Jug Fishing ?

[mountainborn]

Naw, it ain't bout' fishing fer' jugs, them is too hard to fillet, especially them glass jugs !

It's about fishing for catfish, using a jug line instead of a pole. The best part about jug fishing is that the days is warmer and longer, the sunrise's brighter and the sunset's more spectacular. Oh, yeh, then there is catching some of the best eatin' fish known to mankind ! Nothing, well, almost nothing, can beat a Springtime fish fry on the lake.

After a long Winter, a Spring time jug fishing trip to the lake is in order. The days is mild, the nights will be cool and butcherknife says she can nearly hear them catfish calling.

Any one out there in Oliver Land doing any jug fishing ?

Video clip,Sunrise on the lake, we are getting ready to go pick up the jugs:

Sunset photo, we just finished the jug cast and are heading back to camp to start the nightly domino game:

[mountainborn]

Butcherknife with one mornings catch.

Dillon the retired drug dog keeps a warry eye on this mornings catch.

Now, them fish look good in a photo, but, the fun is over and the work is just about to begin. Those fish have to be cleaned and made ready for the freezer.

[mountainborn]

It sure is hard to beat a great, though simple, meal like this one out on the lake !

Fresh caught catfish, home fries, home made hush puppies and beans. Note the Niece taking a quick look around to see where Mom is. She had been told to wait for every one to get to the table.

Sure, Mom, no problem ! He, he, them catfish is Sooo hard to resist ! Dillon the retired drug dog, barely visible through the screen door to the rear, seems to be laughing about Brittany snitching a quick taste.

[dusty]

Hey, that looks good! It must be 30 years since I ate any catfish. Something to look forward to.

Dusty

[mountainborn]

Thanks, Dusty, a fish this large is hard to handle and can take a one gallon jug under the water and hold it. The jug will suddenly pop up many yards away. It is a pretty exciting type of fishing. This short ten second video shows the jugs in a crate at the very beginning of the clip.

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In this clip the fish is toting the jug right on across the lake, making a wake of it's own. The trolling motor couldn't catch the jug. We had to pursue with the boat's inboard motor.

[mountainborn]

Here is a look at the jugs. Twelve will fit in a crate. They are empty anti freeze jugs. Yeh, I know, we spare no expense, when it comes to having the best in high quality fishing gear.

[mountainborn]

Here is a look at one assembly:

[mountainborn]

The business end of the rig:

[mountainborn]

How it works:

The jug is cast at dusky dark and left out over night. In the morning when the sun rises, we are easing down the lake to where we cast the jugs.

The state record for Blue Catfish is well over one hundred pounds. We generaly take a quick photo of anything over thirty five to forty pounds and put them back. We have never came even close to catching a state record, but to hear us whoop and holler while trying to land a biggun' you might think we had a record on the line !:D

[whaley]

That's a really interesting tale you've told there. Without the photos to back up your story, I would have assumed you had been into the other kind of jug used over in the Ozarks.

 

Thanks,

Tom

[mountainborn]

Of all of the types of catfish, we prefer to catch those that feed up in the water collumn instead of on the bottom. One of our favorites is the flathead catfish. Here butcherknife shows one for the camera:

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Here he is head on:

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And here is the finished product, ready for the fish cooker, well, almost, butcherknife has this seasoning and corn meal thing that she does. Aren't those just absolutely beautiful fillets ? All carefully trimmed fillets, no bone at all.

[mountainborn]

He, he, that's right Tom, when them ol' homeboys says they has been a' juggin', you may have to think twice about it !

[mountainborn]

Then there are the domino games in the evenings:

The bucket light hanging over the domino table:

[mountainborn]

The jugs have been all recovered, and lunch on the lake causes a strange phenominum. Reclining lawn chairs suddenly become pro active and will actually capture some one that wanders too near.

[mountainborn]

Morning, after the fish fry, the lake is calm and the sun is just beginning to come up.

[bugeyedriver]

mountainborn,

 

Seeing as you're into fun ways to gather up a good catfish dinner I was wondering if you've ever gone out "noodling" for cats?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biL-QcviQGk

 

I bet butcherknife could get some great pics of you bringing up your great catches and post them here!

 

Pete

 

hee, hee, hee

[mountainborn]

Pete, those boys can have all of them bigguns' from holes under the bank that they want ! I enjoy watching, but from the bank only. That is a sport for sure nuff' tough guys. A fifty pound catfish can whup yer' butt when trying to land him on a jug line. I sure don't want one to have a good bite on my arm when he takes a notion to roll ! Then there is the chance that you might grab a sure enough big one . . . . . .

[jtrew]

Mountainborn, from the looks of your jugs, you seem to have your bait down about 20'-25'. Is that about right? Do you prefer using live bream, or live bullheads? IMO, bream are easier to catch, but bullheads will stay alive a lot longer. I don't have an opinion as to which produces the most fish, because I generally bait with cut skipjack. But then, I don't catch many flatheads, either.

[mountainborn]

Good eye ! Our jugs are built so that we can also fish the larger impoundments where the thermocline is deeper. For lake Greeson in April we adjust our lines for 14' to 16', it is about a 3500 acre impoundment. But, that ain't etched in stone. For example in the post spawn, the catfish will be feeding up in the shallows on mussel's and the lines can be shortened even further yet. This shortening and lengthening process is why we tend to use a Prestone antifreze jug. It is made a bit different and that keeps the line in place better when shortened up.

[jtrew]

I use 2-liter soda jugs painted bright yellow on the outside, with 3 or 4 ounces of clean gravel, scrap lead, etc. inside so that when I get a hit the weights slide down into the neck of the jug and keep it in a 'flagged' position. My line is tied to the neck, and I have hooks at 3', 6', 9', & 12', with a 16p or 20p nail a foot below the bottom hook for a weight. The nail is cheap, and doesn't hang up as much as a regular sinker. This rig works great for freefloating jugs in the Arkansas River, up at the nuclear power plant, and over below Pickwick dam on the Tennessee River. That's where most of my jugging is done. But I do have some other jugs rigged a little differently for deep lakes and/or anchoring. They have 75' of line on them, with dropper loops every 3'. The dropper loops are not only for hooks, but I fastened a clip to the cap of the jug so that I can clip a loop into it. That way, I can let out as much line as I want, in 3' increments. When anchoring them, I use a 2# lead cannonball. Of course, if I'm simply wanting to freefloat them, I can simply use a one ounce sinker, and keep the line short enough that it's off the bottom.

[bugeyedriver]

Tom,

 

Are you and Karen going to WIMP OUT from our catfish extravaganza by callin' the yummy food names?!? Oscar would be so disappointed.

 

Pete

 

ps Ya think any of that there pork you've enjoyed at the BBQ ever had a bit of "slop" fer dinner?

[tumbleweed]

Now if that ? was about something FROM Arkansas......... oooops, am I in truuble???

Chuck

[mountainborn]

Bill

[ScubaRx]

You know, according to Larry the Cable Guy, 99% of all lawyers give the rest of them a bad name.....

(with apologies to my son-in law)

 

Steve

[bugeyedriver]

Tom,

 

FYI . . . Oscar has been howling at me for days for my pedestrian response on that one . . .