Catfish

C-Hawk · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 9:17 am Post subject: Catfish

What do YOU use to catch catfish? Try this-
http://www.allcoastsportfishing.com/dcforum/Main/16887.html#1

B~C · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 10:09 am Post subject:

O'mazing...I think the Portland Trailblazers discussed drafting that fish but they ended up taking a 5'11" high school kid instead

Chuckpacific · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 1:35 pm Post subject:

Yeah, over the last 4 years they spent all their money on criminals and this next year only have $5 or $6 million to spend on basketball players....

B~C · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 2:59 pm Post subject:

ya but this year I think they had that two for one coupon, buy one Russian and get one free....Blazers...pooooo....I wanna know what that catfish must have been thinkin

Joni Lynn · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 3:34 pm Post subject: Catfish

Checking out the great catfish pictures brings to mind a fun story I have to share with you folks.

My grandfather homesteaded and ranched along the Missouri River in South Dakota for all of his adult life. Most of the firewood he used for cooking and winter heat was obtained by snagging driftwood on the Mo. River. He rigged himself a homemade kind of grappling hook tied on a long line that he would fling out on the river trying to catch the floaters. One day while snagging logs, he observed this large catfish swimming round 'n round near the surface, and acting really wierd and strange. Out of amusement, he started flinging the grapnel at that big ole catfish, and after numerous attempts he actually snagged it ! It was a really nice big fish, so....naturally....he took it along home to clean and eat. When he opened the thing up, inside the stomach was a LIVE RATTLESNAKE. That, obviously, was the reason the fish was acting so strange. The poor ole fish had a live rattler rolling around inside him!

Hope you enjoyed the story. It's pretty typical of the kinds of things my old grandad experienced while ranching along the river. He's gone, and so is the ranch. It pretty much went under water when the Corps put in the Gavins Point Dam at Pickstown, SD.

Paul aboard the Joni Lynn

Chuckpacific · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 3:36 pm Post subject:

Paul,

Gavins Point dam is at Yankton; Ft Randall dam is at Pickstown.

Chuck

Joni Lynn · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 3:45 pm Post subject: Catfish

Chuck,

Yup, you're right. It was the Ft. Randall that flooded him out. I was thinking about Yankton/Gavins Point only because I get up in that area periodically and Gavins Point just kinda came to my mind when writing now.
Thanks for the correction.
Paul

Chuckpacific · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 4:01 pm Post subject:

Paul........

I grew up in the area and have been to Gavins Point many times. In the summer of 1968 I was part of a small group that took jet boats from Sioux City (near the last of the navigable Missouri) to the base of Gavins Point Dam. Anyone familiar with the Missouri or who has read "RiverHorse" will attest to the dificulty of trying to find the main channel of that river once it has left Ponca, Ne. The catfish on the Missouri are quite large...a friend of mine caught an 80 pounder several years ago. There are also large sturgeon in the river (although nowhere near the size of the Columbia River variety). In addition, once you get above Ft Peck Dam in Eastern Montana there are large (100 lb and above) paddlefish. Unfortunately the river, which carries the 'lowess' soil of that area (as does the Yangtze and Hwang Ho in their areas) will soon silt up the reservoirs impounded behind these dams as the slower water drops the sediment. The thing that always surprises me is that Lewis and Clark paddled UP that river. As anyone who has lived near the river knows, in the natural spans it is impossible to stand up in the Missouri if the water is above your knees.

Chuck

Joni Lynn · Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 6:17 pm Post subject: Catfish

Hi Chuck,

Curious to know where you grew up in that area. I still have relatives living in the Yankton and Platte area, and I get out there every now and then. We (my wife and I) canoe-camped down the Mo. River from Chamberlain to Springfield in '84. In the 60's/early 70s, I lived in the Sioux City area for some time and spent lots of time on the river. El and Bill (Halcyon) are kinda planning a float trip down from Yankton to St. Louis, and I'm seriously thinking of floating with them for a spell. It's a goofy river, and below Yankton, it changes daily.

And yes, the fish get BIG in that river, and the big ones seem to congregate in the spillways, just below the dams.

Paul