quiet, then lay the bait out there so the scent drifts towards the tree draw the fish out," Barber said. "Blues tend to run in groups, so it is fairly common to catch several off one spot before you have to move."
Matt Williams' e-mail address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
Share this story:
Google
Yahoo
digg
del.icio.us
facebook
Slashdot
